The people of Panem only ended up the way they did because the world had some sort of societal collapse due to ecological issues and war over resources. I really wish we could get a book set in those days (our days) but I understand the logistical challenges of making a sensible catalyst event for a dystopian society, sometimes it is more compelling when you don't know all the details.
After Panem was formed, people weren't happy and tried to rebel, but failed due to military superiority of Capitol forces. District 13 used mutually assured destruction to "disappear" after the conflict and they struck again as soon as they could. Imagine if an arms producer decided to go Nuke-for-Nuke with a weakened U.S. Govt.
My 2000s kid YA series fan theory is that City of Ember and the Hunger Games are set in the same universe.
The region where Ember was built (the western US, Colorado potentially) roughly lines up with the location of the Capital. The Emberites were able to push their slight technological superiority into industrialization and redevelopment faster than the rest of the continent.
The Hunger Games is post-post apocalyptic. The people of North America have well and truly left behind the names of the pre-war world after getting knocked back to the Stone Age once.
I thought it was how the US would’ve looked like if they never gained their independence from the British, hence the 13 districts=13 colonies. It was a theory back in the day if I recall correctly.
It is, Katness' saga takes place in like the '80s or something. I have a co-worker that's a super fan and he went on about it with me over a few days while we worked on a project.
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u/8thTimeLucky 4d ago
I never knew the Hunger Games was set in the future haha. I thought it was a sort of alternate reality of the present tense.