A crítica ao consumismo e a manipulação midiática na obra *Jogos Vorazes* de Suzanne Collins

Abstract

This study focuses on consumerism and media manipulation in Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games (2008), placing these themes in the context of today's society. This research arises from the analysis of how the narrative elements of a dystopia aimed at young people can reveal strategies of social control and the display of cultural violence and alienation present in real life. The aim is to examine how the work presents a critique of consumer practices and the role played by the media in imposing symbols. The following actions were defined as the goals of the study: to define the concept of mass culture and its interaction with the influence of manipulative media; to discuss the influences of theories of consumer society (Bauman) and spectacle (Debord) in the work; and to identify how the characters Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark symbolize resistance. The method used is qualitative and exploratory in nature; it is based on literary analyses supported by theories of authors such as Zygmunt Bauman (2007), Guy Debord (2013), Jean Baudrillard (1981), Herbert Marcuse (1969) and Luís Costa Lima (1982). Excerpts from the first book in The Hunger Games (2008) series were chosen to relate to contemporary practices such as digital consumption, influencer marketing, and the transformation of content into a spectacle on online platforms. The results indicate that the work uses dystopian fiction as an instrument of social denunciation, revealing the subtleties of cultural control and encouraging critical thinking. It is concluded that The Hunger Games goes beyond its literary value of entertainment, being a symbolic tool of resistance and reflection on the mechanisms of domination in today's society.