With the film opening Friday, the internet hype machine surrounding The Hunger Games seems to be reaching its climax. As with almost any other fan of the books, I’m excited for what looks to be a (mostly) faithful, well-casted, and worthy adaptation. However, an annoying trend emerged really early on in the run-up to the release and has grown in intensity to the point it may well drive men unfamiliar with the story away from seeing the film, thinking it’s “for teenage girls.” I’m talking of course about the “Team Peeta v. Team Gale” meme circulating pretty much everywhere that reframes the story as a love triangle a la Twilight revolving around a teen girl and her choice between two hunky tough guys.
admirable photoshops skills, kids
While the Twilightization is not wholly unencouraged by the official marketing campaign and licensed tie-ins that play up the sexiness of the young men in the heroine’s life, it is mostly a fan-created and unlicensed merchandise-driven phenomenon that then carried over to some of the most esteemed media outlets in the world. While it probably began as a dig at Twilight, it has grown far beyond such clever snarkiness. The problem with all of this is that, unless the film veers strongly from the primary concerns of the first book of the trilogy (which would be a mistake for a studio setting up a four film series based on works with a strong fanbase), such framing of the book’s story is flat-out wrong.
No, really, no matter how much you want it to be, it's not.
Additionally, it leads to the kind of head-scratching and outright dismissal for guys like redditor jellytime:
forever alone in a sea of hunger games
So, with the belief that some may dismiss the film because of this ubiquitous and dangerous meme, I’m going to outline a few reasons why men who like stereotypically male themes/characters/plot elements/etc. should give the film (and books) a chance despite it being pushed as something you are supposed to hate (minor spoilers follow, obviously).
Katniss is no Bella Swan: Unlike the clumsy young lady from those conservative romance novels and films with the trappings of monster stories, the heroine of The Hunger Games is capable and a legitimate badass from the outset. She’s adept with a bow and arrows, the only long-range weapon in these games. There is absolutely no doubt in the reader’s mind that she will bury an arrow in some steroided-out, thuggish bro’s brain when necessary, and that when she does it will be awesome. You do like attractive, tough ladies, don’t you?
The family theme: If you somehow haven’t seen the trailer, this may be news, but the reason Katniss is even in an arena where everyone is trying to kill everyone else is that she took the place of her baby sister, who likely would’ve lost the game in the opening seconds. Really, her decision to save her sister is the most important and real love story in the first book. If you can’t get behind rooting for someone who is standing up for their family and killing to save them, you must be a real monster.
Panem is a first-rate example of a post-apocalyptic dystopia and guys are supposed to love that stuff: Anyone who is at all a fan of dystopian films/books will appreciate the well-constructed world of The Hunger Games, set up with a classical division between a cruel, bloodthirsty ruling class and the capable but oppressed underclasses who dream of rebellion. Additionally, if the film follows the books, viewers will not be beat over the head with explanations of why the world went to shit and an oppressive regime took over.
The Woody Harrelson guy will be entertaining ’cause he’s just like that one funny drunk bro of yours: There’s a fair amount of comedy in the book, but Haymitch Abernathy should steal a few scenes and produce a lot of laughs. He’s the kids from District 12′s mentor and a previous winner of the Hunger Games, but for the most part he is wasted all the time and makes and ass of himself because he basically doesn’t give a shit.
sup bros?
Blood and guts and bodycount: One of the things that baffles me most about how some guys are reacting to this film is how they overlook the promise of the basic premise: 24 people, armed with simple weapons, locked in an arena, fighting to the death until only one is left. Despite the fact that it’s PG-13, you don’t think they get to the end of the story by everyone quietly committing suicide in a corner, do you?
amiral
March 26, 2012 at 6:51 pm
With you all the way till you said Panem is a good post-apocalyptic state. There are so many things the state did wrong. When it comes to the A-standard of dystopias, there are two broad tracks to take, Brave New World or 1984. They don’t mix because 1984-esque district dwellers get so wildly resentful of the repression by the Brave New World-esque city dwellers that a rebellion is set off.
Everything else is cool.
Shane Billings
March 27, 2012 at 12:51 am
amiral,
I agree and think the disjoint is around what one means by “good.” I’d rate the books’ development of Panem as a dystopia interesting and first rate for the very reason you point out it isn’t good in the sense of stable and sustainable in the long-term. By merging the elements of a hedonistic dystopia (a la Brave New World) with the oppressive dystopia of 1984, We, or the like, Panem is, to my mind, a more realistic possible future state since reality is never uniform as the classic dystopias are. These classic dystopias also aren’t very vulnerable and usually the stories end badly for the protagonist; but Panem is vulnerable, as you point out, which is what makes the typical YA dystopian plot where real rebellion is possible believable in these books.
KingAlanI
May 29, 2012 at 1:35 am
saw the movie on opening weekend, loved it (hadn’t heard of the series before then)
I initially felt guilty about liking a “girl story”, but that was because of the Strong Female Lead(TM) rather than the romance element – the love triangle was a balanced part of the story.
Katniss as a positive female character is another opportunity to take the usual potshots at Twilight.
gender issues aside:
you have a good point about the dystopia being a mix of drowning in pleasure and brutal oppression.
Some fans “get it” and some don’t. Some are positively influenced, some negatively, some stay the same. This isn’t the artist’s fault.
crazed fans annoy the normal ones and make the normal ones look bad (including but not limited to THG)
KingAlanI
May 29, 2012 at 4:05 pm
One of my few criticisms is how some of the violence was masked with shaky camera work. I understand that they wanted a PG-13 rating; I at least wish that the censoring had been less obtrusive. (Shaky camera work did fit the hallucination plot point.)
Shane Billings
May 29, 2012 at 4:23 pm
KingAlanI: Thanks for the comments. I think you’re exactly right about Katniss as a strong female lead who can be used to criticize Twilight’s Bella (and assume that was the impulse behind the original facebook Team Peeta/Gale thing).
I also cited “dulling the overall brutality and using stupid camera tricks” as one of the biggest weaknesses in my review of film vs. book here (if you’re interested): http://twomenenter.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/not-hungry-enough-a-review-of-the-hunger-games/
KingAlanI
June 5, 2012 at 12:55 am
Katniss is one of many counterexamples; I’ve also heard Twilight jokes mention Hermione Granger, Princess Leia, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Kathryn Janeway, Sarah Connor, et cetera.
“Some fans “get it” and some don’t. Some are positively influenced, some negatively, some stay the same. This isn’t the artist’s fault.” – this refers in part to fangirls playing up the love triangle.
I’m not sure what was real, what was done for the cameras and what became real because the characters acted that way. I’d say this is another one of Collins’ artistic points. The Katniss/Peeta relationship (with her having to play along) is a prime example of that.
As for long-range weapons, thrown knives and spears are common; one line in the book says that Cato can throw a spear nearly as far as Katniss can shoot.
To me, Haymitch came off as a sad drunk; it was obvious his experiences had driven him to drink.
Having male/female pairs of tributes helped make it more than just a girl thing.
First person narration limits exposition, which can be both good and bad. Collins created a new setting and only shows us a little bit of it.
I watched the movie once before reading the book. Even besides the format, this is a different experience – there were some things changed for the movie and some things I didn’t notice in the movie. However, I didn’t get worked up about the differences like some reviewers did.
I almost believed the Katniss-Peeta romance. That indicates how well done it was (writing and in-story behavior), as well as Katniss’ own conflicted feelings.
PS
says there are 10 comments, but I only see 5.
KingAlanI
June 5, 2012 at 1:19 am
I learned from working on my Hunger Games fanfic that the romance subplot is really fun to write and really popular with the readers; it’s a challenge to heat it up while still keeping it balanced. (Sticking to the original setting while still putting your own spin on it is an aspect of fanfic writing in general). The writing also gives a chance to play up the violence and explore the backstory differently.
KingAlanI
November 2, 2012 at 4:36 am
Revisited this article while in a “THG is something girly” mood.
Note this thread on a THG fansite: http://mockingjay.net/forums/index.php?topic=135.0
To refer to your article in particular:
not get worked up over the Twilight comparisons and the triangle, fair enough.
IMHO, the sister-sister relationship makes it more of a girl thing.
badass chick as cool to guys – I suppose that’s personal preference.
Haymitch as a cool/funny drunk, but the movie downplayed that.
violent enough despite being PG-13 – maybe
the dystopia setup as something classic – I had forgotten about that point. Also, that reminds me that the series is something intelligent, which is important to me. A lot of guy stuff is unintelligent, but intelligent girl stuff doesn’t work for me either.