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Cody Minnis

Professor Granillo

English 103

26 November 2019

The Hunger Games

Would it be surprising to know that “fewer than one in five young women would call

themselves a feminist” (Scharff)? The idea of a feminist has been around for decades but finding

the best way to shed light on the subject has been tough. Today, movies are used to help foster

the idea women do not have to be confined to traditional roles that western civilizations have

made popular. The movie The Hunger Games is one of these films. While some claim that this

film uses a “bait and switch” tactic towards feminism, there is reason to believe that this is not

the case. By way of a feminist lens and concepts such as nontraditional gender roles and

subjectivity, along with Postcolonial theory and ideas of mimicry and resistance, this movie

allows for seeing a society based on western ideology yet having to change to accommodate the

nontraditional role of a woman. The identity of both the individual and society have to make

adjustments in order to survive because there is a relationship between the treatment of women

and the treatment of society that is imbedded together.

The argument against this movie is that as it starts out as a feminist anthem with what

seems to be a strong female lead. However, that quickly changes when to ideas of the film are

based upon Patriarchy and symbols related to male power. Patriarchy is “any culture that

privileges men by promoting traditional gender roles” (Tyson 80). The president of Panem is an

older, white male and runs the city like he is untouchable. It’s the men with all the power in the

city. They decide the ratings on the competitors, how the games are televised and what changes
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are made to the game during the actual event. Every decision made from the capital is made by a

man. Even the buildings of the city have phallic symbols like the one that Peeta sees as he rides

the train into the city for the first time and says “There it is, it’s huge. That’s incredible” (The

Hunger Games 27:40-27:48). He is referring to the city skyline and the domed building rising

out of the water. The women in the capital, on the other hand, meet traditional gender roles by

the way they dress, groom, speak, and act. With that being said, there is still the argument that

this can be seen as a feminist film. The protagonist is a female and does not conform to the ideas

of the societal norms that are pushed on her by others. The feminist critic of the film will show

that this is a film based on concepts such as nontraditional gender roles, subjectivity,

empowerment and that these ideologies go hand in hand with the concepts of Postcolonial theory

of mimicry and resistance.

The movie, The Hunger Games, was based off of a book by Suzanne Collins and directed

by Gary Ross in 2012. It is a tale of a dystopian society, a society that is suffering greatly, set in

the future. Panem is the capital city that tries to keep control of twelve districts by holding yearly

games that send competitors to fight to the death. These games are a result of the Treaty of

Treason which ended an uprising of the districts against the capital city. The competitors sent are

children that range in age from twelve to eighteen, one boy and one girl called Tributes, from

each of the districts. Children’s names are drawn from a lottery system. The games are televised

so that all members of society are forced to watch until there is only one remaining victor.

Victors bring praise and honor to the district it represents and the capital feels that they have

done a service to the winning district by showing their “generosity and forgiveness” (The Hunger

Games 00:13:46-00:13:48) for the failed uprising. The loser’s death is considered a sacrifice and
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to serve as a reminder as well. The protagonist, Katness Everdeen, becomes Tribute by

volunteering only after her younger sister’s name was drawn to compete.

To understand the framework of the film is to understand the workings of the society they

live in. District 12, where Katness Everdeen is from, is a coal mining district. They are poor,

hard-working people that have nothing. The filmmakers shoot their scenes with dull colors for

the clothing, the people are dirty, and there is an emphasis on lack of food. The capital is just the

opposite. The scenes are of beautiful big buildings that represent power, food and drink that are

nothing like district 12 could imagine that represent excess, and lots of noise and laughter that

comes from the capital people to show the social relationship between the people. At first glance,

the shooting of the film looks like the theme of the traditional class struggle one finds in

Marxism, however it goes beyond that. Further breakdown will show how Postcolonial ideas

such as mimicry, subjectivity, and resistance make District 12 a prime example of how it is a

third world country with a relationship to a first world country and those of colonized and

colonizer which allows for oppression.

The struggle of those who are oppressed begins with traditional gender roles. These roles

place people in categories and keep them there. For women in the capital, the clothing, hygiene,

and behavior fall into the traditional gender roles of women. However, Katness Everdeen

embodies the idea of a nontraditional gender role in that she is athletic, likes to hunt, and would

prefer a pair of pants over a dress. Also, there was a nontraditional family makeup because of the

death of her father in the coal mines. Even though she had a mother, her mother was unable to

care for her and her sister after his death, so Katness stepped up and played the role of both

daughter and mother. She was the motherly figure her little sister needed. After Katness

volunteers to be Tribute, in her goodbye meeting with her family she still tells her mother what
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to do. She tells her mom “You can’t tune out again…no matter what you feel you have to be

there for her, do you understand” (The Hunger Games 00:19:07-00:1918)? The role reversal does

not follow the traditional hierarchy of the family. The mother’s role is to take care of the

children, not the other way around. According to Mary Wollstonecraft, a leading feminist

theorist, “to be a good mother, a woman must have sense, and that independence of mind which

few women posses who are taught to depend entirely on their husbands” (215). This was the case

for Katness’ mother. Once her husband died, she was unable to function independently forcing

Katness to step up and take over the role of leading female in the family. Katness was

responsible for getting food and raising her little sister. Her independence from needing a man

allows her the freedom of adaptability. This change in roles lead to an identity for Katness that

challenges societal views and makes Katness stand out as being different.

The role of the family members in this society is based off of Postcolonial theory and the

Western ideology that men are the familiar patriarch. This theory “analyzes the ideological

forces that, on the one hand, pressed the colonized to internalize the colonizers’ values and, on

the other hand, promoted the resistance of colonized peoples against their oppressors” (Tyson

398). The capital city of Panem is based on Western Civilizations traditional roles. The men are

the head of the family and the women are subservient and are to take care of the children. Since

the districts are considered to be like colonized people, the values that the capital has are forced

onto the colonized even if they are not wanted using the idea of mimicry. Mimicry is used “when

colonial discourse encourages the colonized subject to mimic the colonizer, by adopting the

colonizer’s cultural habits, assumptions and values” (Ghaffarpour 91). So, the traditional roles of

man being the strong one and the woman being weaker is adopted by the districts because of the

dominance of the capital. This mimicry is part of the identity of each of the districts, but can vary
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slightly from district to district because each district is a colony in its own right and had their

own set of values to begin with. It’s how the colonized adopted the capital’s values that helps

create the identity for each district.

Another use of the feminism perspective that helps with Katness Everdeen’s identity is

her subjectivity. This is the idea that from the “feminist perspective, when we interpret texts or

anything else, the way to deal with our subjectivity is not to try to avoid it but to be as aware of it

as possible” (Tyson 90). Katness is aware that she is different from other girls. She is a hunter,

athletic and shoots a bow and arrow with great accuracy. Her subjectivity also allows her to

realize that she is rubs people the wrong way. Before going out on stage in front of the television

audience, she has a conversation with Cinna, her stylist and new friend, about how to get people

to like her. Her comment is “No, and I don’t know how to make people like me. How do you

make people like you” (The Hunger Games 00:52:16-00:52:19)? Her past interactions with

people around her made her feel like an outsider. She must find a way to use the audience as an

advantage but past experience tells her that “trust can extend no further than to themselves and

even there it must be questioned, challenged and qualified” (Haggerty). The reliance on people is

not something she is used to. She wants people to like her differences since having people

understand her viewpoints in vital for her survival in the games. Their interpretation of Katness’

attitude and social awkwardness plays an important role in the games. The audience’s

subjectivity gave them the ability to either relate to her or not. In addition, Katness’ subjectivity

let her interpret the society around her which influences her identity.

Subjectivity also plays a role in the makeup of the societies. According to Edward Said,

famed Postcolonial theorist, “there is always a need to keep community before coercion,

criticism before mere solidarity, and vigilance ahead of assent” (54). It has to do with the
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interpretation of the actions of the colonized by the colonizers and how the colonizer is received

by the colonized. A community should not have to be coerced or forced into doing something

they do not want to do like send their children to fight to the death. By allowing citizens to be

critical of leaders, there is a reduction in the possibility that a group of people will come together

and cause an uprising. Keeping a close watch on issues allows the people to give approval for

outcomes before they get out of control. All of these things are part of society’s identity and

creates a better society rather than one that is oppressive. Oppressed societies create resistance to

people in power.

Resistance to people in a power position is not a new concept. From the feminist

perspective, it is taking the power away from the male and making the power equal with that of

the female. In The Hunger Games, Katness Everdeen does just that. At the end of the games

when it is just her and Peeta left in the competition, the game makers changed the rules once

again. Instead of having two victors, like they previously had said, they revoked that rule and

was only allowing one victor. This meant that Katness and Peeta had to fight to the death.

However, Katness wasn’t going to go along with the plan. With a pocket full of poisonous

berries, she gets Peeta to agree that forcing the game makers to either take them both or not have

a victor was the way to go. Just before taking the berries, the game makers declared them both

winners of the games. By resisting the power of the men in charge, Katness further enhanced her

identity in the series but at a cost. Her mentor told her that the people in charge were not happy

with her and her response was “I am sorry it didn’t go the way they planned” (The Hunger

Games 2:09:26-2:09:38). “They” refers to the men in charge of the game and the society. She

understands that her decision will have an impact. By taking power away from the men and

giving it to herself, she was able to self-empower. Self-empowerment is an important part of the
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feminist movement because “most feminist theorists conceptualize an empowered individual as

self-directed and neither dominated nor dominating” (Nelson et al.). Her ability to be self-

directed and not directed by the men of the game makers changed the normal power structure.

There became an imbalance of power for the men. If more women were like Katness, then there

would be a better chance of a successful change in the society as a whole which means that

identity of the society would change. This change would happen because those that are self-

directed and feel empowered would come together and stand up and fight for those who cannot

fight for themselves. It becomes “us verse them”.

When a society gets to the point of “us verse them” it is known as othering. Othering lets

people judge “all who are different as less than fully human” (Tyson 400). In doing so, it divides

society into two groups. Those who are looked at as different and those who are not. Othering is

a type of mentality that oppression creates and eventually allows a society to come together to

form a resistance once it is tired of domination. The confrontation comes from “the ability of the

individual to begin, to break free of tradition and to start anew as a burgeoning sign of critical

consciousness represents a radical act of freedom, a necessary act of resistance that occurs

between culture and system” (Abraham). Sometimes the resistance does not work for example

when District 11 put up a fight after a member of its society was killed. Some chose to fight back

by knocking down the television equipment and fighting guards. Even though this attempt failed,

the ideas had to be present in their consciousness which allowed them to attempt it at that given

moment. However, all resistance does not have to be physical, intellectual resistance can be just

as effective. Katness uses intelligence and knowledge of the society she lives in to resist the

powers that rule. After volunteering as Tribute, her district used a sign of respect to show their

appreciation. Instead of clapping, there is a three-finger salute that is given as a sign of respect.
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She is aware that all people in the districts are watching the games. So, after the death of a fellow

competitor, Rue of whom she befriended and grew close to, she sends a message via the same

gesture to others watching. It’s a sign of intellect because by giving Rue a burial, she is resisting

the standard game etiquette of killing thus resisting being under control of others. Resistance

happens at some point because the colonized no longer want to be subjugated by the colonizer.

There is a type of self-empowerment that builds in the colony between the members of the group

until there is a feeling that the colonized can take back power from those in power.

The ideas of the feminist perspective and Postcolonial theory are ones that compliment

each other. Concepts like subjectivity, mimicry and empowerment are found in both the

individual and the society. When individuals gain the freedom from confining roles and gather

with others who have done the same, it creates a change in the societal norms. Changing the

views within the society promotes a healthier society where people do not feel dominated or

oppressed by another. The Hunger Games can be used as an example of how seeing the

connection between feminism and postcolonial theory creates the identity for the individual as

well as the society. That they are closely related and interconnected more than just on the

surface. The survival of both depends in how well the changes are received from others.
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Works Cited

Abraham, Matthew. “Edward Said: Criticism and Society at the Limits.” JAC, vol. 25, no. 2,

2005, pp. 397–406. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20866695.

Ghaffarpour, Roya. "A Postcolonial Appraisal of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games in the

Light of Bhabha’s Ideas." International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English

Literature [Online], 2.4 (2013): 90-97. Web. 21 Nov. 2019

Haggerty, George E. “A FRIEND, A FOP, AND A FEMINIST: THE FAILURE OF

COMMUNITY IN BURNEY.” The Eighteenth Century, vol. 36, no. 3, 1995, pp. 248–

265. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41467793.

The Hunger Games. Directed by Gary Ross. Lions Gate Entertainment, Inc., 2012.

Nelson, Lori J., Sandra B. Shanahan, and Jennifer Olivetti. "Power, Empowerment, and Equality:

Evidence for the Motive of Feminists, Nonfeminists, and Antifeminists." Sex Roles, vol.

37, no. 3-4, 1997, pp. 227-249. ProQuest,

http://ezproxy.canyons.edu:2048/login?url=https://ezproxy.canyons.edu:2457/docview/2

25377531?accountid=38295.

Said, Edward W. Culture and Imperialism. First Vintage Books Edition ed., Vintage Digital,

2014.

Scharff, Dr Christina. “Why so Many Young Women Don't Call Themselves Feminist.” BBC

News, BBC, 6 Feb. 2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-47006912.

Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: a User-Friendly Guide. Third ed., Routledge, 2015.

Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Jazzybee Verlag, 1891,

https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=K1ZYAAAAcAAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PR11.
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