The Hunger Games Fandom and District 2: Military Above All Else
What I've written below is part of a larger series of notes that I've compiled over the last year. I want to open with a clarification: I have no personal ties to either industry that dominates the fictitious District 2, masonry and military, and I do not want to come across like I am belittling one and glorifying the other. What I am doing is hypothesizing why this fandom focuses on one sect — the military — vs the other —masonry.
Not to dig at Susan Cardigan (what my friend calls Suzanne when we're mad at her lol), but I fear she also falls into the pitfall of the fandom and prioritizes the military aspect of D2 because of:
A) accessibility/understanding
B) easier to draw parallels to American militarism than masonry unions
C) the vilification of the military through the eyes of the oppressed while also not giving into peoples reasoning for joining the military until the 3rd book when it was stated that that's where the PK's come from which in turn still holds negative connotations because D2 has always been vilified because of the propaganda
To me, it really is just people having a better understanding/knowledge about the military and the way they operate that makes it easier for the fandom to became more interested in that aspect because it's familiar. The amount of people who literally name D2 as the military district as though that's its primary or even SOLE export pisses me off but I can't blame them because that is literally all we have seen from it from the beginning.
The only time we see someone who has ties to the masonry community is Lyme and then she's killed "off-screen." One and done. While we have Enobaria, the one who was subjected to the propaganda and became a Victor who touted the Capitol's image of D2 as brutal and violent who votes to continue that violence one final time as karmic justice.
But also we have to consider WHY District 2 was chosen as the military district after the fall of 13. There's the practical aspects like there already being a few bases out west as they already had a subculture of weapon manufacturing but also because of the culture of the district itself from a historical standpoint.
Masonry is an industry that has thrived because of community and unions; injecting the military into that cultural workspace makes all the sense in the world because the military is simply a different form of community that is ultimately tied to individualism.
While with masonry, that community is literally communal and is tied to the people and their work coming together to build literal buildings and statues and monuments. There is no way to be a cog in the masonry machine because all who work are essential to the final product VS the military where you are a nameless grunt and a number who works to get up to the ranks but are still in a higher position of power compared to the masons because of the social hierarchy.
So practicality and community are two aspects of why D2 was chosen, but how does that seep into the fandom favoring one over the other? If the answer is literally in front of our eyes, why do people see it as one thing and forgo the other industry? Because the military is sexy.
It's appealing to have characters central to the story that are brainwashed into believing that fighting for your county and honoring it and continuing a war (both PK's and ofc the tributes we see throughout the series [sans TBOSAS]) and pity them because they became tools of the propaganda machine.
We NEVER, not until the 3rd book when we meet Lyme, do we find sympathy for those who live in that district and are not a part of the military sect and are facing the brunt of the militaries oppression in their own district. "...at the end of the day, they were still slaves. And if that was lost on the citizens who became Peacekeepers or worked in the Nut, it was not lost on the stonecutters who formed the backbone of the resistance here." (MJ, pg. 194) By suddenly shifting into the world of the stonecutters as rebels, we see them as people who are united in their suffering, in their oppression! Once Katniss gets shot and the whole world watches, District 2 falls into the rebellion and the Capitol losses it's final grip on the districts. The people of District 2 are now united to be free of their true oppressors while standing side-by-side with those who oppressed them.
I definitely have much more to say, but I'll leave it at this for now.
Hate how much A Little Treat has infested me. Any small discomfort and I'm immediately like oooo maybe exchanging money for goods and services will fix this situation.
The rule could have heavy impacts towards trans people across society.
Last week, the Trump administration quietly released a sweeping new federal rule that would use funding threats to force institutions across the country to reject transgender people. The 400-page proposed regulation would codify the administration's anti-trans executive orders into binding federal policy, imposing a blanket prohibition on federal funds going toward "gender ideology"
The proposed rule, formally titled "Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance," rewrites the government-wide framework governing all federal grants across every agency. Among its most consequential provisions, it requires that before a federal grant recipient can receive money, the award must pass a "pre-issuance review" conducted by a political appointee—not a career expert or peer reviewer—to ensure it is "consistent with applicable law, Federal agency priorities, and the national interest." The regulation explicitly instructs these appointees to screen for "denial by the recipient of the sex binary in humans or the notion that sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic." [...] An institution that acknowledges transgender people exist—through its policies, its training, its healthcare, its bathroom access, its HR procedures, its name-change processes—could be deemed to "deny the sex binary" or to “support the notion that sex is mutable” and have its federal funding blocked.
Importantly, the gender ideology prohibition has no age limitation—hospitals could be targeted not just for providing care to minors but for providing gender-affirming care to adults, because prescribing hormone therapy to a transgender patient of any age could be deemed promoting the belief that "sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic."
This is all very bad and horrible, but I want to be clear that it’s worse and more sweeping than just eliminating trans research.
This torches everything. And I do mean everything.
A very abbreviated list of its ramifications include (but are not limited to):
ending funding for ALL DEI related initiatives
allowing the government to terminate grants at any point for any reason
preventing researchers from publishing, going to conferences, and being part of academic societies
requiring that topics must support the president’s agenda.
What this means, and if anything I’m under selling it, is the death of science and research in America. It allows the government to restrict any topic they please at a whims notice, putting officials who have no background in the topic in charge of deciding funding continuity. It controls what gets researched and if/how researchers are allowed to share their discoveries. There are no books to burn if the government never allows them to be written. This is fascism plain and simple.
Please, if you only ever write one public comment, this is the one to do.
Bringing back this guide to writing an effective public comment. This gives you the basics you need to know, what you need to include, a basic outline you can follow, etc.
Public comments are not a vote, it is a chance for you to say "here is an issue with this law I think you need to address" and provide justification for legal challenges if it goes forward:
"Comments raise the bar that agencies have to meet when making a rule; “if an agency fails to adequately respond to significant, relevant comments in a final rule, members of the public may seek to challenge the rule in court on that basis and claim it could be struck down.ˮ"
But also, if possible, don't stop at writing a comment. Don't stop at calling your representatives. You should ideally be talking to people in your community about this and organizing resistance on-the-ground; there is a good chance people are already doing that even if you aren't hearing about it.
₊˚⊹ ㅤmostly THG-based questions but there are plenty of options for non-THG OCs and, obviously, you can edit as you see fit! Enjoy and please ask me about my fictional babies. PLEASE. if you don't clarify which OC/character, i will legally be required to pick a fav.
how do they see themselves ? a hero, a villain, weak, strong, caring, etc ?
did they volunteer ? as a Career, for a loved one, etc ?
are they proud of their Games ?
how did Victory change them most obviously and more discretely ?
ㅤdo they crave touch or fear it ?
when they got back to their District, how did their family see them ?
when did they feel the safest before their Games?
where do they now feel the safest ?
ㅤhow do they sleep ? curled up, sprawled, holding onto something or someone ?
what is a fear they never talk about ?
do they feel ostracised, embraced, famous, etc in their home District ?
what new fears did they develop from their arena or even afterwards ?
how do they handle the Games season each year ?
do they feel like they still owe someone from the arena ?
what object/token they always carry with them since their Victory ?
what's their worst coping mechanism ?
who have they never forgiven and never will ?
ㅤis there something or someone that, if lost, would break them ?
did they recieve a 'warning' from Snow ? if so, what did it look like ?
do they see their reflection the same since their arena ? how is it different now ?
ㅤwhen was the last time they cried and about what ?
do they see animals differently after any possible muttations from the arena ?
did they develop a new fear since their time in the arena ?
did they get closer or more distant from their Mentors now that they're Victors ?
ㅤdo they still believe they’re worthy of being loved ?
do they have an ally they wish won instead of them ?
ㅤwhat is their main love language ?
what does their Victor's Crown look like ?
ㅤis there a story they love sharing with others ?
what kind of nightmares or other PTSD symptoms do they get ?
ㅤwhat memory do they replay when they’re alone ?
was any of their family reaped/followed them into the arena ? to what end ?
what’s the one choice they regret making or not making ?
what’s a truth about themselves they refuse to admit ?
what kind of drunk are they ?
how do they think the Capitol vs the Districts vs the other Victors percieve them ?
what is a scar that they have but never talk about ?
ㅤdo they have a favourite lie they like to hear ?
would they ever revisit their arena post-Rebellion/after it becomes a memorial ?
do they see themselves starting a family ?
are they friendly, flirty, standoffish, or other with the other Victors ?
what is their Mentorship style and does it change over time ?
what does “home” mean to them ?
what District would they most like to visit if travel was freely granted ?
I require all the tea about that post w/ the Careers you ranted about a few days ago. (the one about how writing for a Career district and not having them be Careers makes no sense, if that rings a bell) Sorry it's taken this long but I, too, have thoughts.
IMO, you have to write a very good explanation as to why a D1, D4, and especially D2 tribute wouldn't be a Career. I think it definitely happens that 'something goes wrong' in the volunteer selection (I HC that's what happened with Finnick but it's one of those 'depends on what I'm writing bc I can see it being a bunch of different things') but, especially in D2, just having someone not volunteer lowkey makes no sense. Like it has to be a big deal. I'm talking social paraiah for the non-volunteer and either genuine dislike or full 'they're screwed' for the tribute now reaped.
What are your thoughts? Hopefully that made sense but I've definitely written it in that Careers, rarely, will have a year that somehow Snow forbids volunteering without every outright saying it. So one or all of those Career districts is forced to send in unprepared tributes. But it's rare, terrifying, a big deal, etc. It isn't just 'oh, Paris from D1 didn't step up in time, I guess 12y/o Dior's going in for her, oopsies' ya know?
It's like with anything, it has to be written well. And I know you write well so I want your takes, lmao
Hi, friend!
This is stupid long, so get some snacks <3
So, I do get it the point of a career POV brainwashing, cultism, eventual disillusionment. I understand that and I do agree. HOWEVER COMMA, because people paint Careers with such a wide brush and—more often than they’d like to admit—seeing them as monolithic, sort of in the way of how Katniss sees them as just being from 1, 2, and 4 where that automatically means that they are Careers. And so there’s a lot of people who just say, “oh, because they volunteered from this district, that means that they're a Career tribute.” By equating Career tributes with volunteering takes away the power of volunteering itself. Which is why Katniss was so monumental! But even outside of Katniss and looking at those Career districts, having what we know as “Careers,” that does not happen overnight. Guys, if SOTR (bleugh) has taught us anything, it’s that these things TAKE TIME! Volunteers from those districts have happened before that for their own reasons, not for the honor of the Games and by equating those tributes the same as ones like Cato, Clove, Brutus (I’m only name dropping them because they are the only ones who are canonically [read: textually] volunteers in the “Classic Career”-sense and y’all can scream at me all you want that Enobaria and Cashmere and Glimmer and Marvel and Gloss and Finnick and Annie ETC all volunteered because that’s what Katniss said in the text, but then y’all are just saying that Every Tribute From These Districts Are Careers AND THAT IS JUST SILLY!), it takes away from their sacrifice, being one not of upper-class mobility or valor, but of sparing a loved one.
Which leads us into deciding what constitutes a Career tribute as someone who has been trained for the Games. It does not mean that they are volunteers but a lot of tributes who are Career tributes are volunteers because they have trained for this. I understand having that POV for a Career is like that and is truly what the story is and that's perfectly understandable. But I don't think that having a tribute from these districts be in the Games mean that they're automatically Careers. I don't think that that's exciting TO ME ON MY PERSONAL INTERNET SPACE THAT I CULTIVATE FOR MYSELF because it’s just so monolithic. Like having someone like Cliffe is a really interesting thing because he is the only one out of all of my OCs who volunteered. But he is also the only one who did not stay with his pack. The other two, Ashlar and Harlow, neither of them were volunteers. They were slip picked. But they did stay with their pack. We cannot be having these characters and having this system and automatically just blanketing them under this moniker because they come from XYZ district/because they are with the pack/because this and this and this. We have to finalize and just come to an agreement that what makes a Career tribute is the fact that they are trained for this.
But to have that Career POV with that criteria of brainwashing, cultism, disillusionment, be with every single Career OC from that from those respective districts is like…a trope. We all know this series is full of tropes. There's fake pregnancies, there's star-crossed lovers, etc. We're all in agreement, that's cool and fun and fresh. But, like…where's the sauce? Like give us something fun. Give us something new. And that, my friends, is EXACTLY what me and my friends are doing with our respective OCs! Not to say it all has to be this way, people can do whatever the fuck they want with their own OCs because guess what? They are their OCs. Let people fucking LIVE!
Just because they come from these districts does not mean that they are in this for the love of the fucking game.
It brings up the question of how much of it is it a trope versus how much of it is a used as a literary device on the reflection of the system that they are in. That’s a question. That's a big, big question. We don't have time to talk about all of that. However TO ME BC THIS IS MY OPINION, it is both. It is a trope but it is also a result of this situation and the system that they are a part of. With that being said, there are still going to be outliers. This is not something that is for the entire district, for every single citizen of that district. The propaganda is very strong. It goes really deep. But it does not hit everywhere. And nor should it! Like if that really were the case, we wouldn't have the characters that we've had. We wouldn't even have Katniss. We wouldn't have Gale. We wouldn't have Sejanus. We wouldn't have all of these characters who are doing intentionally rebellious acts. You know, going into the woods, hunting, doing all of these things that are that are illegal in their country. Because—even though yes, they definitely have like a surveillance state blah blah blah—people are going to do what they can in order to survive and a lot of that is going to be assimilation. And a lot of that is also going to be rebelling in small forms. Which is why I have the lore that I do. Which is why I have the OC Victors that I do. I don't think that it's exciting narratively for everyone to be copy/paste in all of these districts.
Because yes, Capitol propaganda does run deep in 1, in 2 (IN 2!), in 4, and it also runs very deep into all of the other districts. But the way that that propaganda is done in 1, 2, and 4, is streamlined very differently.
I feel like a lot of people are going to come at me for the argument of calling out my OCs as outliers, which is a fact, but also: why are you guys going to be mad at me for doing something different? Like, you guys are the ones that saying, “oh, it's silly that your career OCs aren't part of the pack and that they are already disillusioned and blah blah blah.” Do you think everyone around you thinks the same as you? Like I literally mean that generally. Like on any topic ever. Because that's not the case. Because guess what, guys? Y'all are not a monolith.
Careers are not a monolith. The fact of the of the moniker itself has carried so much weight where they are all just saying, “Oh, because they come from this in this district, that means that they are Careers.” Like you sound like Katniss Everdeen. That's not a bad thing. But in terms of this it is where it is so stilted, why are you shaming other people for how they themselves are writing THEIR OWN OCs? That’s counterintuitive and fucking rude.
I think the masses are also just going to be making the argument where they’ll claim that my tributes aren't Careers. I never fucking said that they were. And out of the three of them, the only one that IS THE PRESIDENT’S GRANDDAUGHTER! THAT GIRL HAS ACCESS TO ANYTHING (jk guys, it’s illusion of choice, my beloved) But you are also saying that because they come from this in this district, they are Careers. Do you hear yourself? Like the idea that the Careers are just gung-ho, pro-Games everything and then it like turns into the disillusionment: that's fine and that's a good story. But that is not the story me and my group chat of our respective OC-verse’ are telling. All of us are telling completely different stories. Different from how Careers are viewed in the canon and also in the fandom. And that's fine.
And to quote my friend:
Volunteering ≠ Career
Career ≠ evil
And to quote my OTHER friend:
I think it really comes down to the fact that in a fandom when you create OCs and engage with the literature, I think especially when you create OCs, there is a different standard of how you engage with stuff, right? When you write a book, obviously, you don't want to make a Mary Sue or and have the entire world kind of just warp around them to make everything they do make sense because that would make a boring book. But when you're just in a fandom and you're creating your OC and you're just having fun with whatever and exploring whatever you want, I think that’s the space to do it, right?
It's like whatever this conversation is even about that original tumblr post, it’s just not productive. I don't think it's productive to anything because you can explore your characters however you want. You can make your Careers however you want and that's fine. I might disagree with it personally but I'm not going to tell you to not do it. And I don't think what they're characterizing is necessarily even wrong. I think a lot of Careers probably fall under that kind of layout especially towards later games. But the thing is I'm personally in this fandom. I'm just not interested in engaging with that. And when we think about it it's not not canon compliant. So it's not even an issue from that front either. The way we engage with the Careers and their dynamic and whatever, right? But even if it is non-cannon compliant even though we—l don't think any of us here necessarily have a taste for engaging with the in a way that completely deviates from canon or outside of the realm of canonical possibility. Even if we were to do that it's a fucking fandom right? It's like it's well within our right to do it. So, what's the issue?
Don't you love that by the time you work up the energy and have a good idea of what you're gonna say about a post that you have Serious Problems With, OP deletes it?!
Like come on, couldn't you have at least given me another day to see how you got to the conclusions you did?
The other night husband and I were watching a documentary about the yeti where they were doing DNA analysis of samples of supposed yeti fur, and every one of them came back as bears.
Anyway, the next night we watched a thing about some pig man who is supposed to live in Vermont. People said it had claws and a pig nose but walked upright like a man. Now, I happen to know that sideshows used to shave bears and present them as pig men. So every piece of evidence they gave of this monster sounds to me like a bear with mange.
So now the running joke in our house is that everything is bears. Aliens? Bears. Loch Ness monster? Bear. Every cryptozoological mystery is just a very crafty bear.
Bears. They’re everywhere. Be wary. Anyone or anything could be a bear.
As the OP of this post, I’m going to threaten that if this gets to one million notes by the 10 year anniversary on 1 June 2026, one year from today, I will get a lower back tattoo of the loch ness bear monster.
Okay to my three Snowfall fans (@tumblingghosts @writes-too-much & Athens but you don't count bc I already have your opinion) thoughts on Emma Myers as teen-Celeste? Bc if yes, and I think so tbh, then I'd have the entire Happy Couple timeline all FCed
Emma Myers/Anya Taylor-Joy/Charlize Theron
Ethan Hwang/Justin H. Min/Daniel Dae Kim
Bonus two of Ethan bc that's deadass Vance at some Capitol party: all by his lonesome, smoking like a chimney
omg ethan hwang & justin h min !!! vance is gonna be in the back of my mind when i’m rewatching umbrella academy - so here’s a bunch of tua screencaps that have vance vibes to me:
these might fit if justin had longer hair:
(i don’t think vance would let his expression be that openly put-upon in public, but maybe it’d flash over his face when it’s just him and celeste & she’s said something particularly terrible, before he immediately masks his emotions again.)
ik vance wasn’t this young during his games & it wasn’t this bloody in his final fight, but still. maybe the imagery shows up in his nightmares after wren had just been born…
very cool faceclaims for celeste too!! she’s just consistently got this ‘i’m better than you’ expression and posture…
@tumblingghosts I SCREAMED with your screencaps thank you sooo much, friend!! It is funny what you said about Vance's face with those pics of Justin bc Vance is such a fucking clown but just in the districts. It does peak out a bit in the Capitol, but only with the kids ofc. He's developed a real dry sense of humor after all his time in the City, but again, that mostly stays within the confines of the Capitol.
Oh but the one of Justin in the leather chair and a glass AHHHHHH (we all know its the Missus' drink, but still THE VIBES™!!! But now I'm picturing him in that chair with a joint and am ascending.)
And I will now be taking this:
ik vance wasn’t this young during his games & it wasn’t this bloody in his final fight, but still. maybe the imagery shows up in his nightmares after wren had just been born…
And applying it to the nightmares of after Wren is born as you suggested, and then they resurface after CASSIA WON bc she was bad and raw and bloody.
And last but not least as for the Celeste vibes: yeah, she's just a white woman so that's about all she's got going for her.¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Okay to my three Snowfall fans (@tumblingghosts @writes-too-much & Athens but you don't count bc I already have your opinion) thoughts on Emma Myers as teen-Celeste? Bc if yes, and I think so tbh, then I'd have the entire Happy Couple timeline all FCed
Emma Myers/Anya Taylor-Joy/Charlize Theron
Ethan Hwang/Justin H. Min/Daniel Dae Kim
Bonus two of Ethan bc that's deadass Vance at some Capitol party: all by his lonesome, smoking like a chimney
As an older queer, allow me to say: the walls of the closet are load-bearing. It is our job as a community to stand in front of that door and tell everyone who wants to peek inside to fuck off.
There are so many reasons a person may choose not to come out and there is no reason a person would owe the public or a stranger that information. Certainly it's not owed simply because someone is famous.
We have fought for decades to make it safer for people to be open and authentic about themselves, but we are not yet there. And even if we were, the closet would still be something we need to maintain for those who are not ready to reveal that part of themselves.
Other sites also have the "Does anyone have this image?" posts, but only on tumblr you'll find "Does anyone have that mesopotamien clay tablet?" posts.
Roller Coaster @little-de-vil - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
