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of white europeans occupying and claiming the resources of
non-white peoples. Again, this doesn't explicitly bring race
into the equation, and indeed you can ignore the race/ethnicity
all together without losing an appreciation for the series,
but it's yet another aspect to think about among the other
themes.
So all this time, I've been arguing that whether or not
race matters in Panem is less important than whether race
matters to the audience when determining whether or not it
plays a role in the series. A clear example of this is the casting
of Lenny Kravitz as Cinna, the firestorm that resulted. All I
remember from the book was that Cinna was described as
having short, dark hair and looking "normal" relative to the
rest of the Capitol citizens. How does this description reveal
anything about race? Does he have to be explicitly described
as black to be black — is "white" the only "normal"? I think
that the casting controversy here reveals that even if race
isn't important in Panem, The Hunger Games still forces us
to think about and confront race in our own society. It's one
thing to be upset the Kravitz isn't your ideal "physical type" for
Cinna, and it's another to be flipping out over his race. Check
out some of the bizarre comments about it:
• Isn't Cinna flamboyant? Not black.
• i imagined him as a gay white guy with brown and is skinny
. . . he better act gay!
• Ew, since when was he black?
Source: http://www.racialicious.com/2011/11/15/yes-there-areblack-people-in-your-hunger-games-the-strange-case-of-ruecinna/
Admittedly, I picked some of the worst comments of the
lot, but you get the point. Furthermore, the fanbase has scrutinized
Kravitz's acting abilities much more than any of the
other characters' actors, even though his is only a supporting
role next to the white leads, Jennifer Lawrence and Josh
Hutcherson. (Plus, whether or not Kravitz's body type looks
the part, he just exudes cool, I mean really . . . ) By the way,
this would make Cinna the only major supporting character
of unambiguous color in the series (if you accept the films
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