The Hunger Games and the Game of Silences: The Apocalypse within the Apocalypse

Abstract

An apocalyptic view present in the dystopian novel The Hunger Games (2008) can be broadly analysed through Baudrillard's concept of "simulation" and "simulacra." This article analyses how the mass media is represented in this young-adult dystopian fiction as the new almighty God that can create, but also destroy, real and hyperreal scenarios. The article particularly focuses on the concept of "arena" (present in the trilogy) as a hyperreal territory that acts as a panopticon that ends up reversing its original purpose.