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Suzanne Collins created The Hunger Games from an idea born of late night channel surfing between real war coverage and reality television. Suzanne, the daughter of a career military man and Vietnam Veteran, has said that she wanted to write an age-appropriate war story for every age group. The Hunger Games is her war story for young adults. The trilogy's themes of poverty, socio-economic disparity, government corruption, propaganda, revolution, redemption, and the consequences of war don't make the trilogy a typical YA light read. But I think that's also why we love it so much.
The Hunger Games means many different things to many different people. For some, the heroine, Katniss Everdeen, is a strong and inspiring female role model, for some she motivates as a survivor of poverty and PTSD. She's complicated, imperfect, damaged and an incredibly compelling lead character.
Some people simply adore the love stories - Peeta and Katniss are the catalysts for countless Everlark fan fics. Everthorne, Odesta, any 'ship you sail in The Hunger Games certainly isn't all hearts and flowers and the romances in the books are tinted with sadness. Not a typical happy ending to be found anywhere in the trilogy, yet we relish them all the same.
In Thailand, citizens have identified with The Hunger Games and used its three finger salute as a symbol to combat injustice. Odds In Our Favor uses the salute along with their #MyHungerGames initiative to highlight economic inequality in the world.
We want to know what The Hunger Games means to YOU. Why do you love it? How has it inspired you? What brought you into this wild, wonderful fandom and how has it changed your life?
This week, share your story. You can write it in the comments below or share on our Facebook page. You can also snap a photo, or create an edit or gifset based on what The Hunger Games means to you and tag us on Instagram, Twitter, or Tumblr. Use the hashtag #MyTHGStory across social media so we can find you, and we'll share as many of YOUR THG stories as we can this week!
This idea was completely inspired by the lovely Everlarked & Always, a blog you definitely should be following on tumblr. Check out the eloquent #MyTHGStory submissions of Everlarked & Always followers here .
Be sure to enter the Your THG Story Giveaway in the widget below! The giveaway is open to international tributes and runs from today, August 12th until Tuesday, August 18th at 8:00pm EST.