Hunger Games : SPOLIERS

Last night, Boybee and I realized that not only did we not have any looming projects or responsibilities that had to be taken care of ASAP but we also had no meetings or other engagements for the evening. This is a relatively rare occurrence at Chez Bee so we decided to take advantage of our lack of responsibilities and go out to a movie, knowing that in a few months being able to just go out to a movie on a Tuesday night will be an unthinkable luxury.

Neither of us has read the Hunger Games books but we've both been hearing the buzz for the past couple of months about the movie. We like action movies and specifically desire to spend our money at the box office when we think movies may pass the Bechdel Test, plus it was getting rave reviews from friends so after a walk around the neighborhood (OMG the weather is gorgeous here in Beelandia right now!), we were off to the 7:45 showing at our local multi-plex.

SPOILERS AFTER THE CUT.

First off, I really enjoyed the movie. The story is entertaining and the plot had enough complexity to keep me entertained - no crazy twists, or anything you didn't see coming, but this is a blockbuster based on Young Adult fiction. To expect anything different would have been silly.

I will start with what I didn't love about this movie:
I wasn't a big fan of the editing, especially at the beginning - lots of quick cuts and shakey camera effects that were distracting and made me a little queasy - not as bad as that horrid Superman movie that came out a few years ago, but obnoxious none the less. The costuming of the district people was great but the Capitol folks were kind of bland in their over the top-ness... maybe that's how it's supposed to be in the books? I honestly would have expected better from the costumes they make the kids wear in the opening ceremonies with the chariots scene. Katniss and Peta's were cool, but the others were kind of... high school theater production. Again, maybe that's based on the source material?

Now, onto everything that I loved:
I believed that Katniss, Rue, Peta, Katniss' family and loverboy from home, the red head girl, the capitol people, and even the random evil kids were people with actual individual motivation that made sense. This was a revelation. Even good movies tend to rely on some BS notions of wanting to save the world that real people don't really feel - these characters want to stay alive and protect the people they love OR they've been raised since birth to believe a bunch of crazy cult-like weird shit about killing people in this stupid game. At the end when the "evil" kid kind of beaks down it was refreshing (which is sad because it's an old trope, but still, they don't usually bother with that sort of thing). Katniss is brave and really skilled but she's also scared shitless. Peta is a doofus boy, but he's a doofus boy I totally could have known in high school. His actions are believable given the unbelievable situation these kids find themselves in. Even the hokey love triangle makes sense and I felt that the whole politics of effection thing was very salient especially to my 15 year old self.

I love the character of Primrose, Katniss' little sister who is on screen for all of 20 minutes. Yeah, she's not an outdoorsy hunter like Katniss (our Hero) but she's not denigrated for being a normal, scared kid. Katniss says something like "could you imagine Prim in the woods?" but it's big sister ribbing/being factual. Katniss gets that she's better than the average bear and isn't all entitled about it (think Luke Skywalker for the exact opposite). Her fear is normal - it's almost weird that not all of the kids are as freaked out as she is.

I also loved Rue, which is basically the point of her character - someone to love and mourn. But, it worked! I loved and mourned her. It makes sense why she and Katniss work together, why they trust each other. It makes sense why the boy from her district kills to avenge her and leaves Katniss alive as a tribute to her memory. It makes you wonder why she and that boy didn't work together from the beginning though.

And then, the ending is great. Yeah, they win - hooray! But now, Katniss' anti-establishment ploy for her and Peta to jointly commit suicide has maybe backfired on her? The producer of the show is basically ordered to commit seppuku. And Katniss now needs to take the star-crossed lovers ploy farther than she really wants because it's more palatable to the powers-that-be than the idea that these teenagers are politically minded enough to not want to be pawns in their game (literally!). I've not read the books but I know that this is the just the first book - hopefully the next ones are all about how Katniss becomes the reluctant poster child for the coming revolution. I would totally watch that movie too.

And now, the best part - we never see one of the women in the movie with a bare midriff or in a super low cut top or even in a skin tight athletic suit. Katniss wears normal people clothing at home that is appropriate to the work she's doing, she wears normal athletic clothing while training for the games and all of her loungewear and pajamas are also normal things that I would wear (sans the slight over the top ness of it being Capitol clothing). Furthermore, the only 'love' that motivates characters in this movie is the protective love for family (Katniss and Primrose), or obviously infatuation and treated as such (Peta for Katniss).

Katniss is a "strong woman" but that's not her defining characteristic (see Sarah Connor); we see her screw up, we see her fear, we see the hard work that she puts in to succeed. She's not magically good at shooting a bow and living in the woods - she gets her butt up early every morning to shoot for food so that she, her mom, and her little sister can survive. She does not learn to be awesome in a training montage! How cool is that?!

I think the best part of this movie is that it's based on a book written by a woman like Harry Potter or Twilight, but unlike Harry Potter the hero is a girl and unlike Twilight the hero is not a useless twit who bounces from man to man without agency. And! It's not a chick flick. It's not about how she wants to impress some boy! It even turns the old Boy-Gets-Girl trope on it's head showing that yeah - Peta "got the girl" but in only a sort of, super screwed up way based solely on that girl's personal agency. And! It's making a bazillion dollars at the box office!

Maybe this movie will mean that I will get watch more movies about women that aren't RomComs. (Not that there's anything wrong with RomComs... except that there's a lot wrong with RomComs...).