Reality Collapses, "Real or Not Real?": The Theoretical Consequences of Compromised Authenticity in Suzanne Collins' Mockingjay

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Pailthorpe, B. (2015). Reality Collapses, "Real or Not Real?": The Theoretical Consequences of Compromised Authenticity in Suzanne Collins' Mockingjay. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
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Abstract

This thesis proposes the theorization of the consequences of what I deem compromised authenticity, in this hyper-mediated age. Drawing from the work of scholars concerned with the growing anxiety over the tension between the authentic and the inauthentic, I argue that the third and final novel in The Hunger Games trilogy describes the complexity of one’s fate after notions of the real holistically break down. I contend through Mockingjay, that when authenticating strategies meant to reaffirm authentic identity, authentic memory, and authentic morality, are compounded, the aim of holding onto the broad conception of the authentic is to prevent reality collapse. By utilizing the nuanced body of literature on authenticity, critical work on The Hunger Games universe, and instances in the novel that support my claims, Mockingjay illustrates, through the rhetorical nature of authenticity, the costs of the increasing disappearance of binaric distinctions. I detail the consequences of our movement towards a world with a frightening fluidity of the real/not real experience where original notions of the authentic being the true self, true history, and true morality, are mutilated and rebuilt.

Details
Author

Pailthorpe, Brittany

Title

Reality Collapses, "Real or Not Real?": The Theoretical Consequences of Compromised Authenticity in Suzanne Collins' Mockingjay

Physical Description

1 online resource (138 pages) : PDF

Date

2015

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

This thesis proposes the theorization of the consequences of what I deem compromised authenticity, in this hyper-mediated age. Drawing from the work of scholars concerned with the growing anxiety over the tension between the authentic and the inauthentic, I argue that the third and final novel in The Hunger Games trilogy describes the complexity of one’s fate after notions of the real holistically break down. I contend through Mockingjay, that when authenticating strategies meant to reaffirm authentic identity, authentic memory, and authentic morality, are compounded, the aim of holding onto the broad conception of the authentic is to prevent reality collapse. By utilizing the nuanced body of literature on authenticity, critical work on The Hunger Games universe, and instances in the novel that support my claims, Mockingjay illustrates, through the rhetorical nature of authenticity, the costs of the increasing disappearance of binaric distinctions. I detail the consequences of our movement towards a world with a frightening fluidity of the real/not real experience where original notions of the authentic being the true self, true history, and true morality, are mutilated and rebuilt.

Genre

masters theses

Subjects--Topics

Communication
Literature
Rhetoric

Degree

M.A.

Keywords

Authenticity
Mockingjay
Novel
Reality Collapse
The Hunger Games

Subject Area

Communication Studies

Advisor(s)

Leeman, Richard

Committee Members

Grano, Dan
Stokes, Ashli

Degree Note

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2015.

Rights Statement

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Rights Holder Information

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Identifier

Pailthorpe_uncc_0694N_10858

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:199