Happy Hunger Games?

I love The Hunger Games. I love Katniss (everything about her, from her physical and emotional strength to her realistic albeit annoying flip-flopping between Peeta and Gale); I love how intensely the series pulled me in; and, most importantly, I love Suzanne Collins’ commentary of ethics, society, and American culture.

That said, something has been bothering me. I’ve been thinking about it for a long time and have been struggling to find a way to articulate it: I think fans are forgetting to be careful. We have an added burden as fans of a dystopia: so much of this world is undesirable, so we have to make sure that our enthusiasm does not take on a Capitol-like tone. We’ve been falling down on the job.

I’m worried about the lack of careful, critical, and thoughtful expressions of fandom. Sure, there are some out there (for example, look at the Harry Potter Alliance’s “Hunger is Not a Game” campaign), but most of the fandom seems to be expressed in an embarrassingly similar fashion to this video.

I fully recognize how easy it is to be swept up in the series, and to express fandom in an unintentionally Capitolistic fashion. It’s so tempting to use phrases like “Happy Hunger Games!” (See? Even I gave in to the temptation!), to choose what district you’d be from,  buy China Glaze’s themed nail polish, and revel in the badassery of the tributes. But in doing this, we pervert the series, masking the terrible, nauseating dystopia that is really there. We need to really remember that it is a dystopia—we are not meant to want to live in that world. What is appealing about being a citizen of Panem? What is cool about being a tribute? Maybe I’m missing something, but to me the answer should be (and is) nothing. We're spending so much time debating the merits of Team Peeta versus Team Gale (and, unfortunately, never even debating if neither are good for Katniss), we're letting the most interesting, thought-provoking aspects of the story slip through our proverbial fingers. 

What are your thoughts? I’ve ranted about this to individual friends quite a bit, but I would be thrilled to discuss it more.  

Powerful Female Characters?

Happy day after International Women's Day! A little while ago Flavorwire published a list entitled 10 of the Most Powerful Female Characters in Literature. As a feminist and an avid reader, I felt this list was worth exploring. I found some of their choices surprising, some delightful, and all of them thought provoking.

The author made sure to note that this selection is in no way a comprehensive list, and I would certainly agree. While I have a strong affection for some of the characters (heck yes, Lyra Belacqua!), others I have mixed feelings about (Hermione and Katniss, for example), and still others I find surprising (Jane Eyre?). Of course, many of my favorites, including those who really shaped my idea of strong female characters, were not included (shout-outs have to go to Alanna from Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness Quartet, Cimorene from Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles, and virtually all of Gail Carson Levine's characters).

This article brought up some interesting questions for me. What is the definition of a powerful female character? Is it related to her complexity, her ability to stand in the face of oppression, or her popularity with readers? (Side note: did anyone else notice that all but The Canterbury Tales have had film adaptations?).

So, what do you think? Which characters should (or should not) have made the list? Which do you wish had been included? I'd love to get a discussion going in the comments.