Around 2022 Jennifer Lawrence became the subject of controversy when she supposedly claimed that she was the first female action lead in cinema. This was her comment: "I remember when I was doing ‘Hunger Games,’ nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie. Because it wouldn’t work, we were told. Girls and boys can both identify with a male lead, but boys cannot identify with a female lead."
Now, we know that first part is not correct, there have been action films with a female protagonist since the beginning of cinema. A lot of people corrected her claims, others simply threw hatred at her without understanding the full context. I get what she meant, there weren't many giant action blockbusters with serious female leads who were not sex objects and who were empowering and successful at the box office at the same time. Icons of that type were rare in mainstream cinema. Building a multi billion dollar franchise with a female lead was tough work because of prevalent sexist ideas Hollywood executives used to have (and still have, to be honest).
Lawrence later explained herself better (it's kind of futile to react so negatively to an off-hand comment in a quick interview anyways). But the facts cant be denied, The Hunger Games left a huge impact in modern cinema and now I think it's a good time to look back and check how dated or how effective it was.
You know the drill. Based on the novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games tells the story of teenager Katniss Everdeen, who volunteers to participate in a death game run by the elites of a futuristic dystopian society divided in 12 Districts in order to spare her sister from being in the deadly contest. Katniss and Peetah, a boy from her same District, are dropped in an artificial arena and battle to the death against other teenagers, using their survival skills to be the last pair standing.
Like in any dystopian future movie The Hunger Games talks to us about a social phenomenon from the time, in this case authoritarian governments and deranged spectacle cluttering politics and the minds of the people, as well as reality TV and its destructive and dehumanizing effects on the youth and general audiences. The winner isn't really the one who survives by his or her skills but also the favorite of the sponsors, who support the most beloved couple with items and weapons during the games. In the film, Katniss and Peetah actually have to put up a facade of being lovers in order to please audiences, or perhaps they were being genuine? The movie plays around with that.
Shot with a handheld camera, with grungy make up work, semi-realistic locations and decorated with cold colors and sterile environments; the film employs every trick to try to immerse you into the world and get you to buy the story. However, there are a few elements, that while funny, don't really mix well with the overall tone they were going for, like the overacting and the deliberately cheesy and flamboyant characters that serve as presenters of the hunger games, this applies to everyone in the capital with their colorful and bizarre fashion sense. I get that the point is that the elites are bizarre and ugly but it messes with the actual tone. There's also a decent amount of special effects that did not age well after all these years.
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| Come on, this was ripe for parody. |
Some people might say that Katniss is a dull character but she functions quite well as a protagonist, she's just kind of surrounded by kooky people who take the spotlight from time to time. Peeta is just a bore. There ́s an interesting dynamic about not knowing if his expressed feelings towards Katniss are for real or just strategic pandering for the cameras but that kind of dissipates later on.
Some of the emotional moments feel a bit too forced and cheesy, kind of shoved in there in a very unnatural way to set up the emotional connection between characters like the interactions between Katniss and her little sister. There's also the really obvious and explicit political talk, such as the comments from that big teen boy sitting with Katniss at the start of the picture, it feels like a very juvenile concept of politics and anti-system ideas, quite unsubtle and ridiculous for anyone over 17, which I guess makes them work for the target audience. This perfectly describes the tone of the movie and it's rhetoric, it takes itself so seriously without actually conveying a smart or profound political idea that can elevate the simple parable it has as a premise, something that makes it less when compared to the likes of Battle Royale (2000), but as a silly sci-fi excuse to see death games, it can be functional if you don't think too much about it.
Some of the representation is questionable, the little black girl serves only as a sacrifice for the protagonist, because of course black people are only there to die so the American white protagonist can develop. Even leaving the race aspect aside, it's clear the little girl was only there for cheap pathos.
Because of things like these, the whole “fight the system” theme rings somewhat hollow throughout the movie. It's the kind of fiction about revolution that doesn't come from a legitimate critical place but from a distant, middle to upper class mindset that likes to fetishize this premise as a fantasy rather than using it strictly as commentary or doing an extensive exploration of the subject.
Another problem are the contrived ways Katniss is saved, most of the time they ring too false. For example, there's a scene where one girl menaces her with a knife but she never actually kills her! She just talks about it for a long time! Then some guy walks in and moves the young girl away and kills her by smashing her to a wall like it's nothing?... Let's just say that suspension of disbelief is always taken to the extreme in this movie. The ending is also executed in such a haphazard and rushed fashion that it lacks the emotional impact it was going for. I think the proposed sad ending would have been more interesting and could have probably added weight to the story.
The violence has been very divisive among critics, the deaths are all censored and the gore minimized or cut off entirely. Some people say that the lack of graphic violence dulls any attempt at portraying the sadistic nature of the game, kind of nullifying the whole deal. I can see that. At the same time, I do believe the movie had some guts to put minors in such bloody and savage situations, even if it was tame when compared to more adult films, it's all implied with only small glimpses of the violent kills shown, which can be even more disturbing.
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| The film does tackle the stress and consequences of the games. |
I do believe the film succeeds at the smaller scale satire, at the more human moments and at worldbuilding, delivering a story through solid direction that feels compelling and focused for once, it´s artistic ambitions set it apart from other examples of the YA genre. However, it falls apart when you apply too much logic to the plot and events, as well as when you examine it looking for profound substance. A lot of people are still debating and interpreting the ideas of the film, perhaps it's such a deep work that it requires multiple readings but I tend to incline to the side that says that it's so vague and shallow that you can add your own input to it and find something that reinforces your values in it. But it's still a decent flick.
Around the time near its release some people predictably complained about the casting of black people and people of a darker skin tone in the movie, Jennifer Lawrence was also insulted for being “too fat” to play a poor peasant girl. I guess the gigantic gym bros they got for the male characters were just fine by their standards even though their bodies are far more rare and more fabricated. I guess that's what happens when your perception of people comes from normative mainstream media instead of real life. Sure, nowadays it's normal to see racist and misogynists online complaining about women and people of color in movies but at the time these internet discussions were just starting to go viral and reach the mainstream media.
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| Stenberg and Lawrence behind the scenes. |
Either way, the film was actually a huge hit. I don't need to tell you that, if you were alive in the early 2010's then you know exactly how huge the Hunger Games franchise was. We will always praise it for being a step in the right direction for action heroines in mainstream media, while it surely wasn't the first one, it was certainly one of the biggest ones financially and an incredibly important work for young women and girls who clicked with the story and it's main character, the strong and capable Katniss Everdeen.
Three more sequels followed: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014) and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015). All of them were hits at the box office, because of this, there was also a prequel movie titled The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), it's predictable success greelit an upcoming sequel in 2026 titled Sunrise on the Reaping. We eagerly await more projects in the franchise.
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| Stuntwoman Jade Quon (left) & actress Isabelle Fuhrman (right) on set |
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