Monday, March 12, 2012
Hunger Games and the Saint's Bounty System
After reading the article about the Saint's Bounty System, I started to draw a comparison to the Hunger Games. Just like the Saints are promoting violence amongst the players in the NFL, the Capitol is endorsing violence amongst the people in the districts. According to the New York Times article, players receive "$1,500 for knocking a player out of a game and $1,000 for when an opponent was carted off the field." In comparison, the Hunger Games explains that the last living person wins the games. The winning tribute gets to move into one of the homes reserved for district winners. Additionally, the whole district receives a monthly supply of food. The Capitol showers the winner and the district that he or she belongs to with gifts. They are rewarding a person for killing others. What makes it even more interesting - and disturbing - is that the Hunger Games are a source of entertainment for the people. The Capitol endorses the violence not only to demonstrate their power but also to provide entertainment to the general public. The Saint's Bounty System actually diminishes in comparison to the Hunger Games, as their system endorses violence that results in injuries, not death. Luckily, our world is not that damaged!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Wow I think is a great comparison and something I never would have thought about before. Unfortunately its true and the only redeeming factor I see in our world is as you said The Capitol enjoys the Hunger Games whereas our society is denouncing the Saint's Bounty System. I think the bigger question to ask here is why was the bounty system even necessary? You would think (as professional football players) they had enough motivation whether it was earning their salaries, winning for their team, their cities, their pride, etc. But instead, it was the extra motivation, the extra cash, the chance at something we couldn't have otherwise had (whether its needed or not) that really motivated them. And in the end, its the spectators that unwitting support them and encourage this kind of behavior.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting comparison, however, I wouldn't go as far as to say that our world isn't that damaged. Sure, no one is literally killing each other. But who is to say that they couldn't ruin a life. These types of injuries that NFL players are delivering can be not only be blows to their pride but could be career-ending. This to me is so telling about our society. This is more than cheating, this is more than sports in general. This is about the human spirit. But, beyond knowing that this is terrible and not understanding I don't really know how else to think about this. Thanks for posting though!
ReplyDeleteI would say that the comparison is unjust, in that the rules of the Hunger Game call for killing each other whereas the rules of the NFL prohibits ANY violent behavior.
ReplyDeleteThe existence of the Hunger Games is indicative of the corruption of the central government, whereas the bounty system represents the corruption within a niche part of the NFL that has to be discrete in its action. Such violence is NOT promoted by the NFL (analogous to the Capitol in this case).
Therefore there are different meanings to draw from either situation.
Hunger Games: Dominance of a corrupted power.
Bounty System: Mischief of a corrupted organization that is not the official authority.
I thought that this was a very interesting comparison. Although I do not think that the Saint's Bounty System is as extreme as the Hunger Games, these can be regarded as very similar. In both instances, the players are rewarded for injuring (killing in the Hunger Games) their opponents. In the Saint's case, they are encouraged to hurt the other teams. I still think that this system is crazy and can't believe that it existed. Today, our world is so strict, and I am shocked that the Saints were able to get away with this in the first place. I agree with Arthi, in that society did not encourage this system, whereas society did encourage this violence in the Hunger Games. Also in both cases, the players cooperate under this system and do not really question what their authorities tell them to do.
ReplyDelete