"The Hunger Games" and "Divergent": a Comparison

Science fiction is a genre of real-life science technology and the world of imagination and dreams. Science fiction film wasn't that popular back in the 1920s. But there is no doubt that it is now perhaps the most versatile genre in films for the 21st century. I enjoy science fiction movies a lot. Watching a science fiction movie, it brings me goosebumps with all my excitement until I actually find time for some outdoor adventures. The Hunger Games and Divergent are both a part of science fiction as the films are set in the future and have new inventions and word usage. We understand that they both have similarities but in fact, I find these two movies interesting as they also have differences based on storylines, the character's motivation, settings, and the themes of the books.

Comparing Hunger Games and Divergent, we could see that both adventure thrillers novels in the young adult genre are led by girls. However, they both have very different motivations. Katniss from The Hunger Games is motivated by survival instinct. Katniss volunteers to protect her little beloved younger sister named Prim. The objective of the game is to be the last to survive. She has to find a way of winning the game by eliminating all the other tributes. The storyline for The Hunger Games takes place in a dystopian society. That simply means an imaginary futuristic place, which is currently abusing the government; along with setting up a system where the lower-ranking districts that have a low standard of living support the higher-ranking districts. These high-class areas have more power, money, and ability to prepare for things more effectively over others, etc. The nation of Panem is divided into twelve districts and the Capitol. Two young representatives from each district will be chosen randomly to join in The Hunger Games each year. The Hunger Games is a part of the Capitol's entertainment, it is a televised game that will air throughout Panem. The twenty-four participants are forced to fight against their competitors in order to survive. When Katniss's young sister Prim is selected as District 12's female representative, Katniss volunteers to replace her sister.

As for Divergent, it is similar in that the story also begins with a futuristic dystopia where society is divided. However, it has a significantly smaller center of population along with division into five factions which divides the citizen through the aptitude tests: Abnegation (for the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), Candor (the honest), and Erudite (the intelligent). The book, however, also has a dangerous twist; Tris has a secret that she is a Divergent, which means that she has the traits or personalities of more than one faction or all factions. She has to keep that fact hidden after finding out a secret government program that was created to eliminate all divergent completely and forever.

The Hunger Games also contrasts in how people are to survive the issues that strike them. Katniss in The Hunger Games must decide whether she teams up with others in the game to defeat other tributes or if she must do the majority of the work herself. She soon decides that she may be smarter to hide for a period of time and not fight them while so many are left. When fewer people are not in the fight to survive towards the end she comes out and then quickly defeats the remaining people leaving herself as the only victor. Divergent, however, is the opposite direction with the change in population. Where it starts with Tris before she has to determine which faction she belongs to. Tris leaves the selfless Abnegation and joins the more aggressive or brave. Therefore, her internal motivation is the goal of being dauntless. Whereby her external motivation is her survival and her home. If she fails to achieve her goal of becoming only dauntless, she will then be caught and may then be killed to keep anyone else from finding out about her traits or personality.

The most obvious differences between The Hunger Games and Divergent are their settings. The settings in The Hunger Games cover mainly Panem which the reader mainly knows as North America. The story takes place in the future when Panem has taken power to replace what we know as modern North America. The nation of Panem is divided into 12 districts and the Capitol. The Capitol is a brightly colored and over-the-top couture culture is a sharp contrast to the districts that suffer in poverty that make up the rest of the world. District 12 is one of the poorest coal-mining Districts where Katniss and her family live. Divergent is set in future Chicago which has been ravaged by World War III. The city is divided into five factions with distinctive personality. The people live in clothes color-coded by the faction they belong to. When teenagers reach the age of 16, they have to decide whether to stay with the fraction where they were born into or to go to the one that matches their personality. Tris decided to leave the selfless Abnegation and join the more aggressive Dauntless, without knowing of a building war that might bring her directly into conflict with her family.

Moreover, these two movies are thematically different. The Hunger Games takes place in a dystopian society or world where the people are unhappy and live fearfully because they were treated harshly. I found Divergent society to be less oppressive overall compared to The Hunger Games. In The Hunger Games, Katniss fights to overturn her society and struggle oppression and survival. In contrast, Divergent’s Tris seems to be trying to hold hers together and only struggles against conformity and human nature.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Science fiction movies often have the same common aspect that made them so interesting and attractive to the audience. Both movies The Hunger Games and Divergent share many similarities in a future society that have differences in storylines, the character's motivation, settings, and themes. Both movies have interesting but peculiar plots and satisfying endings as well. Comparing these two movies allows the viewer to grow by understanding the story deeper in each movie.