I attended a midnight screening of The Hunger Games and I must say I was disappointed with the turnout. I could get a ticket just hours before the screening. The cinema wasn’t even full. And I couldn’t help thinking that if it had been a Twilight screening it would have been sold out months ago. This makes me feel sick.
I think the Twilight franchise is evil and needs to be wiped out. Every print of every film, every DVD and Blu-Ray copy and especially every single copy of every single print of every book piled on a massive bonfire with an effigy of Bella Swan to set it all up in flames. I’m also fully aware this sounds hypocritical considering I’ve read all the books and watched all of the films so far. I’m contributing to its continued success. But I feel as a film lover it’s my duty to sacrifice my beliefs and watch/read these awful examples of feminine oppression at its most insidious in order to warn people. Often, people criticising a film or book have never even read or seen it and if so, how can they critically analyse the material and make an informed judgement about it? But yes, I did get sucked into the books and I did think the first film was not so bad. I mean, c’mon: directed by Catherine Hardwicke and it has Anna Kendricks in it. It wasn’t all bad.
But Twilight is bad. It’s the worst kind of message for teenage girls, because the ideology is so insidious that it was women participating in this idea that it’s beautiful and romantic to do nothing else with your life other than be a wife. And as a feminist I firmly believe women in the Women’s Liberation movement worked damn hard so that women could choose what they wanted to do with their own lives and bodies and if they wanted to be a wife and mother, well, heck, as long as that was their own choice then get on it. What makes me really angry about this series is that this choice doesn’t feel like a woman’s own choice. Bella Swan is supposed to be smart; she’s in an advanced Chemistry class when she meets Edward and she clearly loves classic literature. She’s also initially wary of marriage, because her parents split up when she was young. But after Edward won’t sleep with her unless she marries him, she somehow decides she wants to throw all of her hopes and dreams away (although, does she really have any?) so that she can be Edward’s wife for eternity. You can go to college AND get married now, ladies.
And the men she has the choice of are both horrible examples of mankind. One is moody, controlling, withholding, and threatens violence when Bella gets too close to him, or threatens suicide if she were to leave him. That’s a domestic abuse case, not a love story. Jacob, meanwhile, becomes almost a sexual predator, refusing to leave Bella alone despite her insistence that she is uninterested. Not only that, he too threatens violence when he disagrees with her choice to first marry Edward, then to want to sleep with him. He also threatens to kill Edward continually. When she is pregnant (How?!?!?) and sick, the two men plan Bella’s future without even consulting her. Why on Earth would any right-thinking woman choose men like that in their life? Yet these books and films encourage us to choose between them. Hmm, let’s see; an abuser or a sexual predator? Oh, I can totally understand Bella’s predicament now!
There are maybe three decent men in the whole series and none of them are really rewarded for this effort. Sure, one of them is Bella’s own father, but this is surely the one time when it’s ok to want to marry someone more like your father. But even then, in the books when Bella moves in with her father she starts taking care of him and he stops looking after himself, leaving it all to her.
The message of this book, thinly-veiled behind these mystical elements of vampires and werewolves (the tamest you will ever see), is that the most beautiful thing a woman can be is a wife and mother. Yes, those are admirable if that’s what you’re into, but you shouldn’t be telling women that’s all they are capable of. Bull. Fucking. Shit. What really makes me sick is that this series is written by a woman. And it’s been read, discussed and loved by women. I’ve overheard middle-aged women discussing whether they are Team Edward or Team Jacob.
The other thing that really upsets me is the way in which the books draw you into relating to Bella. The first-person narration is always an effective device for empathising and connecting with a character. But when the character is average all over, it’s easy to see how girls will feel like Bella’s story is their story. She’s also the most passive protagonist in modern literature. In the fourth book she hardly even moves. No wonder the film was doomed to be the most boring piece of shit in history when you have that to work with, and even if Kristen Stewart was the world’s greatest actress (FYI: she’s not), how would such a strongly-opinionated young women ever be able to understand this character, let alone inject any sympathy or even life into her.
This brings me back to The Hunger Games. There are some ever so slightly similar themes at work in Suzanne Collins’ novel. It’s the story of a young woman told in first-person narration and the most important thing to her is protecting her family. She also becomes involved in a love triangle. But here is where the similarities end. Thank fuck. Because Katniss Everdeen is nothing like Bella Swan. She is strong and she is active. From the first page of The Hunger Games, Katniss is actively keeping her family together. Not only that, but she is willing to fight dirty to do this. And her love triangle involves her with two boys who are smart and cunning themselves. Her childhood friend Gale is a skilled hunter like Katniss and openly criticises the Capital. Peeta too is talented and strong and he knows how to manipulate people in order to survive. He’s honest about his feelings for Katniss and tells her so, but not without affecting her personal safety. Instead, he uses it to help save her life.
But perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself. For those unfamiliar with the books or film adaptation released in Australia today, the story is this. In a futuristic wasteland we can only assume is the former United States of America, the Capital city of Panem rules the remainder of the country, now divided into 12 districts. After years of war, rebellions, uprising and the annihilation of District 13, the Capital now keeps the rest of the country in line in several brutal ways. The most brutal is the annual televised known as The Hunger Games. On the Reaping Day each year, a girl and boy aged 12-18 is picked at random to compete. For wealthy districts it’s an honour they train for their whole lives. For poorer districts it is a death sentence. It’s not just your run-of-the-mill athletic competition. They wish. The Hunger Games is a televised battle royale in which 24 young boys and girls must kill one another to win. Only one will come out. It’s both punishment and a sign of good faith, according to the Capital. Punishment for the Rebellion and a sign of the Capital’s continued generosity in letting at least one kid live every year. The sickest part is that much like the film Series 7: The Contenders, it’s a reality television series and every move the contestants or Tributes make is broadcast to the entire country. Bets are placed on Tributes, and people recount their favourite moments and talk about where they were when a particular Tribute was killed.
Now in its 74th year, Katniss and her sister Primrose are both potential tributes, Prim having just turned 12. Katniss is not worried about Prim as she knows her name is only in the ballot once. In exchange for rations, families can choose to put their child’s name in the ballot multiple times and Gale’s name is in there 43 times. Katniss herself has multiple entries. But, because this is a drama and things have to happen, y’all, the unthinkable does happen and Katniss hears the name Primrose Everdeen called as the girl Tribute for District 12. To save her sister she does what no poor district ever does; she volunteers as a Tribute in her sister’s place. The rules now seem to have changed and Katniss is viewed as a credible contestant. When baker’s son Peeta Mellark is chosen as the male tribute, it seems that District 12 may actually have a chance.
Already there is more excitement and more serious political themes at play here than in Twilight. Having only read the first book in the series, the second being Catching Fire and the third, Mockingjay, I think this book and subsequent film gives teenage girls a much better role model to aspire to. Katniss is almost always in control of her own destiny. She is at first disbelieving that she has a chance, but the thought of her sister being alone spurs her on. She knows she’s excellent with a bow and arrow and proves herself. She’s also unwilling to change her personality until it becomes crucial to her survival. When Peeta uses his crush on her as a survival tactic for the two of them, she plays along. There are no discussions in which Peeta and Gale decide which one should have Katniss; she chooses. In the first book and film, she is unsure she wants either of them.
One girl dressed up as Katniss at the screening and though it’s probably a little lame, I really hope that more girls dress up as Katniss in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment