Is Katniss Really Better Than Bella? Feminism in Present Day Literature

In order to know what is considered hip these days all you have to do is take a look at what the social media is blabbing about. There will be haters and lovers to everything under the sun but when a fad sweeps by, the loudest side will be the one to direct the sea of opinion. With the final Twilight movie, Breaking Dawn, setting box office record, the fad sweeping the entire country is hating the Twilight brand. All of it. Movies, books, author, actors, not a soul gets out unscathed by the masses brought together in their common disdain.

There are pictures in Facebook, reviews in Goodreads, and punch lines with pictures in Pinterest (some of them are quite funny, really). And though Twilight seems to be at the butt of every joke, a few would argue that the joke's really on the haters, since none of Meyer's, Lautner's, Patinson's, or Stewart's checks seem to be bouncing. All part of the Hollywood game. 

I tend to agree. You see, I'm a Twilight lover (the books, not the movies AT ALL) but, as a long time horror fanatic, I see why Edward Cullen’s sparkling, lean, lovin' machine has made every hardcore vampire lover retort in disgust. Then, there's Bella. The pathetically insecure teenager that can't help but fall for the broody vampire has faired even worse in the court of public opinion, taken the blunt of the hatred. And what is it about this character, you may ask, that has offended the delicate taste of the crowds? Well, Kristen Steward's uninspired acting (let's call it that) hasn't helped, and her clearly uncomfortable stance against the media does nothing for her either, but it goes deeper. In fact, the character--even the actress herself--has come to equate everything the Feminist Movement fights against.

Fast forward to the release of The Hunger Games movie. As always, the books were widely popular way before the movie broke out, but the simple knowledge that a movie was about to be made drove thousands of new fans to the saga and soon the inevitable happened. Katniss Everdeen and Bella Swan were at forefront of every discussion, not jokes anymore, but true symbols of what our youth is and admires. Katniss, whose prowess with a bow was a long shot from the whiny starstruck Bella, became her the antithesis and, therefore, the image that defines Feminism for the present generation.

Now, I have a bone to pick with this. I get why Bella is such a nightmare for many women. She is whinny, insecure, and unable to stand for herself. I’m an unapologetic fan of Meyer's books and even I wanted to choke her sometimes.

But let’s check Katniss’ character through The Hunger Games Saga: 

KATNISS	BELLA	SCORE
The sole provider of her family in a post-apocalyptic world where you need to fight for every morsel of food.	Regular teenager trying to find her place in the lives of her divorced parents.	Katniss starts strong and, though Bella’s problems are much more relatable for our teens, I’ll give this to Katniss.
Knows how to handle a weapon and isn’t afraid to do so.	Irremediably clumsy. She can’t play ball to safe her live and constantly injures herself.	Once more, point to Katniss.
Unknowingly, becomes the symbol of rebellion; yet, she fights hard to show the world she is, in fact, in favor of keeping the status quo.	She falls in love with a vampire and fights hard to become one herself.	Here Katniss’ character starts to fall through. When the stakes are raised, she proves to be a run-of-the-mill, insecure, scared teenager. Bella is improving, though very slowly, she has made clear she will get what she want, even if those closest to her don’t approve.
Completely uninterested in having a boyfriend, first because she doesn’t want to have a family in that messed up world, and second because she isn’t sure if she would pick her best friend or the boy who saved her life.	Bella, too, is torn between the love of two boys. Oh, but she’s into it. Even though she says she isn’t.	Teenage drama, plain and simple. Both the same, neither comes above.
When it becomes clear no one’s stopping the rebellion, she not only doesn’t embrace the movement, but lets everyone use her image the way they please and becomes a puppet in the power struggle that ensues.	When the powers that be threaten the safety of her family, she decides to fight against them, even if it means her life. In fact, she and her immortal family lead a rebellion against the oldest, more powerful vampire clan.	Katniss becomes a sad figure, broken and damaged beyond repair by the third book while Bella has found herself. I will give it to the Twilight haters, it is merely a few thousand words in a four book saga and hardly the theme. Then again, Twilight is a Paranormal Romance, THG is a Dystopian Adventure. So I say point for Bella…

Fact of the matter is Katniss spends half of the saga breaking to pieces and most of the third book literally hiding in a closet. I fail to see how this is any better than Bella’s obsession with her boyfriend.

The problem when talking about Feminism is that getting married and tending a home was the only career path available to us back in the days, hence its present bad rep. We look for specific traits in our females in order to select them as our new standard of ‘Girl Power’ like physical strength and open disdain (or disinterest) for men. Katniss is both, lethal and uninterested in boys, but is she truly the incarnation of empowerment? I don’t think so.

Let me tell you it was hard to come across a female character in modern literature that met my idea of Feminism, which is very sad and goes to show you why it is that our teen girls hold so hard to the few outstanding female characters they have available, however faulted these might be. But I finally found it: Hermione Granger.

Think for a moment. She is intelligent, determined, strong, and she might not be able to take a life with her magic wand, but she is powerful nonetheless. Her power comes not from magic, but from within. She is strong because she knows what she wants, what is good for her, where her weaknesses are, and she has a great moral compass. All these traits make her, in fact, a much better symbol of Feminism. A role model for our youth they can actually hope to become.

When we decide to bash a fictional character such as Bella Swan because of its interest in having a boyfriend, we are sending the message that worrying about boys is a sign of times past and a weakness. When we sing praises to characters like Katniss Everdeen for her physical strength we tell our teen girls that this one trait is so positive, it actually compensates the clear shortcomings the character shows in other areas.

Do you think I am being ridiculous? Giving way too much importance to fake and clearly fantastic novels? Well, yes! And therein lies our main trouble. We read too much between the lines. Teenage girls will worry about boys, that’s just how it is, very few of them are the actual providers of their household, and even fewer know how to shoot a gun, forget about a bow. Let’s not make the mistake of confusing physical prowess with strength of character. They like Bella? Sure, why not. Then, show them a book where the female character is worthy of being emulated and talk about it. That will take you a lot farther that trashing the latest fad. Communication is the ultimate way to empower our youth and help them travel the murky waters of adolescence and external influences. It is the final weapon that trumps even books and that’ll make of our kids true Feminists.

The Hunger Games Saga, into the Deep

Here is the deal. Like everyone else, I have a lot to say about The Hunger Games Saga. Not all of it is good, but like many of you, I feel passionate about the story, reason why I decided to write a thorough review of each of the books with no spoilers at all, and then another one for the story as a whole with all the cards on the table. Meaning, you have a few weeks to read the three books and then participate in the fourth review where there would be no theme unspoken, no secrets kept. I'll post every Tuesday around noon and I'd love to hear what you have to say. I know there are fans who live and breath through the characters and others who could kill the next person who swears The Hunger Games are the awesomest book since the invention of the press. Either way, I'll be glad to hear what you have to say as long as we keep our hands and ugliness to ourselves.

A few years ago, when everybody was talking about the books and way back when there was no Hunger Games movie, I checked the first installment out of curiosity. I read the back cover and just couldn't feel it. It didn't grab me or speak to me, so I let it go. Every now and then someone would say how fantastic these books were and I went back to amazon, read the blurb once more, and let it drop. Finally the movie came and all hell broke lose. People comparing it to the greatest books ever written, the obvious mention of Twilight and how Katniss Everdeen was the ultimate strong female role. You know, craziness. I decided I had to see for myself what all the rage was and sure as heck I wasn't watching the movie first, so I bought the three books. I read them in the spam of one week, unable to put them down, and upon finishing the third one, my feelings are mixed. As a whole I didn't like the story, but each book in itself, I enjoyed the first two quite a lot. I thought about it and thought a bit more and then decided I had too much to tell to just write a simple review, hence the plan I previously laid out for you. I'm hoping this will clarify my own feelings about the story and will be fun for us to share. Here we go.

The Hunger Games.

When I was considering to read the books, not knowing if I was going to like them, I came across a review on Goodreads that stuck in my mind. It was a negative review of only the first book, she didn't thought the story had any message or uplifting trace, only a society so depraved it could watch its kids kill each other for fun. An uproar came after her calling her names and pointing the fact that she had obviously not read the whole saga. Her defense? The first book of a series should give the reader a taste of what's to come. One should know what we're up to after the first book is gone and in this case, I have to give it to her, The Hunger Games does not fairly represent the story as a whole.

I found this to be the lightest of the three books, I laughed a little, cried not so little, but had hope that better things were to come for Katniss and Peeta. The story is engrossing and the characters are well written. Katniss' relationship with her family and Gale is easy to understand and feel for; we know what lies in the line and why it is so important for her to step up and do as best she can. We also understand what she's to confront and how poor her chances are. We only get a taste of Gale, but still the first traces of what will define the story in the future are set in motion for us to see. By far my favorite character was Peeta. He's likable, sweet, and stronger than everybody thinks. The genius of telling the story through Katniss' eyes is that she is so clueless as to what is about to happen that it all comes as a surprise for us, too. There are no tell-tale remarks or whispers that foreshadow something to come, we are just hit by surprise. Haymitch is a pathetic guy we see grow if only just a little through the story and our hearts warm towards him as we progress in the story.

Technical points. The pace is rapid and you can't wait to know what's to come. The language is clear and simple, yet interesting; it pulls you into the world Collins created without many distractions that break the enchantment. What we need to know about the background is laid out and distributed through the story without dumping it on you all in one page. The one drawback of writing in first person and in present tense--pay attention, most books are written in past tense even though the action is taking place right now. However, Collins used present, making it sound like Katniss' thoughts--is that some information feels unnatural. Katniss already knows the distribution of the districts and the facts of the Dark Days, yet she repeats those in her mind for our benefit. But we do needed this information and there was no other way, so I let this one slide.

I liked the transitions, seamless and easy to follow, days pass yet we never get lost in time or find the characters in places they were not supposed to be. In general, I have to make special mention of the excellent team of editors that checked fact after fact of this trilogy to keep it logical and consistent. Outstanding. Of course, a big kudos to Suzanne Collins, too, who did not fall pray to the temptation of making her characters act without reason.

Now, to perception. The way the story developed, how it centered on Katniss' motivations to keep fighting, her relationship with Peeta, her kindness and pain for all who had to die for the Capitol, all in the pages led me to believe this was to be the story of a girl forced to grow too fast but that, with the help of her support system, would rise to become a strong young woman leading a war for the liberation of her people. I couldn't be more wrong.

After reading the three books I cry FALSE ADVERTISEMENT, but I'll delve into that in the future. For the moment being I'll tell you The Hunger Games is highly addictive, interesting and very well written. I completely understand why it ignited the fire--pun intended--that it did. You should totally read it for its entertaining value, but do not expect a moral. This is not the book for that. The trilogy as a whole has a message, it just isn't on this book and, when it is all said and done,  it isn't a pretty, uplifting one.

To be continued...

The Twilight 'Controversy'

Usually tuesdays are my 'Book Review' days but with the first installment of Breaking Dawn in theaters and all the people dishing or loving it, I just have to get it out of my chest.

First, I'll tell you where I stand. I loved the books. I mean, REALLY loved them; though I have to say the baby stuff was a stretch. Breaking Dawn was my least favorite book for a bunch of reasons, but that is fodder for another post. I'm not talking about the literary quality of any of them, I'm talking about pure entertaining value. I'm no scholar up on my tower, but a reader who wants to be transported to another world while I read. There's no secret recipe that will ensure that a certain book and a reader will click; it either happens or it doesn't. It happened for me with these books in a way I hadn't experience for a long time.

How about the movies, you wonder? Well, I hate them. I'm sorry guys, but the actors are painful to watch! And I like Robert Pattinson, he seems like quite a personable guy. Taylor Lautner is even more charismatic, and the only one who has the slightest idea of what an acting range is; however, I don't think they portray adequately the characters that I grew to love in the books. That and the fact that Kristen Stuart portrays Bella like such a lackluster girl with chronic constipation. Augh.

But I do understand how millions of young, impressionable teenagers were swept away by the fantasy of an all-powerful hero who falls head over heels for a simple, normal girl, just like them. That's the kind of romanticism that comes with the territory. I also know they'll grow out of it and will remember the characters as a precious memento of their youth.

Now, with that said; all that people talking about how the books and movies promote getting married, or getting pregnant, too young are driving me crazy. Seriously? You might as well just say they promote marrying vampires and condemning your soul.

Get real, people. There are books written as a mean to exert people to do or change certain things, they're called "Inspirational books" and most certainly do not involve either werewolves or vampires in any state of undress. Sparkly or not.

Fiction has never had the goal of inspire or influence the actions of the readers, simply entertain them. Harry Potter isn't advocating for any form of wizardry, as Romeo and Juliet isn't a vehicle to entice young lovers to suicide, so just stop the bulls**t.

If you hate the movie, own it. Say it's stupid, unrealistic, antifeminist, that destroys the horror value of the vampire; or say that the books are poorly written, that they have no character evolution nor believable characters, that they have no ultimate message or meaning. Don't get on top of your soap box and turn it into a moral issue. And even if all those things above are true, that's the beauty of art; even crappy art is personal. Just because you and I don't think the movies are worth a hoot doesn't mean there has to be any kind of message in them. They're but movies, don't go on a hate binge merely 'cause they're popular.