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July 24, 2020

The Hunger Games Summarized in 43-Second Zoom Call


By Laura Stotler - UC Network Management Contributing Editor

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed our world in ways never previously imagined. We are living through a global health crisis that has forced us to socially isolate and rely on the internet more than ever to communicate. At the same time, our planet has become chaotic, violent and dangerous – a real-life representation of the dystopian future so often described in young adult and sci-fi novels.

Zoom has become the de facto way for businesses and individuals to communicate during these complex times we are living in. It seems fitting that the creators of "The Hunger Games," the book and film trilogy centered on a dark dystopia where adolescent tributes are forced to fight to the death, decided to edit the first film into a 43-second Zoom call.

The clip, posted on Twitter, shows the evil President Snow welcoming tributes from 12 districts of the fictional country of Panem to the 74th annual Hunger Games. The tributes are displayed as participants in a Zoom call, with each quickly disappearing from the call as a cannon fires, signaling their deaths in the game arena.

It's a dark and disturbing synopsis of the plot of "The Hunger Games," yet totally fitting in a world that seems very much off balance. The filmmakers picked a critical time in recent history to remind us of the dangers of an all-powerful, tyrannical government like the one led by Snow. And most people can relate to the Zoom format these days, including the unsettling experience of suddenly getting dropped or timed out of a call (although thankfully we don't have any cannons or death arenas to deal with).

The Zoom clip was released to drum up some interest in the franchise, since the books' author Suzanne Collins published a prequel to the series, "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes," in May. The book is already slated to be turned into a film, and examines Snow's teenage years and what led him to become the tyrannical dictator of Panem. It also looks at the origins of The Hunger Games, which were created to remind the districts of Panem not to rebel against The Capitol or face the consequences.

During a time when one of the leading COVID-19 drug research companies shares the Biblical name of Gilead with yet another tyrannical, dystopian country featured in the novel and television series "The Handmaid's Tale," we could all use a little levity. The Hunger Games Zoom call is an attempt to achieve that, despite its dark and very timely back story.




Edited by Erik Linask



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