Notes + Quotes

words - 8,019


To what extent does 'The Hunger Games' trilogy subvert traditional gender representations.

Internet links
The Politics of 'The Hunger Games' | Hollywood Reporter
Quotes
"In an extremely partisan atmosphere seven months before a presidential election, Hunger Games has the great advantage of being a movie with subtle political overtones that appeal to conservatives, and others that appeal to liberals."
"Occupy-Wall-Street liberals are loving the way the film portrays an extraordinary gap between the rich and poor as simply an innate evil."
"It’s crucial that young readers are considering scenarios about humanity's future, because the challenges are about to land in their laps," Collins said. "I hope they question how elements of the books might be relevant to their own lives. About global warming, about our mistreatment of the environment, but also questions like: How do you feel about the fact that some people take their next meal for granted when so many other people are starving in the world?”
Christian Toto - "The fact that the film targets an all-powerful government enslaving its citizens gives it even extra heft for right-of-center audiences,"


Hunger Games fans campaign against real inequality - The Guardian
Quotes
"I hope that they [young people] will take action because it's getting drastic in this country." - Actor Donald Sutherland who plays president Coriolanus Snow‎

BBC - Culture - The Hunger games Actor Donald Sutherland: Action-film feminism is catching fire
Quotes
"21st Century heroine called Katniss Everdeen: she is strong but also soft. She is brave but she has doubts. She is a phenomenal fictional creation, yet is real enough that moviegoers can draw inspiration from her values, her resourcefulness, and her very human inner conflicts. And she is played by Jennifer Lawrence, who appears not only to be handling her current duties as Hollywood’s finest model of well-adjusted millennial female stardom but doing so with charm. Everdeen and Lawrence: golden girls both."
“She is a singular heroine in that the burden of survival weighs on her. She has a ton of survivor’s guilt.  And she keeps surviving.” - Nina Jacobson, the producer of the Hunger Games film franchise
"Lawrence, now all of 23 years old, has established herself as a star as influential in her strength of personality as in her performance skills. And by standards of modern feminist movie-star role models"
"Apart from Sigourney Weaver’s singular Ellen Ripley in the stereotype-shattering Alien quartet – the older soul sister to Katniss in what Jacobson calls “feminine ferocity”– there aren’t many saga-style heroines around who show their emotional wounds quite as openly. “Not a**-kicking for the sake of a**-kicking,”
hunger games

The Hunger Games – review | Film | The Guardian
- This review talks about how similar The Hunger Games is to reality TV shows. In the sense that when you compare the two you can see that in The Hunger Games the kids are fighting for the Capitol to enjoy and there are sponsors there to support them in a way and also in reality shows people have to try and promote themselves in order to be liked by the public. This also links to the fact that people in reality shows make short term alliances to prolong their presence in the contest which is the same in The Hunger Games. The contestants in The Hunger Games have mentors that guide them before the games just like the X-Factor judges act as mentors for their group.



Why the message of the Hunger Games films is dangerous

- A teenage rebellion, Thailand prime minister has had problems with the young adult fantasy film where people have used this film in order to bring up issues in Thailand using the hashtag #DistrictThai. They adopted the three-finger salute of The Hunger Games in defiance of what they saw as an undemocratic, unconstitutional military take-over. In response the salute was banned (S,P)

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/12/will-hunger-games-spark-revolution-20131211135426971134.html
https://theconversation.com/third-hunger-games-film-poses-biggest-protest-threat-yet-to-thai-government-34501


Quotes

- “The latest Hunger Games has tapped into a certain zeitgeist of global rebellion”
- “The main character Katniss’s valiant struggle against President Snow and latent distrust of those authority figures supposedly on her side all speak to teenage desires to heroically rebel against those who wield power over them.” (R)

Oligarchy - a small group of people having control of a country or organization.

Zeitgeist - the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time.


Review on zeitgeist - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1951264/reviews-572
The Hunger Games is the ultimate "Zeitgeist" movie (series). Zeitgeist is a German word, "Zeit" means "time" and "Geist" means "ghost" or "spirit", and "Zeitgeist" means "the spirit of the times". Nothing better captures the *feeling* of what it feels like to be alive in the 2010s.

Quotes`
-"the Arena and it looked like a natural forest, but was being controlled behind the scenes by the gamemasters and was full of cameras for reality TV. This is just like what our virtual environments feel like -- it looks superficially like a normal thing, we're just interacting with our friends or whatever, but in reality the whole environment is artificially built by humans who manipulate everything behind the scenes for their own ends, financially, or politically, or what have you, and they don't tell us what they are doing or why, and we never get to know."
- "Our world feels like a weird mix of old and new technology. You never know when you'll have some amazing new solution to a task, a new mobile app or machine learning system, or when you'll have to fill out piles of paper forms. Similarly in the world of the Hunger Games, there's all this super-advanced technology -- maglev trains, hovercraft, the "Holodeck"-like training area in the Capitol -- yet the contestants fight with the most primitive of weapons, like bows and arrows." (S)
- "The catchphrase "May the odds be ever in your favor" perfectly encapsulates the central contradiction of our times of how anyone can succeed at anything yet the odds are always against you because so small a percentage of the population actually do succeed. In the Hunger Games, "May the odds be ever in your favor" is always given to *all* the contestants. It's the ultimate cynicism. The odds can't be ever in everyone's favor by the very way The Hunger Games are set up."
- "Ultimately, we identify with Katniss because of her struggle to maintain her humanity, her compassion, in the face of a world, a society, that is hell-bent on turning her into the exact opposite. So it is in our real world, where we are pitted against one another in a giant, cutthroat, all-against-all competition."
- "in The Hunger Games is not like other movies, where it is just two men competing for one woman or vice-versa"


Other links

- No wonder “Generation K” loves The Hunger Games – they can't rely ...
- The Hunger Games 'Catching Fire' Reveals The Brutal Horrors Of ...

- Suzanne Collins' "The Hunger Games" Illustrates the Horrors of Big ...

- The Violence in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Is Actually Good for ...

- The Political Message of The Hunger Games - https://the-artifice.com/the-hunger-games-political-message/
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikamorphy/2012/03/22/the-hunger-games-and-its-sleeper-fan-base-of-men/#47be56dd3228


Why The Hunger Games' Katniss Everdeen is a role model for our ...
- This Guardian article talks about how Katniss Everdeen and Jennifer Lawrence herself have become a role model for young teen females. This is evident in the way that Lawrence herself as an actor advocates wanting to be physically healthy which subverts the stereotype of females in the film industry are conventionally thin. Also, her character in the film portrays a dominant character who is smart and a symbol of a revolution, that isn't passive compared to Bella Swan in Twilight, is something that may interest young females even more because its not something that is often seen in films and has changed the way women are presented in modern films.

Quotes
"Jennifer Lawrence plays a young woman who is not defined by her relationship to men, and who is bringing down the system"
"Jennifer Lawrence isn't just acting cool, she is cool and aware that she wants to keep her body healthy-looking, not a size zero."

Hegemony - leadership or dominance, especially by one state or social group over others.



PDF

'She's more like a guy'and 'he's more like a teddy bear': girls' perception of violence and gender in The Hunger Games


The Dandelion in the Spring
- "although its heroine Katniss, is perceived by many readers to be a groundbreaking "feminist icon," the narrative is limited in the way it disrupts patriarchal gender roles. Broad reads the conclusion of the series - which ends with a vision of katniss's "safe, stable, and highly insular heterosexual reproductive union" - as a foreclosure of alternative possibilities for female futures.

Approaching the Hunger Games trilogy: a literary and cultural analysis
- "According to Judith Butler gender has 2 no ontological status apart from the various acts which constitute its reality," it can be understood as a "performative," that is, as a phenomenon that is entirely defined by the way it is enacted (1990, 136). Understood in this way, it is easy to see how gender identities can be destabilised and subverted when they are performed in ways other than those prescribed by society. 

Class on fire: Using the Hunger Games trilogy to encourage social action


Dressed for the Part: An Analysis of Clothing in Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games Trilogy


Approaching the Hunger Games trilogy: a literary and cultural analysis


Apples to Oranges: The Heroines in Twilight and The Hunger Games


Class on fire: Using the Hunger Games trilogy to encourage social action


The Hunger Games: A Conversation: Jungian and Literary Perspectives on Violence, Gender, and Character Development

-

Books


Chaudhuri, S. (2006). Feminist film theorists: Laura Mulvey, Kaja Silverman, Teresa de Lauretis, Barbara Creed. London: Routledge

-this book explores how, since it began in the 1970s, feminist film theory has revolutionised the way that films and their spectators can be understood

• the male gaze 
• the female voice 
• technologies of gender  
• queering desire 
• the monstrous-feminine  
• masculinity in crisis 

Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge.
- Women as a subject of feminism (p1-5)
- “gender is “constructed,” but implied in her formulation is an agent, a cogito, who somehow takes on or appropriates that gender and could, in principle, take on some other gender.
- “Women are not only represented falsely within the Sartrian frame of signifying-subject and signified-Other, but the falsity of the signification points out the entire structure of representation as inadequate.”
- “Gender is a complexity whose totality is permanently deferred, never fully what it is at any given juncture in time.”
- “gender is not always constituted coherently or consistently in different historical contexts, and because gender intersects with racial, class, ethnic, sexual, and regional modalities of discursively constituted identities.”

Gauntlett, D. (2002). Media, gender, and identity: An introduction. London: Routledge.
- "women increasingly reject dated ideas regarding their gender role..."
- "macho culture, dominated by white males'"- "violence against women, single mothers are 'pathologized' by politicians and the media, and female poverty is increasing."
- "no interest in being associated with its connotations of passivity or weakness."
-"the 'girl power' discourse is actually a commercial tool"

Greer, G. (1971). The Female Eunuch. London: HarperCollins.
- “Status ought not to be measured by a woman's ability to attract and snare a man.” 
- “Those miserable women who blame the men who let them down for their misery and isolation enact every day the initial mistake of sacrificing their personal responsibility for themselves.” 


Mulvey, L. (1989). Visual and Other Pleasures.
- "In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness"
- "The presence of woman is an indispensable element of spectacle in normal narrative film, yet her presence tends to work against the development of a story line, to freeze the flow of action in moments of erotic contemplation” (Katniss goes against this view as she is the flow of the narrative)
- "raditionally, the woman displayed has functioned on two levels: as erotic object for the characters within the screen story, and as erotic object for the spectator within the auditorium, with a shifting tension between the two looks on either side of the screen"

Wood, J. T. (1994). Gendered lives: Communication, gender, and culture.  Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub.

- "a woman may be strong and successful if and only if she also exemplifies traditional stereotypes of femininity-subservience, passivity, beauty, and an identity linked to one or more men."
- "Realizing that inequality is socially constructed empowers us to be agents of change."
- "the media’s bias in favor of women who are traditionally feminine and who are not too able, too powerful, or too confident."




Other media texts

Spark notes - http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/the-hunger-games/themes.html
Themes, motifs, symbols - notes
-The importance of appearances - she won’t allow herself to cry in front of the cameras because she doesn’t want to give the impression of being weak.
- the novel emphasizes how important appearances are by focusing a great deal on Katniss’s preparations

David Thomson: Why I Hate 'The Hunger Games' | New Republic"

Quotes
"If you don’t like that violence, and if you fear it will jeopardize the box office, then don’t do the story. Instead, the woeful director Gary Ross has elected to present the combat as a mess of trembling hand-held close-ups, rapid cuts, and an overall blurring, so that in effect we don’t see the action."


The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - review | Books | The Guardian

Quotes
- "Because District 12 is so poor, Katniss has been close to death many times from starvation but she's made it through it. But this is a different kind of close to death; this Katniss doesn't know if she can survive.


The Independent Critic - "The Hunger Games" Review

Quotes
- "Katniss quickly becomes a fan favorite, her boldness and style eliciting admiration from the television audience much to the dismay of the President "
- "While some will likely compare the film to the Twilight films with their strong central female figure, The Hunger Games is a vastly superior film and the central role of Katniss is devoid of the puppy dog antics of Twilight's Bella. "
- "The action really kicks off with what amounts to a PG-13 rated bloodbath, a tamer version of what Collins created on the written page "
- "The Hunger Games isn't a masterpiece, but it is far better than what most likely expected from the film "


Why Left and Right both love The Hunger Games - The Telegraph

Quotes
- "during protests against last year’s military coup in Thailand, protestors used a three finger salute to signify their support for democracy. History is full of such gestures: the Marxist clenched fist, the fascist flat palm. This one, however, was taken from The Hunger Games – a book series turned film cycle that’s back in cinemas this week with Mockingjay - Part 2."
- “plenty of clues of how power was enacted in this totalitarian future society" - Michael Rosen, another left-winger, 
- the books do have a grim fatalism that suggests a pessimistic view of human nature




Why Katniss is a Feminist Character (And It's Not Because She Wields

Quotes + points
- "Hot-tempered, bow-wielding Katniss is fiercely independent, scornful of feminine frills, and barred off to any emotion that could render her vulnerable"
- "Ultimately, it’s not the weapons Katniss wields but the relationships she nurtures that save her life."
- "she’s a feminist character not because she wields a bow like Bella never could, but because while in the arena she learns to recognize, value, and eventually embrace feminine strengths. It’s her ability to find strength in other women — and to support them in return — that makes the girl on fire a feminist."
- When Katniss befriends Rue, she forms an feminist archetype
- The swiftness of Clove’s death after she makes her malice towards the other women in the arena clear, and the contrast between her fate and Katniss’s, almost seems to suggest that women who, like Clove, will not support their sisters are punished for it. And in contrast, for nurturing a supportive relationship with another woman, Katniss earns what no other woman in the arena does: the right to live
- It’s only through her mother’s example that she can find a way to work with Peeta and earn her escape from the games. By forcing herself to recall the way her mother cured sick patients, Katniss saves Peeta
- For women, the need and desire to nurture each other is not pathological but redemptive,” argued Audre Lorde in one such essay, “and it is within that knowledge that our real power is rediscovered" -  feminist philosophers
- Ultimately, Katniss is a feminist character not because she can put an arrow through an enemy’s throat as quickly and cleanly as any man, but because she learns to maintain that strength while opening herself up to the power of mutual support and sisterhood. It’s that, perhaps more than anything else, that makes Katniss an ideal role model for girls and an icon for feminist readers.


The Hunger Games' Gender Role Revolution - Rewire
Quotes
- "Peeta Mellark—the baker, the nurturer, the feeder—is having his own moment. And well he should."
- "Katniss is a hunter."
- "Peeta is, as NPR’s Linda Holmes aptly said, Katniss’ perfect “movie girlfriend" = Peeta’s acts of gentleness and sacrifice multiply"
- "He encourages her to talk about her feelings. He encourages her to share herself with others."
- This article talks about how its not just Katniss reversing the gender steretypes but also Peeta (played by Josh hutcherson) How they are both opposites of each other which shows the clear gender subversion. He is seen as the more caring and gentle character who is in tune with his emotions in comparison to Katniss who is quite restrictive when it comes to opening up about feelings.


Why 'Hunger Games' Is Not the New 'Twilight' - Twilight is essentially a fantasy love story, while Hunger Games is an adventure epic about survival- Bella is consumed by her love for vampire Edward. Katniss’ top priority is survival
- The world of the Twilight novels revolves around the relationship between Bella and Edward. Katniss is not sure what she wants when it comes to love. Her priority is survival.
- Unlike Twilight, Hunger Games is drawing serious interest among males

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

RUE'S DEATH SCENE

In this scene there are a lot of close ups used when it is showing Katniss and Rue this could be used to emphasise the bond that they have made together in that short amount of time knowing each other. The fact that before we see Rue in the scene there is a use of medium shots to show to emphasise the fact that Katniss is alone but when she is with Rue it shows that that space is filled up with the use of close ups. The fat that it is two female characters is this spacious forest like arena, shows that they are supporting each other even though it is a fight to the death. This highlights the importance of sisterhood and that together females are stronger than apart. This is further emphasised when a male competitor attacks them and in order to protect both of them Katniss fires her arrow which kills him. This however doesn't succeed and he manages to kill Rue. The setting is quite natural however this is deceiving as it is an arena made to look like it is a natural forest. This could play a role in the sense that they are being controlled by the people who are in the ruling class and the fact that the leader President Snow is a male could emphasises the conflicting images portrayed and also in the sense that it could show how power is different between the two characters male and female. The lighting used is natural and there is a lot of high key lighting to emphasise the type of setting they are in. This adds to the fact that in the death scene Rue is looking up at the 'sky' and it is very light and the fact that Katniss is one of the last things she sees may act as a compelling factor for her to do her best. This is also added by the fact that Rue tells her that 'she has to win' Which further emphasises the role of sisterhood and gaining strengths from other females and not necessarily trying to show the opposite gender that we are equal to them and powerful enough to compete with them. The fact that after her death Katniss acknowledges the superiors who are watching and gives a sign shows that she has used this event and has gained more motivation which is shown by the protagonist giving the mockingjay salute. This in turn shows the other districts, specifically district 11 as we see in the following scenes to feel motivated enough to start a small scale rebellion which in turn is one of the first times we see that Katniss is a lead role model who is the symbol of rebellion and hope for the districts.




EPILOGUE/ENDING SCENE

In this last scene you can see that there has been a use of more open setting compared to the last clip above where there is a lot of trees and it is more of a suffocating feel to the environment which is suitable for that scene. However this is the end of the film and it informs the audience that she has succeeded in bringing a sense of freedom. This is shown in the open setting with the fact that it is open and it suggests that they don't need to hide from anyone as there is no one there to hurt them or endanger their survival. She is position in the right bottom corner so that we can also see Peeta in shot which shows that they are also part of the focus of that scene. The fact that there is a medium close up of Katniss and her baby shows the contrast from the start of the film series to the end. It puts emphasis on the fact that the side of Katniss that involves her motherly instincts have been long put on hold throughout the film however it has been showcased that she does show that part of her when it comes to her sister Prim and when she teamed up with Rue in the first film for a short amount of time. This highlights the fact that throughout the film she was more focused on what was going on around her and the people around her that she, whether she intended to or not, ended up not thinking about what she wanted and what she was in a way forced to do. The lighting here is more highkey and natural compared to throughout the film where it is more dull and monotonous. In this scene it is bright and serene that emphasises the fact that the atmosphere has changed and it is more uplifting. There isn't any fast paced editing which highlights the lack of action that is to be expected in a scene like this which shows the audience that the drama and action they expect has come to an end. Just like in the death scene with Rue in here we see there is a use of close ups however which highlights there is a bond but this bond is different as it is a bond of child and mother basically motherhood. Both scenes are showing a sense of protectiveness and closeness between the characters however it is in different lights in the sense that with Rue its too late but with her child, there is a whole future ahead of them.

Bibliography

Gauntlett, D. (2002). Media, gender, and identity: An introduction. London: Routledge.  

Representation of gender in the past: Women and men in movies

- “films almost always focused on male heroes. These men typically made the decisions which led the story, and were assertive, confident and dominant.” (pg – 50)

- “Women had important roles in many films but were far more likely than men to be shown as frightened, in need of protection and direction, and offering love and support to the male lead characters” (page – 50)

- “in Hollywood films, then, women are ultimately refused a voice, a discourse, and their desire is subjected to male desire” E. Ann Kaplan (1983) (pp.7-8) (page – 52)

- “Women are not only given less screen time, when we’re up there on the screen we are likely to be portrayed as powerless and ineffectual … Where are the triumphant women heroes to match the winner roles men play constantly?” Kathi Maio (1990s) (page – 52)

Representation of gender today:

- “Men in Hollywood films today tend not to be seamlessly hard-masculine heroes which we saw in the 1980s; they more often combine the toughness required of an action hero with a more sensitive, thoughtful or caring side, typically revealed at certain (often  quite brief) points in the movie” (page – 75)

- “Female roles have definitely become tougher” (page – 75)

-“women and men tend to have similar skills and abilities in film today” (page – 83)

- “Men can get away with being older” (page – 83)

Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge.

- “gender is “constructed,” but implied in her formulation is an agent, a cogito, who somehow takes on or appropriates that gender and could, in principle, take on some other gender.

- “Women are not only represented falsely within the Sartrian frame of signifying-subject and signified-Other, but the falsity of the signification points out the entire structure of representation as inadequate.”

- “Gender is a complexity whose totality is permanently deferred, never fully what it is at any given juncture in time.”

- “gender is not always constituted coherently or consistently in different historical contexts, and because gender intersects with racial, class, ethnic, sexual, and regional modalities of discursively constituted identities.”

Hall, S., Evans, J.,& Nixon, S. (2013). Representation. London: SAGE.

 - Two systems of representations:

1- All sorts of objects, people and events are correlated with a set of concepts or mental representations which we carry around in our heads. Without it we cannot interpret the world meaningfully at all. – Very simple version of a rather complex process.

2- Depends on constructing a set of correspondences between our conceptual maps and a set of signs, arranged or organised into various languages which stand for or represent those concepts

- Theories of representations.

Reflective approach – meaning is thought to lie in the object, person, idea or event in the real world, and language functions like a mirror, to reflect its true meaning as it already exists in the world.

Intentional approach – this argues the opposite case. It holds that it is the speaker, the author, who imposes his or her unique meaning on the world through language. Words mean what the author intends they should mean.

Constructionist approach – recognises this public, social character of language. It acknowledges that neither things in themselves nor the individual users of language can fix meaning in language.Things don’t mean: we construct meaning, using representational systems – concepts and signs.

- “Gender only becomes an issue if woman as a specific category are in question, when they become discussible as a deviation from the norms.”

- Early feminist attacked images that were “not representing women as they really are or really could be – for being stereotypes, rather than positive images, psychologically rounded characters, or real women.”
-> this statement relates to my critical investigation because Katniss Everdeen is seen as a more realistic Protagonist that shows that she has a conflicting lifestyle. The fact that she has so many things weighing upon her shoulders, things she has to consider carefully. She has been given a lot of responsibility and how the directors managed to portray the effect of this have been realistic in the sense that she has to stay strong and puts up a very dominant front however in some cases it shows that she is also a very vulnerable character and that when it comes to her family, she can be seen as overprotective. This shows the change in how women are portrayed in the media/films. That there is a more realistic view of them.

Hooks, B. (2015). Feminism is for everybody: passionate politics. New York, NY: Routledge.

 -“sisterhood is powerful”

-> This relates to the idea that there is strength within females and not just when trying to be equal to men. This highlights that females do not have to adopt an aggressive form in order to show that they can be strong. In fact being in touch with their feminine and caring side and showing that they can band together in order to be powerful. Which is related to my critical investigation because it can be linked to the scene when Rue and Katniss form an alliance in order to survive and they protect each other and it can also be linked to the fact that Katniss is in touch with her emotions in a sense that it is seen that she is filled with conflict which suggest that she is showing that she can express her emotions.

- “ we bonded to protect our interests as women”

- “Feminist thinking teaches us all , especially, how to love justice, freedom in ways that foster and affirm life.

-> I think this statement links to my critical investigation in the sense that Katniss Everdeen is a dominant protagonist and that she is doing what ever she is doing in order to provide freedom for everyone and justice to the people who have been victims of the brutal capitol that are the main cause of their restrictions and lack of freedom to express themselves.

Wood, J. T. (1994). Gendered lives: Communication, gender, and culture.  Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub.

- "a woman may be strong and successful if and only if she also exemplifies traditional stereotypes of femininity-subservience, passivity, beauty, and an identity linked to one or more men."

- "Realizing that inequality is socially constructed empowers us to be agents of change."

- "the media’s bias in favor of women who are traditionally feminine and who are not too able, too powerful, or too confident."

Greer, G. (1971). The Female Eunuch. London: HarperCollins.

- “Status ought not to be measured by a woman's ability to attract and snare a man.” 
-> this relates to my critical investigation as it emphasises the fact that women should not be the attraction piece of the film placed to 'snare a man'. This relates to Katniss as she doesn't focus to much on the relationship side of the narrative. The fact that it isn't something that makes sense to her and it isn't her main priority showcases this statement, that she isn't there to be a secondary character amongst two male characters. She is a dominant protagonist that has other issues that are more major than just who she will get with in the film.

- “Those miserable women who blame the men who let them down for their misery and isolation enact every day the initial mistake of sacrificing their personal responsibility for themselves.” 

The Dandelion in the Spring

- "although its heroine Katniss, is perceived by many readers to be a groundbreaking "feminist icon," the narrative is limited in the way it disrupts patriarchal gender roles. Broad reads the conclusion of the series - which ends with a vision of katniss's "safe, stable, and highly insular heterosexual reproductive union" - as a foreclosure of alternative possibilities for female futures.

Approaching the Hunger Games trilogy: a literary and cultural analysis

- "According to Judith Butler gender has 2 no ontological status apart from the various acts which constitute its reality," it can be understood as a "performative," that is, as a phenomenon that is entirely defined by the way it is enacted (1990, 136). Understood in this way, it is easy to see how gender identities can be destabilised and subverted when they are performed in ways other than those prescribed by society. 

Mulvey, L. (1989). Visual and Other Pleasures.

-"In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female."

-> this goes against what Katniss Everdeen is in the Hunger Games as she is not passive and she stands up for what she believes in.

Wood, J. T. (1994). Gendered lives: Communication, gender, and culture.  Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub.

- "the media’s bias in favor of women who are traditionally feminine and who are not too able, too powerful, or too confident."

-> this goes against the idea that females are able to portray a strong lead role. 

- "a woman may be strong and successful if and only if she also exemplifies traditional stereotypes of femininity-subservience, passivity, beauty, and an identity linked to one or more men."

Historical text analysis and research

• how society and the issue you are investigating has changed over the years and how these changes are reflected in different media texts, or - to put it another way...
• how popular culture reflects the 'spirit of the age' or zeitgeist

watch clips

• How is it similar/different to your main text?
• How does this show how the genre/society/issue has changed?

Tomb raider (2001)



This clip is very similar to my main text in the sense that it has a lead female protagonist that leads the narrative of the film. She portrays to the audience that she is strong and confident which is evident in the trailer when she says to the male character that he will 'try' to kill her. However it is different in the sense that in Tomb Raider it seems to be one female against different men. However in Hunger Games it is a mix. You see that the main antagonist is a male however at the end of the film trilogy she kills a female antagonist. In this film there is a range of males and females - especially within the tributes who have been selected to enter the arena to participate. There has been a change in gender representation that is visible in these two films. In Tomb Raider you have the main female protagonist where clothes that are flattering to the male gaze. Despite the fact that she is a ground breaking female action hero, her sexual objectification in order to appeal to the male audience seem to be a part of the film that is heavily focused on. However in the Hunger Games, this isn't the main focus, in fact, it could be argued that Katniss Everdeen is not sexualised in this film, Although in the poster it does show her to have a curvy figure and skin tight clothing that shows of the figure which would suggest an argument that that could be a form of sexualisation of the character. In my opinion I feel like this is just Mainstream cinema trying to appeal to the audience as much as they can without diverting the attention from the storyline. As it is about a rebellion and the fact that they are kids fighting to their death. I feel like this shows the change of society from then as it has shifted from focusing on the body and the image of the character like in Tomb Raider to the more complex parts of the character just like Katniss Everdeen. 

 

Princess Leia in Star Wars (1977)



Leia could be said to be an iconic figures for female roles that subvert gender stereotypes. In these clips that have been selected from the films you can see that she isn't simply just the damsel in distress and that she does take some lead and control over her life. In the first clip you can see that she is speaking directly to the Antagonist Dark Vader. Which highlights a sense of confidence and bravery. In these clips you see her outfit changes sometimes they are loose fitting and sometimes they are tight fitting. This could suggest that despite the fact that this is trying to portray women in a new light, it is still focusing appearance - especially in the scene where she is giving the male characters the medals which shows an almost revealing dress. This could be seen as the birth of the second wave feminism in which we begin to see a change in the way women are portrayed in film. Which leads me back on to the Hunger Games in which we see that due to this slow change in the cinema world. Katniss Everdeen is the dominant role in the film. The film begins with her and ends with her. We see different aspects of the characters and isn't necessarily focussing on how they look the majority of the time. yes you still see that when they are trying to gain sponsers, all the tributes look more extravagants to match with the residents of the Capitol, which could reinforce the fact that everything does come down to appearance/image.

These two examples show hoe the films are a zeitgeist as it shows how the different values of society at the time. The fact that different thing were considered important. The change in how females are represented and how the change has affected how we perceived the characters.

Online research sources

1) MM44 - The Gender Politics in The Walking Dead and The Hunger Games.
 - Sophie Stringfellow explores constructions of masculinity and femininity in the Walking Dead, a continuing  TV series, in comparison with Suzanne collins' more helpful gender perspective on the other side of the dystopian revolution represented in Hunger Games

- "In contrast to the machismo on display in the first episode of The Walking Dead, The Hunger Games gives us an all-female domestic scene in which Katniss comforts her sister who has woken from a nightmare."
- "it is possible to discuss her heroism, a stereotypically masculine quality, as she volunteers to take her sister's place at the reaping."
- "Unlike many of the hyper-masculine characters in The Walking dead, Peeta also demonstrates a clear sense of self-perservation. We see this towards the end, when he is gravely injured and hides himself, instead of attempting any feats of bravery"
- "The Hunger Games have access to a spectrum of 'ways of being' and any restrictions on their behaviours come solely from the particular rules of the dystopian society, rather that expectations based on gender.

Protection issues - care or control.

- "The powerful sisterly bond represented by the pin drives the plot and helps to spark a revolution... The relationship between the two sisters is also mirrored in the arena with Katniss and Rue, whose poignant interactions shows girls who are capable of looking after each other."
- "In The Hunger Games, protection between male and female characters is based on mutual care which never calls the strength or capabilities of the women into question"

2) MM34 - Engendering Change: What’s Happened to Representations of Women?

- Nick Lacey explores the traditional view of active men and passive women, and finds that feminism still has a fight on its hands

- "John Berger - Men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at."

- "Emma peel featured in The Avengers from 1965-7 and brought a radical and powerful combination of female sexuality, intelligence and lethal combat skills to the small screen. Nevertheless, despite her dynamism, she still deferred to her (male) boss, steed."

3) MM42 - Does Pink Matter? Early socialisation into gender roles has long been an issue for debate, often epitomised by the gendering of products and the associations of the colour pink.

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4) MM56 - Furiosa and the ‘Male Gaze’: Is Fury Road a Game-changer? Nick Lacey suggests the massively successful Mad Max: Fury Road challenges patriarchal values, using the theories of Laura Mulvey, and narrative approaches to gender.

- "Mulvey suggested that mainstream cinema institutionalises the 'male gaze': that is, that most films are shot from a male perspective."
- "Mulvey also suggested that women's bodies are often represented as fragmented, through the use of close-ups, giving women 'the quality of [an] icon' rather than an active agent in three-dimensional space."
- "Finally, from Mulvey, in mainstream cinema narrative, men are active, 'forwarding the story, making things happen' in contrast to women's passivity  (R)

5) MM55 - The Fourth Wave? Feminism in the Digital Age. Chloe Gray explores networked feminism, and the role of digital and social media in transforming debates about the meaning of gender equality.

- "Feminists who currently advocate for a fourth-wave of feminism believe the circulation of feminist issues rely on social media technology for communicating and organising their activism efforts. 'its defined by the technology: tools that are allowing women to build a strong, popular, reactive moment online.'
- "Feminism is often divided into 'waves' to explain the cultural context in which they began. The 'first wave of feminism' began in the late 19th to early 20th centuries, with a main focus on suffrage. The 'second wave' began in the 1960's campaigning for the growth of equal rights and leading to the Equal Pay Act of 1970, amongst other equality laws. Since the late 1990's, we are believed to have entered 'the third wave' (often identified as post-feminism). The new fourth wave of feminism is also known as 'networked feminism'. It aims to tackle social equality issues found both on, and using, modern technology.

6) MM52 - The World Of Mockingjay: Ideology, Dystopia And Propaganda. The Hunger Games trilogy addresses media saturation, reality TV, celebrity culture and ideology. Lydia Kendall argues that media theory and concepts can help unpick the radical politics underlying the latest film in the controversial and hugely successful franchise.

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7) MM40 - Playing with the past- Post-feminism  and the media

- "Post-feminism is better described as the current 'set of assumptions' in contemporary society and culture. This set of assumptions is, of course, reflected and reinforced by media texts. Post-feminism can be defined as the current ideological belief in culture and society that we are somehow past needing feminism - that the attitudes and arguments of feminism are no longer needed; that those battles have long been won."

8) MM36 - Marty, Bob and Leo: the Changing Nature of Masculinity. The collaboration between auteur Martin Scorsese, Robert de Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio.

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Media Edu

WJEC MS1 Representation of Femininity - Rob Miller | Thursday October 24, 2013

1) "Intertextual references to Lara Croft in the action adventure video game Tomb Raider(2013) are apparent in her representation as a post feminist icon who exhibits both stereotypically male and female characteristics." (H)

2) Watson, as with Kiera Knightly has successful exploited a sexualised secondary persona that has been carefully managed and manufactured – objectification is not welcomed but understood as a step on the ladder to movie star success, thus conforming to the cultural stereotype of a good looking, physically attractive female lead.

3) This develops gender debate over this type of representation in that stereotypically youth is seen as aspirational for female audiences while youth and good looks are seen as essential for women in the film industry to remain in the public eye. This is the opposite of masculinity in film for which variants of age are seen as far more acceptable.

4) Exceptions such as Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep evidence this fascination as older women still at the peak of their careers (or rather maintaining a successful reputation over some) who are sexualised for the male gaze and who are empowering for female audiences. Tabloids readily ignore their acting capabilities and happily promote their physical representation before their professional portfolio.

5) After 10 years of playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter franchise she has morphed into a sexualised young woman (Emma Watson)

Gender Theory - Jeremy Orlebar | Thursday December 09, 2010

6) David Gauntlett in Media, Gender and Identity: An Introduction argues that: ‘Femininity is not typically a core value for women today. Instead, being ‘feminine’ is just one of the performances that women choose to employ in everyday life – perhaps for pleasure, or to achieve a particular goal.’

7) Butler’s work is significant because it speaks for the subject position of men as well as women.

8) "Some feminists view women as separate ontological beings from men and others like Judith Butler see gender as an artificial cultural performance."

9) "Butler argues that gender is performative. She says that no identity exists behind the acts or performance that express gender, and these acts constitute the illusion of the stable gender identity."

10) Notions of self and gender are to a certain extent shaped by media stars leading to the idea that the gendered self is flexible and multiple.

• Post-Feminist Icon: When a female character exhibits the stereotypical characteristics of a male and a female
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e-Jump Cut online media journal

Feminism and film by Helke Sander translated by Ramona Curry

- "The question about feminine imagery cannot even begin to be answered due to the lack of film-producing women. And it would break all rules of statistics to force a deduction about aesthetic similarities from the 100 films women have produced at different times, in different cultures and countries, about the most varied topics and most diverse genres"

- "we should consider that until very recently femininity was always defined by others, by men. Only now have women begun to comprehend themselves as social subjects and to throw off alien interpretations of their nature and being."

- "Women have just begun to dare to see themselves and others, society, with their own eyes. They are beginning to compare alien opinions and theories to their own experiences. They are formuating first concepts, with the help of which we can begin to comprehend the nature of past feminine oppression, today's social contradictions, and our expectations for a different human future."

- "nowadays we always find both images: woman as object and as subject. Therefore, both — the traditional and conditioned, and the politically new — will be present in work by women, including that of contemporary women filmmakers"

- "The visual arts at least tend to answer this question about feminine imagery with “Yes.” Women's preferences for certain genres, materials and forms also seem to express particularly feminine aesthetic concepts."

Aspects of British feminist film theory
A critical evaluation of texts by
Claire Johnston and Pam Cook

- "according to Johnston, “the ‘truth’ of our oppression cannot be captured on celluloid with the ‘innocence’ of the camera,” for feminist cinema to be effective, she claims it must be a counter-cinema. Johnston here sounds like Godard, particularly when she asserts,

“Any revolutionary must challenge the depiction of reality: it is not enough to discuss the oppression of women within the text of the film: the language of the cinema/depiction of reality [sic] must also be interrogated, so that a break between ideology and text is affected.” (Notes, p. 29)"

- "According to Johnston, feminist filmmakers must confront the representations of reality within the text of the film itself in order to expose their falseness. "

Women and representation
by Jane Gaines

- "Feminist theory that sees all women on the screen only as objects of male desire — including by implication, lesbians — is inadequate.”

- "In "Pornography and Pleasure," Paula Webster turns a critique of the anti-pornography movement into a statement of feminist strategy based on shifting our emphasis from men's pleasure to women's. She says,

"In placing the gratification of men above our own, we pose absolutely no danger to male dominated society."

Up-to-the-minute additional web research

 

What Makes The Hunger Games So Popular?
https://www.challies.com/articles/what-makes-the-hunger-games-so-popular/

• "Katniss. The leader of the rebellion is an unlikely and unexpected hero,"
• "Katniss Everdeen is a strong lead character, an intriguing combination of confidence and naiveté"
• "She is a girl that other girls and women can identify with and she is a girl that boys find themselves drawn to. "
• "Katniss loves and protects her little sister and feels a strong sense of duty toward her. It will not give away much of the plot to state that Katniss is only in the games because she offers herself as a substitute for her sister. She puts her own life on the line to protect her little sister.
• "In a world of cliched, weak love, and in a world where some female characters are so weak (I’m looking at you, Bella), Katniss is strong in all the right ways. "

This article explains why The Hunger Games is popular and how it uses the Cliché good vs evil as a narrative base and builds up how they will portrays that but also shows unique angles where the main female character is complicated and not bound by stereotypical aspects that are common for representing women in film.

 

Hard-hitting film takes aim at Ingmar Bergman’s flawed way with women

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jan/06/ingmar-bergman-beauty-beast-flawed-way-with-women-great-art

 

This talks about the systematic sexual exploitations of actresses by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, Which sparked the #MeToo social media campaign. This article is based on the flaws of Ingmar Bergman when it is difficult to criticise him when he is a 'Great Artist'

• “We were pretty much done with our film when #MeToo broke out, but this is something I addressed in the film anyway,” Magnusson said. “He did have a tremendous amount of women, and a lot of them were dependent on him – they were his actresses – and in Sweden no one is looked at that seriously, and I think it’s something we should look at seriously.”

This links to me CI because it shows that female are gathering the strength to speak up about abuse and things they wouldn't have done before. They are becoming more confident in standing for what is right and showing that women are strong when they come together.

 

MM36 - Marty, Bob and Leo: the Changing Nature of Masculinity. The collaboration between auteur Martin Scorsese, Robert de Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio.

• "He is the provider not the receiver, capable of love but not made vulnerable because of it. These are the qualities of a masculinity that was prevalent until possibly the late 1970s or early 1980s.
• To be 'masculine' is not to be 'feminine', not to be 'gay', not to be tainted with any marks of 'inferiority' - suggested Lynne Segal
• "it is in relation to women's and gay liberations that we find the possibility to greater sexual equality" - Lynne Segal
• "DiCaprio for me represents a much more contemporary masculinity. He is beautiful rather than handsome."..
• "He is capable of showing sensitivity, vulnerability and fear in his roles.
• "Masculinity as a concept has changed from a hegemonic traditional binary opposite of the feminine, to something more fluid."

How The Hunger Games Revolutionized Female-Led Blockbusters
http://www.eonline.com/news/837977/how-the-hunger-games-revolutionized-female-led-blockbusters

• "It's worth starting at The Hunger Games' opening weekend. In short, it was the third best in box office history"
• "When Hunger Games came to life on the big screen, the idea that a single movie could reset the course of an entire genre of female-led franchises was still a twinkle in someone's eye. Yet, five years later, it has made a huge impact."
• "the movie's success proved to studios and would-be filmmakers that putting a woman in charge of a huge blockbuster movie pays off both culturally and financially"
• "The same goes for Katniss and her band of rebels, and they paved the way for a host of girl power films."
• "Last but not least was Mad Max: Fury Road, which is undoubtedly the most badass of this gender-centric genre"
• "The debut of Pitch Perfect was well under way when Hunger Games stole the show, but it's (probably) not a coincidence that The Bellas gained such a cult following just a few months after Katniss."

#MeToo: how a hashtag became a rallying cry against sexual harassment
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/20/women-worldwide-use-hashtag-metoo-against-sexual-harassment

• "countless allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein."
• "personal stories began pouring in from women in all industries across the world, and the hashtag #MeToo became a rallying cry against sexual assault and harassment."
• "Within days, millions of women – and some men – used Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to disclose the harassment and abuse they have faced in their own lives."

Golden Globes: #MeToo movement set to make major impact on awards
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jan/06/golden-globes-awards-metoo-sexual-harrassment-in-Hollywood

• "Many of the night’s A-list attendees are expected to wear black in support of the women who have spoken out about sexual predators in recent months"

How 'The Hunger Games' Is Challenging Gender Stereotypes - by Empowering Boys
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/laura-m-bell/hunger-games-gender-stereotypes_b_6185320.html

• "The Hunger Games made it acceptable for boys to embrace a female perspective"
• "But the truth is, gender policing is much stricter with boys than girls"
• "This is a disservice to both boys and girls. It restricts the way boys experience the world, hampering their emotional development. And it sends young girls the message that their activities are unworthy of being pursued by boys. For girls it's okay, desirable even, to take on traditionally male traits. By behaving more like boys, they are bettering themselves. Conversely, it seems it would be degrading for boys to do girly things. So we don't let them."
• "All of a sudden it was okay for a boy to read a book with a female protagonist. More than okay - it was cool. And Katniss is no male character in drag. Yes, there's action, bows and arrows and war"

Why The Hunger Games' killer Katniss is a great female role model
https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/aug/12/why-hunger-games-killer-katniss-is-a-great-female-role-model

• "Or that when Peeta said he’d rather stay true to himself, she didn’t get it. I liked that she was emotionally unavailable (while the boys wore their hearts on their sleeves) because it was such a lovely reversal."
• "She’s so magnificent that at first I didn’t worry about how little she lets herself feel"