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These monsters are my nieces: they are tributes and zombies at the apocalypse. Shooting
arrows
and
covering themselves in mud. Happy, confident, and full of potential!
Linda Brach
Professor Sarah Hagelin
ENGL5770
11 May 2015
The Hunger Games: The Portrayal of Heroines as Role Models for Twenty-first Century Girls
and a Proxy Family’s Role in Assisting their Emergence into Young Adulthood
As throngs of adolescents (and many adults, alike) have devoured the Hunger Games
trilogy in both book and film form, I have largely ignored it. At the urging of many of my students,
I read the first book; unimpressed and uninterested, I dismissed the films and the remaining
books. Over the years, as an English teacher, I’ve taught – and embraced - much dystopian
literature: The Giver, F451, Brave New World, 1984; and as a Matrix fan, I’ve often referenced
its dystopian tropes as cultural references in my classroom. However, in examining the trilogy,
and The Hunger Games film, in particular, I’ve determined the franchise has merit, at least as it
pertains to adolescent females’ self-perception and beliefs about gender equality and female
potential that moves beyond princesses, detectives, and vampire slayers. Despite some minor
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flaws, the film’s female protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, seamlessly and successfully blends ideal
traits of both male and female genders. She wisely embraces the advice of paternal proxies
while dismissing the maternal proxy advice that serves only to reinforce the typically gendered
female as passive and compliant. The support she receives from her paternal proxies, on the
other hand, proves beneficial and reassuring in times of great anxiety and danger. Therefore,
adolescent girls are right to admire and emulate Katniss Everdeen and her heroic qualities.
According to Bartlett, in Screen Education, dystopian literature appeals to adolescents
for several reasons. First of all, they are “confronting the collapse of their childhood verities.
Secondly, authority figures [begin to] appear despotic which further alienates the teen[s]…who
must now assert their independence” (11). Unfortunately, too often “Heteronormative ideals of
tough males and submissive beautiful females are often present in Young Adult fiction [and film].
Girls are passive and peripheral…and often tied to traditional feminine norms and
representations… needing rescue and confined to domestic roles.” (Tabera 1029). The Hunger
Games defies these “ideals.” As a result, The Hunger Games book, and the successful films that
followed, created an army of (pre)adolescent female archery enthusiasts imitating their heroine
role model: Katniss Everdeen. Gary Ross’s cinematic interpretation of the novel positively
impacts pre-adolescent and adolescent girls’ self-perception of their strength and ability in a
culture that seems suspicious of the label “feminist.” While Hollywood’s standards of female
heroines still rely heavily on physical attraction, The Hunger Games presents Katniss Everdeen
as a true heroine with whom adolescent girls can and should identify in the twenty-first century
third wave (or perhaps “fourth wave”?) feminism.
War violence is condemned in most societies unless absolutely necessary. Katniss’s
judicious use of violence only as a last resort is part of what makes her a heroine. According to
author Suzanne Collins, when asked about her label as a writer for adolescents, responded that
she “doesn’t write about adolescents, [she] write[s] about war for adolescents; war as something
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humans carry within themselves, nurtured by a self-destructive impulse… a need to unleash
violence” (Blasingame 726). However, even when Katniss has the opportunity to kill, she only
does so when threated herself, or in the case of villain Cato (a “professional” tribute from District
1), as a merciful means for reducing his suffering. According to a study conducted by Calvert,
Murray and Conger, heroes in the media “serve as role models” and “prosocial (not antisocial)
qualities were the main attributes that made these heroic portrayals worthy of emulation by
adolescent viewers” (702). Furthermore, “The template developed about heroes and villains by
youth are a complex weaving of cultural influences, both real and embedded in cultural stories”
(703). Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell note in The Power of Myth that “films come from artists
and writers who address feelings of hatred, betrayal, and desires for revenge – all part of the
human condition…a hero’s quest (even an unwilling hero such as Katniss) can elevate people,
challenging them to go beyond their own morality rather than inevitably lead to their moral
downfall.”
Katniss, a “tough action heroine” is a “transgressive character, not because she operates
outside of gender restrictions, but because she straddles both sides of the psychoanalytic
gender divide” (Bartlett 15). She is both subject and object: ass-kicker and love object of Peeta
(her District 12 partner in the games) and Gale (her childhood male friend). In their domestic
roles, during training, and in the arena, Katniss and Peeta, essentially reverse gender roles. He
is the “sensitive new age male,” although some young readers imagined him as weak,
suggesting the switch works for Katniss but not Peeta. Katniss blends positive traits of both
genders, assuming many masculine gendered traits to complement her primarily female identity.
For example, in the dining car of the “bullet train” to the Capitol, an eager and loquacious Peeta
interrogates Haymitch about strategies while Katniss sits silently. Katniss becomes the “strong
silent type” typically attributed to the masculine gender. Peeta believes it is permissable, even
essential, to request help and to be collaborative. On the other hand, Katniss is deft, physically
strong, and resourceful, but suspicious and quiet. Peeta is sensitive and works as a baker for
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his family’s bakery. He has an artistic knack for camouflage developed from his expertise
decorating cakes. Brown argues, “action heroines can ‘put on’ the appropriate costume using
preconceived gender roles to choose how they are viewed;” therefore, “playing to cultural
prejudices to get what they want,” in Katniss’s case, staying alive and winning (152). Gradually
throughout the film, Katniss begrudgingly concedes, realizing sponsorships gain her an
advantage. Repeatedly Katniss is encouraged to sacrifice her ideals to “win” sponsors. She
succeeds skillfully without compromising her integrity. She “sells out” without really “selling out,”
to society, an ability extremely appealing to young adolescents who increasingly distrust
authority.
Katniss appeals to young female viewers as she moves between the public and
domestic space (public as warrior and domestic as daughter and sister) as seen mostly through
flashbacks. She moves capably and stealthily through the densely wooded forest, relying on
readily available instinct and skills she honed while moving about with Gale, hunting in the
woods. In one of the early opening scenes a close up of a sign on a barbed wire fence reads
“Danger.” Another warns, “District boundaries. No access beyond this point.” Literally, Katniss
violates the state’s boundaries as she climbs beyond the barbed-wire limits of District 12 to hunt
in the forest. Figuratively, she goes beyond feminine gendered norms. She asserts herself by
taking risks, rather than passively deferring to feminine compliance.
The need for proxy parents arises from a deceased father and an emotionally frail and
devastated mother. Katniss assumes the patriarchal head of household after her father dies.
When Katniss leaves her family for the Capitol, she screams at her mother not to “tune out
again” and that no matter what her mother “feels” she has “to be there” for her little sister, Prim.
Her demand that her mother suppress her feelings, shows Katniss’s alignment with a masculine
gendered quality of stoic emotional stealth, signs of “strength” and a rejection of “weak”
vulnerability. Viewers learn how her father died through Katniss’s hallucination that works as a
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flashback. Katniss’s violent reaction to a tracker-jack attack sparks the hallucination, showing
that Katniss misses her biological father tremendously. He was killed in a coal mine explosion
five years before. The scene shows the mine, the miners, and Katniss’s house all exploding. A
shot of the house’s mantel alternates with a shot of miners on their way to work. Each shot
zooms in closer and closer to a subject, Katniss’s father, as the shots alternate. The mantel shot
zooms in to focus on a portrait of her father next to a clock. This precedes the slow-motion shot
of the explosion. Then the same explosion shot, again in slow motion, REVERSES. Director,
Gary Ross’s reversal of the slow motion shot ends with Katniss’s house and the mantle again
intact. While this is not a dream, the hallucination suggests Katniss’s desire to have her father
and her former life back. The mantel clock, that sits next to the portrait of her father, might also
suggest that Katniss wishes to turn back time. The explosion literally destroyed her father,
resulting in his death, figuratively destroyed the domestic space of Katniss’s house, and
emotionally destroyed the maternal support of her biological mother. This scene, while
appearing later in the film, provides justification for the parental proxies.
In another scene, Katniss displays a quick masculine-gendered temper and expresses
impetuous anger when she has to “perform” for some members of the Capitol. She walks into a
vast, wide, and deep interior space below the gaze of the Capitol game makers who consume
and imbibe above her in a space lavishly decorated with a dining table replete with food and
drink. She is required to demonstrate her ability with weapons and chooses the bow and arrow.
Launching her first arrow, she misses. The game makers chuckle. Her second shot is a bull’s
eye, but the game makers either do not notice or choose to ignore her. Angry in her final attempt
she aims at a roasted pig with an apple in its mouth and shoots the apple right out of its mouth,
alarming and the Capitol members who suddenly stop and turn to stare at her in shocked
silence. This moment creates anxiety for the viewers who worry that she will be punished for her
defiant act. But she continues in her audacity: after a moment she bows and says “thank you for
your consideration.” Her bold gesture penetrates the game makers’ space and the arrow that
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pierces the apple, and thrusts it into a wall works as a phallic symbol. Katniss possesses a
temper and reacts with a violent physical gesture that is typically gendered masculine. She
demands attention, perhaps in a way similar to Linda Loman’s plea on behalf of her husband in
Death of a Salesman that “attention must be paid” to the weak, to the marginalized, to those
victims of the powerful. Initially, she is the unwilling object of the game makers’ gazes, but once
there, she controls those gazes with her archery intrusion, making herself the subject, rather
than the object, and usurping agency from the state game makers and onto herself. Katniss
possesses a core sense of her own autonomy, despite the perceived power of the state gaze.
According to Brown, “The ability to see clearly in cinema is equated with power” (26).
Blurred suggests confusion, weakness, vulnerability. Seeing clearly is to see truth and be
powerful. Furthermore, “the ability to look in film… is a symbol of masculine power. To look
implies a right to knowledge, a right that has traditionally been gendered male.” If a woman
attempts to manipulate the male gaze (and take power) for her own purposes, she is punished.
“The good women are passive, supporters of men,” possessing the “reactive gaze,” while the
“assaultive gaze” is gendered masculine (27). The close up of Katniss pulling her bow back as
she stares at her target, suggests she has the typically gendered and socially constructed
masculine power. Good for her! This scene is in stark contrast to the scene in which Katniss is
“cleaned up” before her television appearance, the camera shows her in a sterile, almost
hospital-like environment, lying down. She is at the mercy of the state power, as vulnerable as a
patient about to be surgically “acted upon.” In a similar scene from The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy is
also “cleaned up;” however, unlike Katniss’s experience, Dorothy’s is enjoyable. She smiles as
she sits. Katniss rarely smiles. Her transformation is “necessary,” to the state for public
appearances’ sake, but while she cooperates, she derives no pleasure from the experience, and
at the mercy of the Capitol, she maintains no agency.
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In the scene that follows the arrow’s penetration of the apple, Effie, her maternal proxy,
fears that Katniss’s bold and risky violation of the game makers’ space will be perceived as a big
“F you!” (is her name “Effie” intentional?) Ultimately she is proven wrong. Effie knows, as
evidence suggests, that young girls who act aggressively are often punished and reminded of
“their place,” next to – and in support of – their male counterparts, as nurses alongside soldiers in
war, for example. This only reinforces the weaker female gender in deference to the hegemonic
masculine male. In this scene adolescent viewers recognize her action as bold, audacious, and
risky rather than ill-advised and foolish. If females get angry they aren’t “supposed” to react
violently, like males, but Katniss does.
Effie often reminds Katniss to “behave” and “mind her manners.” Effie is invested in
maintaining the state’s illusion by encouraging the female gendered “proper behavior.” She
chastises Katniss; yet Katniss remains unfazed. The viewer also dismisses Effie. She is
essentially harmless and simply comical in her white Kabuki makeup, ridiculously colorful
costume, and exaggeratedly large accessories. Make-up serves as a marker of femininity: Effie
is overly made up to look as silly as many of television’s “Real Housewives” do. Male characters
in the film, especially in the Capitol, wear make-up too. Residents of the Capital don ridiculous
costumes, cartoonish, clownish makeup and absurdly severe hairstyles and colors. Even Cinna,
who is 100% MAN (Lennie Kravitz! YUM!), subtly wears a little gold eyeliner (a subtle nod to the
make-up habits of the Capitol?) on his eyelids. So while Effie looks cartoonish and ridiculous,
Cinna maintains his manliness.
The viewers laugh WITH and AT Effie for comic relief. As an agent of the state and a
District 12 liaison she is essentially a goofy clown, but never really a serious threat. Katniss
dismisses her proxy mother, Effie, much as she does her own mother. While her biological
mother is pathetically weak, emotionally vulnerable, and damaged, Effie is silly, comical, and
even endearing. Her comic relief is necessary to lighten the serious tone of the film. Unlike
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other feminist heroines Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Veronica Mars, for example, there’s no
place for camp or irony in The Hunger Games, except in some of the appearances and
behaviors of the Capitol’s citizens. As Benson-Alcott suggests in Film Quarterly, “the tendency
to align action heroines with camp aesthetics” – as in Buffy and Veronica Mars – “challenges the
sexist ideologies and fosters a legitimate sense of female progress…[Katniss’s] earnestness is
genuine” (11). WAY TO GO, fourth wave feminism! However, Benson-Alcott further observes
that while shows like Veronica Mars “mock the frat boys” (often represented as challenges to
gender equality) these heroines “still conform to societal norms of attractiveness” (11). Buffy and
Veronica dress up, wear make-up and shop. This is problematic because “young women are
viewed as [girly] potent consumers. Heroism and girly pleasures are not mutually exclusive.”
They love to go to the mall and shop, so part of “their power comes from consuming.” These “girl
power” characters are “mass marketed through ancillary licensing deals far beyond the
merchandising possibilities of” truer if not more mature “heroines like Ellen Ripley (Alien) and
Sarah Connor (Terminator)” (11).
Katniss (the marketing of her bow and arrow to young girls aside) embodies the best of
Buffy and Veronica with her youth, and the best of Ellen and Sarah with her non-nonsense
maturity and her rejection of “girly” pursuits like shopping and makeup (except when forced in
front of the capitol media for interviews or parades). When Katniss does embrace the gowns and
makeup, it’s only because she’s learning how to “play the (necessary) game” because it’s a
matter of life and death, rather than a desired pursuit of enjoyment. Furthermore, Katniss is not
hyper-sexualized as many third wave feminism characters are. Benson-Alcott notes that “[t]he
sexualization of the young girl heroine is not surprising given our society’s longstanding tradition
of eroticizing adolescent female bodies” (163). Katniss rarely wears high heels (except during
her interview) or outfits with plunging necklines, and her costumes are rarely form-fitting (except
during training). Good for her. Another point for “fourth wave” feminism!
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These traits of Katniss seem to confound Effie. Effie is not unlike the mother, Amanda, in
Tennessee Williams’ Glass Menagerie, who relentlessly demands proper manners and nags her
children about etiquette. Amanda believes that complying with these demands will land her
daughter a “gentleman caller.” Katniss, ironically, through no effort of her own, has two
“gentleman callers.” The Hunger Games viewers perceive Effie as unflattering, although she
possesses a comic silliness about her that excuses her ridiculous behavior which borders on a
maternal parody.
In addition, Effie attempts to seduce her District 12 tributes – or at least assuage their
anxieties about dying in the arena – with lavish buffets and luxurious accommodations on the
train. Director Gary Ross utilizes several close ups of Katniss’s hands sweeping along shiny
hardwood tables and other material temptations. Katniss is intrigued, but she resists. In another
scene, Effie sits closely in between her two tributes, rapidly but almost incoherently babbling.
Her diegetic voice gradually fades to silence as the camera focuses on the two tributes staring
out the window with vacant expressions, suggesting an inability or unwillingness to listen to her
meaningless chatter about what a “wonderful” time they will have. Effie would appreciate a
tribute like Buffy, preferring her to Katniss, and Buffy would jump at the chance to enjoy all the
indulgences of the Capitol.
Stepping in as paternal support during Katniss’s training are Cinna and Haymitch. Haymitch
praises her violation of the state space. His praise proves deserving as she scores 11 out of 12
on the test – the highest of all tributes. The risky “arrow-into-the-apple” act proved worthwhile
and pays off. In addition to his praise, Haymitch warns Katniss against the temptation to run for
supplies in the cornucopia; she will become part of the bloodbath if she does. Similarly, Cinna
reassures Katniss during the 30 second countdown to her “rebirth” into the arena by hugging her
tightly, kissing her on the forehead, bestowing upon her the mockingjay pin, and zipping up her
coat as a dad might do on his daughter’s first day of middle school. Cinna reinforces the
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confidence he has in her saying he’d “bet on [her] if he could.” The countdown continues to build
suspense and in an audience-jarring moment all diegetic sound stops as a clear cylindrical tube
encloses Katniss as if suspended in a water-filled tube. Similarly, all sound is missing when one
is submerged under water, perhaps an infant immersed in a womb’s amniotic fluid. She
prepares to be re-born in the state’s birth canal from the safety of her proxy parents’ District 12
domestic space into the danger of the arena. This airtight space leaves the viewer feeling
claustrophobic and gasping for breath. Katniss’s eyes open wide in fear and anxiety. The
camera cuts to white for several seconds creating disconnectedness, confusion, and terror in
the viewers. This brief lack of diegetic sound and resulting white light suggests a period of
drowning blindness, leaving Katniss utterly helpless and paradoxically, both confined and
exposed. The white light and washed out wide angle shot of the arena from Katniss’s point of
view suggest an overexposure of herself. The viewers share this feeling of naked vulnerability.
Just as film is overexposed in a non-digital SLR camera, an overexposed photograph is flooded
with light, drowning and obscuring the object being photographed. The state game makers
intend to figuratively drown all the tributes but one, the winner.
In the next scene Katniss witnesses the “bloodbath” Haymtich warned her about. This
combined with non-diegetic music in a rapid staccato minor key, disorients the viewer creating a
horrifying distortion of the scene. The camera focuses on Katniss’s gaze as she witnesses the
silent terror. This may remind the young viewers of anxiety dreams of silent screams. This
cinematic device is used in many war films to replicate the effect of soldiers left temporarily deaf
after experiencing loud explosions at close range. The hand held camera movement and rapid
cuts jar the viewers, allowing them to experience the same panic and disorientation as Katniss
does in her Hunger Games wartime environment. This exposed vulnerability is dangerous,
reminding adolescent girls of their departure from the safety of home or elementary school to the
dangers of mean girls and bullies in middle school and the approaching temptations of
Darwinian capitalism. The cornucopia operates symbolically in two ways: First, as the social
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hierarchy of middle school, one in which queen bees will figuratively “stab each other in the
back” to achieve or maintain high social status, second, as a lure of late capitalism, eerily similar
to a suburban Walmart early on a Black Friday morning. Katniss wisely embraces Haymitch’s
sage advice. He encourages restraint, suggesting Katniss resist the lure of the cornucopia and
instead head for higher ground – self-control and high moral ground perhaps. Because Katniss
follows his advice, she survives the initial foray into the arena space in while half of the 24
tributes perish.
While most of the film deserves praise, its casting is not without fault. We teach our young
girls that “beauty is only skin deep” and yet, the choice of attractive Jennifer Lawrence
contradicts that message. Casting Ms. Lawrence does nothing to reinforce to young girls that
“looks don’t matter.” She is pimple-free, has pouty lips, big doe eyes, and a round face with
strong high cheekbones. Yes, her makeup is done to look natural. She has visible moles and
freckles, but she meets – or exceeds – Hollywood’s glamour criteria. In studies of young
adolescents who viewed the film, most favored “female characters who showed hegemonically
masculine characteristics…only (emphasis mine) if they also demonstrated emphasized feminine
characteristics,” suggesting that “powerful cultural pressure still exists for young women to
uphold an unrealistic standard of beauty” (Tabera 1035). This is why Ms. Lawrence had to be
cast. Unfortunately, an average appearing actress probably would not appeal to girls the same
way attractive Jennifer Lawrence does. In spite of this, Hunger Games still has managed to
push the status quo encouraging a more empowered, equal twenty-first adolescent female. The
film has made the character more feminine than the book suggests. In the book, Katniss is
described as “olive skinned” and many female readers imagined Katniss as a boy, or a more
masculine girl, “visualiz[ing] Katniss as a boy when reading independently as a result of her
participation in hegemonic masculine behaviors, including the suppression of fear and the
harming of others.” One reader responded that she “think[s] she’s a boy in disguise or
something like that” (Tabera 1026). Ms. Lawrence is not olive-skinned, but she is Hollywood’s
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current “it” girl, so from a box-office marketing standpoint and from her acting in Winter’s Bone
she’s got some legitimate acting talent and is more than “just a pretty face,” so the choice seems
defensible. Other differences between Katniss’s character in text and film include her age and
body type. At the time of filming, Ms. Lawrence was 21, while the text has Katniss aged 16 and
thin and undernourished. However, in an era where young girls are bombarded with images and
messages that “thin is in” perhaps it is not such a bad thing that Katniss has some meat on her
bones, rather than appearing gaunt.
How far has American culture come in glacially moving the status quo toward an accepted
female equality? Sometimes it feels like two steps forward, one step back; and sometimes it
feels like one step forward, two steps back. Perhaps Katniss can be a young adult heroine of a
new “fourth wave feminism.” While she lacks the (sometimes biting) humor of a Tina Fey, Amy
Schumer, or Amy Poehler, (your doppelganger, which I’m sure you’ve been told before) and the
girly trappings of a Buffy and Veronica, Katniss possesses a confidence, not unlike real life Little
League pitcher and heroine, Mo’ne Davis. Katniss possess a sincere and genuine blend of both
male and female traits while maintaining the innocence and un-sexualized ideal of a gracefully
maturing female human body. As adults, we hope to watch our young girls grow confidently into
young women who never forget how to “throw (and shoot an arrow) like a girl.”
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WORKS CITED
Bartlett, Myke. Violence and Entertainment in The Hunger Games. Screen Education 66 (2012):
8-17. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 11 May 2015.
Benson-Allott, Caetlin. Dangerous Illusions. Film Quarterly 65.4 (2012): 10-11. JSTOR. Web. 11
May 2015.
Blasingame, James. An Interview with Suzanne Collins. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy
52.8 (2009): 726-27. JSTOR. Web. 11 May 2015.
Brown, Jeffrey A. Dangerous Curves: Action Heroines, Gender, Fetishism, and Popular Culture.
Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, 2011. 20 – 42, 141-167.
Calvert, Sandra L., Katherine J. Murray, and Emily E. Conger. Heroic DVD Portrayals: What US
and Taiwanese Adolescents Admire and Understand. Journal of Applied Developmental
Psychology 25.6 (2004): 699-716. Web.
Campbell, J., & Moyers, B. The Power of Myth. New York: Anchor Books. 1991.
Tabera, Nancy; Vera, Woloshyna; Lanea, Laura. She's more like a guy’ and ‘he's more like a
teddy bear’: Girls' perception of violence and gender in The Hunger Games. Journal of Youth
Studies. 16.8. (2013): 1022 – 1037. Web 11 May 2015.