Katniss is a female protagonist in a nationally televised event called the Hunger Games. Every citizen watches as the youths fight to the death until only one remains. In this blog, we'll be covering how Katniss from the Hunger Games follows Maureen Murdock's Heroine's Journey. Her Heroine's Journey is illustrated below.
Additionally, here is the entry explaining the steps of her Heroine's Journey: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroine%27s_journey.
In the first step, separation from the feminine, the story begins with Katniss in District 12. Her role in this part of the movie is to care for her family. This nurturing element of Katniss represents the "feminine" aspect of her life. When Prim is selected for the Hunger Games, Katniss steps forward instead in order to take her place. Symbolically, this separates her from her feminine role.
Following identification with the Masculine, Katniss enters the arena of the Hunger Games, which is predominantly male-dominated. She must survive, and survival requires physical strength and aggression. These traits are traditionally "masculine." She suppresses her emotions to focus on the overall goal of survival: making alliances, making enemies, and hunting.
The road of trials is represented by the actual "Hunger Games." She faces many challenges that test her abilities. In fact, she resembles a lot of masculine traits during these challenges. For example, Katniss must engage with the other tributes (other groups), that are actively trying to kill her. She must decide who she can trust and where she might need to use violence. All of the tests in the Hunger Games evaluate her emotional and physical endurance.
The boon of success begins is the moment Katniss and Peeta are declared winners of the Hunger Games. However, they win through unforeseen methods. Due to the fact that the games only allows one winner, Katniss, as a finalist with Peeta, threatens that they both will eat poisonous berries. To prevent a double suicide spectacle, the games deem both of them as winners. Initially, it feels as though they've won the Capital's twisted game, but they are later punished by the Capital.
After the Games, Katniss is emotionally disturbed. She feels extremely guilty over her actions and she fears for her loved ones. Katniss is traumatized by the events of the games representing the descent.
For the yearning to reconnect with the feminine she eventually accepts her nurturing, feminine aspects of herself. Moments like when she was protecting Rue or showing compassion towards Peeta reflect her femininity.
For Katniss, healing the wounded masculine means seeing the destructive effects of the Capitol and their overarching control over all of the districts. Because of the games, she adopts certain masculine traits like aggression and suppression of emotions. She realized the negatives to her masculine traits like when she becomes closed off to Peeta and Rue at points within the movie. But she realizes the positives as well with the berry stunt as an example.
In the end of the Hunger Games, Katniss integrates with her masculine and feminine traits. She realizes that she is both a caregiver, but a fighter and winner of the Hunger Games. The balance of these sides, in my opinion, gives her true strength and symbolizes hope in the story.
The Hunger Games is a really great example of Murdock's heroine's journey structure. I agree that Katniss was forced to adopt masculine traits in order to survive, but what I think is interesting is how she was also forced to dress up and look pretty on screen for the games (it's been a while so I forget when this happened specifically). Since the whole thing is treated as a spectacle, Katniss had to both adopt masculine traits but also maintain her feminine appeal for the audience.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good analysis of the Hunger Games. I agree that Katniss is the perfect example of Murdoch's heroine's journey. She definitely loses her feminine parts for most of the movie, simply due to the need for survival. I do feel though that she didn't end up reaching an equal balance of the two in just the first movie, simply because she went through such difficult ordeals and "toughened up" so significantly. But by the end of the series she certainly found a balance.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting interpretation of the hunger games. I've watched it several times and never noticed how she circles back to her old world, I always focused on how she's changed and how the world changed her. You point out how by the end she's managed to make peace and combine the two versions of her, in a way I hadn't thought of before. I wonder how this would've changed had she been with a different partner aside from Peeta, who gave her support throughout the entire franchise.
ReplyDeleteI think the way you laid out the movie really showcases the heroine's journey. I like how you pointed out that even in the games, she was able to start displaying her more feminine traits again through different interactions. I feel like it's unique because the entire premise of the games is dark and appears very masculine. Interesting post!!
ReplyDeleteHi Ansh! I really enjoyed reading your review of The Hunger Games. I agree how the masculine traits she displayed were more there because they were forced on her to survive. I think that that represents an interesting take on identification on masculine - usually, we view this move as a choice rather than a need. I think her journey of navigating the balance of masculine and feminine is interesting - first, she turns "masculine" to survive, then a bit more feminine (showing compassion for Peeta).
ReplyDeleteHi Ansh! I read the Hunger Games a while ago so it was nice to have a bit of summary along with you analysis on the heroine's journey. Like you said, Katniss undergoes a lot of transformation throughout her journey in the Hunger Games. I don't know that Katniss entering into the Games and fighting is necessarily stepping towards masculinity and away from femininity. It's certainly not pretty princess feminine, but I don't think being physically strong needs to mean unfeminine. Overall great blog!
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