Sunrise on the Reaping

In David Hume’s treatise on implicit submission, he opines that all governments are founded solely on public opinion. In Panem, the Capitol’s total control of the media gives them disproportionate control over the minds of their citizens. In Sunrise on the Reaping, Haymitch and his fellow tributes struggle to retain agency over their own stories. As the Capitol creates propaganda to dehumanize and divide the districts, the tributes attempt to create more empowering and hopeful narratives, only to be thwarted by the Capitol’s media monopoly. Collins shows how the Capitol uses propaganda to maintain power by shaping not just what people see, but what they can imagine as possible.

Haymitch’s first encounter with the Capitol’s media manipulation occurs at the reaping. Though the Capitol claims that the reaping is broadcast live, it is actually recorded on a five-minute delay, allowing the Capitol to edit out unwanted events like the shooting of Woodbine Chance. Presenting the broadcast as live gives the constructed narrative a false sense of legitimacy while removing any references to sedition, thereby discouraging viewers from considering that sedition is even possible.

This manipulation isn’t just aimed at the districts. The Capitol ensures its citizens’ complacency through a constant diet of luxury, entertainment, and anti-District sentiment.