Power and Control
By: Shelby Lyle
I compared two different movies that have two different storylines, but have the same concept. That’s
what this assignment was about. The two movies that my group watched were Hunger Games and
Gladiator. This was because we were studying the concepts of imperialism and oppression. Hunger
Games is about a game in which a boy and a girl from each district are selected to go into these
“games” to fight to the death. The games were created by the capitol to keep the districts in line and
under their domination and control. The capital literally has control over life and death. Gladiator is
about a man that used to be a general of ancient Rome, who later became a prisoner to the new
emperor, and had to fight his way to freedom in the gladiatorial games. The emperor made him fight
in the arena to show his domination and control over human life. See where we’re going here?
Hunger Games has a theme of power and control
in the movie. The main character, Katniss
Everdeen, went from being in complete control of
her life (providing for her family, making her own
decisions) to having no control. She struggled with
having no control of the outcome of the game, what
the Capital could do to her, who she was
associated with, whether she lived or died, or
whether or not she would be forced to kill. Her
internal struggles are very essential to how she
approached the games, as well as her interactions
with the other contestants and the Capital
representatives. She didn’t know it, but she was
actually in control. She had more power than she
knew because she refused to let the Capital force
her hand. She outsmarted them at their own
game. Unfortunately, this made her an even
bigger target in the end.
One example of this was when Katnis and Peeta
(the two tributes from District 12) were portrayed as
start cross lovers, doomed to kill or be killed. As
there was only supposed to be one winner, they
played the crowd to become crowd-favorites. This increased their popularity and increased their odds
of winning. (The most popular tributes received “gifts” in the arena that could help to save their lives.)
By using the Capital people’s emotions, they humanized themselves. By exposing their so-called
vulnerabilities, they gained an advantage over their teammates. The capitol wanted to keep the
game interesting and appease the fans, so instead of one victor, they changed the game to two
victors. This shows how Katniss’s actually gained control over a situation that she had felt was out of
her control.
Another example was when the capitol again tried to exert dominance over the situation. They
changed the rules again (they changed it back to one victor) in order to force Katniss and Peeta into a
kill or be killed situation. Using their brains, they again outwitted the Capital. This time, knowing that
the Capital needed a victor, they threatened duel suicide. So, as you can see, Katniss had a lot more
control in the games than she originally thought. By thinking like the Capital, she identified their
motives and actively sought to play the people against the Capital, making the president of the
Capital very unpopular and criticized. She forced his hand.
In the Hunger Games, we see the power
and control of the Capital portrayed in
many ways. One of these was illustrated
by the “control room.” They had a room
where they controlled everything within the
arena. If they wanted to eliminate a
contestant, they could easily do so by
One example of this was when Katnis was
getting close to the edge of the arena so
they attempted to turn her around to the
other players who were chasing her.
(Basically wanting her to die because she
was the best competitor.) They started a forest fire. When the man in power of the games told
someone to have a tree fall in her path to turn Katniss around, they did. They also were able to
manufacture genetically engineered creatures to hunt down the remaining tributes and tear them
apart.
Another example of when Katniss decided the Capital had too much power was when Rue died.
Katniss buried her in flowers and then put three fingers up towards District 11 (the three fingers
represented how Rue was brave and courageous, basically a sign of respect). When Katnis did that,
District 11 broke out in rage. It created the spark that started an uprising against the Capital’s brutal
tactics. This in turn was the start of the riots and rebellion (and later, the revolution). So the capitol
had to do something. They were forced to come down hard on District 11 so the other districts would
not follow suit. They thought that District 11’s riots might embolden the downtrodden people of the
other districts to revolt against the Capital, as well. By exerting their dominance, the Capital regained
control.
As you can see, there were a lot of power plays in this movie, whether it was by Katniss or the
Capitol. The difference between Katniss’ power and the Capitol’s power is that Katniss wasn’t doing
it intention to control, but the Capitol was. Katniss’ initial motivation was to escape death. It didn’t
become more than personal to her until she began to see things on a larger scale, and see the
devastating impact that the Capital had on life in the districts.
A lot of things were interesting in the movie and it really opened my eyes to the world around me. It
made you realize how the Hunger Games is so much like the real world, and can be related to realworld historical events. I think it would really help you to understand the relationships that this
fictional movie has to reality if you read the book series. The books are Hunger Games, Catching
Fire, and Mocking Jay. You get a lot more information from the books that aren’t in the films. I mean,
just a thought. One of the real-life historical events that series is modeled after is ancient Rome’s
gladiatorial events. This brings us to the film, Gladiator.
The movie Gladiator also had a theme based on power and control. Two people that come into a
power conflict are the “Spaniard” whose name is Maximus. Maximus went from being a general to a
prisoner after the emperor’s son (Commodus) killed his own father (the emperor of Rome).
Commodus did this to take Maximus’ rightful position as emperor (and he was going against the
emperor’s wishes). By intervening in the dead emperor’s wishes, Commodus exerted his power over
Maximus and sold him as a slave. But, just like with Katniss, those in power don’t understand that
you can’t keep a good man down!
Maximus’s power came into play when, after winning a match in the arena, he shouted to the
spectators of the event in anger, “Are you not amused! Is this not what you asked for?” (Image on
the right.) This shows his personal power because he made the people look and think twice. It made
them think twice because, it was what they asked for and it was wrong.
Another example of the personal power
of Maximus was when he killed the
emperor Commodus. Even though
Maximus was wounded, he still
managed to finish what he started and
killed the man who subjugated him and
ruled Rome with such an unjust and
imperialistic attitude. Maximus gave
Rome back to the people and had the
slaves set free so they could go home.
Then, he died. Maximus was a tragic
hero who demonstrated how honor and
integrity need to rise up and stop
injustice, domination, and brutality.
The other person I am going to talk
about is the villain of the film, the
emperor Commodus. My first example
of the emperor exerting power and
control over another is when he kills his
father for the throne. This obviously
demonstrates his immoral character
because he wants more power then he
already has. He covets the throne, but
even his father recognizes that
he doesn’t have what it takes to
be a good leader. Amorally,
Commodus decided to kill is
father. This shows how greedy
and selfish the he was.
Another example of Commodus
exerting his power was when
he wanted the Spaniard,
Maximus, to die so he put him
up against a famous gladiator
in the arena. He did not expect
Maximus to win the match.
This famous gladiator had won
all of the previous matches and
was undefeated. People thought he was basically invincible. This was obviously false. As they
fought, and Maximus gained ground over his opponent, tigers were released from every corner of the
arena. This shows the emperor’s power because he changed the game so the Spaniard Maximus
would die, but he did not.
A theme that these two movies had in common was nationalism. In the movie, Hunger Games, the
Capitol were the ones who had extreme pride over their nation. The capitol knew that no other district
could even come close to them, especially the lower districts. They kept the people of the districts
from rising out of poverty with their imperialistic rule over the districts. In Gladiator, the emperor
Commodus displayed nationalism as well. Nationalism and pride were their downfall because in both
Gladiator and Hunger Games, they were defeated from within at their own game. That is what is
known as reverse-nationalism.
As you can see in the movie Gladiator, there were a lot of power plays between these two main
characters. This made the movie very interesting to me. I also learned a lot from this film; I learned
about how the Romans were very similar to many in the world today. An example of this would be
North Korea and South Korea. North Korea is threating to bomb South Korea by demonstrating their
nuclear capabilities and their power to the world. They are exerting their power and control. Another
example that you could use is high
school! Isn’t high school just a
group of kids trying to prove
themselves to one another?
Teenagers want to fit in and they
want to be dominant. The popular
kids basically run the school and
do whatever they want. They
make others feel less worthy.
Dominance and control is a part of
human nature even today.