Katniss Everdeen and the Awkward Shipper Name

Mockingjay

by Suzanne Collins

Warning: Spoilers abound; steer clear if you haven’t read the books or don’t want to know.

I gave myself a few days to think about this book, but I’m afraid this review will still come out rather jumbled because Suzanne Collins’ now famous trilogy is a messy story, in more ways than one. It’s difficult to have complete conviction about the events that take place in the books because they invite a wide variety of opinions; unfortunately they are not presented with the grace or poetry that the concept demands and the ending falls disappointingly short of expectations.

The Hunger Games—and dystopic future stories in general—make for a pretty epic setting. Spread out over three books with information delivered to the reader in little bursts then all at once (in keeping with the limited point of view of Katniss Everdeen), the reader was given the distinct impression that they were building to something big—that life as everyone had known it for close to a century HAD to change.

And it did. The Hunger Games were abolished and the Capitol’s heavy hand was stilled, opening up for a potential democratic Panem. Katniss and her fellow tributes and rebels did in fact change the world... but the characters themselves did very little evolving, and that’s where the disappointment leaks in. By story’s end, with the exception of Katniss and Peeta, none of the survivors are any better off or more well-rounded than they were at the start of the trilogy. Haymitch is still a sorrowful, lonely drunk, Gale is still brooding and defiant (this may be a controversial opinion but if you ask me, there was never much to work with there anyway), Johanna is bitter and alone, Plutarch doesn’t really seem to understand the gravitas behind the whole damn business, the replacement leaders seem painfully out of touch and even evil President Snow died laughing.

For an author with a penchant for foreshadowing and revolutionary ideas, I felt horribly let down by the many open threads and the abrupt end to the rebellion. When the bomb went off blowing poor little Prim to bits and Katniss woke up in her biggest catatonic state ever (and for Katniss, that’s saying something), I kept waiting for her to ‘wake up’ and realize she was concussed and still in the heat of battle then get shit done and put an arrow through Snow’s head herself out of vengeance for her little sister. Maybe Haymitch and Johanna could come flying in on their appropriated hovercraft and blast some Capitol flunkies away and Peeta could fight off his insanity for good and help out. But no. Mockingjay went out with a fizzle instead of a bang with everyone reverting back to their old ways (horrifyingly even to the point of suggesting another Games) until Katniss’s temporary moment of clarity where she puts an arrow through Coin’s head.

‘Now what?’ The ending begs. Sure we get a brief epilogue wherein it is implied that life went on and was generally better, but very few specifics. Collins spent so much time explaining Katniss’s various mental breakdowns that everyone else’s characterization is shoved to the side. Where is the reconciliation between Katniss and her still unnamed mother? Why even bring it up if you weren’t going to do something with it? What the hell was Effie Trinket up to during the rebellion? And most importantly, when exactly did Peeta get over his murderous PTSD and why? Should I be afraid that one day he’s gonna snap at the sound of a car backfiring and murder the mother of his children? The guy really got the shaft throughout the trilogy and—as he is generally considered the most honorable person around—I think he really deserves a happy ending, but something didn’t sit right with me there.

On that note, you can color me surprised that Peeta ‘won’ in the end... (You’ll have to forgive me here; out of fear of spoilers, I mostly steered clear of the online aspect of the Hunger Games fandom so I don’t know what it is you kids are calling them these days—Peeniss? KatPee?). I’ve I thought for sure that a future with Gale was inevitable so when she eventually chose Peeta, I was surprised, but also pleased because by this point it finally felt more natural. Still though, I don’t know that you can really call a future with moody miss Katatonia a ‘win’ so maybe Gale’s the real winner here...

The flow of Collins’ writing was consistently well done in all three books. It was hard to put this down for the night and go to bed because you really want to know what happens next. I enjoyed the first part of the book where we get a window into the elusive District 13 (I couldn’t help but be reminded of another post-apocalyptic bunker that also housed the nukes...). One thing that frustrated me though was the senseless lack of communication. When Peeta was in the Capitol’s custody he was forced to do interviews in which he initially appeared healthy as he begged the rebels for a ceasefire, seemingly at the Capitol’s behest. The main driving force for Katniss to become the symbol of the rebellion, the Mockingjay, was to create a pact to protect the captured victors from being executed as traitors, but I have no idea why this was even necessary. Katniss was no longer being controlled by the Capitol so there was no reason to keep up the charade that she and Peeta were an item. She could at any point have explained to District 13 that it had been a ruse which Peeta was forced to continue under duress to protect her, especially since they seemed aware of this anyway. Why she had to bend to their will to diffuse an obvious misunderstanding is beyond me but it all feeds into the convoluted situations Katniss constantly finds herself in. Perhaps if she were in less impossible situations all the time, she could actually have a chance to be more active about her fate. But alas, she is never given the opportunity.

For once in my life, I actually sort of hope the movie takes a different tack, but I know it won’t. If the purpose of this series is to highlight the dangers of using icons and propoganda to fight your wars, then I can accept a protagonist like Katniss, but if she was meant to be a folk hero, then I have to disagree. We are told again and again how special and wonderful Katniss Everdeen is... so much so that a country moved for her. But you’re gonna have to work a bit harder to convince this reader.

Let's have a moment of silence for our fallen:

Cinna: You probably initially had a purpose but when Mockingjay came to an end, with that fate of yours still ambiguous, Collins couldn't figure out what that purpose might be, so you were nothing more than a hug dispenser with a kicky fashion sense. But damn did you ever rock at hugs and fashion!

 

Finnick: Bless you, you handsome bastard. Your backstory was probably the darkest thing in this entire trilogy and your death was an afterthought and barely acknowledged but at least you earned the cliché posthumous baby to live on by. Also, the second coolest shipper name, which I shall henceforth refer to as Fannie.

Prim: As the indirect kindling that started the fire, it's rather appropriate you burned in the end-you were just too sweet to live. Along with Finnick, you had the most positive character development, so naturally you had to die for no reason.

Boggs: Way to be the only awesome representative of District 13. That is all.

Katniss: The Girl Who Stumbled Into Relevance

Catching Fire
by Suzanne Collins
p.2009





Warning: This review is ridden with spoilers so if you haven’t already read the books and have any intention at all of seeing how this trilogy progresses, I would suggest avoiding this review, because the best thing this trilogy has going for it is the element of surprise. I haven’t even bothered to spoiler blackbar it because they are littered throughout.

My review of book one in the trilogy can be read here (though it is really more of a comparison between book and movie).

The story picks up not very long after the end of the first book, with Peeta and Katniss coming home anomalous double victors of the 74^th Hunger Games thanks to their trick on the Capitol. The ruse isn’t over with the games, of course. The 17-year-olds have to keep up their faux relationship to maintain the already flimsy excuse, for if they revealed the true nature of their relationship, they would lose public favor, and it’s the only thing keeping them and their families alive.

It quickly becomes obvious that the Capitol (led by President Snow, who is often and unsubtly described as snakelike) isn’t buying any of this shit and that they fully intend on ruining Katniss’s life, which starts by disrupting her routines and cracking down on illegal activities in District 12, escalates to physical attacks on anyone who helps her, and culminates in shoehorning Katniss and Peeta back into the Games a second year in a row. That’s right, the not-quite-lovebirds are heading back the arena. I’ve stated already that Suzanne Collins’ ability to catch the reader off guard is the best thing this trilogy has to offer but I’ll admit this is one thing I was fully expecting. Still, it was devastating to see the inevitable set in motion, to see our characters never catch a break.

The reason for this unprecedented move is spurred by ‘special occasion’; it is the 75^th anniversary of the Games and as such a ‘Quarter Quell’ has determined that only previous victors may compete. I’m sure this had 99% of Panem breathing a big fucking sigh of relief—until they realized they would have to watch their former idols and icons kill each other off. I personally was happy to see this rule, not only because it got our main duo back in action, but because it meant this year almost everyone competing was an adult. The one thing that has always bothered me about the premise of Collins’ trilogy is how much I have to suspend my disbelief that any self-respecting adult would stand by and allow children to compete. If the Hunger Games trilogy were written for adults and featured adults I would not have a hard time buying the premise at all, but it is written for a younger set so I understand why the age range was set in place. Seeing adults go in for the fight was sad—most especially the mother of three and Mags, the elderly volunteer tribute—but somehow still less sad than say a twelve-year-old who never had a chance at a proper life. ‘Children in peril’ is a natural if unoriginal plot device that works every time because the need to protect an innocent child evokes something in almost everyone.

Of course, no one deserves to die this way at all, and thank goodness some sense finally came out as the rebel plotline was slowly introduced and the Games thwarted for the second time in history.

It’s obvious that everything that transpires—from Katniss and Peeta’s reentry to the crackdowns in the Districts and other setbacks—is a direct result of the Capitol’s meddling. They know everything there is to know and Katniss is left with very little power. As I understand it, this is one of the chief complaints about Katniss as a hero—her lack of awareness that causes her to be constantly manipulated. This is a valid complaint, but I can see a few stylistic reasons for this.

For one, as the books are written solely in limited first person perspective, we can only know what Katniss knows, and to know for certain about external events would detract from the twists that Collins wanted to keep the readers engaged.

Secondly, Katniss is a role model of sorts for young readers, and this is both good and bad. Bad, obviously, because she is not an active controller of her fate and lets things happen to her, but good too because she presents as a confused, hapless youth doing the best she can. Again and again she protests her status symbol, maintaining that she doesn’t want to be a heroine, that she doesn’t know how and can’t see what she’s doing to make herself seem so special, and this is a feeling that many teens and young adults can relate to—that feeling that you’ve been immersed in something beyond your control and don’t belong. How many of us can say we'd react any better if placed in her situation? For better or worse, Katniss is an inherently relatable character.

I can’t say for certain whether this will turn out for the best, not until I’ve read the final installment in this trilogy, but this is a train of thought worth putting out there in the meantime, something to consider going forward. Perhaps I will be back here in a few days raging; we'll see...

My feelings about Katniss haven’t changed much from book one—I don’t loathe her, but I don’t love her either. In spite of her initial selflessness that got her into this mess—saving her sister—Katniss presents as a very self-centered person, though less so than in book one, when she was still afraid to let others in. Catching Fire Katniss has a wider array of people in the net of her concerns: Gale, Peeta, Haymitch, Madge, Cinna, to name a few. And she’s growing softer, however reluctantly.

Peeta I still have a special fondness for, the poor friend-zoned thing. It was less awkward than in the first book (though I have every expectation that the movie will ruin this as it did last year), but still painful to sit through. I tend to have a soft spot for the ‘nice guy’ archetype, and I like that—even if he doesn’t know it—he’s finding a place as a leader who is good with words and people, even if the list of people who care about him is a lot shorter. He is stalwart and possesses a surprising strength—I actually guffawed at his ‘love child’ bomb dropping in the interview and I don’t look forward to what befalls him in book three, but if he comes out of it, he’ll be even stronger. I just hope he finds someone to care about him the way everyone loves Katniss, because on the whole he’s a lot more likeable.

Finnick Odair is the newcomer and written to be every bit as likeable as he is made out to be in the Capitol, where he carries Golden Boy status among the victors. I was thrilled to see the Games thwarted because he was a shoe-in for tragic death scene if things progressed the way they did in book one. I know he grew up in what is essentially America, but I’ll be damned if I had a hard time reading Finnick’s lines in anything but a Scottish brogue. I mean, his name is Finnick Odair for chrissake. If he doesn’t present with some sort of European accent in the film they’ve made a huge mistake.

Mags was definitely written to be a fan favorite and, if her age is any indication, a top contender for the sacrificial death pool. True to feisty form though, Mags’ death—while tragic—still evoked a smile from me when she kissed the Adonis-like Finnick full on the lips. Because, let’s face it, if I were going to my certain death, I’d probably lay some sugar on the hottest tribute that ever lived too. Might as well.

Other characters were a disappointment. Gale does a bit more, but most of it’s brooding and stonewalling Katniss. Katniss and Prim’s relationship is barely touched, which is a shame since it is that closeness that spurred events in the first place. Katniss never bothers to mend her relationship with her mother, who doesn’t even have a name. Cinna is just there to chew the scenery and dispense hugs. Haymitch is back to drinking and rubbing off on a traumatized Katniss. But all of this seems to be setting the stage for what’s to come. I don’t expect to see all of this resolved, but I’m most interested in Haymitch and the rebels, led (somewhat surprisingly) by the new Gamemaker, Plutarch Heavensbee (about to be played by the brilliant Phillip Seymour Hoffman in the new movie, so here’s to hoping the movie isn’t all bad!)

Oh, and I totally called District 13 right from the first time it was mentioned, and I hope everyone else did too. Collins is in top form when she’s setting the scene for later events. Everything alluded to early in the book comes back to be of consequence later on. Foreshadow and illusion are definitely the tricks of her trade here, and it all lends itself to a story you don’t want to put down for any distraction.

... And speaking of, I’ve got to go pick up Mockingjay now, as it’s been mocking me for the last three days.

America's Answer to Battle Royale

The Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins 
p. 2008

I will admit I never heard of The Hunger Games until I heard they were making it into a movie. I’m going to pin this one on the fact that it was not exactly aimed at my demographic, not to mention I was too preoccupied with slogging through Game of Thrones to notice any other books. Having every intention to read the book before catching the movie, I read this one on a flight in order to prepare myself and I’m glad I did because I found it superior to the movie for a number of reasons.

First, the book: Hunger Games is a very quick read. For most readers it will take a single afternoon. Being a slow reader, I took a bit longer, but at no point did it feel tedious or tiresome to me. The action is well balanced throughout and by the time the story comes to an end, I find myself eager to finish off the series to see where this concept goes. It seems silly to suggest this given the immense sudden popularity of the series, but for those who are not familiar with the storyline, Hunger Games is a futuristic, post-apocalyptic story of North America divided into 12 districts, collectively called Panem and ruled by the Capitol. As punishment for rebelling long ago, the Capitol forces two members of each district (a boy and a girl) to compete in the annual Hunger Games, a brutal, arena-bound fight to the death where only one victor emerges to bring glory back to their district. Children between 12 and 18 are the competitors and their names go in the pot every year, increasing exponentially the older they get, among other factors. Our heroine, Katniss Everdeen, of District 12, has her name in the running 20 times on her 16^th year, but shockingly it’s her 12-year-old baby sister, Prim, who lucks out when her name is chosen. Katniss selflessly volunteers in her place and enters the competition, despite it being virtually a death sentence, as her district, among the poorest of the twelve, hasn’t produced a victor in decades.

As far as relatable characters go, protagonist Katniss is somewhat cold, but it’s well established that she has to be in order to survive and keep her family alive. People in her situation cannot afford to be nice. I can’t say I relate to her enough, but I understand her at the very least. She is overprotective of her sensitive younger sister and unforgiving to her sensitive mother ever since their father’s death and mother’s subsequent breakdown that almost destroyed the family. Katniss’ best friend (and probably more) Gale is a cool character, but he isn’t given much to do in book one, which centers primarily on the Games, which Gale is not a part of. His character is progressed solely through Katniss’ eyes and even through her delusions it is obvious he cares for her as more than a friend.

Katniss’ partner (as far as he can be called such in a fight to the death) from District 12, Peeta Mellark, is a somewhat sensitive but strong baker’s son with whom Katniss shares a connection from the past, a connection that Katniss regrets because it compels her to feel like she owes Peeta something and Katniss loathes owing anyone anything (quite the charmer, that one). I rather liked Peeta, but I feel sorry for him because his obligatory relationship with Katniss (forced on by circumstances surrounding the Games) felt painfully one-sided and Peeta feels doomed to be friend-zoned. I hope he gets someone who likes him for more reasons than just obligation in the future books.

Guiding the pair through the politics surrounding the game is District 12’s only living victor, Haymitch, a drunk who takes some verbal beating from the kids to finally shape up and become a true mentor, as well as pseudo-publicist, Effie Trinket, and stylists Cinna and Portia. There is a strong dissociation in the buildup to the Games because of the fakeness and politics surrounding them. To Katniss, and the readers, it’s inconceivable that a bunch of children could be sent off to fight for the death, but to some of the districts and especially to the Capitol, fighting in the Games is an honor, so a lot of the public attitude towards them is positive, almost deferential. It doesn’t come across as the death sentence and giant human rights violation it so clearly is. If I had one problem with the plot of these books it is that it just strikes me as highly unlikely that self-respecting parents would ever allow something like this to happen, no matter how many years in the future we travel, how oppressive our government is, or how far our nation has fallen. I understand the Capitol smacked down and obliterated the last district (the fabled District 13 that I do not believe is truly gone) that rose up, but I just can’t quite buy that adults would stand by and allow this to happen. The only reason I let it go is because I know this is a novel targeting young adults, and young adults would rather read about kids their age than adults, even if it is more conceivable that Hunger Games competitors would be 16 and up. A Hunger Games with adult competitors is an entirely different kind of book than Collins wrote, and most definitely darker. 

I won’t go into too much detail about the Games themselves, but they were exciting enough, with some interesting twists and turns leading up to the end. I was actually pretty surprised that all the other kids outside of District 12 died. I figured some sort of uprising was coming and that the rules would be upturned, but I kind of thought more kids would survive the fallout than just Katniss and Peeta. Sort of disappointing, because I liked Rue and Thresh and Foxface, but I suppose without Rue’s death, the emotional impact would have been lessened. They got fairly brutal for a young adult novel, but I still would have enjoyed these as a kid because I generally liked dark tales.

I don’t really want to spend too much time discussing the love triangle either, because that was tedious, but necessary, I guess. The intimacy between Katniss and Peeta was awkward to the point where I almost had to skip over it, but I understand why it was there. Collins wanted to get across the “Big Brother” aspect of the Capitol’s hold over Panem’s citizens. Many of Katniss’ actions are guided by how the public will perceive them, because someone is always watching. Even before the Games, Katniss’ everyday life is influenced by who might be watching and judging her actions. She is a very guarded character all around. Poor Peeta is left in the dark about her true feelings and because I have a soft spot for nice guys, I feel really bad for him as a consequence.

The movie did an okay job at translating the story to screen, but it should have been much better. Their chief problem is that Katniss is a character who internalizes everything. This isn’t a problem in the book because it’s told in first person, but in the movie Katniss comes across a lot colder simply because you can’t know what she’s thinking or what her facial expressions mean unless you’ve read the books and know what you’re looking for. The movie should have done a better job of translating Katniss’ dilemma to screen and it just failed to do so.

One thing that the movie adapted well is the background explanation for the Games and Panem. Since it couldn’t just exposition dump on viewers without coming off as tedious or convenient, the movie gave us a wider view of the Capitol and the gamemaker. Some people resented so much screen time being wasted on characters that essentially had no impact in the book, but that’s just the thing: they did have an impact; we just didn’t see it. Lending screen time to these tertiary characters was a clever way of explaining the world our heroes live in without just telling us. And let’s face it: if they didn’t cut away to scenes outside of the arena every now and then, it would be two hours of Katniss running around looking distressed as she tried to stay out of sight, and that was bound to get old.

Showing us more of Panem was about the only clever thing the Hunger Games movie did, however. Lots of crucial characterization was skimmed over, seemingly important scenes and characters left out, and the whole thing came off rather whitewashed, as if trying to appeal to families and younger audiences. Come on, filmmakers, this is a movie about kids brutally murdering each other for sport while everyone is forced to watch; why bother skipping on the gore? I figured they would pan away to avoid showing some of the deaths, but  they utterly copped out on the brutality of the trackerjacker death/hallucination scene (in exactly the way I predicted, i.e. showing Katniss running around while everything was blurry), cut out the connection between the kids and the muttations entirely, and waved a hand at Peeta’s brutal wounds, which furthered both his and Katniss’ characters in the book. The demographic this series is aimed at can handle heavier stuff. If they can’t, then they shouldn’t be watching. It just lessens the emotional impact of a story when you let Hollywood censor it.

But the worst misstep the movie made is perhaps the most innocuous. In the book, at one of Katniss’ low points, she is sent a simple gift of bread by District 11. At this point in the story, Katniss has learned to find her own sustenance and does not need the bread, but it is a touching gift all the same because it’s an unprecedented token of thanks tacitly understood by both parties. It gives Katniss the motivation to keep going and some closure regarding Rue’s death, not to mention a deep insight into the minds of the rest of Panem outside of the games. It’s perhaps one of the most poignant parts of the book, so it came as a surprise when movie-District 11’s response was to start a riot (made all the more offensive since the movie decided that District 11 was apparently the black district). It’s disheartening that a movie felt compelled to choose the violent and sort of racist reaction over the simple, sincere one. This is about the point in the movie that I lost all hope for it being a decent adaptation, but that hope was on its deathbed already.

The Hunger Games was a decent movie to someone who hasn’t read the book, but not a good start to the summer movie season (that glory should proudly go to The Avengers) much less to the inevitable movie trilogy this will spawn. I still look forward to reading the other two installments of Collins’ book, but I don’t, as yet, look forward to seeing any more of the awkwardness that is this movie. People who have read the entire trilogy can proceed to laugh at me for saying this, but I hope we don’t have to sit through two more installments of the tedious Peeta-Katniss-Gale love triangle. All these damn preteen books these days have them, often at the expense of personal character development. Kids can be invested in a story without projecting themselves into love triangles with beautiful people that everyone pretends are average-looking. It’s not making self-esteem issues any better; it’s just distracting from the better story.