This past week one of the most anticipated movie, Mockingjay Part 2 came out. Author Suzanne Collins writes about a girl, Katniss Everdeen, who is thrown into the position of leadership in a rebellion against an oppressive regime.

For those who have not experienced war or violence first hand, the media has a huge role in our every-day portrayal and understanding of the mechanics and human costs of war and violence. Despite the Hunger Games trilogy being a fictional story, it still gives an insight into real process’ of securitization and war that we study in PCJ.

I have not yet seen the movie, but I will be quoting sections from the book.

**** Warning Contains Spoilers******

Securitization

“Oh, not now. Now we’re in that sweet period where everyone agrees that our recent horrors should never be repeated,” he says. “But collective thinking is usually short-lived. We’re fickle, stupid beings with a great gift for self-destruction. Although who knows? Maybe this will be it, Katniss.”

“What?” I ask.

“The time it sticks. Maybe we are witnessing the evolution of the human race. Think about that.”

Katniss and Plutarch Heavensbee (p. 379)

This quote really captures the essence of human nature in times of war and conflict. In World War 2 many Jewish refugees came to North America seeking refugee yet were turned away. Many, if not all of them died as a result of being denied entry. Now that society is facing another refugee issue, we see ourselves resorting back to old mentality. After each societal challenge we face, we say each time that “ this will be it”. Society claims to have learned from its past, but we seem to repeat it.

From a PCJ perspective, I understand societies fear (not condoning) in allowing those with different cultures and norms into society. It is a form of societal securitization, when the collective identity is under threat it justifies the violation of rules and rights.

Creation of the Other

This is what they’ve been doing. Taking the fundamental ideas behind Gale’s traps and adapting them into weapons against humans. Bombs mostly. It’s less about the mechanics of the traps than the psychology behind them.

[...]

Gale and Beetee left the wilderness behind and focused on more human impulses. Like compassion. A bomb explodes. Time is allowed for people to rush to the aid of the wounded. Then a second, more powerful bomb kills them as well.

“That seems to be crossing some kind of line,” I say. (13.41-42)

Katniss recognizes that both sides are losing their morality in attempts to win the war. She sees those around her, her friends and allies, lose their compassion through the course of he war. For those of you in PCJ, you can recognize the similarity of this passage with ethnocentrism, the view that ones own group is the center of everything and all others are scared and rated with reference to it. We see here that Katniss’s allies are creating an “insiders” group mentality. They are associating themselves with peace, order and law and the others are associated with war and hostility. It is this mentality that allows civilians to turn on those who were once their neighbours, something we have seen in history time and time again.

The After Effects of War

I’ll tell them how I survive it. I’ll tell them that on bad mornings, it feels impossible to take pleasure in anything because I’m afraid it could be taken away. That’s when I make a list in my head of every act of goodness I’ve seen someone do. It’s like a game. Repetitive. Even a little tedious after more than twenty years.

But there are much worse games to play.

Katniss (p. 390; closing words of the epilogue)

Syrian girl holding her hands above her head. (taken from dailymail.co.uk)

According to the Toronto Star, refugees are at a high-risk for mental health issues and have higher rates of depression and substance abuse. This quote shows that despite the war being over, its affect on society and survivors will always linger. This quote is especially relevant with the struggles of the fleeing refugees. We can see the psychological affect of war affecting the mentality of children refugees. The most recent case being of a four-year-old girl (pictured below), whose father was murdered. When a photographer came to take a picture of her, she, thinking it was a gun, raised her hands to surrender. Despite being out of the conflict zone, her mind is still affected.

After exams I hope to watch the last installment of the series, I truly found the books enjoyable. Collins’ writing really allowed me to contextualize her work in our global community. Action movies such as the Bond series, The Bourne Identity, Avengers, and Die Hard, all glorify violence. What I liked about The Hunger Games trilogy is that it opened up the audience to the psychological changes that happen to those who go through violence and war. It shows the changes that occur in ones mentality to justify the use of excessive force. For a PCJ student, especially those in the 260 class, this movie can be used as a case study. As a fun “study exercise” I suggest you go watch and see how many theories you’ve learned from class that can be applied in the movie.