Dystopias aren’t a dating ground for the main characters, unlike what Hollywood thinks.
Dystopian environments should make the main character and reader question everything and everyone. Would they tell me to the government? Would they leave me behind as we run away from infected people? Should I trust them?
Hollywood focuses too much on love to notice that the economy is collapsing and trust is a difficult and complicated thing while living in a dystopia.
In this essay I will be comparing The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner and between the books and the movies.
In the Hunger Games Trilogy, the books written by Suzanne Collins), there are plenty of instances when the main character, Katniss Everdeen makes it plainly clear that she doesn’t want to have a relationship with either Gale (her childhood best friend) and Peeta (the boy who saved her life when they were young.)
She only wants to save her younger sister, Primrose, and their mother. Anyone else is just a bonus. However, playing the star-crossed-lovers is what managed to save her and Peeta from the first games, because the Capitol (like America and Hollywood) wants to see a love story. After 74 years of having every other type of victory story, romance is perfect for them. “Haymitch is right. Star crossed lovers, they eat that stuff up in the Capitol.”
Katniss Everdeen fully believes in the “eye for an eye” motive. She cannot let go of the fact that Peeta saved her life when they were young, which proves to be a good motivation to destroy the Capital and its ideals of using child slaughter as entertainment.
Even though everyone in the Capital, as well as real life fans who only watch the movies, believe that Katniss and Peeta’s love for each other is what sparked the rebellion that led to the revolution, that is incorrect.
It was the murder of a 12 year old girl in the first games and Katniss’s grief that made the other Districts realise that they are done watching their children be placed in the awful situation where humans are pitted against each other and are forced to fight for the entertainment of others.
If Peeta wasn’t in the Hunger Games, it would still have a powerful message and Katniss Everdeen would still not be with Gale.
Although, in the prequel of the Hunger Games, we learn that before the 11th Game the Capital people didn’t enjoy watching the Hunger Games, not while contrasting their reactions in the 74th. For them it was as much punishment as it was for the District people.
In the end of the books, it is even shown that Katniss left Peeta. She left both of her love options so she can just live by herself and do what she wanted back in District 12.
Peeta, like always, came to her.
Survival takes precedence over romance within the books of The Maze Runner. We see it numerous times.
In the Scorch Trials, when Teresa betrayed Thomas and still believed that W.I.C.K.E.D was good, that was the answer.
In the movies of The Death Cure, Teressa choses W.I.C.K.E.D again and decides to stay, even so. The romance still clouded Thomas’ decision, he was hesitant to trust Teresa but less so than the others.
In the movies Teresa betrays Thomas on an almost daily basis, it was starting to get very tiring. She kept getting into contact with W.I.C.K.E.D (Although it is spelled WCKD for some reason), ignoring the fact that they have failed so many times at so many things. They were meant to keep the Gladers(or subjects as they referred to them) under control, and failed. They were meant to find a cure for the Flare, but failed. They were meant to save humanity and yet again they failed.
In the movies, Teresa’s faith in WCKD was conflicting with her love for Thomas, but near the end of the books Teresa thought she was saving Thomas.
In both The Maze Runner and The Hunger Games (the movies), people’s main focus is romance. As such the screenwriters must have decided to use that to their advantage and focus on it as well. Perhaps because the real meaning of the books were too dark for Americans to take seriously and probably because when someone goes to see a movie they want to be entertained, they want to be moved by something that is seen in regular life. Cranks and murdered children are often evasive from the day-to-day life of people.
So, what is the real meaning of the books?
With The Hunger Games, I believe its main focus is how easily humans can be distracted by positive media, sparkly dresses and good food. As long as things are disguised by something pretty and something that releases endorphins, it’s ok. The Capital uses bureaucracy, politicians, social, culture and media control, that is what makes it dystopian.
With The Maze Runner, the main focus is how easily humans betray one another for “the greater good.” It is easy to be lied to, especially when they want to be lied to.
W.I.C.K.E.D lied to themselves. They believed they could play God with children. There were alternatives that they could have taken, but they were less entertaining to do. W.I.C.K.E.D used bureaucracy control like the Capital, but there wasn’t much media to control over, so they got creative. They used psychology to confuse the main characters, making them doubt everything. Their names, their whereabouts. The Gladers were physically confined into the Glade.
Bureaucracy, psychology, resources, physical and information control.
Dystopian is described as an unfair society… Like ours.