the met gala

I love The Hunger Games and Suzanne Collins, I think it is an amazing picture of our reality, both real and not real. We nearly have vicious weapons like the Capitol and certainly people are oppressed differently in different places. In District 12, people die of starvation but it is much less militarized and much smaller than District 11. If you read the books, you know that the relationships of Districts 11 and 12 mirror the oppression faced by Black Americans and Native Americans (as Panem is the future North America).** The restraints put on people by the Capitol are different and the same is true with our white supremacist power. 

There is so much to learn from these books and one thing that may get overlooked, yet I'm reminded of today, is the role of fashion and the roles of people. It is no coincidence that the designers of this year Met Gala and Cinna are Black men, and that the trending theme is something that is glorified by our society yet could destroy it at the very same it if properly executed. Cinna's mockingjay dress transformation for Katniss during Catching Fire was a revolutionary moment for all of Panem, because he knew all of Panem would be watching. He was truly one of the best people and was so essential to the cause. Black dandyism at its roots is Black power over white "excellency" and that same kind of Black power could crush our white supremacist society today if we had the ability to use it correctly. Sadly, we are deep in enemy waters and some of our best weapons have been recognized and twisted by the current powers at work. The 1% and those that think being in the top 10% is the ultimate dream have learned to take powerful concepts and manipulate them into the image that best satisfies the long-term white supremacist agenda.

It really is no coincidence that the theme of this year's Met Gala is Black power while the US funds a genocide in Gaza. It isn't as direct as The Hunger Games where the symbol for resistance and being "in vogue" are the exact same, but it's the idea that non-white people are being assertive and in the spotlight that quells the idea of needing to speak up on behalf of non-white people being treated badly. Wearing the mockingjay in the Capitol was hot because it represented the last sensational victors, a story of young love and freedom and a little bit of rebellion during dark hours. Even though everyone's doing it it's daring and you kinda question the fucked-upness of the Capitol because your human urge to rebel has been satiated with a small taste of freedom. I suppose if captivity is nice, your ultimate goal isn't the destruction of the cage. 

I think about if one person at the Met Gala wore Palestine's colors or tatreez or poppies (and how easily that could've been achieved), and how much awareness that would've brought to their suffering because it's true, videos of genocide are not ones people want to look at. The Capitol citizens don't want to see the district people starving in the streets. But a human message of concepts delivered through the beautiful story-telling medium of fashion? That could entice them, spark a fire in them they never knew existed because perhaps it didn't until the story was told. Too bad nobody in the entertainment society has guts like Cinna. What a king.

**​Katniss, Gale, Haymitch, and most people from District 12 are olive-skinned with dark black hair, although Prim, Katniss's mom Asterid (had to google that), and Peeta are described as white/pale skinned, blond hair and blue eyes. District 12 is a place with multiple races. Katniss's father and mother becoming a couple was a minor scandal, more about class descent for her mom, but the racial element is there and not insignificant because it's implied the merchant class is predominantly white (as whiteness and wealth are typically connected). There's debate on Katniss Everdeen's indigeneity as it is never explicit but the girl has gray eyes, wears her hair in a trademark braid, has a great respect and deep relationship with nature as a hunter-gatherer, and is even named after it (also Gale Hawthorne is nature while Peeta is bread... lol). I think the evidence swings native for me, and there's even theories that the Seam might've been a former reservation. I wonder if future books might allude to that.

Rue and Thresh have dark brown skin, black hair, and brown/golden-brown eyes and it's said that they are perfect representatives of their district. District 11, where Rue and Thresh are from, is massive fields and farms (surrounded by huge barbed wire electrical fences) where they have to harvest plants, climb trees to pick fruit, and raise cattle. District 11 people live in tiny homes that are heavily surveilled by the Peacekeepers, who are distinctly white and much more violent than those in 12. It is a bleak description of a future for Black Americans but more and more I find it possible that we live in the timeline that precursors a society truly like Panem.