HSP 3U1 - 22: Introduction to Anthropology, Sociology, and Psychology
Introduction In the movie 'The Hunger Games' a female and a male is chosen from twelve districts to compete in a game called Hunger Game. They must fight for their life and survive outdoors in order to go home. There is only one winner out of the 12 districts, out of 24 people, only one goes home. Anthropology, one of the three social sciences is the study of development of the human species and human cultures throughout the world, also the ways of living of a group of people, traditions and conventions. The hunger games provide three aspects from the anthropological perspective; functional theory, cultural materialism and feminist anthropology. The movie hunger games has a strong anthropological view.
Functional theory Functional theory, one of the school of thoughts in anthropology, is a theory that believes every belief, action and/or relationship has a purpose to meet the needs of an individual or society. In the movie, the purpose of this game is simply for the enjoyment and entertainment for The Capitol. The twelve males and twelve females from each district are to be cleaned and to be put in their best clothes at the reaping. When the male and female are picked from each district they are taken to the capitol to be cleaned thoroughly, put them in costumes and make them presentable at the opening ceremony. An action was taken in the game by Seneca Crane, the head game maker, and the rule of the game was changed, he allowed the game to have two winners, because of this he was executed, the action of changing the rules of the game was taken for society.
Cultural materialism Cultural materialism is the theory of materials or conditions within the environment that influence development, a school of thought in anthropology. The biggest cultural materialism