Paper Proposal
For my final paper, I would like to examine the way that media is used to influence and manipulate the views and beliefs of society within The Hunger Games trilogy. I am not sure which of the novels I would like to set my focus, currently I seem to be leaning towards Mockingjay due to the use of propaganda, brainwashing, and an overall abundance of manipulation through media that takes place within that novel. The terms propaganda and brainwash are not explicitly used; however, the terms ‘propo’ and ‘hijack’ are used and we can infer through their usage that they indeed relate to the terms propaganda and brainwash. I would also examine the ways that society and individual characters react to that influence and manipulation. These are a few ideas that I have narrowed down so far.
By focusing on the influence and manipulative powers of media within the novel, many questions spark my interest. How do the characters react to the manipulation? With such a great abundance of media influence and manipulation through that media, how does society distinguish between true or false information? Does society even make that distinction? Does the society even take an interest in the possibly of false information? How do certain members of society react to the media? Do they unconsciously believe everything, recognize the falsehood of the information yet do nothing, or recognize the falsehoods and take action? Which members of society fit into those categories? To which District do they belong and does that really matter? What forms of media influence and manipulation are evident in the novel?
Although, I have not narrowed my topic down enough, I have found a good number of promising resources. I have found two books that focus on The Hunger Games and literary analysis, which consist of essays on numerous topics relating to the trilogy. I have also found a few articles that examine the influence of reality TV, as well as a book that discusses how fantasy becomes a reality. Finally, I have discovered a few sources that discuss propaganda usage. I have only skimmed most of these resources over the past few days and am looking forward to reading them in their entirety in order to determine their usefulness.