Dwindling Parties

Many people have noted the debt owed by The Hunger Games to Battle Royale, but has anyone given due credit to the part played by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

Think about it. Wonka, aka President Snow, "reaps" his victims by lottery, including young Charlie, a poor child whose family have barely enough to eat (remind you of anyone?). Charlie and the other Tributes are then taken to an enclosed arena, where they compete for the ultimate prize, falling one by one until only the winner is left. Some are victims of greed, the Chocolate River that consumes poor Augustus Gloop finding a sanguinary aftersplash in the Bloodbath. Others hold out longer before failing in spectacular and gruesome ways: Violet Beauregarde, like Foxface, runs foul of berries; Veruca Salt, like Cato, is eaten alive by genetically-engineered beasts. Peeta is clearly modelled on Grandpa Joe. But in the end it is young Charlie who is left to step into the elevator that will bring him safely out of the arena.

The Dahl Estate should sue, really it should.