Van Dyke lectured primarily on social norms, how they come about, and how they control people, as well as the systems of social norms in the Captiol of Panem, Katniss' District 12, and of the militant District 13.
The main parallel she drew was that the way the Capitol controls its people ultimately has the same effect as the way District 13 controls its people. While the Capitol conditions its people to channel self-expression and individuality through lavish fashion trends, parties and entertainment, District 13 accounts for every moment of every one of its citizen's time, forcing its people to channel their individuality through habitual adherence to the rules and regulations of the compound. In both cases, the citizens are rendered 'docile,' unable or unwilling to make their own choices in life. Neither of these systems is, therefore, acceptable to Katniss, who wants to live her own life outside of the social and political ends she has been used for throughout the trilogy.
Ultimately, this is not quite a stretch. In Mockingjay, a substantial amount of time is spent on the fact that Katniss, after she has run her course of usefulness, is considered a threat to the revolution precisely because she doesn't fully support District 13's President Coin. It's even hinted at that Katniss might have been assassinated by Coin's soldiers once her time was up, in order to make a martyr out of her and therefore to be able to continue to use her face and story to inspire support in Coin's regime. There is a running parallel in the novel that Katniss is still a part of the games - even if she is out of the arena, other people are still keeping her in the dark, using her as a pawn to act out their own plans and schemes. There's a parallel between Presidents Coin and Snow from the get-go, so why shouldn't their regimes have the same effects? It makes sense with the themes of Mockingjay, even culminates with Katniss' choice to assassinate Coin rather that Snow when she had the chance: Coin's regime was no better, and Katniss knew it.
One of the things she didn't touch on - probably didn't have room to - was that the Capitol and District 13 are, essentially, in a Cold War. The only reason District 13 survived was that it was the District which produced nuclear weapons, and they armed them and pointed them at the Capitol, so the Capitol did the same. The degree to which the Capitol has control over its people through the aforementioned pursuits/distractions must be monumental, to miss not only a state of Cold War as well as active bombardment of District 13 and deployment of "Peacekeepers" to the rebelling districts.
As it happens, the concept of alienation and estrangement is a central theme to this story. As Van Dyke discussed, Katniss and the other people of the districts seem at the very least abnormal, probably subhuman to the heavily modified and fashion-obsessed people of the capitol in the same manner that the people of the capitol seem like strange, colorful birds to Katniss. Despite the fact she volunteered, it could easily be said that hers, too, is a story of abduction: she is reaped by the socioeconomically dominant culture, thrust into a culture so foreign it might as well be on a different planet, and is finally made to fight for her survival to the death, becoming both a sacrifice and a pop culture icon in that alien culture. Her story ultimately has an end which is nothing less than idyllic, but these themes are still, arguably, the core of her story.
For a post on the Hunger Games series and as a phenomenon, please see tangential's big sister: Hyperbole.
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