Hunger games? Broadcast Industry?
The Hunger Games is a TV Show, where 24 tributes - a boy and girl pair - from 12 districts fight to death until only one victor is left. The Games do not only involve brute strength and survival skills; it also involves making one known and noticeable enough for them to receive support throughout the games.
Knowing at least the gist of the concept of the Hunger Games, do you see some similarities it has with the Broadcast Industry?
"Happy Hunger Games!"
First, it involves seeing who is best by killing off enemies. The broadcast industry does not literally kill off its competitors, but it involves showing who or what company is the best. Survival of the fittest, in simple terms. If your company does not fair off with the others, you will be "killed" or cut off by those who are powerful and mighty from the industry. This industry involves showing who is the best and fighting for the best spot.
"Who cares? It's all a big show. It's all how you're perceived" - Haymitch Abernathy
Now we have the sponsors. The tributes do not only kill to win and rely on their skills, they also show-off even before the official games in order to garner sponsors willing to help them. They have to learn how to be like-able in order to heighten their chances of winning, and more importantly, SURVIVING. This is something much similar to the broadcast industry. Shows, programs, and concepts are made in order to make their company "sellable" Their sponsors and advertisers are their means of survival. How do they pull sponsors? Katniss, the heroine of The Hunger Games, received help during the Games when the sponsors saw her skill. Just like in real life: show them your skills and make yourself known as something different. You lure them to you by using any means, positive or not, to catch them. Another example would be the personality Peeta and Katniss (tributes from the 12th district) projected for themselves during the Games and preparation. They were projected as a couple and people who were unique. They used garments that seemed to be on fire and pronounced it as real fire in order to "wow" the audience. The Games and the broadcast industry involves having to make oneself NOTICEABLE.
"I want to do something, right here, right now, to shame them, to make them accountable, to show the Capitol that whatever they do or force us to do that there is a part of every tribute they can't own. That Rue was more than a piece in their games. And so am I." - Katniss Everdeen
The Hunger Games shows that the broadcast industry has many faces. It can be a villain that oppresses, it can be a light that shines the truth, it can be a thin thread of hope, it can be shackles to concretize social control, it can be anything. The Hunger Games itself was a TV show. To the 12 districts it was a reminder of what the Capital can do. To the Capitol it was a simple means of entertainment. Along the way, the Hunger Games, as it was broadcast, became a bridge to let the districts see what the capitol was doing to them and a spark to start something. Our broadcast industry is the same. It can be used as a private means to obtain profit and power. A simple giving of people what they want in order to have the advertisers to flock to them, or a means of fabricating the truth to use against one's competitors. A weapon similar to having a private army. It can also be used reponsibly. A means of broadcasting what is there to be broadcast: the truth. The media is a neutral force that obtains a side depending on who uses it. The broadcast industry is our very own Hunger Games.
"Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor!"
