One Of My Favorite Parts Of The Hunger Games Was How, In The Beginning, Katniss Was Jealous Amd Resentful

One of my favorite parts of the Hunger Games was how, in the beginning, Katniss was jealous amd resentful of the townies for not having to work in the coal mines. Then, over time, she realizes they aren't the true enemy. Then she sees the other district kids as so much better off than she is, because at least they don't come from district 12. But then she realizes they aren't the enemy either. And then she hates the other victors, before realizing they have all been exploited just as much as she has. So the enemy must be the Capitol citizens, who benefit from the exploitation of the districts, right? Wrong again. They are just uninformed and pampered people who have been kept in the dark about the true horrors faced by the rest of the country. Most of them, when push comes to shove, are perfectly willing to help the war efforts.

And slowly, over the three books, all theses separate factions of downtrodden people start to see each other as allies instead of enemies, and that is what propells them to eventual victory over the true enemy, the government that tried to pit them against each other. Just fun, totally fictional things to think about that have nothing whatsoever to do with our current life.

I bet a bunch of people would go ape shit crazy if katniss fell in love with a boy from the Capitol and everything would just fly completely over their heads

hot take: katniss is a revolutionary female hero because she's not really a hero. she fights for people, not for a greater good, and she's willing to do awful things for her family, including killing innocents. she believes in a revolution because she wants freedom, not because "it's the right thing to do." she's not a quirky female hero who always knows what to say. she's awkward and self-depricating and blunt and not likeable, which is implicitly stated in the books and movies. she's not comfortable in feminine clothes, she hunts, she's scared and social uncomfortable in a way that makes others uncomfortable. she's volitile in a way that's very different than the normal quirky female lead, she's not some manic bipolar idea, she's a real person with genuine issues. she's harsh and sharp and cruel and mean and she's not perfect. she's not even very likeable. she doesn't speak much to others and when she does, it's mostly angry or cutting. but she's astounding and breathtakingly tragic while being real and raw and absolutely human.

The hunger games & the selection parallels:

Caste system with numbers where you’re identified that way “I’m from twelve” “I’m a Five”

Randomly selected from every part of the country

Unfamiliarity with the Rich Lifestyle

Getting shipped off to the rich capital

Terrible dictator

Rebellions i guess ??

Makeovers and interviews

Discomfort with the makeovers and the interviews

Guy from hometown vs new guy who is wholesome

Difference ^ being that america actually gives a shit about them

Literally young children, I can’t even insult them becaude they’re a year older than/same age as me and I’m a dumbass so they are too

New and changed America with a different name

People in competition are slowly eliminated until the last one is standing

I’m going to keep reading and see if there are more but goddamn

Sometimes I think about the Hunger games and I wonder what happened what exactly were the districts rebelling about? And what did they do that was so horrible that not only were they punished by seeing their children fight in a battle Royale to the death but their descendants, born long after anyone who was alive to remember the rebellion were as well.

““The first time that Katniss has to go into the cylinder and she goes up into the arena and looks around and sees it for the first time,” says Lawrence. “Knowing that when that trumpet blows she could die. The thing that’s great about her is she’s not a murderer. She’s a hunter, but she’s not a killer. I told Gary, ‘I totally understand if you don’t hire me, but please remember that after Katniss shoots a bow and kills someone her face cannot be badass. It has to be broken.’ She has to be heartbroken because she just took another person’s life. It’s so tempting, especially with a cool, big budget franchise movie, but we have to remember that she’s a 16-year-old girl who’s being forced to do this. These kids are only killing each other because if they don’t, they’ll die. It’s needless, pointless, unjustified violence. So there’s nothing cool about her. It’s not like she looks around the arena and goes ‘Yeah, I got this, I’m going to do this.’ I think she looks around terrified and thinks, ‘Well there are all the million different ways that I can die.””

— Jennifer Lawrence on The Hunger Games (via maytheodds)