No, the Met Gala is not the Hunger Games
Be easier if it was though
Last Monday, the annual Met Gala took place at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. One of—if not the—most visible red carpets in the biz, it generates an exhausting amount of conversation. Everyone has an opinion on this event: watching the livestream, scrutinizing the guest list, ranking who was most on-theme. To my chagrin, most of these opinions like to imagine the event as something it’s not.
The Met Gala is a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, during which celebrities walk the red carpet, get a sneak peek at the museum's latest fashion exhibit, and enjoy a dinner. With no awards, speeches, or televised performances, it’s all-in-all a less self-congratulatory affair than something like the Oscars. With a cacophony of designers all making passes at a theme, it’s a less cohesive ordeal than any collection presented during Fashion Week. And with jet-lagged celebrities often skipping their media briefing, it’s a hard place to make a meaningful statement. What I’m trying to say is, despite the seemingly easy comparison, it’s no Hunger Games out there.
The Hunger Games franchise is a prime example of how YA fiction can make complex sociopolitical ideologies easy to understand. More overtly political than many of its predecessors, The Hunger Games has been noted by readers (and viewers) for providing an early introduction to topics like income inequality, police brutality, and the optics of war, helping them think more critically about those issues when they came of voting age. In addition to its politics and brutal violence, the series is perhaps best known for its outrageous fashion.
I don’t mind admitting that I achieved a modicum of class consciousness in 2015 upon seeing Rihanna’s haute couture Met Gala dress, for the theme “China: Through the Looking Glass.” It looked like something out of The Hunger Games’ opulent Capitol, and as she was escorted down the runway, it was clear that this was not something meant to be accessible for everyday wear. I felt I was following in the footsteps of Jennifer Lawrence, who came to her own political awakening after starring in the franchise.
But this was before I stopped shopping at H&M and started appreciating fashion as an art form. Within the right context, clothes—especially haute couture—can be used to send a message or tell as story, just like anything else. Guo Pei, who designed Rihanna’s yellow dress, said:
“The focus and the attention paid to this dress will make it remembered by the world—[what] I want is to make them remember. . .It is my responsibility to let the world know China’s tradition and past, and to give the splendor of China a new expression. I hope that people do know China in this way.”
This message gets lost if you reduce everything high-end to “just like The Hunger Games.”
Admittedly, this year’s event felt more dystopian than usual when a leaked Supreme Court decision revealing the impending overturning of Roe v. Wade hit the presses during the Gala. One of the major themes of The Hunger Games is “panem et circenses,” or “bread and circuses.” This phrase refers to the political strategy of generating public approval not by excellence in public service or policy, but by diversion, distraction, or by satisfying the most immediate requirements of a populace, e.g., food (bread) and entertainment (circuses).
We’ve talked before about how public figures can use one story to cover up another, and that can explain why the spotlight on the Met felt uneasy last week. But a key element of both The Hunger Games and “panem et circenses” is that the same entity is behind the cruelty and the circuses. And when you’ve seen how incompetent and unfashionable the government can be, it’s okay to accept that the Met Gala was put on by a slightly lesser evil: VOGUE editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.
While it’s always okay to hold people in power accountable (and thus side-eye Hillary Clinton on the red carpet), it’s also perfectly reasonable for Rihanna to attend the Met Gala AND advocate for education, health care and girls' rights; for AOC to attend AND advance progressive legislation; for Kim Kardashian to attend and continue promoting unrealistic body expectations.
It’s really just a fundraiser after all, meaning the more eyeballs they get, the better. If you actually care about fashion, start tuning into fashion weeks (so many celebrities couldn’t even pronounce their designer’s names right smh!); if you care about celebrities, follow them on Instagram. As Haymitch tells Katniss before she heads into the arena a second time: “Remember who the real enemy is.”
Thank you for indulging my fandom, here are my belated best dressed picks:
Evan Mock in Head of State:
Rosalía in Givenchy:
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in Thom Browne:
J Balvin in Ralph Lauren (the cane!):
The Yassification of Top Gun
Lady Gaga has cut a song for the upcoming Top Gun: Maverick entitled “Hold My Hand.” This makes sense, of all the pop stars working today, Gaga has best shown the ability to channel the 80s power ballad sound of Top Gun’s iconic “Take My Breath Away” and “Danger Zone.” And, while Top Gun boasts macho subject matter, Gaga brings the queer energy that ran through the original’s homoerotic beach volleyball scene.
I never expect much from a soundtrack song, and “Hold My Hand” largely sounds like an A Star is Born B-side (which is not bad!). But what I didn’t account for was how involved she would be in the run-up to the long-awaited sequel. It’s famously difficult to wrest a Tom Cruise franchise out of the star’s control, but if anyone has the outsize personality to do so, apparently it’s Gaga. In addition to releasing the single, she’s filmed a music video with Maverick’s director (and accompanying fighter jets) and released a line of tie-in merch (I would like to interview anyone who purchased the Lady Gaga dog tag). At least her and Cruise appear to be on good terms so far, let’s see if they make it to the premiere:
Happy Mother’s Day
Okay I know it is a real problem in the Industry that women over a certain age are relegated to only playing mothers, but selfishly I hope it keeps happening to Nicole Kidman—she plays maternal so well! From her Oscar-nominated turn in Lion (I wept 4 times in the theater) to her Scandinavian Shakespeare in The Northman (which ruled, go see it), it gets me every time! Something about the quaver in her half-Australian accent I think.
Any time I talk about The Hunger Games and Lady Gaga in the same breath
I’m legally required to share my favorite fun fact: Francis Lawrence, who directed the last 3 Hunger Games movies also directed the “Bad Romance” music video!
Be well,
Derek