It should come as no surprise that I'm always on the look out for
dynamic, engaging, and strong female characters in pop culture
and the latest fictional female representation that has everyone talking is Katniss Everdeen,
the dynamic protagonist of the Hunger Games novels written by Suzanne Collins.
For those unfamiliar with the trilogy, the novels are set in a future dystopian North America,
in a country called Panem.
The title of the book is a reference to an annual event organized by the oppressive government
in which 24 children are selected at random to participate in a televised death match.
In the Hunger Games, as they’re called, the children are forced to brutally murder one another until only one is left standing.
For the purposes of this video, I’m going to set aside the fact that some of the analogies Collins is trying to draw
to reality TV, professional sports, and war begin to fall apart when scrutinized closely.
I appreciate her attempt to critically comment on social issues,
I just don’t buy that parents would passively give up their children
to be slaughtered on national TV without a serious fight.
The death match as spectacle theme is really only believable
when the players have been dehumanized or othered by society,
either as convicts or slaves for example,
it doesn’t work when it’s just randomly selected children from the general population.
That said, in this video I’m going to focus mainly on the
portrayal of Katniss’ character in the first book and the movie adaptation.
I thought the first The Hunger Games novel, published in 2008 was a captivating, engaging and riveting read
and I really enjoyed being immersed in the science fiction world that Collins creates.
If you haven’t read the book or seen the movie yet [spoilers] fair warning.
The story follows Katniss, a 16 year old from a poor, coal mining community in district 12.
She struggles to provide for her family in the absence of her father
and later to survive the brutality of the Hunger Games.
She is a tough, no-nonsense, responsible, young woman
who uses her smarts to support her family in an oppressive, and seemingly hopeless situation.
Katniss is not reduced to her gender,
meaning her behaviours and actions aren’t attributed to her being a woman,
she is not sexualized and she is not objectified in the book.
Her real world concerns and priorities of family and survival are put in sharp contrast
to the superficial values imposed on her by the Capitol government
as she is being groomed for the Hunger Games media spectacle.
These preparation scenes provide a critique of the beauty industry and also of the decadence of the wealthy
in contrast to poor and working class districts who can barely afford enough food to feed their families.
Katniss demonstrates empathy and compassion for those around her including her friends, family,
and those oppressed and underprivileged in Panem.
Later in the arena she also builds a trusting and supportive relationship with Rue, the young tribute from district 11.
Later, when Rue is tragically killed, Katniss treats her death with honor and respect.
The romance elements of the first book were only slightly grating,
much of it was Katniss’ uncertainty about Peeta’s feelings for her
and her confusion about whether he was being genuine or just acting.
It was clear Collins was setting up a love triangle between Peeta, Katniss and Gale ala Edward, Bella and Jacob.
This is nothing new in novels targeted at girls and women and I could look past the cliché of it
since it wasn't central to the plot in the first book.
Katniss' naivety when it came to dating and relationships make sense
given her age and her difficult economic, social and family life,
her naivety and confusion is an understandable part of her character's growth,
but only in the first part of the trilogy, unfortunately the love triangle takes a much more prominent role in books 2 and 3.
There’s been some understandable criticism of the rather extreme levels of violence in the novel,
especially considering it’s marketed to young adults.
I think this is a fair point however the way Katniss perceives and uses violence makes her somewhat unique.
Especially in comparison to other so called “strong female characters”
whose strength often stems from their ability and willingness to use violence.
Although, Katniss does possess the hunting and tracking skills to survive in the harsh terrain of the arena,
she remains troubled and disturbed at the idea of personally murdering another human being
even within the context of the death match.
Admirably she can’t bring herself to wish death on her opponents or even her enemies.
Knowing full well that if they remain alive she can never return home.
These moments illustrate that Katniss hasn’t become completely desensitized to violence and suffering
even though she’s forced to participate in a horrifically violent system.
That said, I do wish Collins was more consistent in writing Katniss’ responses to death.
When Rue is killed the event is written as deeply traumatic and emotional for Katniss.
Katniss is not made to run off seeking revenge, but allowed to mourn in a really human way.
We follow along as she struggles through the process of grief.
She appropriately feels shock, pain, guilt and temporary depression.
To Collins’ credit, she writes this emotional process as a testament to Katniss’ strength as opposed to a weakness.
Yet when Foxface is accidently yet tragically killed via poisonous berries, Katniss doesn’t even bat an eye.
She shows no emotional reaction whatsoever
despite the fact that this young tribute from district 5, hasn’t hurt anyone during the games.
Although, Katniss doesn’t have a personal relationship with Foxface, her death
should still be represented as tragic and upsetting.
It should go without saying that in reality, violence is
traumatic and it has very real and lasting consequences for everybody involved.
So I’m not arguing for stories to be completely free of violence,
but I am arguing for violence to be portrayed consistently and to reflect its emotional and physical repercussions.
In a media culture that sensationalizes and glamorizes violence, it’s refreshing to see a character like Katniss,
react to violence in a more honest and genuine way, at least most of the time.
I appreciate that Collins doesn’t have Katniss emerge from the arena unscathed.
She experiences serious physical and emotional consequences and by the end of the games,
her sense of safety and trust have been shattered.
When the game makers announce that there can only be one victor after all Peeta throws his knife away in protest
and Katniss’ automatically assumes that he’s about to attack her, so she loads her bow and aims an arrow at his heart.
Later when the Capitol doctors are operating on Peeta,
Katniss has a panic attack, and believes for a moment she’s back in the arena.
She imagines the medical staff as a pack of muttations attacking her friend.
These examples are evidence of the delusion and paranoia that Katniss understandably suffers
as a result of the extreme trauma she experienced during the Hunger Games.
These scenes help to separate her from many of the so called
strong female characters in popular culture who just replicate
the stoic, unemotional, unaffected, macho archetype where somehow they
go through extreme violence and trauma with no visible effect at all.
So it's refreshing that Katniss is allowed to go through a period of post traumatic stress
and that the emotional experience ultimately works to make her a stronger character, rather than a weaker one.
Some people have been asking is Katniss then a feminist character?
Because of her compassion, empathy, cunning, resourcefulness and intelligence,
I think she embodies many feminist values, at least over the course of the first book.
In my next video I'll talk about the movie in comparison to the book,
especially in relation to its portrayal of gender and also violence.
Whenever a novel is turned into a film, there are going to be some major differences,
and I'll discuss which of those changes were successful and which were not.
So be sure to check it out.
The Hunger Games fan art I used in this video was made by these amazing illustrators.
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