What's Wrong With The Hunger Games Is What No One Noticed

Vamperous · 2012-12-19T12:23:50+00:00

The article works way too hard to push a point -- too hard to the point of error:

Hmmm, here is a surprise: Katniss never kills anyone.

Umm, actually, she does. In the first book (I'm not sure about the other books) she kills Marvel (Rue's murderer) by shooting an arrow into his neck.

oneiorosgrip · 2012-12-19T13:58:28+00:00

Actually, the article describes as much what is wrong with feminism as what is "wrong" with The Hunger Games.

Other than the initial volunteering to replace her younger sister, Katniss never makes any decisions of her own, never acts with consequence-- but her life is constructed to appear that she makes important decisions. She has free will, of course, like any five year old with terrible parents, but at every turn is prevented from acting on the world. She is protected by men-- enemies and allies alike; directed by others, blessed with lucky accidents and when things get impossible there are packages from the sky. In philosophical terms, she is continuously robbed of agency. She is deus ex machinaed all the way to the end.

Feminism expects this; laws to protect women from the consequences of our choices. Drunk sex, conception, relationship issues (property and custody agreements,) work-life balance... there are laws and policies beside us in everything we do, cleaning up after us, smoothing things out, advocated and lobbied for by feminist groups...

...to the detriment of men. VAWA. The use of the tender years doctrine. Restraining order abuse. Policies based on the social perception of men as predators. Workplace policies on hiring, promotion, pay, and coworker interaction on the job. Alimony. Uneven child support assessment and enforcement. Legal tolerance of false allegations against men. Educational initiatives just for women. Presumed guilt for men... in everything. Male disposability. Expectation (social and legal) of chivalry.

The story even has the example of the main character faking a relationship for her own benefit:

She does commit one consciously deliberate act, and it's quite revealing. At the end of the book, she's ambivalent about whether she loves contestant Peeta. But the Games allowed two winners only because they appeared to be in love; so all she has to do, for the cameras, is pretend to be in love with a boy she already likes a lot.

Yep - the Hunger Games is a pretty good parallel to the face feminism has shown modern society.

That's why The Hunger Games is such a diabolical head fake. Forget about it being entertaining, which I concede it is. It has managed to convince everyone that a passive character whose main strength is that she thinks a lot of thoughts and feels a lot of feelings, but who ultimately lets every decision be made by someone else-- that is a female hero, a winner. You wouldn't allow yourself to like a story where the woman lacks agency...

...except they do. They do it every day, in support of those laws and policy which they claim are necessary for leveling an already level playing field, to the effect that it's been incrementally changing, inclining to favor women at a rate that hid it from much of society, until conditions in the male direction have become adverse enough to hit and inspire protest from a noticeable population of men.

DavidByron · 2012-12-19T18:09:01+00:00

Not really buying the thesis there. Not many people make any decisions in THG. Katniss makes more decisions than other people do. She decides to volunteer to replace her sister, she decides to shoot the apple to get attention of the sponsors, she decides to risk grabbing a bag of equipment (against advice) on day 1, she decides to bury Rue, she devises a plan to destroy the central supply depot etc etc.

Try making a similar list of decisions by any other character in the book and see how far it gets.

titania86 · 2012-12-19T19:32:18+00:00

This article is such bullshit.

Part I) I don't even know why this is here. The complaints of many people on Twitter (there were way more than 6) were that they imagined Rue to be white and blonde and were mad that they cast a person that looked how she was described in the book.

Part II) It is not a fairy tale. First off, not all fairy tales are about princesses. Most made into movies are, but the majority of them are about tailors, ex-soldiers, magical beings, or poor people. This person's definition of a fairy tale is inaccurate.

Part III) How can they say in the same paragraph that Katniss kills 2 people, but doesn't kill anyone?? Peeta actually doesn't kill anyone and survives, but this is conveniently not mentioned here. Katniss chooses a course that will most likely cause her to live the longest: avoid the people that want to kill her and please the people that can help her live the longest. She makes lots of decisions in the book even if they aren't explicitly stated in the narrative or her internal dialogue. She keeps as much agency as she can in the face of a situation she can't control.

Part IV) EVERYONE in the book except President Snow is robbed of agency. The Hunger Games are a way to keep all the districts in line and keep them from rebelling. It is an oppressive, totalitarian society where you will be killed if you don't do what the government wants. And Twilight has no business being mentioned here when it hasn't been brought up before, has nothing to do with the article, and is largely considered anti-feminist.

edit: numbering and a typo

2012-12-19T16:10:23+00:00

meh, I just ignored the film because it was such a blatant rip off of battle royal. good article though, maybe a bit biased/harsh but still good points

Title	What's Wrong With The Hunger Games Is What No One Noticed
Author	[deleted]
Upvotes	3
Comments	14
Date	December 19, 2012 11:45 AM UTC (13 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/153s9h/whats_wrong_with_the_hunger_games_is_what_no_one/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/whats-wrong-with-the-hunger-games-is-what-no-one.1006225 https://theredarchive.com/post/1006225

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