Readings: The Hunger Games, Casino Royale

Given our current reading of The Hunger Games, I see an opportunity to make a comparison between it and another book I am currently reading: Casino Royale, by Ian Fleming. Casino Royale has inspired the spy genre for generations and formulated one of the most popular heroes in modern history: James Bond. I believe the drastic differences between James Bond and Katniss Everdeen’s worlds serve as a reference point to understanding the settings of the culture in which they were written.

For instance, in Casino Royale, James Bond is a secret agent working for MI6, the main intelligence agency of the British government. This is a world in which order is constantly competing against chaos, and the “good” order must prevail through the actions of 007. In Hunger Games, however, Katniss is someone who works to provide for herself and is under the subjugation of the “evil” order. In this instance, the paradigm of good vs. evil has been significantly altered and become somewhat muddied, as the order is evil and uses chaos (the Hunger Games) as a method of control.

I believe the main reason for this paradigm shift is due to the vastly different political and social climates in which the stories are written. In Casino Royale, James Bond is symbolic of Britain’s power after World War II, and is also an homage to the various intelligence officers and commandoes Ian Fleming met during his service in the War. The Hunger Games, however, is born fresh off the brutal destruction of the Iraq War and the era of reality television. It is essentially a criticism of modern society, while Casino Royale lives off the glory of its time.