To the Death

Whenever I watch a film like The Running Man or Series 7: The Contenders or Battle Royale or The Hunger Games or Gladiator or anything else that movie hipsters insist all these other films are ripping off, I see that they all have two things in common. They are all about people fighting to the death for the entertainment of others, and most everyone involved is there against their will. The second aspect of these films is what raises a very large question for me.

Why does everyone assume that people wouldn't willingly sign up for a fight to the death?

I get that in the Hunger Games, the fight to the death is used to keep the populace demoralized and dispirited. That's pretty much the theory behind all of them, really. It's the classic "Bread and Circuses" of Rome, in which you keep the people from rising up by keeping them entertained. The Hunger Games, and it's cult predecessor Series 7 show a world in which the only way to keep the people passive is with a reality show that involves unwilling participants killing each other. Gladiator shows us that this kind of thing was once a reality back in Rome.