he Hunger Games: What Is an Avox?
One of the benefits that books still hold over movies is the ability to dive more deeply into the worlds they create. Nowhere is this more true than in The Hunger Games, which owes its success, in part, to the supremely compelling future dystopia that author Suzanne Collins envisioned. She reveals a considerable amount of detail for a comparatively slender three-book trilogy, and for all their success at bringing the story to screen, the movies simply can’t match it. This is despite the fact that four movies were produced out of just three books.
That includes a good deal of information that’s simply too dark and gruesome for the Hunger Games movies’ PG-13 ratings. The Avoxes, for example — slaves punished for betraying the story’s autocratic government — play a minimal role in the movies, despite their more important role in the books. They make a few appearances, but spending more time on them would detract from the necessary pacing. As a result, their purpose in the story can be easily missed.
The Hunger Games’ Avoxes Are Captured Traitors to the State
The Hunger Games‘ future state of Panem is an open dictatorship, where the Capitol under the villainous President Snow oversees the systemic subjugation of the people in the 12 outlying Districts. The Hunger Games themselves are an extension of that oppression: two teenagers selected once a year from each district fight in a battle to the death for the Capitol’s amusement. Trouble arises when the story’s protagonist,…
