Paying "Tribute" to The Hunger Games Fandom

Suzanne Collins changed the world of YA fiction forever after releasing The Hunger Games in September of 2008. Hoards of young people devoured this dystopian universe and flocked together, excitedly discussing the lives of Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark, and many more beloved characters from a franchise that grew to such enormous heights.

The Hunger Games trilogy is a book series about a sixteen year old girl, Katniss Everdeen, and her journey toward overthrowing Panem’s oppressive form of government. Panem, a country born out of the ruins of the United States of America, holds a powerful Capitol and the surrounding, underling twelve districts who make goods for the rich people of the Capitol. In order to keep the districts suppressed and remind them of their failures during wartime, each year, the Capitol holds “The Hunger Games,” a battle to the death involving children ages 12-18, a girl and a boy each reaped from their own district (The Hunger Games).

Cover art for the first novel

We follow an unlucky Katniss Everdeen whose little sister, Primrose, was reaped on the day of the 74th Hunger Games. Katniss volunteers for Prim and must undergo the process of becoming a “tribute.” She must learn to play nice with her fellow tribute from District 12, Peeta Mellark, understand how to hunt and kill people instead of just the animals in the woods from back home, and learn what it means to be a symbol of rebellion (The Hunger Games).

The Hunger Games leads into its sequel, Catching Fire (2009), and finally finishes with Mockingjay (2010) (The Hunger Games Wiki). The book series was rewarded with four movies during the years 2012-2015. Fans have been around since the original book was released, but the fandom grew in 2012 with the premiere of The Hunger Games film (Top Ten Fandoms of 2012). After years without any new content from The Hunger Games universe, it was announced that Suzanne Collins would be releasing a prequel story called The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. This prequel was released on May 19th, 2020 - a very recent date. Since then, fans have gathered to discuss the new intricacies of the world and the past of character Coriolanus Snow, or President Snow as we know him in the original series. There is already talk of developing the prequel into its own movie adaptation (The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes).

Poster for the final movie

The Hunger Games fans, or as they call themselves, “tributes,” meetup to discuss the books, movies, and any theories they have about the series on platforms like Wiki Fandom, Discord, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, Twitter, and Tumblr (Top Ten Fandoms of 2012). You can find tributes in any corner of the internet. 

Let’s take a look at the fandom’s social media statistics:

Facebook: 4.3M Likes | Twitter: 1M Followers | Reddit: 33.8K Subscribers | Wiki: 566 Pages | FanFiction.net: 38K Submissions | Archive of Our Own: 12.k Submissions

(Top Ten Fandoms of 2012)

The kind of people to enjoy this book series tend to commonly love YA/dystopian fiction. Lovers of "THG," or The Hunger Games, typically have read other book series like The Mazerunner, Divergent, Harry Potter, and Percy Jackson. 

THG was massively popular in 2012 on Tumblr, a blogging website. It shared the stage with other giants in the fiction spotlight such as Doctor Who, The Avengers, BBC’s Sherlock, and The Twilight Saga. (Top Ten Fandoms of 2012).

Here are a few older, popular memes from the fandom at its peak - post-release of the first movie in 2012. Fans made memes and shared them on every kind of social media website. The first one is a line the character, Effie Trinket, delivers in the first movie when Katniss stabs the wooden table with a knife after her mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, provokes her anger. This line was never actually in the novel, but Elizabeth Banks' delivery was too iconic for fans to ignore. The second meme is in an older format. Fans labeled this specific type of meme, "Advice Peeta," wherein fans included Josh Hutcherson's face at the center of some reference to one of his more unfortunate moments.

Today, tributes are still discussing their favorite aspects of the book series in large forums and group chats. Here is a post sent to the members of “The Hunger Games Memes” page on Facebook, a place where active fans often post their best memes. Other fans talk on the fandom Wiki and also have their own Discord group. They share fanart, fanfiction, theories, and overall just have conversations with each other about a story they are passionate about (Songbirds and Snakes).

Fans also created a vast amount of fanart. If one simply goes into the “THG fanart” tag on Tumblr, it is incredibly easy to find art made by fans for the franchise. Fanart is a popular way of showing love for a story and its characters, and also allows new fans to be drawn into a fandom.

Fanart by victoriaying on Tumblr

The fanart on the right is a depiction of one of the scenes from The Hunger Games where Katniss realizes the Career tributes have followed her around the arena. I vividly remember seeing this fanart on Tumblr when the artist first created it -
so it brought me back in time when I found it again. It’s amazing how art gets passed
around year after year for new fans to discover for the first time.

Fanart by risarodil on Tumblr

The fanart on the left is the artist's version of the first book's cover art. It visually represents Katniss' three-finger salute and her Mockingjay symbol as a shadow in the moon. I think this art is a unique interpretation of the symbols we see in the book.

Here is a recent fan-edit of Katniss Everdeen (specifically, Jennifer Lawrence from the movies). This video includes a series of clips from all four movies with overlaid bits of meaningful dialogue and the song, "Soldier" by Fleurie. The edit was posted on December 28th, 2020. Even five years after the movies' end, fans are still creating content. Katniss' character strikes a chord with many people. This video is a celebration of the fighting spirit she kept throughout all she had to endure in her life.

This video by "The Geek Apprentice" on YouTube is just one example of a book review for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. After the prequel was published, waves of fans raced to read it and then write and record reviews. I watched this review when it was posted on May 22nd, 2020 - only three days after the release. The video has 43k views, all representing hungry THG fans wanting to hear more about their favorite universe.

There is also an abundant amount of scholarly articles critiquing The Hunger Games trilogy, its characters, and its themes. After doing a solid search, I found an example of a fan written, meaningful essay about Katniss' gender identity and how she shifts her gender presentation after getting reaped in order to subconsciously and strategically survive the Capitol's standards. This essay, titled, "Of Queer Necessity: Panem’s Hunger Games As Gender Games," is a close-reading of gender in The Hunger Games universe and follows Katniss specifically, "Her ability to transform from one gender to the other speaks directly to the arbitrariness of its presentation as optional; rather, for Katniss, "male" and "female" or "masculine" and "feminine" become circumstantial parts that she plays, distinctly parallel to the roles forced upon her in District 12 and in the Games: "survivor" and "killer" (Mitchell 133). I believe this essay exemplifies the inspiration The Hunger Games gave to passionate writers who admire the series for its significant and impactful themes.

Overall, I believe it is acceptable to say The Hunger Games series left a serious impact on our society. Today, I find myself rereading the books and rewatching the movies. I have conversations with my friends in real life about my favorite parts of the books and the major character developments that take place. Often, I'll see a random tweet relating to The Hunger Games go viral and remember that we all experienced the same pandemonium for a series so beloved. Some of my fondest memories from my preteen years include The Hunger Games and I will always have a soft spot for the series.

Works Cited

amanda b. “Top Ten Fandoms of 2012.” Know Your Meme, Literally Media Ltd., 14 Dec. 2016, knowyourmeme.com/editorials/meme-review/top-ten-fandoms-of-2012. 

“[Image - 274497]: Advice Peeta.” Know Your Meme, Literally Media Ltd., 22 Feb. 2018, knowyourmeme.com/photos/274497-advice-peeta. 

Mitchell, Jennifer. “Of Queer Necessity: Panem’s Hunger Games As Gender Games.” Of Bread, Blood and The Hunger Games, edited by Lawrence J. Trudeau, McFarland, Jefferson, 2012, pp. 128–137. Gale Literature Criticism, link-gale-com.proxy-bloomu.klnpa.org/apps/doc/KKHHQC214520152/LCO?u=pl1928&sid=LCO&xid=a9cf047a. Accessed 24 Feb. 2021. 

“Songbirds and Snakes.” The Hunger Games Wiki, Fandom, Inc., 18 Feb. 2021, thehungergames.fandom.com/wiki/The_Hunger_Games_Wiki:Songbirds_and_Snakes.

“That Is Mahogany!: That Is Mahogany.” Know Your Meme, Literally Media Ltd., 20 Apr. 2019, knowyourmeme.com/photos/280602-that-is-mahogany. 

“The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.” The Hunger Games Wiki, Fandom, Inc., thehungergames.fandom.com/wiki/The_Ballad_of_Songbirds_and_Snakes.

“The Hunger Games.” The Hunger Games Wiki, Fandom, Inc., thehungergames.fandom.com/wiki/The_Hunger_Games. 

“The Hunger Games Wiki.” Fandom, Fandom, Inc., thehungergames.fandom.com/wiki/The_Hunger_Games_Wiki.