The Roman Empire: The Hunger Games

The spectacular is visually remarkable performance or show, often designed to distract attention from more substantive social matters. The idea of the spectacular began in the Premodern Era, an era that refers to any period after the birth of written language and before the age of modernity. Pre-modern societies were divided between the elite and the masses who lived under the elite rulers. As for the spectacular, it all began with the Roman imperial spectacles in the Roman Empire, from 50 B.C.E. to 467 C.E. The spectacular coined its name form the Latin word “show”, a variation of the word to view or to watch. From these Latin origins we arrive at the word spectacle, which is a striking performance or show (Takacs,20). In the Roman Empire,

Based in what is called “The Capitol,” the Hunger Games society is run by a totalitarian government that controls its population through the ritual of the actual Hunger Games tradition that take place. In order to keep its citizens in line, every year, The Capitol holds an annual Hunger Games. Through these Hunger Games, citizens are picked at random and are forced to fight to the death in a large outdoor arena that is control by The Capitol. The games itself are spectacles. Although being forced as a tribute to fight to the death, each member fighting is stripped our their social status as they put on fighting gear to joust it out until the end. This human fighting is a form of striking performance that The Capitol puts on for themselves, at the risk of other human lives. The Hunger Games are an excellent source of entertainment for The Capitol along with other citizens who are not actually in combat. As for the masses who are not fighting, they are expected to follow as an audience and have active audience participation in the

A form of popular culture that entails the carnivalesque in our society today is superhero fandom, specifically fandom of Chris Evans as the famous superhero Captain America. Superhero media has created a large following amongst adoring fans who constantly involve superhero characters into aspects of their lives. Captain America fandom includes, fans dressing up as Captain America for Comic Con, dressing up for movie premiers, non-actors reenacting scenes from the movie, devout fan sites and even Captain America parties. The Captain America fandom has sparked a world of carnivalesque where everyday citizens transform into their favorite superhero. This sort of carnivalesque with costumes and dressing up offers modern day transformation of political inversion, as fans disguise themselves as Captain America. For the day, or a few hours, they leave their normal identity behind and indulge in the amusement of becoming their favorite superhero. This form of carnival allows for active participation, encouraging fans to participate with the idea that anyone can join. Chris Evans, the famous actor who played Captain America started his Captain America empire in 2011 with the release of Captain America: The First Avenger. Fans immediately fell in love with the movie along with Chris Evans, and he became an obsession to