Hope, Fear, and The Hunger Games

There is a very memorable scenes in The Hunger Games, and it is when Katniss is set up to shoot President Snow with an arrow, but at the last second decides to shoot President Coin instead.

The whole series, Snow had been the main antagonist. He was president, and therefore responsible for the Hunger Games, keeping the districts enslaved, military intervention, and even behind personal threats towards the protagonist. He's obviously the 'bad guy' of the series, the one who all the blame is laid upon, and then we see Katniss forfeit her chance to kill him. She opted to instead kill what many would refer to as 'the lesser of the evils.'

She saw this lesser of the evil for what she truly was, evil. Instead of letting this evil arise once the other was destroyed, Katniss took action to prevent it. Coin had killed Katniss' sister, so of course Katniss had a personal vendetta against her, but it wasn't an action simply motivated by revenge. Katniss was angry because of what Coin did, but she also knew what it entailed.

Coin was no savior. She led the revolution against an oppressive government, yes, but she was willing to sacrifice innocent lives for a chance to win. And that's what it was, a competition. Maybe she did not like Snow, but she was no better than him. She stood on no moral high ground when she took up arms against the Capitol. That much was obvious when she decided to host her own hunger games after she gained control.

It could be argued that Coin was a villain far worse than Snow. Her way of ruling actually gave people hope. She was a likable leader, respected and trusted. She wasn't viewed as a mere politician. Snow was hated by the districts, his power was derived from force and instilling fear in everyone's mind through actions such as the hunger games or ordering public executions. The people of the districts obeyed because they had no hope left in them. They saw no way to gain their freedom back. But when the mockingjay arose, so did they. All they ever needed was a push. Snow knew this and admitted that his system was fragile, going as far as to say, "fear does not work as long as they have hope, and Katniss Everdeen is giving them hope"

Coin may have used fear and force base tactics as well, but she did not strip anyone of their hope. Instead, she fed it with propaganda to benefit her. She nourished it with her empty promises, and hate of the competition she needed to crush. Because of this, they followed her. District thirteen unknowingly catered to her ulterior motives, all because of the hope she provided in return. It was almost a full proof plan, if only she hadn't been caught bombing her own people. Otherwise, she'd have happily gotten the position of president, and the tyranny would continue to prosper.

Snow was the obvious evil to the viewers, and Katniss killing Coin was a major plot twist because of this. Even from the perspective of a majority of the viewer, who's lives were not on the line, and had already a chance to witness the darker side of Coin, her death was not expected. They thought it would be Snow, because they too fell for her scheme. They too channeled all their hate onto one man instead of the position in question: presidency.

How easy it is to fool those who place their hope in authority!