The 2014 Olympics Opening Ceremony is underway, and the seemingly endless Parade of Nations is just enough to lull you into an early afternoon, mid-Olympics nap. There is, however, one way to make the march of snowsuits exciting though: picture it as The Hunger Games. It's not even hard, the two actually have a lot in common — minus the child murder, of course.
This particular Parade of Nations as a whole is fascinatingly similar to the Hunger Games ritual of the tributes being presented to the Capitol on horse-drawn carriages. Each country marches its athletes (non-killer tributes) around a stadium as fans cheer for their favorites. Since this is the Winter Olympics and the theme of the day has been snow, instead of a Girl on Fire we've had hundreds of Girl in Beanies and Man in Parkas. Of course in The Hunger Games, this display is meant to win sponsors that will financially support the tributes throughout the Games but at the Parade of Nations, none of this is to woo sponsors— unless there are some Nike representatives in the audience.
Oh, did I mention that this whole thing is taking place in an arena? While it's likely that author Suzanne Collins formulated her idea for the Games arena based on the Olympics' arena, still, it's hard to avoid the fact that this year's opening ceremony bears a striking resemblance to the YA books and movies.
Let's explore this theory, shall we?
The most striking similarity between the opening ceremony and Hunger Games is the chaperones. Yes, the Olympics have their own Effie Trinket, about 88 of them to be precise. Look closely at the photo below.
You can't exactly miss the woman in all white, surrounded by clear plastic with Serbia emblazoned on it and some kind of headpiece. Each country was escorted by one of these Russian women, each wearing a version of that outfit and a different paper snowflake on their head. Remind you of anyone?
All we're missing is a sexy, drunk escort for one of these Effies to have some subtle sexual tension with...
Oh heyyyy, Costas.
Then we have the guy in charge of the whole thing. The person responsible for designing the arena who hosts all of the events in his own land.
Thank you, President Vladimir Putin, for having a truly amazing President Snow impression.
Happy Olympics! And may the odds be ever in your favor.
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Images: teachinginreallife/Tumblr, peetasalive/Tumblr
