Hunger Games
Comments
Content
Otten
1
Nathan
Otten
Matthew
Westra
PSYC
245
06
March,
2014
Analysis
of
the
Hunger
Games
Since
the
movie
The
Hunger
Games
came
out
in
2012,
it
has
been
a
popular
sensation
for
adolescents.
The
best-‐selling
novels
on
which
the
movies
are
based
are
equally
as
popular
among
teenagers.
Undoubtedly,
this
story
resonates
with
many
adolescents.
What
messages
does
this
story
give
to
adolescents
about
adults/parents,
death
and
violence,
growing
up,
and
gender
issues?
Why
do
these
messages
resonate
with
teenagers?
The
story
is
about
an
oppressive
Capitol
that
rules
tyrannically
over
twelve
districts.
Every
year,
the
Capitol
hosts
the
“hunger
games”,
a
competition
in
which
two
teenagers
from
each
district
gather
in
an
arena
to
fight
till
the
death.
They
fight
until
the
last
boy
or
girl
is
standing.
The
Capitol
hosts
these
games
to
remind
the
districts
of
their
subjugation
to
the
Capitol.
For
the
74th
hunger
games,
Katniss
Everdeen
is
one
of
the
tributes
from
district
twelve.
The
story
is
told
from
her
perspective.
She
and
Peeta
Mellark
(the
other
tribute
from
district
twelve)
fight
in
the
hunger
games
and
survive
until
they
are
the
last
two.
Rather
than
kill
each
other,
they
decide
to
commit
suicide.
Right
before
Katniss
and
Peeta
eat
poisonous
berries
to
end
their
lives,
the
game
makers
decide
to
let
both
of
them
be
victors.
However,
their
act
of
attempted
suicide
is
seen
as
an
act
of
defiance
toward
the
Otten
2
capital.
Their
actions
inspire
the
districts,
and
the
movie
ends
with
seeds
of
the
rebellion
forming
in
the
districts.
Firstly,
how
does
this
movie
portray
parents
and
adults?
Generally
speaking,
adults
are
distant,
detached,
untrustworthy,
and
unable
to
understand
Katniss.
Katniss’s
father
died
when
she
was
only
a
girl,
leaving
her
fatherless
for
the
entire
movie.
After
her
father
died,
her
mother
detached
from
life
and
took
no
responsibility
to
care
for
the
family.
Her
mom
has
moments
where
she
simply
tunes
out.
At
one
point
in
the
movie,
Katniss
has
a
flashback
of
a
moment
soon
after
her
father
died.
In
her
flashback,
her
mother
is
staring
of
into
the
distance
and
Katniss
is
screaming
her
name
trying
to
wake
her
up.
Her
mother
is
unable
to
provide
for
the
family
and
much
of
the
responsibility
is
left
to
the
children.
Katniss
never
once
confides
in
her
mother
despite
the
immense
difficulty
of
her
life.
Thus,
her
father’s
death
and
her
mother’s
detachment
leave
her
essentially
parentless.
The
other
adults
in
the
movie
are
not
much
better.
There
are
very
few
adults
(maybe
none)
that
are
portrayed
as
positive
figures.
The
only
adults
we
see
from
district
twelve
are
Katniss’s
mother
and
Peeta’s
mother.
Peeta’s
mother
has
one
scene
in
the
movie
in
which
she
slaps
Peeta
on
the
cheek
for
burning
some
bread,
making
her
no
more
respectable
of
a
parental
figure
than
Katniss’s
mother.
Most
of
the
adults
in
the
movie
are
from
the
Capitol,
and
they
are
bloodthirsty,
irrational,
selfish,
and
shallow.
They
love
watching
the
violence
and
drama
of
the
hunger
games
year
after
year.
They
live
in
luxury
while
the
districts
live
in
poverty.
Their
wardrobes,
hairstyles,
and
make-‐up
are
flamboyant
and
lurid.
They
speak
in
an
obnoxious
accent.
There
does
not
appear
to
be
a
hint
of
goodness
Otten
3
demonstrated
by
the
Capitol.
It
is
typical
of
fantasy
literature
to
depict
the
“bad
guys”
as
pure
evil—think
for
instance
of
Saroman
in
Lord
of
the
Rings
or
Voldamort
in
the
Harry
Potter
series.
The
“bad
guys”
in
this
type
of
literature
are
not
complex
characters
but
are
simple
and
easily
discernable.
The
Hunger
Games
is
no
exception.
The
adults
in
the
Capitol
are
pure
evil.
The
one
adult
that
is
not
portrayed
this
way
is
Cinna,
Kaniss’s
stylist.
He
is
the
only
adult
that
Katniss
confides
in
throughout
the
movie.
He
has
a
way
of
putting
her
at
ease
and
giving
the
right
advice
at
the
right
moment.
However,
the
movie
depicts
him
as
young-‐looking;
he
appears
no
older
than
25
years
of
age
(not
much
older
than
Katniss
herself).
It’s
almost
hard
to
label
him
as
an
“adult.”
Katniss
also
sees
Hammich,
her
trainer,
as
an
important
source
of
advice.
However,
he
is
a
raging,
impulsive
drunk
who
has
a
temper,
not
someone
who
is
looked
up
to
as
a
role
model.
Although
Katniss
is
always
looking
to
confide
in
someone
during
her
difficulties,
she
mostly
confides
in
her
peers.
Parental
guidance
is
completely
absent.
A
fatherly
figure
is
completely
absent.
A
sage
is
completely
absent.
A
role
model
is
completely
absent.
A
trustworthy
authority
figure
is
completely
absent.
All
of
these
things
create
a
general
picture
of
adults
as
distant
and
untrustworthy.
Related
to
this
theme
is
how
the
movie
portrays
growing
up.
By
and
large,
Katniss
is
forced
to
grow
up
by
impending
circumstances.
Her
district
is
stricken
by
poverty,
and
she
does
not
have
a
father
to
provide
for
her
in
the
midst
of
it.
Her
mom
is
too
detached
to
provide
for
them,
so
she
must
pick
up
the
reins.
To
survive,
she
visits
the
forest
to
hunt.
She
is
the
breadwinner.
Gale,
who
is
Kaniss’s
best
Otten
4
friend,
likewise
provides
for
his
family—a
family
whose
father
has
also
died.
They
seem
to
be
the
true
adults
while
their
mothers’
are
unable
to
manage
responsibility.
The
opening
scene
of
the
movie
is
Katniss
(not
the
mother)
consoling
her
frightened
sister
from
a
bad
dream.
Her
younger
sister
runs
to
Katniss
for
help
and
not
their
mother.
In
one
scene,
Katniss
tucks-‐in
her
sister’s
shirttail
while
her
mother
stands
by
and
watches.
Katniss
is
the
one
taking
on
the
motherly
role
to
help
her
sister
be
presentable.
At
one
point
in
the
movie,
Katniss
and
Gale
discuss
leaving
the
district
with
their
families
to
survive
in
the
forest.
It
is
evident
from
this
conversation
that
they
are
the
ones
making
the
major
discussions,
not
their
mothers.
When
Katniss
is
chosen
for
the
hunger
games,
she
has
a
final
conversation
with
her
mother
and
sister
in
which
she
instructs
them
how
to
survive
while
she
is
gone.
She
gives
instructions
to
her
mother
as
if
she
is
a
child.
It’s
as
if
the
teenagers
are
the
true
adults,
and
the
adults
are
the
children.
The
games
also
force
Katniss
to
grow
up.
She
must
heroically
volunteer
for
her
sister.
She
has
to
train
for
combat,
experience
the
emotional
trauma
of
violence,
make
sound
decisions
in
life-‐threatening
situations,
and
survive
in
a
hostile
environment.
The
mind
of
an
adult
is
necessary.
Generally,
the
teenagers
in
this
film
are
forced
to
grow
up
or
die.
Violence
and
death
are
generally
portrayed
as
tragic
in
this
film.
The
evil
Capitol
is
maliciously
forcing
the
teenagers
to
act
violently
on
each
other.
One
striking
line
that
Peeta
says
is,
“If
I
die,
I
wanna
still
be
me.”
In
other
words,
he
does
not
want
the
arena
to
turn
him
into
a
monster;
he
wants
to
die
in
the
arena
without
succumbing
to
the
Capitol’s
ploy
to
turn
him
violent.
Although
the
“good
guys”
Otten
5
enact
violence
in
the
movie,
they
do
so
reluctantly,
and
they
are
motived
by
self-‐
defense
and
defending
loved
ones.
The
“bad
guys”
in
the
story
enact
violence
freely
and
seem
to
enjoy
it.
For
example,
the
career
tributes
seem
to
love
killing
people
in
the
arena
and
eagerly
seek
it
out.
How
does
the
movie
portray
gender?
The
main
character
is,
of
course,
a
woman.
But,
she
is
a
woman
who
breaks
out
of
all
the
traditional
stereotypes
and
gender
roles.
Katniss
is
the
primary
breadwinner
for
her
family.
She
hunts.
She
skins
animals.
She
can
shoot
a
bow
and
arrow
with
supreme
accuracy.
She
climbs
trees.
She
is
tough.
She
is
courageous.
She
survives.
She
is,
for
lack
of
a
better
term,
a
bad
ass.
However,
at
the
same
time,
she
is
also
extremely
feminine.
Katniss
is
a
very
sexy
young
woman
played
by
the
beautiful
actress
Jennifer
Lawrence.
The
stereotype
is
that
women
like
her
are
“butch”—but
not
Katniss.
She
can
wear
a
dress
and
shoot
a
bow
at
the
same
time.
She
breaks
out
of
traditional
gender
roles
and
stereotypes.
Likewise,
it
is
interesting
that
the
female
tributes
are
depicted
as
equal
competitors
with
the
male
tributes
in
the
arena.
The
female
ratings
score
just
as
high
as
the
male
ratings.
The
females
are
not
inferior
to
the
males
in
the
battle.
In
conclusion,
it
is
not
hard
to
see
why
this
movie
is
popular
among
adolescents.
Many
of
the
themes
discussed
above
can
easily
resonate
with
young
adults.
Like
Katniss,
it
is
common
for
teenagers
to
feel
misunderstood
by
adults,
to
confide
in
peers
instead
of
adults,
to
see
adults
as
distant
and
detached,
and
to
mistrust
adults.
Of
course,
this
applies
principally
to
parents.
It
is
easy
to
see
how
this
film
could
validate
those
feelings.
Also,
many
adolescents
feel
that
they
are
ready
to
grow
up
and
face
the
world
as
Katniss
was
forced
to
do.
It
seems
they
want
Otten
6
more
autonomy
instead
of
their
mother
and
father
babying
them
around
all
the
time.
However,
in
depicting
this
message,
it
does
make
adults
look
rather
like
buffoons.
It
could
also
resonate
easily
with
those
adolescents
who
have
come
from
chaotic
family
environments
and
have
had
to
grow
up
quick.
Finally,
I
imagine
that
many
are
hungry
to
break
outside
of
the
traditional
female
stereotype
that
Katniss
so
effortlessly
does.
This
film
could
give
them
courage
in
that
direction.
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