Hunger Games = Minotaur?

A while back, I did a post about the similarities between “The Hunger Games” and “Battle Royale.” Many people have accused Suzanne Collins of “ripping off” “Battle Royale.” I still stand by what I say about it being foolish to think that they do not invite comparison, but “The Hunger Games” is still the better of the two and has plenty to be its own story. As I watch the movies though and read the story, my background in mythology always kicks in for some reason. I see the plight that Katniss goes through, I think of why she is there, why the capitol does what it does, and then draw parallels to another story that is well known and very similar. I think of the story of Theseus and the Minotaur.

 

“The Hunger Games” is a tournament where youth is recruited to be sacrificed because of a penance that surrounding districts must pay for losing a war to the governing body also known as the capitol. The districts send a young man and woman to die in an arena as a reminder of the capitol’s power.

In the story of the Minotaur, Greece must send seven sons and seven daughters to Crete to be sacrificed as penance for their actions. In some versions of the story, King Minos of Crete sends his son Androgeus to compete in the Pan-Athenian games in Athens. Androgeus does so well in the games that people in Athens become jealous enough to send assassins to kill him. When King Minos finds out about his son’s death, he demands that Greece send Minos the assassins for execution. Nobody knows who the assassins are. Greece pays Minos by sending the entire town.

The other version of the story has Crete defeat Athens in a war. In both versions of the story, Greece must send seven sons and seven daughters to be executed every set number of years. This version of the story mirrors “The Hunger Games.” Some differences come in at this point. The biggest difference being that the seven sons and daughters are to be fed to the Minotaur while the tributes must kill each other until one remains. 

Like most Greek myths, a hero emerges to kill the Minotaur and save the people of Athens. The hero’s name is Theseus. When it comes time to pick the seven sons and daughters, Theseus volunteers to take the place of one of the boys. Wait a minute, he

volunteers? Where have a seen that before?

Both Katniss and Theseus have outside help. Katniss has the help of Haymich and her sponsors, while Theseus gets help from King Minos’ daughter. Both of these assistants give the heroes things they need to aid them in their quest. Theseus gains a ball of string that helps him find his way out of the maze, while Katniss gets burn medicine, food, or anything she may need to stay alive.

One big difference that may still be on your mind is the fact that Theseus has to face a Minotaur, and Katniss does not. While Katniss does not have to face a Minotaur, she does have to face beasts that are hybrids. The Minotaur is a hybrid of a bull and a human. Katniss must face a few different hybrids. The most disturbing of these creatures can only be read about in the books. When there are only a few tributes left, Katniss must not only face the other tributes, but a pack of dogs that have features of the fallen tributes. At one point Katniss wonders if the capitol actually took the eyes from the fallen tributes and placed them in the dogs. This puts a half man half-animal creature in the arena with Katniss.

 

We also have the symbol of “The Hunger Games,” a bird called a mockingjay. The mockingjay is a hybrid of a mockingbird and a jaberjay, another creation of the capitol. Katniss herself becomes a symbol of the rebellion of the districts later in the story and is referred to as the mockingjay. The Minotaur becomes the symbol of Theseus’ story just as much as the mockingjay symbolizes Katniss’ story.

What this comparison boils down to is a basic fear of war. In both stories, young people are drawn into a situation that means their death. When there is a war, young people are called upon to give their lives. Whether the cause is just or not, the fear of this situation is something we all carry inside of us.

I do not know if Suzanne Collins is a big fan of Greek mythology. I am willing to bet she has a working knowledge of the Minotaur’s story. Whatever the case is, there will be more stories that can be traced back to the story of Theseus and the Minotaur. It is a story that will always remain relevant, not matter how obscure it may seem to people.

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Welcome to my blog!

My name is Ian Anderson. I started reading mythology at the ripe age of…well I was very young. I can remember my very first book of Greek Myths given by a tutor that my parents hired to help me with my English. Many of you may have heard of it: D'aulaires book of Greek Myths. All the pictures and different colors fascinated me. It was showing people doing things that I had never seen before, and for some reason that spoke to sense of being.

As interesting as it was however, it was still just a book. Even before PlayStation, X-Box, I-phone, or even the internet, books still had to compete for children's attention against things like television, Atari, and hand held electronic games that did nothing but beep at you and moved dots across a screen. Of course, by screen I mean a dark glass panel that would have an army of monochrome lights ready to light up at any given moment.

    I think the real turning point for me was an episode of the "Superfriends". For those of you who do not know what that was, it was a watered down kid safe version of the justice league. The vague recollection of the episode was that somehow they ended up on this island where they had to face off against monsters from Greek Mythology. Superman had to face the Minotaur, Wonder Woman went up against Medusa, Batman and Robin had to solve the riddle of the sphinx, and Aquaman had to retrieve the Golden Fleece from an invisible man. How talking to fish gets you out of that one, I will never know.

After that episode, I wanted my tutor to show me the stories that involved these stories. I also bugged my parents to take me to see the original Clash of the Titans. I will admit that it was a bit scary for me at the time and I did spend a fair portion of the movie with my eyes covered, but remember I was a small child at that point. From that point, I was hooked. I never looked back, I never regretted it, and it keeps getting better the more I dedicate myself to it.

As I got older, I began to branch out discovering that there was more to mythology than what the Greeks contributed. I first learned about Norse Mythology the same way most people these days are, the comic book Thor. I first read the books not realizing that there were tales as old as the Greek Myths that dealt with, Thor, Odin, Loki, and Baldur to name a few. To this day Greek Mythology is still my favorite, but the Norse traditions are a close second.

Eventually I started to learn the stories from Egyptian, Hindu, Aztec, and Japanese Mythologies. Lately I have delved into Irish/Celtic Mythology, and even read a bit about Voodoo. They have a few things in common, many gods that have different influences on our world and very human like personalities, emphasis on heroism, and an underlying warning against arrogance, nature, and death.

Fast forward to present day. Now I am a published author of a series called Modern Disciples. I have already published the first three volumes in the series. The story centers around six children of gods, each from a different pantheon. These children called disciples are the god's eyes, ears, and hands on earth as they protect humanity from the titans and their creatures called spawn. A small sample of the spawn include, maenads, satyrs, dark fairies, Nemean beasts, giants, even vampires and werewolves are thrown into the mix, although slightly.

In future, I plan to write more in depth of the characters from the story, where I get my ideas from, the myths behind the Modern Disciples, and I will do some reviews of books that I have read having to do with mythology and other topics that interest me. I may even write some supplement stories that add to the series. I am always open to ideas though so if there are any topics you would like me to discuss feel free to leave them in the comments below.


Ian Anderson