Chiseled in Marble: President Snow and Panem's Power Elite

 

The photo above shows three characters from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, each resembling marble sculptures. This marble depiction implies their power and influence, particularly the seated figure who looks directly into the camera. The one in the center is President Coriolanus Snow, the fictional dictator of dystopian North America, Panem. On the left is Peeta Malark, a previous resident of District 12 and a Hunger Games victor. On the right is Johanna Mason, another former victor. This is a promotional photo for the movie and hints at what is going to happen. At this point in the series, Snow captures Peeta and Johanna and brainwashes them to be allegient to him. They were often used in promotional videos because the public could resonate with them, as they had once been in the districts and the Hunger Games. President Snow used them as a distraction from political oppression and as a means to enforce order because of the uprisings and riots taking place all over Panem. Although these movies are fictional, their setting in America and subliminal references to political issues in America prompt viewers to reflect on their lives.


The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills analyzes the status and influence of the power elite in America. The elite are men with the power to make decisions with significant consequences, and when they fail to act or make decisions, the consequences are even greater. Mills identifies three centralized institutional units: the economy, the political order, and the military order. Each of these structures is described as a “triangle of power [and] the source of the interlocking directorate that is most important for the historical structure of the present” (Mills 8) because of how their decision-making intertwines and makes for even more significant consequences. Mills also discusses celebrities' existence and their role in the power elite. They are responsible for distracting the public, embodying societal norms and values, and communicating with the power elite, but they do not have decision-making power. They simply mingle with the power elite and “live by being continually displayed but are never, so long as they remain celebrities, displayed enough” (4).


Often, watching dystopian movies feels “too close to home.” After reading Mills and thinking about the Hunger Games trilogy, I realize that the oppressive society of Panem scares me even more. President Snow is a dramatic yet powerful embodiment of the power elite, especially in this photo as he is depicted in white marble. Every year, he forces citizens into the Hunger Games and forces them to fight to the death as a means of “keeping the peace,” but it is a way to remind the districts of their position underneath the Capitol, which is comprised of the power elite and celebrities. Peeta and Johanna are considered celebrities in Panem, and Snow uses them to distract from his violent, repressive actions in the districts. People all over Panem admire Peeta and Johanna for being victors, so Snow exploits that to portray them as the moral high ground to stop rebellions. Additionally, Mills argues that the power elite’s “failure to act, their failure to make decisions… [has] greater consequence than the decisions they do make”(4). When Snow ignored the growing resentment and anger the districts held toward the Capitol and failed to act, it resulted in the death of many people in the districts and the Capitol, including his own.




Mills, Charles Wright. The Power Elite. Oxford University Press, 1956. Accessed 19 April 2024.


Max, Nicholson. July 9, 2014. "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 Video Teases District 13." From IGN. Retrieved April 18, 2024. (https://www.ign.com/articles/2014/07/09/the-hunger-games-mockingjay-part-1-video-teases-district-13)