The Hunger Games (Ubiquitous surveillance) | Database of Machine Vision in Art, Games and Narratives

Brief description

Although cameras are never seen, they are everywhere in the arena of the Hunger Games, and there are many in the Capitol as well. In the arena, Katniss knows she is constantly being filmed and watched both by the game masters and President Snow and by the television audience in the Capitol and the Districts. Katniss chooses certain actions based on this knowledge - kissing Peeta to make the sponsors more likely to give them medicine, or editing the story of how she bought Prim's goat so as not to reveal information that might get her friends in trouble.

Pull Quotes

While I’ve been concealed by darkness and the sleeping bag and the willow branches, it has probably been difficult for the cameras to get a good shot of me. I know they must be tracking me now though. The minute I hit the ground, I’m guaranteed a close-up. The audience will have been beside themselves, knowing I was in the tree, that I overheard the Careers talking, that I discovered Peeta was with them. Until I work out exactly how I want to play that, I’d better at least act on top of things. Not perplexed. Certainly not confused or frightened. No, I need to look one step ahead of the game. So as I slide out of the foliage and into the dawn light, I pause a second, giving the cameras time to lock on me. Then I cock my head slightly to the side and give a knowing smile. There! Let them figure out what that means!

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games (Hunger Games Trilogy, Book 1) (pp. 163-164). Scholastic Inc.. Kindle Edition.

I want to do something, right here, right now, to shame them, to make them accountable, to show the Capitol that whatever they do or force us to do there is a part of every tribute they can’t own. That Rue was more than a piece in their Games. And so am I. A few steps into the woods grows a bank of wildflowers. Perhaps they are really weeds of some sort, but they have blossoms in beautiful shades of violet and yellow and white. I gather up an armful and come back to Rue’s side. Slowly, one stem at a time, I decorate her body in the flowers. Covering the ugly wound. Wreathing her face. Weaving her hair with bright colors. They’ll have to show it. Or, even if they choose to turn the cameras elsewhere at this moment, they’ll have to bring them back when they collect the bodies and everyone will see her then and know I did it. I step back and take a last look at Rue. She could really be asleep in that meadow after all. “Bye, Rue,” I whisper. I press the three middle fingers of my left hand against my lips and hold them out in her direction. Then I walk away without looking back.

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games (Hunger Games Trilogy, Book 1) (pp. 236-237). Scholastic Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Yes, they have to have a victor. Without a victor, the whole thing would blow up in the Gamemakers’ faces. They’d have failed the Capitol. Might possibly even be executed, slowly and painfully while the cameras broadcast it to every screen in the country.

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games (Hunger Games Trilogy, Book 1) (p. 344). Scholastic Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Haymitch startles me when he lays a hand on my back. Even now, in the middle of nowhere, he keeps his voice down. “Great job, you two. Just keep it up in the district until the cameras are gone. We should be okay.” I watch him head back to the train, avoiding Peeta’s eyes.

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games (Hunger Games Trilogy, Book 1) (pp. 371-372). Scholastic Inc.. Kindle Edition.

nod. “We need to get out of here. Now. We just set off a streetful of pods. You can bet they’ve got us on surveillance tapes.” “Count on it,” says Castor. “All the streets are covered by surveillance cameras. I bet they set off the black wave manually when they saw us taping the propo.”

Collins, Suzanne. Mockingjay (Hunger Games Trilogy, Book 3) (p. 279). Scholastic Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Most important, he has knowledge of the cameras. There aren’t many down in this gloomy, misty place, except in the Transfer. But we keep well out of their way.

Collins, Suzanne. Mockingjay (Hunger Games Trilogy, Book 3) (p. 298). Scholastic Inc.. Kindle Edition.

flesh. Jumping to my death’s not an option—the window glass must be a foot thick. I can make an excellent noose, but there’s nothing to hang myself from. It’s possible I could hoard my pills and then knock myself off with a lethal dose, except that I’m sure I’m being watched round the clock. For all I know, I’m on live television at this very moment while commentators try to analyze what could possibly have motivated me to kill Coin. The surveillance makes almost any suicide attempt impossible. Taking my life is the Capitol’s privilege. Again.

Collins, Suzanne. Mockingjay (Hunger Games Trilogy, Book 3) (p. 373). Scholastic Inc.. Kindle Edition.