What Makes The Hunger Games so Popular?

Geek History Lesson

Jason Inman

Film History, Visual Arts, Tv & Film, Arts

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2025

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Survive the epic world of Panem, the setting of The Hunger Games, as Geek History Lesson unfolds the complex narrative history behind Suzanne Collins' YA dystopian franchise! In this arena of an episode episode, we dissect the classical structure shared in each Hunger Games novel, explore Collins' Greco-Roman mythological inspiration, debate which characters deserve solo stories next, and discuss the socio-political themes that shaped a generation of Young Adult fiction. With Sunrise on the Reaping in stores now, delve with us into the saga's multi-media evolution, offering an exploration for seasoned fans and newcomers alike! You'll want to read all 5 Hunger Games books after listening to this one!

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Thanks for showing up to class today. Class is dismissed!

Transcript

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0:00.0	May the odds be ever in your favor is one of the most recognizable pro sentences of the 21st century.
0:17.5	Hunger Games is a ripoff of Battle Royale is perhaps the best known criticism of the
0:21.9	five-book franchise. Pita makes bread is my favorite joke about Pan Am. And the only thing Jason
0:27.5	knows about all of this universe is District 8 makes boots. So why is the Hunger Games so
0:33.7	dang popular, Jason? Tell me. Oh, we're going to answer the question in the first less than a minute of the podcast.
0:39.3	We're not going to...
0:40.1	No, but that is what we are going to be.
0:41.7	We're not going to, like, give the viewers, the listeners a little susson and, like, lead them on.
0:46.4	A little suss on.
0:47.0	A little suss on. Okay.
0:47.1	What do you love so much. What do they make boots? So cast your mind back to episode
0:57.7	41 of Geek History Lesson. Oh, okay. The districts of Pan Am. I was about, I was 48 in that year.
1:03.9	Districts you were 48? I was 48. You look great for 67. Yeah. District 8 makes a lot of rubber goods.
1:10.3	Okay. And I remember this so vivid. This is a core memory for me of Geekastry Lesson.
1:17.0	Sitting in the back of a closet and I said...
1:20.0	Fun fact, that may sound weird, everybody, but we recorded the first year of GHL in a closet.
1:24.9	Because the soundproofing was so good. It was so good. It was a big closet too.
1:28.7	We should just say that.
1:29.5	It was a very cold.
1:30.4	It was the biggest closet we ever had.
1:32.3	It was a huge walk.
1:33.4	The biggest closet I've ever had in my entire life.
	...

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