Generation Like

The Frontline documentary “Generation Like” explores the relationship between Internet users and corporate marketers. In the film, Douglas Rushkoff explain how in our generation the consumer turns into the marketer by reaching out to their peers through social media, in turn selling the product for the company.

Rushkoff explain how teens are spending more and more time in digital spaces they know nothing about, eventually creating a demographic profile about themselves and thus voluntarily handing out information about themselves to companies.This is because the value of companies such as Facebook and Twitter aren't based on profit, but based on the volume of likes they can generate. Now here we see the game of likes.

Through social media platforms, teens can participate in something bigger than themselves and engaging with figures that they idolize is what keeps them continuing to like and engage via social media. However, what is really occurring is that corporations are employing kids to sell their product, making them work for free without knowing the role they are playing in the marketing process. In our generation any ordinary kid has the opportunity to cultivate an online fan base. Kids feel validated by the number of likes they receive, skewing their notion of success and creating a meaningful impression. New world marketing is where it's no longer "the medium is the message" and more of "you are the medium".

How powerful is the connection between the effect of social media and the structure of the Hunger Games? 

In “Generation Like” companies profit by selling out identities. Teens are victim of manipulation by marketers and large corporations and playing into a system they aren't aware of. Teens feel empowered and like they part of a meaningful social community when really they are just “players in a corporate version of The Hunger Games.”

As seen in the clip above, Rushkoff uses the Hunger Games as a metaphor and makes a direct comparison between advertisers and the game makers from The Hunger Games, the ones who create arenas where teenagers fight each other to the death for sponsorships and the viewing pleasure of adults. It's where hidden game masters set the rules that you need to follow, and where the only way to receive benefits from sponsors is to get as many people to like you as you can. Jar of miraculous healing ointment anyone? This inclusion of profound parallels between the subject-matter and the plot of The Hunger Games, and its incorporation of clever transition methods, helps to convey a story that’s tackling a heavy subject matter into a simple and cohesive structure for the audience to enjoy.

The connection between the effect of social media and the structure of the Hunger Games is a profound message. For today’s young adult audience, a world of instability is just the norm. When young adults read these books, stories about teenagers who must fight for their lives and fight for their freedom in a world that a previous generation has wrecked, they are reading a metaphorical representation of their own world. Today’s kids have been handed a world their elders mismanaged, used up, polluted and wrecked. 

The relationship with the games being just like social media, gives the audience something to relate to. They understand the issues with the games, not only from the character's point of view but with their interpretation of it as well, Associating this to social media gives them a further understanding and makes them question the social media game.