When The Hunger Games was released in theatres in 2012 there was a tremendous popularity of the heroic female character displayed on the screen. The setting is in a dystopian society in "Panem", a country of the wealthy Capitol and twelve districts in varying states of poverty. The film focuses on Katniss Everdeen, a smart, strong and self-reliant female protagonist and her incredible courageous sacrifice that ignited a long ruthless journey for her survival that ultimately lead to victory. The journey that gave room for interesting analysis within the concept of "mumblecore", the feminist killjoys, and racial representations.
In the opening
of the film, Katniss Everdeen is portrayed as an impoverished 16-year-old girl
with a loving family struggling for basic survival. Immediately her independent
nature is recognized when she pursues to hunt a deer to sell. As time
progresses in the film and The Hunger Games begin an important point in the
plot of the movie is set to attention. Teaching the viewer that sponsors are
vital for survival of the contestants and the support helps no matter the
size. As mentioned in a death match it
could mean the difference between life and death. The mentor reveals the only
viable source to gain sponsors is to gain popularity, which illustrates to
increase popularity there must be no boundaries in willing to do what is
necessary to become the audiences favourite. Katniss originally is portrayed as
an independent girl despite the fact of the realization that she can no longer
rely only on herself and now must try the best she can to become appealing for
the viewers to like who she is depicted as. Katniss struggles with social
etiquettes but finally as the movie develops it is shown that she constructs a
persona to earn the popularity of others. This relates to the concept of the
“Feminist Killjoys” (2010) as Sara Ahmed states; “This affective power not only
presses against feminist claims that behind the image of the happy housewife
was an unspoken collective unhappiness but also involves a counterclaim that
happiness is not so much what the housewife has but what she does her duty is
to generate happiness by the very act of embracing this image.” (Ahmed, 2010,
p. 53) It is recognized that the image of the “happy housewife” is used as a construction
of happiness to sell the idea of a perfect housewife for the ultimate purpose
of gaining the identity of perfection. Within the film, Katniss is able to
utilize embracing this image to gain sponsors. In some situations people are
willing to go to great lengths for popularity yet in the case of film Katniss
is able to benefit to survive and ultimately win the Hunger Games.
In the film “The
Hunger Games” there are a variety of gender norms that are broken and presented
within the film. Through the whole film the female protagonist Katniss Everdeen
challenges and disrupts conceptual gender-norms. Clearly Katniss is a female
however, she is characterized by her masculine qualities throughout the film.
She has a recognizable set of male traits for example she is a hunter, she does
not display her emotions or being romantic, and she also focuses purely on her
survival in the games. As a contrast, Peeta as a male character, is more
emotionally open, more romantic, and is also better with words. He displays a
more feminine and gentle character that challenges the masculine gender-norms.
When Peeta embodies characteristics that usually are seen in women’s roles he
becomes the “Movie Girlfriend” despite being a male character. As Jack
Halberstam presents within the reading “Gaga Feminism” (2012) he uses an
excellent concept of “mumblecore” to analyses the disruption of traditional
gender-norms. As he describes the theme of mumblecore films provides justification
for a new form of masculinity. It
exposes deeply troubling parts of the new heterosexuality. Within the film,
they use the concept of “mumblecore” to break the barrier of the conceptual
gender-norms. The film is displayed as a “mumblecore” film as it provides a female
protagonist that is a dominant lead within the male protagonist character. Moreover,
Halberstam states; “Mumblecore films provide a justification for a new form of
parasitical masculinity that I like to call “angler” masculinity, after the
anglerfish.” (Halberstam, 2012, p. 21) He describes the female anglerfish to be
larger than the male anglerfish, which must attach to the female to survive. In
relation to the film, Katniss is portrayed as the female anglerfish; she is the
dominant of the characters and Peeta attaches on to Katniss for the survival of
his life. Within the film Peeta becomes unable to walk due to an infection in
his leg and Katniss must adventure within the game to find supplements to keep
Peeta from further illness.
In the centre of
the film when the “Hunger Games” have commenced Katniss must search for
supplies given for the healing of Peeta’s leg. As she goes in search she
encounters one of the young girls from District 9 who attempts to kill her. As
she is only moments away from her death, Thresh comes to aid her in escaping as
he grows sympathy for the murder of his former partner. Katniss is saved by
Thresh from District 11 and is saved of her own death by a contestant and is
able to escape without harm. Thresh has a much darker complexion than any of
the contestants and as he kills the contestant from District 11 he savagely
kills her which re-enforces the stereotype that darker skinned men are more
savage and dominant than light skinned men. Another incident of the
representation of black people is when the character Rue from District 11 is
killed by one of the competitors from District 9 and it becomes a turning point
for Katniss as she her loses her innocence. At this moment, it is observed the fall
of the dystopian society of Panem. Rues death becomes a bigger turning point
for Katniss then for Rues life itself. It displays a clear lack of purpose
within the lives of black women. The depiction of black people within the film
resides the idea of white supremacy. Bell Hooks representation of race is
clearly represented throughout the movie to create a lack of value on black
characters.
Bibliography
Ahmed, S .
(2010). The Promise of Happiness:
Feminist Killjoys. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Halberstam, J.J.
(2012) Gaga Feminism: Sex, Gender, and
the End of Normal. Boston: Beacon Press.
Hooks, B.
(1992). Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance. Boston: South End Press.
