I have a one-track mind
Mar. 3rd, 2011 05:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
next_to_normalThe rumors about Hunger Games casting seem to be getting slightly closer to actual fact. I really just want them to announce something official so people will stop speculating. I'm also amused that, judging by the most talked-about names, there are NO sixteen-year-old actresses in Hollywood capable of playing this role. Seriously, why is the choice between a 14-year-old and a 20-year-old? There must be someone in between. (Then again, I'm sure there are a few, and we just haven't heard about them.)
Anyway, that's really just a segue for me to blather on some more about the series, in which I relate it to the other two things I can't stop talking about: Buffy and Next to Normal.
I've been thinking more about my reaction to Katniss in Mockingjay, and how I needed her to have some sort of personal victory, even if she didn't win the war for the rebels. And I think what I wanted is basically Buffy in "Grave."
Buffy has spent all of season 6 struggling with clinical depression, suffering through numerous disappointments and setbacks, when it feels like a monumental effort just to get through each day. She desperately needs a personal victory. But this is notably the first season in which Buffy does not defeat the Big Bad. In fact, she gets her ass pretty well kicked by Dark Willow. It's Xander (with a magical assist from Giles) who saves the world. But Buffy manages her own triumph, even if it's minimal in the grand scheme of things - after fighting off the dirt monsters, she pulls herself up out of the pit, a not-so-subtle metaphor for climbing out of her own grave, which she did physically at the beginning of the season, but only now seems emotionally to have fully rejoined the land of the living.
And that's what I wanted for Katniss. Even if it's insignificant to the war effort, even if it's just a tiny glimmer of hope. I want her to (physically or metaphorically) rise up from the depths of despair and PTSD that have plagued her throughout the series. There's room for the slow creeping toward sanity that happens with Peeta back in District 12 - after all, Buffy didn't magically overcome depression just because she crawled out of a hole. But it's an important first step.
(On a side note, I would love to see someone who is not me do a Buffy Came Back Wrong style analysis of Katniss' mental health, because I think it would be fascinating.)
Of course, it's kind of hard to ignore the other parallel between Buffy and Katniss. Buffy's epiphany is very much linked to Dawn, whom Buffy has given her life to save, and who represents her reason to live. In "Grave," she ends up feeling proud and hopeful about Dawn's future. It's a stark contrast to Katniss losing Prim, who has been her motivation since the beginning. I'm not saying Prim shouldn't have died, because I don't want to be That Fan. Characters need to die sometimes, and I'm okay with that. It would've been an easy way to work in that personal victory, by saving Prim, but that definitely changes the story. I think really all it needs is maybe for Katniss killing Coin to be more positive. For people to know why she did it - she had a rational reason and it deserved to be heard. Even if it was hotly debated, and Katniss was only acquitted by a very thin margin, it would give voice to those who agree that holding another Hunger Games is wrong, rather than forcing her to stand alone.
Anyway. My other thoughts came from looking at the quote in my sidebar and realizing how well that song applies to Katniss:
Maybe I've lost it at last
Maybe my last lucid moment has passed
I'm dancing with death, I suppose
Granted, Diana's suffering from a different kind of mental illness, but that seems to describe Katniss at the end of Mockingjay pretty well, don't you think? And it's sort of appropriate that Diana's downward spiral was triggered by the death of her son, as losing Prim was sort of the last straw for Katniss.
Maybe I'm tired of the game
Of coming up short, of the rules, of the shame
Okay, the "game" reference is sort of obvious, but what Diana is actually talking about is Mask of Okayness (TM Gabrielleabelle). The front you put up so that you won't worry anyone, or to please all the people who want you to be happy, or because you're just not comfortable revealing that vulnerability to others. For Diana, there's pressure to project the image of being a "normal" mother in a "normal" family. The opening number is about her manic effort to be perfect. But it wears her down - "I think the house is spinning" - and it's a constant uphill battle that she can never win. Finally, she gives up on trying to be anything other than herself.
For Katniss, this plays out on a much grander scale. It's not just her friends and family for whom she needs to don the Mask of Okayness. It's the ENTIRE COUNTRY. She's on national television, being thrust head-first into the cause of her grief and despair, and yet she has to keep it together so as not to seem weak. It's not enough for her to just get through the day without wanting to die, she has to inspire a revolution, too. And the emotion she does reveal is exploited to arouse the sympathy and loyalty of the districts. It would be a terrible burden for anyone, but for someone who's suffering as much as Katniss? It's utterly horrifying.
A girl full of anger and hope
A girl with a mother who just couldn't cope
A girl who felt caught
And thought no one could see
But maybe one day she'll be free
This sounds like early Katniss to me. Someone who's suffered more than her fair share for such a young age, but not yet beaten down to the point of despair. It's actually about Natalie (another argument for why I think Jennifer Damiano would make a great Katniss) and what's interesting to me is that throughout the show, she is afraid of turning into her mother. She's afraid that she'll go crazy and be a burden on her family and maybe eventually try to commit suicide like Diana did. And that's what happens to Katniss, isn't it? She starts out a relatively normal girl, forced to grow up way too soon and lived through her share of tragedy, sure, but nonetheless intelligent, capable, and practical. And look what happens to her. She becomes someone who is literally judged to be insane, someone who can barely function on her own. What she goes through is essentially torture, and it's hard to see how anyone could go through and not be broken, so it's not surprising or anything. But I do think it's important that her mother's severe depression after the death of Katniss' father is mentioned, because it points to a similar predisposition toward depression for Katniss.
Maybe we can't be okay
But maybe we're tough and we'll try anyway
We'll live with what's real
Let go of what's past
And maybe I'll see you at last
GAH. If this isn't Katniss/Peeta at the end of Mockingjay, I don't know what is.
Anyway, that's really just a segue for me to blather on some more about the series, in which I relate it to the other two things I can't stop talking about: Buffy and Next to Normal.
I've been thinking more about my reaction to Katniss in Mockingjay, and how I needed her to have some sort of personal victory, even if she didn't win the war for the rebels. And I think what I wanted is basically Buffy in "Grave."
Buffy has spent all of season 6 struggling with clinical depression, suffering through numerous disappointments and setbacks, when it feels like a monumental effort just to get through each day. She desperately needs a personal victory. But this is notably the first season in which Buffy does not defeat the Big Bad. In fact, she gets her ass pretty well kicked by Dark Willow. It's Xander (with a magical assist from Giles) who saves the world. But Buffy manages her own triumph, even if it's minimal in the grand scheme of things - after fighting off the dirt monsters, she pulls herself up out of the pit, a not-so-subtle metaphor for climbing out of her own grave, which she did physically at the beginning of the season, but only now seems emotionally to have fully rejoined the land of the living.
And that's what I wanted for Katniss. Even if it's insignificant to the war effort, even if it's just a tiny glimmer of hope. I want her to (physically or metaphorically) rise up from the depths of despair and PTSD that have plagued her throughout the series. There's room for the slow creeping toward sanity that happens with Peeta back in District 12 - after all, Buffy didn't magically overcome depression just because she crawled out of a hole. But it's an important first step.
(On a side note, I would love to see someone who is not me do a Buffy Came Back Wrong style analysis of Katniss' mental health, because I think it would be fascinating.)
Of course, it's kind of hard to ignore the other parallel between Buffy and Katniss. Buffy's epiphany is very much linked to Dawn, whom Buffy has given her life to save, and who represents her reason to live. In "Grave," she ends up feeling proud and hopeful about Dawn's future. It's a stark contrast to Katniss losing Prim, who has been her motivation since the beginning. I'm not saying Prim shouldn't have died, because I don't want to be That Fan. Characters need to die sometimes, and I'm okay with that. It would've been an easy way to work in that personal victory, by saving Prim, but that definitely changes the story. I think really all it needs is maybe for Katniss killing Coin to be more positive. For people to know why she did it - she had a rational reason and it deserved to be heard. Even if it was hotly debated, and Katniss was only acquitted by a very thin margin, it would give voice to those who agree that holding another Hunger Games is wrong, rather than forcing her to stand alone.
Anyway. My other thoughts came from looking at the quote in my sidebar and realizing how well that song applies to Katniss:
Maybe I've lost it at last
Maybe my last lucid moment has passed
I'm dancing with death, I suppose
Granted, Diana's suffering from a different kind of mental illness, but that seems to describe Katniss at the end of Mockingjay pretty well, don't you think? And it's sort of appropriate that Diana's downward spiral was triggered by the death of her son, as losing Prim was sort of the last straw for Katniss.
Maybe I'm tired of the game
Of coming up short, of the rules, of the shame
Okay, the "game" reference is sort of obvious, but what Diana is actually talking about is Mask of Okayness (TM Gabrielleabelle). The front you put up so that you won't worry anyone, or to please all the people who want you to be happy, or because you're just not comfortable revealing that vulnerability to others. For Diana, there's pressure to project the image of being a "normal" mother in a "normal" family. The opening number is about her manic effort to be perfect. But it wears her down - "I think the house is spinning" - and it's a constant uphill battle that she can never win. Finally, she gives up on trying to be anything other than herself.
For Katniss, this plays out on a much grander scale. It's not just her friends and family for whom she needs to don the Mask of Okayness. It's the ENTIRE COUNTRY. She's on national television, being thrust head-first into the cause of her grief and despair, and yet she has to keep it together so as not to seem weak. It's not enough for her to just get through the day without wanting to die, she has to inspire a revolution, too. And the emotion she does reveal is exploited to arouse the sympathy and loyalty of the districts. It would be a terrible burden for anyone, but for someone who's suffering as much as Katniss? It's utterly horrifying.
A girl full of anger and hope
A girl with a mother who just couldn't cope
A girl who felt caught
And thought no one could see
But maybe one day she'll be free
This sounds like early Katniss to me. Someone who's suffered more than her fair share for such a young age, but not yet beaten down to the point of despair. It's actually about Natalie (another argument for why I think Jennifer Damiano would make a great Katniss) and what's interesting to me is that throughout the show, she is afraid of turning into her mother. She's afraid that she'll go crazy and be a burden on her family and maybe eventually try to commit suicide like Diana did. And that's what happens to Katniss, isn't it? She starts out a relatively normal girl, forced to grow up way too soon and lived through her share of tragedy, sure, but nonetheless intelligent, capable, and practical. And look what happens to her. She becomes someone who is literally judged to be insane, someone who can barely function on her own. What she goes through is essentially torture, and it's hard to see how anyone could go through and not be broken, so it's not surprising or anything. But I do think it's important that her mother's severe depression after the death of Katniss' father is mentioned, because it points to a similar predisposition toward depression for Katniss.
Maybe we can't be okay
But maybe we're tough and we'll try anyway
We'll live with what's real
Let go of what's past
And maybe I'll see you at last
GAH. If this isn't Katniss/Peeta at the end of Mockingjay, I don't know what is.
no subject
Date: Mar. 4th, 2011 01:38 am (UTC)Looking at the things written about Winter's Bone (http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/movies/11winter.html )Lawrence may have the chops and, given the difference between her Winter's Bone persona and the way she looked at the Oscar's she could do the 'stunning transformation under Cinna's talented eye.' They can always darken her hair.
I like Stanfield so she wouldn't be bad either.
no subject
Date: Mar. 4th, 2011 03:13 am (UTC)Given that they're both Oscar nominees, I suspect either Lawrence or Steinfeld have the acting chops, and they've both played Katniss-esque roles. Hailee's closer to Katniss' physical description (olive skin and black hair), but that's nothing makeup and hair dye can't fix.
Hailee's just so YOUNG. Maybe they can make her look older, but I dunno... I look at her and I think, "I do NOT want to watch her make out with Peeta in a cave." Lawrence is older, but probably not too old. It just depends how long it takes them to film the whole trilogy. If she's 25 trying to play 17, she may look too old.
(And once again, I'm back to wondering why there are no actual 16-year-olds being talked about.)