The Hunger Games and women

Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

Ashley Viera/ Contributing Writer

“The Hunger Games” movies have hastily become a popular franchise and household name.

Bigger than that, is the effect it’s having on the perceptions of women.

To begin, make sure to read the book before you go out and see the movies; it makes for a better experience.

The movie centers around a young, 16-year-old girl who is forced into fighting in what is known as “the Hunger Games”.

“The Hunger Games” involves a fight to the death for kids between the ages of 12 and 18.

A young, 16-year-old teen girl is slowly and gradually forced into becoming a brave heroine for the voiceless, despite her reluctance.

It all begins when Katniss Everdeen, takes the place of her 12-year-old sister, Primrose Everdeen. Because of this the strong, courageous and powerful leading role in the movie was given to a female, Jennifer Lawrence, producing a wave of acceptance for feminism unlike any other.

“The Hunger Games” and its sequel “Catching Fire”, have successfully proved that women can take on leading roles in films and be good at it while making money for the big production companies in the process.

In the story, Everdeen cares most about keeping her family safe and away from harm. She is the provider for her family. She is important and she is heard, even revered by many.

Living in the 21st century, we as human beings are more susceptible and influenced by social media and the entertainment industry than any other generation in its past.

Essentially this signifies that what we see is what we believe. If what we are typically seeing on television are men as powerful and independent while women are dependent and weak this is what our society becomes.

If this is the case, the future for women is not looking very bright but quite bleak in fact. In the year 2013 alone, out of last year’s biggest movies, 28 percent of speaking characters were female. That’s down a third from just five years ago according to NPR article “Casting Call: Hollywood Needs More Women.” As exemplified by these statistics, having a strong, female lead is a rarity in the entertainment industry.

In the storyline of the Hunger Games trilogy, Katniss Everdeen becomes a beacon of hope and she might just become a beacon of hope for women of the 21st century.  Katniss Everdeen is introducing the seemingly crazy idea that women are more than their dress size and physical appearance.

Sources

http://www.npr.org/2013/06/30/197390707/casting-call-hollywood-needs-more-women