Girls on Film: The Hunger Games may be turning you into an idiot villain

The massive success of the franchise has made its core lessons about media and celebrity all the more valuable. Some of us aren't paying attention.

The Hunger Games
(Image credit: Lionsgate/Murray Close)

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire arrives in theaters today, and based on advanced ticket sales alone, Lionsgate has another massive hit on its hands. But the mega-success of the blockbuster franchise has a strange kind of mirror effect on its story: What does The Hunger Games' breakout success say about the message of The Hunger Games?

With the arrival of the first Hunger Games movie in 2012, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) quickly became a feminist hero. She was seen as the antidote to Twilight's Bella Swan — strong, untainted by the barriers of gender stereotypes, uninterested in romance, and determined to use her physical prowess to keep her family safe. It was a problematic differentiation — but one that allowed for a wildly popular heroine with a far more active role in her own story. The Hunger Games went beyond the boundaries of the trilogy's loyal fans, breaking records and making over half a billion dollars at the box office.

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Monika Bartyzel

Monika Bartyzel is a freelance writer and creator of Girls on Film, a weekly look at femme-centric film news and concerns, now appearing at TheWeek.com. Her work has been published on sites including The Atlantic, Movies.com, Moviefone, Collider, and the now-defunct Cinematical, where she was a lead writer and assignment editor.