The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

[All My Shadows]

I do like Katniss as the strong heroine. I think what's interesting about the triangle here is that in most cases, a M/F/M triangle will have the males competing for the female by means of rescuing her from whatever damsel's distress she's in, whereas here, it's more or less Katniss having to choose who she wants to save more, Gale or Peeta, and her using her history with them both to decide. She knows Gale is stronger, so she was willing to give him her death so that Peeta, the weaker, could live.

Elizabeth Banks as Effie really is the greatest thing in the world. She actually had me on the verge of tears twice, during the reaping and when she gave Haymitch and Peeta their golden souvenirs. My favorite parts of the whole series, no doubt, are the Katniss/Peeta/Haymitch/Effie dynamics in preparation for the various pre- and post-Games events.

Johanna was great as well, though I'm forgetting the actress's name. She came off a lot better in the movie than in the book, and it would have been so easy for her to just be "that bitch" via Katniss's POV, but they didn't do that, and I'm glad. The villian/enemy is the Capitol, not the other tributes, not the Careers, etc.

Finnick is EVERYTHING. I'll shamelessly admit that the way he was working that trident got me hot. And once again, he was allowed to be developed outside of just being the pretty boy. The storyline in CF allowed for that, which made me happy, because as much as I loved the first book/movie, my least favorite thing was that just as I was wanting to know more about the other tributes (especially my girl Foxface), they were dead. That's the nature of the Games, though.

[EricMontreal22]

Yeah I can't say I get the "Kat is masculine which is a bit of a problem" issue (i'veheard it before.) Define for me how she could be more feminine and why that would be better, someone?

[JackPeyton]

CF made me tear up a few times. During Katness talking about rue. Mags dying to save the kids. Effie calling Katniss I. The reaping and her single tear.

Truly one of the best casted films of its kind.

One of the only criticisms I get is not devolving the other tributes, but I also get why they don't. I'd rather that time be spent how it was, on Katnissa nd the ppl directly linked to her. Not knowing much about Johanna made her more interesting to me, and she was so well casted and JL played so well off her that she wasn't just a bitch. I think the devolp ones that need to be, as Rue or Finnick, but I def getw anting to know more about the others.

Also, Donald Sutherland and Jennifer Lawerence are so damn good together. The implied threats, the way she does dear what he can do but still wants to !@#$%^&*] with him, the way She looked at him when her dress was on fire - and the ya she knew he'd react to her wedding dress on fire. So many other scenes between them or where their characters couldn't even see each other it were playing off each other was great.

[DRW50]

Jena Malone.

[JackPeyton]

She was good. Much better than expected.

Kristen Bell would have been better though.

[DRW50]

Oh - AMS was asking what her name was.

I've heard people they hated her in the books but liked her in the film, so I guess that part worked.

[JackPeyton]

The movie did make her a much more in depth character. I saw her as jealous, resentful of katniss but she also envied her, and respected the revolution that katniss was causing. The f bombs in her it review also really drove home she was pissed to be back in the games as she was told she'd be free of them. I liked her more than in Horne book, but I liked her in the book.

[Skin]

She was the best part of the film for me. Especially when she called out Snow and told him that he can't put everybody in here. She was the standout to me, which is interesting because I didn't really care for her in the book. The "there's no one left" line was particularly, maudlin and striking.

It's not so much that she should be more feminine (not what I am saying at all), just that again masculinity is glorified in this particular work. The same thing happens across all genre's where you have women who are more feminine heroes getting the shaft for more traditional masculine heroes, where the women aren't taken as seriously as a result because they aren't seen to be masculine like warriors. It creates an argument and inborn impression that for a woman to be truly empowered and to be truly strong she has to have her femininity stripped from her as an end result. How is that particular style of thought any more healthy than women can't be heroes? You are virtually saying that women have to act like men in order to be deemed strong and valid. Which just brings up more problems, strength isn't connected to something that is innately in womanhood. That's what I was saying.

[EricMontreal22]

I get that, and it's a tricky subject (and I didn't mean to make my comment personal--I do see what you mean.) I just find it a problematic criticism. On the other hand, I've heard many people complain that Peeta is too much of a wuss, and he essentially does play the more "feminine" role (in fact for the movie they spoke about--months ago--how they tried to give him more agency and show him as stronger.)

I mean how would a more typically feminine heroine work in The Hunger Games? And more the question, what exactly would that look like? If we're going by stereotypes, it's not like Katniss has a bull cut, is never shown in a dress, and refuses to have any maternalistic feelings of wanting to look after the people she loves...

[Skin]

The protagonist of the Hunger Games would have to be a character in the vein of Rue or Prim (maybe even Annie to a lesser extent) in order to shake the criticism of a more feminine hero taking the reins within this particular story. Admittedly this issue has very few deviances. Off the top of my head only Buffy and Sailor Moon fit as being examples of strong heroines who maintain their femininity and who are still seen as "fighters" who are competent in their missions.

I agree about Peeta though, he was much more capable in these films than he is normally depicted in the books. He has gotten a number of kills in both films, where as he was often depicted as being a painfully inept victim through out the novels. My father even noted that Peeta seemed more capable than Gale did on a number of occasions in Catching Fire. This is another issue as well in regards to men having to "prove" their worth to live, there are numerous members of the audience who feel like Peeta should "earn" Katniss' affection by being capable and proving a certain kind of prowess during the games. It seems that the film adapters agreed to some extent hence why Gale's ability in many of these scenes were hindered while Peeta was "brought up to par."

I am not really going by stereotypes, so much as the character is written with a masculine template of most reluctant heroes that is very common in literature the past two or so decades. Katniss shows her love in very paternal ways with the men she is attracted to, she's not maternal in her close relationships at all save for Prim. I wouldn't immediately acknowledge her as being a maternal figure in these books. She is much more portrayed as a provider of sorts and has to take up the burden of bringing home the bacon (stereo-typically a man's job) more than being a doting, affectionate, support system. Katniss herself even says that she has to remember how her mother acted in order to make her love scenes with Peeta believable for the districts. That kind of says it all.

She is very shielded from emotion in general. Not in the shy ingenuish way depicted in high school disney films, but the misanthropic way of Wolverine or Bruce Willis action-adventure films. I don't think it's a stereotype to say that Katniss is not girly. She's a tomboy and that's fine. I'm more concerned with the fact that there are so little acclaimed heroines who retain their femininity and end up not being looked down for it. I often wonder if Katniss were more feminine if she would be looked down for it in a similar way her adapted peer Bella from Twilight is.

[DRW50]

This made me laugh several times. The guy who is doing this is very funny.

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[Eric83]

Just saw it. Movie was amazing!

[Eric83]

Me too! LOL

[YRBB]

That was hilarious. Great satire.

Oh, and Thanks JackPeyton for expressing every single one of my thoughts exactly, way better than I could lol

[Mr. Vixen]

I've seen it 4 times.