Katniss is not just another pretty face
The Hunger Games marks not just the launch of a new youth lit-based, blockbuster film franchise, but also the birth of a new type of protagonist not provided by either of the genre’s two immediate predecessors, Harry Potter and Twilight.
In Katniss Everdeen, writer Suzanne Collins and director Gary Ross have delivered a heroine who expands the horizons of young people’s imaginations. First of all, she is a she, scoring points off the top as a woman at the heart of the narrative.
Harry Potter had a strong female presence in Hermione Granger, but she was a secondary character, and became increasingly so as the story went on. His was by and large a boyhood adventure. Twilight’s Bella took centre stage, kind of, but both her persona and storyline were very different. Lovestruck and vulnerable, she pined for and had to be protected by her rival suitors, Edward and Jacob.
Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) doesn’t need protection. She gets help along the way, like Harry Potter, but she is strong, independent and, most important, active. Bella watched as the boys fought – each other and deadly enemies. Her adventure came in loving a dangerous guy.
Katniss is a skilled archer who can fend for herself. She volunteers for the feared Hunger Games to save her little sister, and must survive the reality-tv-style fight to the death against 23 other “tributes,” i.e. competitors.
Like Bella, she is caught in a love triangle, but it doesn’t consume her. She is more concerned with saving her family, helping others and, ultimately, vanquishing her (and her people’s) oppressors.
Katniss is a female action hero, like La Femme Nikita, Lara Croft and, more recently, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo; but unlike all of these, she is not sexualized – no small feat for a woman in contemporary pop culture. Even Bella, in her inactivity, was caught up in the thinly veiled sexual dilemma of when to give herself over to Edward’s vampire desire. That question was Twilight’s central tension, garnering the series criticism for its puritan values.
Katniss is engaged in society. She sees the inequities in the world around her – the unbalance between the impoverished and oppressed districts, where she’s from, and the opulence enjoyed in The Capitol.
She sees through the hypocrisy of The Hunger Games. She doesn’t buy into the charade, her sudden fame or the frenzied blood lust induced by the contest. She reluctantly puts on a dress, even giving it a twirl to charm potential “sponsors” (who could send her life-saving gifts during the Games); she also resists participating in a fake love story with fellow tribute/competitor Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), which could win them further favour in the eyes of the show’s TV audience.
In doing so, Katniss eschews – at least at first – the roles usually laid out for women in contemporary storylines. She eventually plays along, begrudgingly, as a means of self-preservation. But merely questioning such conventions is an improvement on the status quo.
Not that The Hunger Games is perfect. Though
The Hunger Games is set to break box-office records.
Katniss hesitates, she also participates. She doesn’t want the romance, but she performs her part. Even though it’s self-consciously constructed, the drama has her stuck in the middle as the object of the affections of both Peeta and her true love, Gale (Liam Hemsworth), waiting patiently at home.
The same device can be found in Twilight, as noted above; Harry Potter (Hermione caught between Harry and Ron Weasley); and traced all the way back to Star Wars (Princess Leia weighing her affections for Han Solo and Luke Skywalker).
It’s not the only area in which The Hunger Games stops shy of the deeper sociocritical truths it aspires to.
Initially disgusted by the violent exploitation of her fellow tributes – and finding a remote tree to hide in while they go about killing each other – Katniss is soon drawn into the fray.
The film follows suit, softening its stance and turning into a conventional thriller in the climax of the third act.
And yet, we emerge with a thoughtful action movie carried by a tough young woman who is valued for more than just her beauty, and who allows us to at least question some of the tropes of this type of fiction.
The Hunger Games is set to break box-office records. Advance sales and research show the film garnering interest both outside the teen market – adults are intrigued – and with men as well as women.
Knowing Hollywood’s tendency to imitate proven formulae, that bodes well for female roles and role models.