Critical Investigation: Task 7

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"

List of Gender Stereotypes
http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/15910/1/List-of-Gender-Stereotypes.html

Women

• Women are supposed to cook and do housework
• Women are responsible for raising children
• Women do not have technical skills and are not good at "hands on" projects such as car repairs
• Women are meant to be the damsel in distress; never the hero
• Women are supposed to look pretty and be looked at

Men

• All men enjoy working on cars
• Men are not nurses, they are doctors
• Men do "dirty jobs" such as construction and mechanics; they are not secretaries, teachers, or cosmetologists
• Men do not do housework and they are not responsible for taking care of children
• Men play video games
• Men play sports

Morphology of the Folktale: Second Edition - prpps