I know this isn't topical at all, but it's always kind of there, in the back of my head. Just waiting for me to start ranting about it. For some reason my brain came up with it again today, so I thought, lets do this.
Now, I think the picture above (by the lovely gingerhaze!) makes it pretty clear what I want to talk about today, but just to be sure, let me explain.
If you've followed any part of the marketing around the hunger games (and catching fire, for that matter) you'll notice that a sentence that comes up a lot is: "Who will Katniss choose? Peeta or Gale?"
This gets me pretty mad. In this post I'm going to try to explain why in an orderly manner.
1. Get your shit together
I'm sorry, but is this book/movie really about romance?
Are you really sure that this is the most important thing here?
The answer is: NO
Media, I'm sorry to tell you this because you seriously do not seem to get it. What are you, the Capitol? This movie is about a shitload of things, and love ain't really one of them.
According to Suzanne Collins herself, the Hunger Games is about "severe poverty, starvation, oppression, and the effects of war, among others."
Do you see love in there? No. Because it doesn't belong there.
Media, I can hear you say the story is also about growing up. No worries, I totally agree. Especially Prim develops a lot as she grows up.
And yes, the story even briefly deals with Katniss falling in love with people. Yes, the story also definitely deals with people being in love with Katniss.
It's fine that you mention it, because I realize that it happens, and I you know what: I was totally interested in the Katniss-Peeta dynamic myself! (Yes, the Katniss-Peeta dynamic. Don't fight me on this. That's not what this post is about. Get back to the story.)
What I'm more worried about though, is that you seem to be making it the most appealing and interesting thing about the Hunger Games! It's really not. I know I used the term "worried about" back there. Let me get into that.
First, let me talk about what the Capitol zooms in on when we talk about the Hunger Games: The Romance.
Now, let's repeat what you, unnecessarily zoom in on: The Romance.
Yeah. That's a little uncomfortable, isn't it?
Not to mention that you never really discuss all those kids killing each other.
A bunch of kids killing each other seems like a pretty big problem for a country to have right? Seems like something we should talk about, right?
Apparently though, it's not that important, because what we really want to know about is Katniss' love life!
I'm not even talking about the adverts for catching fire that say Finnick is a nice addition to the good ol' love triangle.
I do not want to talk about this.
As far as I'm concerned, this did not happen.
2. Katniss' priorities
I think we can all agree that in all the books Katniss has a lot on her mind. It's very important to her to protect her family. She needs to make sure they have enough food and Snow doesn't kill them, right?
Then she wants to look after herself. She needs to survive in- and outside of the Hunger Games.
Maybe you could even call her a little selfish, but you also can't really blame her, because she's always needed to look after herself. It's only natural that she developed that pretty early on.
She also learned that she couldn't depend on others, and now has some serious trust issues, also for logical reasons.
Bearing this in mind, is love Katniss' biggest worry?
Let's be honest, when it comes to a life or death situation, she's going to choose for herself. That's just how she works.
Remember at the end of the first movie, when they told Katniss and Peeta that they were going to have to kill each other? Peeta doesn't look for weapons, move towards her, or anything else that might indicate that he's going to attack her.
Katniss on the other hand, immediately grabs her bow. That's just Katniss.
To show how serious I am about this, here is a quote from the last book that makes things pretty clear:
That pretty much sums up what I think about that. Good.
In other news, I made this blog a little better. There's an about page, and links and everything. Amazing.
So, who do you think Katniss i̫͖̝͔̻̼s̷̜̖̠ ͇̯̬͉̺̰̯g̢̫̰̲̺̺̠o͞iṉ̡̯g҉ t͎̠̻̱ơ e̻͎͓̭n̢̹̪̫̤̪̮͜d̪͖͜ ̶͙̬̳̱u̷̷̸͙̥͙̦̩̤̖̱p͙̟͍͍͘ ̸̧̛̮̥̬̫̻͕w̕̕҉͓͎̫͙̪̬̣͖i̫͉̜̟̬t̢͈̯̭͉h̨̖͙̰ͅ:̨͇͖̮̦͈̺̟͇͟ͅ ̫̟́Pͤͧ̓̇̊͘͝͏͏̣̰̺̤͍ͅee̴̡̘̤͉̮͇̱̟̤̱͙͖̫̺̦͉͚̭̱̓̿̈͐ͮ̿̍̄̂͐͐̆͐͘͢͜ẗ̡̢̮̯̟͔̗́͌̓̃̋̔͆̓̄̿̄̾ͥͧ̿̃ͪ̏̕ͅa̢̡̢͎̻̪̣̖̥͙̺͛̍̌ͭ͌ͦͬ̍ͣ̽͊ͮ ̬̹͖̟̤̘̰͈̪͔͆ͩ̄̈́̀̀͘͞͝ǫ͎̹̠̥̹̘͓͕̘͖͙̳͙͇̹̺̏͋̄̊͛͌͛̂͋̃̓̈́͊̅́̚ͅr̨̫̬̤̩̹̜͈̗̉ͯ͑ͩͮ̀ͩ͐̌̊͐̆ͫ̈́͑̀ ̷̞͍̙͓̰͚͖̲͒ͩ͑̅͑͠ͅG̷̶̘̠̜̙̤̲ͤ̆͐̑̅̐ͬ̅͊ͯͦ̅̄̆͐̓̚͘͟͜a̡̛̻͈̮̪̫̭͓̹̥̟͐͆ͫ̐͌̑͛̿̂͑͗̀ͦͯ̈́̍̌ͦ̅͢͡͠ļͭ͗̆͐͒ͤ̀͏̪͚̹̮̻̪̙͕̹ͅe̘̘̮̳̬ͫ́͛͑̋ͭͤ̒̾͐̍̑̑͌͘͟?̧̩̣̲̭̮̠̩̱͙͔̖̤̲̠͍̤͉̒ͦ̾ͤ̉̈́ͤ̒̽͊͜͠ͅ :D
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