Friday, November 15, 2013

Pop Culture and Evolution- The Hunger Games

    There are many pop culture references and connections to the Theory of Evolution through Natural Selection in today's television, books, music and movies. With The Hunger Games movie breaking box office records, I could not contain myself but to hop on the bandwagon and read the triology of books written by Suzanne Collins. Beyond a fast paced, edge of your seat thriller, I saw the author's ideas of a future world from an evolution Biologist's point of view.

    The Hunger Games triology  is set in the future after the collapse and near complete destruction of  the world. The country of Paneshas arisen from the ashes of what used to be North America and it consists of a Capitol somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, and 12 Districts that supply the Capitol with all of the goods it needs. When the poor Districts tried to rebel, the Capitol took them down and created a yearly spectacle called The Games that is broadcast live like a reality show. As a reminder that the Capitol has all the power, each District is forced to send one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 that are chosen in a lottery drawing to complete to the  death in the Hunger Games arena that is filled with traps and other dangerous creations made by the Capitol for their entertainment.

    The Mocking jay

    The most important new species in The Hunger Games triology is the mockingjay. These birds came into existence when female mockingbirds mated with the Capitol engineered jabberjays. We are first introduced to this new species of bird in The Hunger Games book when Madge, the mayor's daughter, gives heroine Katniss the gold pin with the mockingjay to wear as her token in the arena. There are also mockingjays in the arena where Katniss uses their ability to repeat songs to communicate with her ally Rue.

    In Catching Fire we see the mockingjay become an important symbol. Before Katniss enters the arena for a second time, she wears a dress created by Cinna that turns her  into a mockingjay after the outer layer burns away.

    The new species of bird is the most important in the book Mockingjay. The bird becomes a symbol of rebellion for the Districts, and Katniss finds herself becoming The Mockingjay as the symbolic leader.

   The Way the mockingjay evolved in this fictional world of Panem because of the Capitol that created a species of bird through artificial selection called the jabberjay. The jabberjay could spy on enemies of the Capitol and repeat conversations word for word back to them. The Capitol could use this infomration to stop any rebellion attempts. After the rebels in the Districts figured out the scheme, they would feed the birds information. The Capitol left the jabberjays, all male, to dide in the wild.  Instead of dying, the all male jabber jays began mating with female mockingbirds. Instead  of being able to repeat entire conversations , mocking jays would repeat entire songs. These birds helped Katniss communicate with her ally inside the arena.


   Tracker Jackers

   Tracker Jackers are described as genetically altered wasps. The Capitol was manipulating nature and speeding up the evolution of species to do their hard word. Tracker jackers will attack anyone who disturbs their nest and will follow them constantly until they have been stung with a venom that causes severe hallucinations and possibly death. Katniss uses the tracker jackers as a weapon in The Hunger Games when she is stuck in a tree because of the Career Tributes waiting to kill her below. She cuts a branch off the tree that contains a tracker jacker nest and it hits the ground near the Career, so the tracker jackers attack and run them off, killing some in the process.

  Muttations
 
  One last type of Capitol created killer is what Suzanne Collins called a "mutation". In the arena, Katniss and Peeta come face to face with mutations that look to be a mix of something like a wolf and their fellow tributes. This type of mutation tears the District 2 Tribute Cato to pieces.

  The book Catching Fire had a new arena that contained mutations that resembled monkeys. However, these monkeys had sharp claws and teeth that could puncture internal organs. When the Tributes make eye contact and quick movements, the monkey mutations attack and even kill the District 6 tribute.

  In Mockingjay,  mutations appear in the form of something that seems to be a human and lizard hybrid down in the sewers of the Capitol. These deadly creatures come after the Sharp Shooter Squad as they make their way to the President's mansion. The talon-like claws even tear apart some of the squadron before they can make it out of the sewer alive.

   Interesting Facts


Some facts about The Hunger Games movie is that it opened with $155 million, the third highest of all time on the weekend. The movie also had the biggest midnight opening ever for a non-sequel. Another shocking fact is that when the movie just had had a single weekend under its belt, it was close to becoming the biggest hit of 2012. The Hunger Games movie made an estimated amount of $500 million world wide. An interesting fact about The Hunger Games books was there was an estimated total of 24 million books sold around the world. That is crazy! The Hunger Games movie and sequence of books can relate to pop culture strongly because of the popularity worldwide The Hunger Games movie and books have gained from all of the people that are fans of The Hunger Games.


  Important Date!

  Just wanted to remind all of the fans of The Hunger Games that the sequel of The Hunger Games  called Catching Fire will make its debut on November 22nd! I bet you are as excited as I am to see the new Hunger Games movie! Below is a preview of the new movie!


                                         This a video showing the new movie The Hunger Games- Catching Fire
                                         that is making its debut on November 22nd! Enjoy!





   



2 comments:

  1. OMG!!..lol, I love this book, read all 3 books in like 3 days. Cant wait for catching fire to come out, event though I find the first movie kind of disappointing.

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  2. This was a great book series,and I'm looking forward to seen it on the silver screen. It gives an out look on society in some ways loosely. But i must say im eager to see the visual now that I've read the books.

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