Sunrise Infinite
(sunrise on the reaping spoilers ahead)
When I imagine what’s at stake for our present situation, it all centers around our food supply. Luxury may come and go, but food's exit will lead to the descent of progress we have made as a world culture. When essential resources are scarce, it creates defensive, hyper-vigilant people. They are scared and unwilling to share what they have with people they know, and even more concerned with people that they don’t know.
They are willing, subconscious or intentionally, to warp their perception of communities to categorize people as other or inhuman. Then they are able to commit atrocities against them. The power structures with these foundations create devastating effects for populations of commoners. They will then often use force, dangerous rhetoric, or build narratives that turn groups they’ve created and perpetuated against one another.
Force, like police aggression turning peaceful protests into riots. Dangerous rhetoric like in the Sun Rise on the Reaping: “NO PEACEKEEPERS NO PEACE! NO HUNGER GAMES NO PEACE! NO WAR NO PEACE!” They create double speak that reinforces the need for authoritarian oppressive governments. Lastly, the narratives they build, mirror the narrative of Haymitch in Sunrise on the Reaping.
Haymitch teams up with the rest of the non-career tributes to create a group called the Newcomers. All the lesser districts decided to band together and he seems to be the official, unofficial leader. While they have teamed up, Haymitch has also agreed to work with Beetee and Plutarch in a rebellion plot to blow the arena up. So he distances himself from the Newcomers in the arena to try and create a character illusion that shrouds his intention of rebellion.
It’s that of a rascal. He manages to call everyone in the Hunger Games stupid, and tells his would-be allies that he is a liability more than an asset and must go off on his own. Throughout the story he constantly tries to help the Newcomers he comes across: Ampert, Maysilee, and Wellie. They all die around him. Haymitch fails to totally take out the arena, but his time inside of it is full of acts of open rebellion to the Capitol. However, after he has won, the recap presented to the people shows nothing of his acts of rebellion. They have edited him as a selfish tribute, who uses his wits to manipulate all of the other districts into focusing on the Careers while he hides. Winning selfishly, like a coward. Then President Snow kills everyone close to him and disallows him from ever getting close to anyone again. Punishing him for his acts and showing him the futility of his actions against the state.
The optics of the games to the districts, show them a version of Haymitch that only looks out for himself. None of the things he was selflessly doing, or the people at home he was jeopardizing for the future of all of Panem, mattered in the Capitol's telling. This is because they are being fed a curated version of the events that occurred. Causing continued distance and division among districts. Optics, and those in control of the media, can create narratives that are only there as a result of manipulating what is going on, in relation to the reality of what is happening. It is not the whole picture, it’s the picture they want to paint. The Hunger Games is a universe that we live adjacent to. Down to poison being the primary weapon. Especially poison in the food supply. The way to weaken a population is reducing their intellect and quality of life so they are easier to control. We must maintain togetherness to keep our food supply thriving.
