Hunger Games' Exposes Myth of Technological Progress
Minggu, 25 Maret 2012 by Android Blackberry
'Hunger Games' Exposes Myth .hunger games trilogy, jennifer lawrence, hunger games box office, hunger games movie review, the hunger games movie
The blockbuster movie appears to have "missing" futuristic technologies -- but these almost certainly aren't plot holes.
THE GIST
"Hunger Games" depicts a futuristic, high-tech planet exactly where reality Tv showcases teens fighting towards the death.
Lots of futuristic technologies are depicted, but other individuals -- like the net -- aren't represented.
Such "gaps" in technology do not necessarily represent plot holes, in accordance with historians of science and technologies.
omorrow's globe of "The Hunger Games" doesn't just showcase the reality Tv spectacle of teenagers battling to the death -- it also capabilities futuristic hovercraft, force fields and bioengineered "Mutt" creatures.
Those technological marvels represent tools of oppression for the dystopian nation of Panem, exactly where the Capitol elite reside in high-tech luxury supported by the old-fashioned sweat of district coal miners, farm hands and factory workers.
However the recognition from the "Hunger Games" series has not stopped some fans from eying the technological imbalances with the story.
Some question why a post-apocalyptic North America filled with futuristic technologies would still rely upon coal for its electricity needs; others wonder about the story's full absence in the Online. 1 character in "The Hunger Games" books complains about "forgotten" military technologies for instance high-flying planes, military satellites and robotic drones, even as he rides inside a hovercraft.
Such "gaps" in technology don't necessarily represent plot holes, according to historians of science and technologies. Real societies have adopted or rejected technologies based on whether or not they suited their specific economic, political or cultural circumstances.
"Technology just isn't pre-determined as "better" -- it becomes superior when a society deems it to become much better or a lot more advanced," stated Joline Zepcevski, a researcher with a Ph.D. inside the history of science and technology at the University of Minnesota. "With respect to "The Hunger Games," there is no cause why a brand new society, rising from the ashes of an old society, would necessarily re-invent the identical technologies."
Technology has come and gone throughout history, said Marie Hicks, an assistant professor of history of technologies in the Illinois Institute of Technologies Chicago. Electric automobiles appeared on U.S. roads in the begin in the 20th century, but disappeared for almost a century just before creating their recent comeback. Supersonic civilian jetliners created their debut with the Concorde in 1976, but ended up grounded in 2003.
Even high-speed trains that took off in Japan, China and Europe have mostly failed to catch on in the U.S. (the Capitol rulers of "The Hunger Games" still have a high-speed rail system).
Technologies of Terror
So why does Panem in "The Hunger Games" function some technologies and not others? The Capitol rulers may perhaps be focused on technologies beneficial for social manage, said Eden Medina, assistant professor of informatics at Indiana University.
As an example, the bioengineered "Mutt" creatures turn into weapons of psychological terror within the Hunger Games -- an annual event that forces every of Panem's 12 districts to offer a boy and girl tribute to get a televised gladiatorial battle.
The Capitol also puts televisions in every single residence and significant screens in public squares to broadcast the hateful Hunger Games along with other state propaganda towards the masses. That act echoes both George Orwell's dystopian "1984" story and actual totalitarian societies for instance North Korea (despite the fact that North Korea relies more on radio).
By contrast, the Capitol rulers strictly limit phone communication amongst districts and don't have anything resembling the internet. Their choice to avoid the world wide web seems like a no-brainer, simply because its capability to offer voice for the masses makes it substantially much more tricky to manage than television.
"It's difficult to say simply because it really is a fictional globe and we'd must ask Suzanne Collins (author of "The Hunger Games"), but it's not outside the realm of possibility that this society would make those decisions," Medina told InnovationNewsDaily. "I'd imagine it may possibly be tougher to help keep news of a district uprising secret if there's many-to-many Web communication."
Some Are More Equal Than Other individuals
The technological imbalances inside "The Hunger Games" also highlight the story's emphasis on social and political inequalities. The repressive Capitol enjoys immediately ready food, intelligent household gadgets and obsessing more than the most recent Capitol couture, Medina points out. By contrast, the "District 12" house of heroine Katniss Everdeen situated in today's Appalachia has a poor, starving population that operates within the coal mines and suffers from electricity shortages.
"Uneven technological development is a staple of science fiction since it implies a society, plus a government, which has lost its way or has mistaken priorities," Hicks said, "And consequently unjustly divides technological resources, or utilizes those resources to control the populace in inappropriate approaches.
By drawing a contrast amongst the futuristic Capitol's wonders and also the harmful, dirty function of coal mining, "The Hunger Games" may well be prompting readers to sense that "some underlying element of this society is in disorder," mentioned Bernard Carlson, a professor of science, technologies and society in the University of Virginia.
"If you're (the Capitol) producing energy to make the homes of elite comfortable, and they don't pay the environmental or security price tag for it, you might at the same time use coal as opposed to one thing else," Carlson mentioned.
Inside the end, "The Hunger Games" doesn't celebrate the progress of technology -- an notion that historians of science and technology see as overly simplistic anyway. As an alternative, the books show how a society's technological options reflect its political motivations and social priorities.
Still, even the historians who've picked up "The Hunger Games" do not judge the story too seriously based on its technological alternatives. They, as well, wish to be entertained.
