HamptonHungerGamesProject

Introduction
When someone thinks of a literature class the first thing that comes to mind is the reading of great and well known novels, but even though we are in the "technology age" one never thinks about the possibilities of digital literature. The Internet has drastically changed the way literature is read and interpreted. It has let readers of different types of media from all around the world connect and form all types of online communities, which was never possible before. The wired world has allowed authors and readers to connect in a way new to all involved because they can interact dynamically instead of linearly like it used to be. Such as the reading "Spoiling Survivor" we read in class where the producer would see what the audience was saying online and then change things in the show accordingly. Electronic literature has formed out of the wired world, such as interactive fiction. This has changed the way text has been seen because it has broadened the sense of what the typical text was and made it much more dynamic and interesting. Lastly, it has changed how text is read by creating such things like hyperlinks, which we experienced through reading Frankenstein online, that allow the reader to interact with the text. Although some may be against the wired world changing the way literature is being read and interpreted, it has made literature much more interesting and vast, therefore encompassing many more fans.



The Hunger Games trilogy is oddly linked to many of the themes found in the book, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (DADOES), that we read in class. This is because in the book DADOES, the androids are not treated like real people and others are hired to kill them, which many android hunters do without a second thought. In The Hunger Games, the tributes, the children who are put into the arena to kill one another, aren't thought of as humans with lives, they are simply a form of entertainment for the Capitol who doesn't bat an eye when child after child is killed in a blood bath. The Hunger Games is also a lot like DADOES in the fact that they both have the idea of a utopia versus a dystopia. A utopia is described as an ideal society, such as the Capitol in The Hunger Games or the new colony on Mars that everyone left Earth for in DADOES. They both also have a dystopia, which is the opposite of a utopia, where everything is terrible. In The Hunger Games this is represented by the twelve districts and by Earth in DADOES. Both The Hunger Games and DADOES have multiple themes that were discussed in the class.

For my project, it was easy to examine the online communities that have formed around The Hunger Games trilogy. This is because there are many die hard fans for it, so much that a movie adaptation has just recently come out, which has gained the series an even bigger following. The online presence of the fans are both vast and widespread with many different opinions and thoughts to voice. A love triangle between the main characters plays out in the books leaving the fans to argue and fight in interpretive disputes over who Katniss Everdeen should end up with. All of the books in the trilogy are currently published for the fans to read so they have taken remediation to another level in making their own fan fiction stories, art, and videos centered around the books. A unique community of haters, and the haters of the haters, also formed online once the first movie came out and a few fans were less than pleased with the actors cast to play certain characters. Without the Internet and living in a wired world the fans that have formed these communities would have never been able to join together to discuss their passion for the trilogy. As the online communities surrounding The Hunger Games continues to grow, I have stepped back to take a look at the interpretive disputes, remediation, and haters that have made their presence known online.

Interpretive Disputes
In The Hunger Games the three main characters, Katniss, Peeta, and Gale, form a love triangle. Right from the start of the first book in this trilogy the relationships formed between Katniss and the two boys are noticeably unique from one another and readers see them develop as the story progresses. Naturally, debates between the fans form about which boy Katniss should end up with: Gale, her best friend since she was young and her hunting partner, or Peeta, her partner in the Hunger Games from her district who reveals his love of Katniss and vows to protect her. The points that the fans introduce are not only valid but thought provoking. Which one is the guy Katniss should end up with? Which is the right side to be on?

On the site Fanpop there is a fan generated article titled "Team Gale vs. Team Peeta" that has several fan written pieces saying why they are on which team they are, as well as allows additional fans to comment. A fan named "silver93" argues for Peeta's side by bringing up the point that Katniss never seemed to have a romantic relationship around Gale but when it came to Peeta it seemed as if she was always fighting with herself to not like him for Gale's sake. To argue for their point of view, this fan not only argues for Peeta but against Gale. Another fan named "Twilightrox11" articulates their point by arguing how after Katniss' father died and her family was starving, Peeta risked getting beaten by his mother to give her bread. Although, some fans don't have as good of reasons as to why they are team Peeta such as "starxdreamerxo" which says that she tried dating her best friend and it did not work out, thus Katniss should stay just friends with Gale. Either way, fans show their love for the books by spending time online to argue for which side they are on. Not only do they spend this time but they also do so by backing up their claims, not just arguing without reason. The fan running this debate even quotes evidence from the book as to why Katniss should end up with Peeta, "I realize only one person will be damaged beyond repair if Peeta dies. Me."

On this same site, there are significant posts arguing for team Gale's side, such as a fan named "savvy99" who discusses how Gale can put a genuine smile on Katniss' face, not like the fake one's she often uses in the books. This fan also argues how they have an undeniable bond that trumps hers and Peeta's. This fan shows how they read between the lines, not just quoted the book. Another fan, "IamRue," uses a slew of point to argue for Gales side like how Gale and Katniss grew up together, taught each other how to survive, and how he took care of her family while she was in the games. The runner of this website's debate never comes to a conclusion and leaves the discussion open ended. It is important that the runner of the debate does this because it allows others to form their own opinions without being influenced either way.

There are also other sites that have this same debate going on; however, none seemed to have this same level of thought put into the debate. On the Hunger Games Wiki, fans can vote for certain comments and the number one voted for is "Peeta! :D" with 240 votes. There is also 71 comments where fans can say which side they are and back up their choice. Some fans on the Wiki show how they are upset this debate is going on because then it becomes too much like the Twilight series and

therefore loses its dignity and uniqueness. This in itself could be thought of as an interpretive dispute inside an interpretive dispute because these particular fans are afraid of The Hunger Games (and its fans) losing its reputation. Another site, called HeyMonkeyBrain, does this (focusing mainly on the comments) by talking about the side they are on and asks fans to comment whether they agree or disagree. The comments and points made seem to be in line with what is on the other sites. Although, a few people do make the point on this site that one should read all three books before making the decision as this may change their point of view. This is an important point to make because the relationships go more into depth and get more elaborated on as the story continues to ones point of view might change.

One of the most important points to make when talking about this interpretive dispute is that there is not a necessarily wrong side to be on. However, to even be on a side, readers have to do their own analysis of not only the text, but of the two very different relationships to come to a conclusion. A person cannot simply be on a side without really reading into the text. That is why this is one of the crucial debates surrounding The Hunger Games, because it requires readers to interpret the text in their own way and then to come together to dispute it.

Remediation
The Hunger Games, being one of the most popular trilogy's out as well as a huge movie hit, has generated a significant amount of fan fiction, whether it be stories, art, or videos. One of the biggest form of fan fiction is chapters and stories written by fan's that add on to the trilogy, is a prologue, or elaborates on certain aspects of the story more. On the site Fan Fiction there happens to be 16, 322 different fan written stories currently and is increasing by the day. This shows the desire for fans to expand on the Hunger Games and to express what they wish, or think, would've happened related to this trilogy. This is because the books leave a lot of room for expanding and interpretation.

A person named "Kkepicness" creates a chapter called "Confessions of a Teenage Marvel." The title comes from a tribute named Marvel, who was not elaborated on in the book to the extent some might have liked. This title is also fitting because the author chose to right it in a diary format in order to express Marvel's inner thoughts. A fan fiction based around Marvel is surprising because he does not play a huge part in The Hunger Games book; however, it does leave a lot of room for interpretation on the author's side. In the book, Marvel is a career, which means he has been trained since he was young to be in the games. The author plays on this and elaborates on his inner feelings by saying, "''Dear diary, today's that reaping thing. My name's gonna be in that giant fishbowl thing 5 times, I'm 16 years old. I admit, I may be a career, but I never wanted to be reaped. It's been my nightmare to be reaped. All of the other careers want to, but I absolutely don't." ''The point that Marvel never wanted to be in the reaping is never mentioned in the book, the author has come up with it. This shows that the author may have felt sadness for Marvel having been trained to kill since he was younger and being forced to do it. It shows that the author was moved by Marvel in the book, even though he plays such a small part, that they felt the need to continue his story. Marvel's character in the book allows the author to have creative freedom when it comes to the rest of his story, which "Kkepicness" took full advantage of.

Suzanne Collins' books have such vivid descriptions that it is no surprise that the Hunger Games have also created a huge amount of fan art. One fan was particularly moved by the relationship that has formed between Katniss and Peeta and elaborated on this by drawing them. It depicts them in an embrace, which clearly shows that there is something going on between the two of them that is more than just friends. The artist captioned it "A Different Kind of Hunger" which not only plays on the title of the book but also infers that there is a relationship blooming between these characters. The artist used the major features of the characters that the author mentioned such as Peeta having short blonde hair and Katniss having dark hair always in a braid. This image drew my attention because there is a lot going on in the drawing that can be interpreted differently based on the viewer.



Another form of remediation surrounding The Hunger Games is fan made videos that act out their interpretation of the major scenes in the book. This fan made video shows the "producers" vision of how the book was played out. In it some fight scenes were acted out, the relationship between Katniss and Rue was shown, and the background of the arena (nature) was a huge part. By doing this, the producers show which scenes were most important to them and have creative freedom to act them out how they see fitting.

Haters
When it comes to any form of media there are going to be people who don't like it. Instead of focusing on people who hate on The Hunger Games trilogy, I am focusing on a particular part of the first movie adaptation that came out that many people were "hating" on. In the first book two tributes, Rue and Thresh, as well as Katniss' stylist, Cinna, are described as being dark skinned. When the movies came out these characters had, obviously, been cast with black actors, which sparked an outrage from some fans that were seriously disappointed to see black actors on screen.



All of this talk first started on twitter and once the backlash grew it started catching national attention. A blog site titled Lovelyish decided to discuss this and ask if anyone else was upset about it. They quoted some of the tweets found such as, "Why does Rue have to be black? Not gonna lie, kinda ruined the movie." Shockingly enough, this ignorant fans twitter page no longer exists. There was not just one racist hater, however. Another person said, "Awkward moment when Rue is some black girl and not the innocent blond girl you picture," and there account has also since been deleted. All of this conflict has created some confusion because if they had read the books they would not have been as surprised. If they were described as dark skinned in the book why would the movie be any different? It is also kind of humorous, though, because in the movie children are killing other children yet people are upset about race.

Out of these haters, came haters of the haters, or people who are bashing these racist Hunger Games fans. A type of community has formed to join together to show their disgust for the people who made these racist comments and to support the black actors in the movie. On Lovelyish the users that commented seemed to mostly ban together to express their own comments about the people who were offended that these characters were black. A user named "stop_that_squirrel" commented, "The worst part about all of this is that people were upset because they couldn't picture a black girl being 'innocent,' as one of the tweets mentioned." This was a valid point that other users commented back to her on because it shows that they were not only upset by the skin color but how this skin color changes the way the character was portrayed in their eyes. Others simply said that some people will find anything to be offended about. There are many other comments hating on these haters, but they all have the same gist to them, that if they had read the book they would not have been offended and if they had read the book and were still offended than they are just "ignorant racists." By analyzing not only the community of haters but the community of people hating on the haters, one can see the passion and support people show for the Hunger Games and those who acted in the movie adaptation.

Links & Resources
Hunger Games Official Website

Hunger Games Movie Soundtrack List

Hunger Games Wiki

Hunger Games Trilogy Fansite

Hunger Games Fan-Fiction Site