by Christopher Barr
“State propaganda, when
supported by the educated classes and when no deviation is permitted from it,
can have a big effect. It was a lesson
learned by Hitler and many others, and it has been pursued to this day.”
- Noam Chomsky
“There is no avoiding
war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.”
- Niccolo Machiavelli
There are minor spoilers
The Hunger Games:
Mockingjay – Part 1 is a film about the ongoing conflict between The Capital, which
represent the haves and the subterranean District 13, along with the other
districts that represent the have-nots, the oppressed. At the center is Katniss Everdeen who is the Mockingjay,
a Joan of Arc figure that is seen by
the various districts as hope for freedom from the totalitarian hold the
Capital sways over them.
This film
explores the aftermath of the last Hunger Games depicted in the sequel, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. At the end of that film Katniss fired an
arrow from her bow up at the sky hitting an invisible force field and created
an uprising, igniting a revolution that ends up being much bigger than she
is. In Mockingjay she often is a witness to the atrocities but rarely a participant
in the war itself. This is the films
underwhelming problem, where the protagonist has become smaller as the civil war
has become bigger around her.
“All over the place,
from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure
to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is
to ratify decisions and to consume.”
- Noam Chomsky
There are no
Games this time around; Katniss is
forced to grow up even more as she sees the impact her symbolic Mockingjay has
done in a real world environment, as opposed to the control of The Hunger Games arena. President Snow of the Capital is clearly responsible
for the ongoing war but Katniss never the less feels survivors guilt as she
stands over so many dead bodies. Unlike
Nolan’s Interstellar, Mockingjay took the time to show its
main character and thus its audience what’s at stake. Where Interstellar
was too quick to get us in space, Mockingjay
saw Katniss flown to her District 12 where she alone, walks around the searing rubble
and happens upon an almost field of burnt to the bone corpses. Knowledge of this wasn’t enough, seeing it is
how one persuades the mind that it is real.
Katniss needed this exposure to reality in order to feel what she will
be fighting for.
Mockingjay – Part 1 is a set up for the big battle that
will likely unfold in Part 2. Most of the film is talking, negotiating and contemplating
whether Katniss has what it takes to be the Mockingjay for the rebellion or
not. Some plot problems and narrative issues
arise because it becomes clear that the filmmakers have stretched out one movie
into two parts as a cash grab, when only one movie would have done the job. With a film full of exposition there is very
little room for action scenes that define I lot of what’s loved about the first
two films. With that, this film takes on
a somber tone with all its usual color bled from the screen. That’s not entirely a bad thing because it
shows that the filmmakers are taking their subject matter seriously. War is often senseless and malicious and
certainly never is to be taken lightly.
In Mockingjay – Part 1, Peeta, Katniss’
Hunger Games partner in the last two films has been taken by the Capital and used
as a propaganda device to help quell the uprising. Katniss just wants him rescued because she
loves him, so she plays along with District 13’s plan to regain their freedom
by being their celebrity face of sorts. As this spokesperson for the people, Katniss
is required to be in commercials and report from the ground how things are faring
up in the districts, while District 13 tries to mobilize an army to defeat
President Snow and retake the Capital.
“The media’s the most
powerful entity on earth. They have the
power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilt innocent, and that’s
power. Because they control the minds of
the masses.”
- Malcolm X
We see in
the film how powerful media can be when being used to control or inspire a
population of people. We see this all
over FOX NEWS and CNN on a daily basis, how the power of propaganda can mound
the hearts and minds of the people into whatever the government or corporations
see fit.
The real
fight is yet to come in Mockingjay Part –
2 where we’ll see the actual civil war underway. With Peeta not doing so well and the District
13 military still recovering from a massive attack by the Capital, it will be
interesting to see Katniss become the Mockingjay we always knew could be.
“I am not afraid of an
army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.”
- Alexander the Great
“I know not with what
weapons World War 3 will be fought, but World War 4 will be fought with sticks
and stones.” - Albert Einstein
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