Watch This: MovieBob “Pink is Not the Problem”
2December 3, 2013 by Devin
So I was going to write a blog post about something along these lines, but then I realized that MovieBob had basically said everything I was going to say, so you should just watch his video instead. I think MovieBob highlights how, in the Hunger Games movies, even though being a woman is not necessarily bad, being feminine is, which is a problem. Definitely worth talking about.
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Totally on base about pink things being neutral. I get bothered by the pink hate attitude, as if I am somehow anti-progressive for wearing and liking pink.
BUT, way off the mark about The Hunger Games. Katniss has a lot of masculine traits, but she is also feminine. The entire impetus for her entering the games is her role as a surrogate mother to her sister. Peeta, Effie, and Cinna are all on the “side” of the heroes and they are all feminine. The real villains is Snow and he is portrayed as masculine.
I like the Hunger Games a lot, but I think it’s a fair criticism. I remember hearing that Katniss is, in its construction, a masculine name. She is also much more comfortable doing masculine activities compared to feminine activities. She’s much more adept at hunting than sharing her feelings, which gimps her role as a surrogate mother.
Meanwhile, the movies and books go at great lengths to show the audience just how feminine the capitol is with the extravagant makeup, fancy hairdos, and focus on fashion. Cinna and Effie, even though they are good guys from the capitol, do not do much to dissuade this point of view because, at least in the movies, Cinna is portrayed as the least feminine of the capitol stereotypes and Effie is portrayed as sympathetic despite her feminine traits and not because of them.
I will agree that Peeta is an example of categorically feminine traits done in a sympathetic manner, but I think that he is really the only example of that in a movie rife with examples of unsympathetic feminine characters.