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[napoleon]

Hunger Games predecessors?
March 23, 2012 1:44 PM Subscribe
What are the books and films that The Hunger Games rips off pays homage to?

There are the obvious ones: Battle Royale (novel and film); The Running Man (novella by Stephen King and film, though they are quite different, and I think THG draws more from the film); "The Long Walk" by Stephen King.

Going way back, there's "The Most Dangerous Game" from 1896, and a number of variations on that.

This every-person-for-him/herself is practically its own genre, but I can't think of more examples. Help me out.
posted by zardoz to Media & Arts (36 answers total) 25 users marked this as a favorite


Best answer:Well, there's the great grandaddy of all of those: Lord of the Flies.
posted by griphus at 1:45 PM on March 23, 2012 [2 favorites]


I've not read the book, but from what I've heard it sounds like it has some similarities to The Lottery by Shirley Jackson.
posted by scrambles at 1:48 PM on March 23, 2012 [4 favorites]


Best answer:"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson?
posted by livinglearning at 1:50 PM on March 23, 2012 [4 favorites]


Scrambles beat me to the race. Read "The Lottery" when you get a chance though. I provided a link to the short story above.
posted by livinglearning at 1:51 PM on March 23, 2012


Was just posting The Lottery and had to delete on preview.. Its also reminiscent of Rollerball in many ways.
posted by Lame_username at 1:51 PM on March 23, 2012


House of Stairs by William Sleator has similar themes and is also YA lit, from 1974.
posted by nakedmolerats at 1:52 PM on March 23, 2012 [3 favorites]


1984 is one of the main progenitors of such dystopian stories. It was also way before its time in portraying how mass media can be used as a force of propaganda and control.
posted by CTORourke at 1:52 PM on March 23, 2012 [1 favorite]


Not a book but a film: Series 7: The Contenders
posted by vitabellosi at 1:53 PM on March 23, 2012 [5 favorites]


Best answer:It is very different in many ways, but the world of Panem reminded me very much of the America in The Handmaid's Tale. The way it was so completely foreign and yet still very recognizable. Moreso in the later books, as you get more of a picture of the politics and and the society of Panem.
posted by Rock Steady at 1:55 PM on March 23, 2012 [6 favorites]


Oh and of course the author herself has said that she was inspired by the mythological stories of the labyrinth of Crete and the tribute to the Minotaur. But I don't know if you're looking that far back.
posted by CTORourke at 1:55 PM on March 23, 2012 [1 favorite]


The nightlock scene recalls a certain Shakespeare play.
posted by acidic at 2:01 PM on March 23, 2012 [1 favorite]


Death Race 2000

Definitely the Labyrinth of Crete like someone else said.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 2:02 PM on March 23, 2012


I would say these are all "hunted man" genre, but in a sub-genre that is "innocents as hunted and hunters". i.e. The Long Walk, The Hunger Games, The Lord of the Flies, etc. instead of The Running Man, Death Race 2000, Rollerball.

Anything you find with the themes of bonding with the knowledge that it won't last, loss of innocence and a realization of your own mortality will closely align with The Hunger Games, if that helps.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 2:06 PM on March 23, 2012 [1 favorite]


the author herself has said that she was inspired by the mythological stories of the labyrinth of Crete and the tribute to the Minotaur

Ha, I just heard the Hunger Games plot the other day and thought of this immediately, I didn't know it was done on purpose. (I feel slightly better now.)

Since you asked for books here it is in novel form, if you want.
posted by DestinationUnknown at 2:09 PM on March 23, 2012


Instead of a "ripoff", think of it more as a genre.

It reminds me of gladiator movies, where slaves are put into an arena not only to provide spectacle for the masses, but also to remind slaves of their place. Gladiator and Spartacus are examples.
posted by jabberjaw at 2:15 PM on March 23, 2012 [3 favorites]


From the author herself (PDF):
A: A significant influence would have to be the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. The myth tells how in punishment for past deeds, Athens periodically had to send seven youths and seven maidens to Crete, where they were thrown in the Labyrinth and devoured by the monstrous Minotaur.

Even as a kid, I could appreciate how ruthless this was. Crete was sending a very clear message: “Mess with us and we’ll do something worse than kill you. We’ll kill your children.” And the thing is, it was allowed; the parents sat by powerless to stop it. Theseus, who was the son of the king, volunteered to go. I guess in her own way, Katniss is a futuristic Theseus.

In keeping with the classical roots, I send my tributes into an updated version of the Roman gladiator games, which entails a ruthless government forcing people to fight to the death as popular entertainment. The world of Panem, particularly the Capitol, is loaded with Roman references. Panem itself comes from the expression “Panem et Circenses” which translates into “Bread and Circuses.”

The audiences for both the Roman games and reality TV are almost characters in themselves. They can respond with great enthusiasm or play a role in your elimination.

I was channel surfing between reality TV programming and actual war coverage when Katniss’s story came to me. One night I’m sitting there flipping around and on one channel there’s a group of young people competing for, I don’t know, money maybe? And on the next, there’s a group of young people fighting an actual war. And I was tired, and the lines began to blur in this very unsettling way, and I thought of this story.
posted by bonehead at 2:15 PM on March 23, 2012 [8 favorites]


TV Tropes to the rescue! Try Bread and Circuses, Deadly Game. Also, maybe Robert Sheckley's short story "The Seventh Victim" and the movie based on it.
posted by The Tensor at 2:19 PM on March 23, 2012


Mildly spoily: If Katniss is Theseus, does that make Peeta Ariadne?
posted by bonehead at 2:27 PM on March 23, 2012


The Giver
posted by hefeweizen at 2:37 PM on March 23, 2012 [1 favorite]


BattleRoyale in book, novel, and movie form

Series 7: The Contenders rocks the "reality show contestants forced to kill each other" angle

(warning: TVTropes!)
posted by nicebookrack at 2:41 PM on March 23, 2012 [1 favorite]


The Survivor "reality" TV series(es).

The Running Man was a Stephen King novel about a dystopian future United States where people are hunted down and killed on a televised game show, later made into a film starring Ahnold Schwartzenegger.

Also everything about gladiatorial combat, ever.
posted by XMLicious at 2:51 PM on March 23, 2012


As soon as I started reading The Hunger Games, I was struck by how much it reminded me of Ender's Game. I'm a bit surprised I haven't seen that similarity referenced much, beyond today's New York Times review. (Then again, I've been avoiding all the Hunger Games movie hype.)
posted by soleiluna at 4:05 PM on March 23, 2012


It's not as significant as many other sources mentioned here, but I think there's a touch of Logan's Run in that you have a deadly dystopia with age-delimited reasons for killing its citizenry where there are also rumors about a utopian counterpart out in the wilderness. The details differ quite a bit, but I have a feeling pretty near every SF author the same age as Suzanne Collins is aware of the plot.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 4:19 PM on March 23, 2012 [1 favorite]


The 10th Victim from 1965 is also relevant.
posted by galaksit at 4:27 PM on March 23, 2012


‘Hunger Games’ Vs. ‘Battle Royale’

Collins herself has repeatedly denied having ever seen or even heard of "Battle Royale" until she’d already turned in the manuscript of the trilogy’s first novel, at which point she asked her editor if she should read it. “He said: ‘No, I don’t want that world in your head. Just continue with what you’re doing,’” she told the New York Times last April, and claimed to have still never read the book or the movie.

So, if you believe Collins, not so much on the homage/rip-off, although it's possible some knowledge of the Japanese story had filtered down to her as she wrote her own similar story. Side note, but "Hunger Games" has also killed the market for a U.S. remake of "Battle Royale":

the U.S. remake of "Battle Royale"....was already controversial due to the original film’s gleeful depictions of youth-on-youth violence.

“It was very difficult to get anyone interested in doing the remake,” says Lee. “The studios were very scared of comparisons to the Columbine shootings — if it got linked to something in which a kid killed another kid, and the perpetrator said they were influenced by the movie, that would of course be a disaster.”

The bloody massacre at Virginia Tech the following year, in which disturbed student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 and injured 25 of his classmates and teachers before taking his own life, put the project on indefinite life support. But, according to Lee, it was the publication of “The Hunger Games” the following year and its pickup for remake by Lions Gate in 2009 that ultimately pulled its plug.

“Look, there isn’t a studio out there that would invest the money to do a ‘Battle Royale’ feature film remake now,” he says. “Audiences would see it as just a copy of ‘Games’ — most of them wouldn’t know that ‘Battle Royale’ came first. It’s unfair, but that’s reality.”
posted by mediareport at 7:41 PM on March 23, 2012 [2 favorites]


Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.
posted by Estraven at 10:14 PM on March 23, 2012


After only seeing the movie, I thought of The Long Walk. But I admit not having read very many books that are similar.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 5:59 AM on March 24, 2012


Not a book or film:

American Idol
posted by snowjoe at 7:08 AM on March 24, 2012


Most of the comparisons thus far focus on the Dytopic and "death-match" aspects of the hunger games, but one of the aspects of the books that I felt was very well done was the survival elements (at least in the first two books).

A couple of tonal inspirations for those parts of the books might be, in children's lit: "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George and in adult fiction the classic Geoffrey Household thriller "Rogue Male".
posted by Another Fine Product From The Nonsense Factory at 9:34 AM on March 24, 2012


Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.

How so?
posted by amarynth at 9:50 AM on March 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


Quo Vadis
posted by marsha56 at 11:45 AM on March 24, 2012


Cube
posted by cupcake1337 at 4:06 PM on March 24, 2012


the truman show. hatchet. the lottery. lord of the flies.
posted by timory at 5:45 PM on March 24, 2012


The aspect that some of the districts live in a context akin to the 19th or early 20th century is reminiscent of The Tripods.
posted by scrambles at 3:46 PM on March 25, 2012


Another vote for the 10th Victim, which is often overlooked.

Out on the periphery of this genre is The Manhattan Hunt Club, in which rich people hunt the homeless for sport.
posted by jbickers at 8:38 AM on March 26, 2012


Walter F. Moudy's novelette, "The Survivor" is somewhat reminiscent.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:54 PM on March 28, 2012


Here are a few of the most obvious precursors, ancestors and cousins of "The Hunger Games." I don't view this as in any way an exhaustive or definitive list. Want to make a case for Italian director Elio Petri's 1965 "The 10th Victim," in which Ursula Andress must go after Marcello Mastroianni with a high-powered shotgun, in order to please her corporate sponsor? I've never seen it -- but it sounds awesome!

"The Long Walk" (novel, 1979) As Stephen King archly observed in his 2008 EW review of "The Hunger Games," there were two novels by "some guy named Bachman" (along with Takami's "Battle Royale," which he also mentioned) that described and inhabited the same "TV badlands" as Collins' book. Richard Bachman was of course a pseudonym used by King early in his career; in fact, "The Long Walk," although not published until 1979, was reportedly the first novel King ever completed. It concerns a deadly competition in a nightmarish America of the future, in which 100 teenage boys walk south from the Canadian border, without stopping, until only one is left alive. The melodrama of constantly shifting teen alliances, the relentless cruelty of the game and the backdrop of an amorphous fascist government are all strikingly similar to that of "Hunger Games." Indeed, one has to wonder whether King's mild irritation with Collins' book, which he compared to "one of those shoot-it-if-it-moves videogames" and accused of "authorial laziness," has a personal component.

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"The Running Man" (novel, 1982, and movie, 1987) This is the second of the Bachman novels mentioned by King in his "Hunger Games" review -- and boy, is it a doozy. Set in a 2025 version of the United States on the edge of financial and social collapse, where participation in a kill-or-be-killed game show offers impoverished citizens an instant payday, this book displays King at his most anarchic and subversive. (Even a decade-plus after 9/11, the climactic scene of this book will shock you.) While the basic setup of "The Running Man" is somewhat similar to that of "The Hunger Games," King is pursuing a much darker and more brutal variety of social satire. Paul Michael Glaser's delirious, trash-classic 1987 movie version, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Running Man who becomes an accidental celebrity, is only loosely based on the King/Bachman novel. (Supposedly it was inspired by a German TV show, itself inspired by a Robert Sheckley novella.) But it prefigures "The Hunger Games" in all sorts of ways, notably the supporting cast of grotesque characters and the sophisticated interplay between the game's audience, creators and contestants.

"The Most Dangerous Game" (1932) "Hunt first the enemy, then the woman," says Russian expatriate Count Zaroff (Leslie Banks) to the famous American hunter and author (Joel McCrea) who's been marooned on a remote island. Mwoo-ha-ha-ha! The influence of this schlocky but juicy pre-Code hit (which is now freely available on the Internet) on "The Hunger Games" and all other humans-huntin'-humans novels and movies is probably overstated. But on a thematic or psychological level, you can certainly argue that it introduced various ancient storytelling elements -- physical isolation, barbarism masquerading as civilization, one-on-one physical combat as both a brutal and noble pursuit -- in a modern context.

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"Rollerball" (1975) Although drenched in machismo, from its eponymous ultraviolent sport to the lead performance of James Caan and the direction of Norman Jewison, this thoroughly engrossing science-fiction masterpiece -- arguably the high point of the dystopian '70s wave -- presages "The Hunger Games" in many ways and on many levels. I would argue that it offers a far more plausible vision of the human future, in which the nation-state has essentially withered away, to be replaced by multinational corporations, but everybody has their own favorite apocalypse. As in "The Hunger Games," the sport of rollerball is meant both to sate collective blood lust and to crush all thoughts of individual initiative and resistance, and as eventually happens in Collins' trilogy -- spoiler alert! -- one winner eventually becomes big enough to throw the game back into the overlords' faces. (I'm not going to insult you by bringing up the 2002 remake, except to suggest that it was an official production of the National Rollerball League and their corporate masters.)

"Logan's Run" (1976) In terms of plot, this classic of post-'60s youth-oriented sci-fi, with Michael York and Jenny Agutter as young lovers in a world where no one lives past 30, is clearly the grandparent of last year's modest Justin Timberlake hit "In Time." But the combination of love story and apocalypse feels a bit "Hunger Games"-ish, as does the sense that the dictatorial old world is a paper tiger ready to be swept away by the wind of youthful rebellion. Let's take a moment to celebrate the news that the long-contemplated Hollywood remake is apparently back in production, with Ryan Gosling and his "Drive" director, Nicolas Winding Refn.

"Series 7: The Contenders" (2001) It was still early in the reality-TV era when writer-director Daniel Minahan's dystopian spoof premiered at Sundance and went on to slight, fringe-y acclaim. Let's consider: "Series 7" depicts a murderous reality show ("Real People in Real Danger!") whose contestants are selected at random in a nationwide lottery. It's evidently impossible to refuse (although the mechanism of control is never explained), although if you win the game you can retire to a celebrity afterlife. Unlike any other entry in this genre that I can find, it has a female hero, although Dawn, the protagonist of "Series 7," is an adult woman and eight months' pregnant to boot. Admittedly, "Series 7" goes to some whacked-out media-satire zones that "The Hunger Games" never even imagines (not to mention completely falling apart in the last act). But I'm calling major unacknowledged influence here; this movie was just big enough that Suzanne Collins almost certainly heard about it, but also obscure enough that everybody had pretty much forgotten it by 2008.

"The Condemned" (2007) A semi-notorious box-office flop (that then cleaned up on home video), "The Condemned" stars WWE wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin as one of a group of 10 death-row convicts who must battle to the death in the Australian outback, as part of an illegal televised sport. Exactly how you broadcast an illegal sport I don't know, since I haven't seen the movie and don't intend to. This was released only months before the publication of "The Hunger Games," and I'm not seriously positing a connection, except on the Zeitgeist level. Several critics at the time compared this movie to "Battle Royale" and "The Most Dangerous Game," and there you go.

[napoleon]

jewboy noiselevel just brought up gemma the worse shill on the planet doherty's arrest ,she did a show with fakejewsphil ,and simon i dont read fakeologist shack

[napoleon]

to be honest though would you acknowledge fakeologist since i stepped up? ,no neither would i

do not worry i can embarrass you wherever you are ,no need to leave your couch,ab is still the epitome of a truther

[napoleon]

https://pieceofmindful.com/2024/03/07/m ... s/#respond

mark torkarski must have a few houseclowns knocking about too just as the fakeologist has judging by the lack of opposition and cowardice from the houseclowns
NAPOLEON WILSON
April 17, 2024 at 5:17 pm
yes i solved 911 in gif form ,in less than half a second i take you from the twin towers to solo-mans temple the millenium fall-con

cramming all theosophy and metaphysics into the metemorphosis ,i had some good teachers
patient too

the american dream is not so hard to decipher ,neither was the shining or 2001 or blade runner or back to the future

most are mockery on the 911 narrative that american masons pay to uphold or pay others to uphold

pretty easy to be a fakeologist

Like

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YOUCANCALLMERAY
April 17, 2024 at 5:35 pm
I reckon you’re onto something and likely correct. The black cube memorial at the bottom of the pit where the towers were pretty much tells you everything about the kind of people we are dealing with that orchestrated this giant swankest on the common man. Those bastards must have had the biggest party after 9/11, having most of America on their knees begging for their protection, when all it took was 3rd grade magic tricks to pull this crap off.

Liked by you

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YOUCANCALLMERAY
April 17, 2024 at 5:51 pm
You mention it’s easy to be a Fakeologist, but to clarify I think it’s easy if you are an introvert, or have a strong (leader) personality, and not too many friends (I mean close friends, and close in a not a good way). The biggest barrier to seeing through to the truth is overcoming the judgement of your peers, and close friends from the past, and family members who will call you crazy, stupid, a Trump lover, will call your other friends behind your back, etc etc..

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NAPOLEON WILSON
April 17, 2024 at 6:06 pm
viewtopic.php?p=14547#p14547

heres why the shining has a native american genocide theme

im no introvert ,most of my friends ive had since i was 12 im 46 now ,and i left school at 16

the easy part of being a fakeologist is the amount of research and work that i was abel to use ,audios i was abel to listen to and lads i was abel to learn from especially the processes of descerning fakery

a set level so to speak ,trouble is that set level or conclusions people rest on usually is their limit ,and thats where the fix is

thats where i start literally standing on the shoulders of giants ,im no giant but i can hitch a ride like the best

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NAPOLEON WILSON
April 17, 2024 at 5:20 pm
and i’m still undefeated

and i spanked miles mathis in 2020 by telling him were heading to oz ,just another chancer who likes pointing at the geneology of the lads who run the world ,atleast he don't call them jews though

[napoleon]

the easy part of being a fakeologist is the amount of research and work that i was abel to use ,audios i was abel to listen to and lads i was abel to learn from especially the processes of descerning fakery

this is no longer available due to my being punished and am now unable to search the comments ,fucking joke

[napoleon]

although not as funny as me solving 911 as i said i would its still makes me chuckle ab listenss to people who want him gone or dead

anyway take care ,let me know when a fakeologist enters the audiostream ladies

[napoleon]

[napoleon]

i do like jlb talking about the car and ww1 ,i post the video above as how comedy is used as an educational tool to show absurdities

https://sarajevotimes.com/myths-and-tru ... as-killed/

[napoleon]

[napoleon]

Egypt Is Silently Building A Massive Wall On Its Gaza Border
www.youtube.com › watch

1:09
New satellite images show Egypt is building a 16-foot wall around a 8-square mile buffer zone but has offered no explanation.