I didn't realise until I was older that Katniss likely has PTSD due to her horrible childhood, long before the Games. She has difficulty trusting people, which is why she thinks that Peeta is lying when he says that he's in love with her, experiences frequent night terrors, anger, impulsiveness, and fails to relate to other people.
they gloss over her pre-existing trauma in the movies, but it is so important to understanding her character. her story is a lot sadder than people realize :(
@@artatmidnight Katniss is Native American or a Latina. Jennifer Lawrence played her well but in today's climate she'd be played by Jenna Ortega. But I'd prefer a Native American actress.
Or you know, because men will fake emotional intimacy to get sexual favors and then abandon you because “they lost feelings” can confirm that by my experiences
I remember reading Mockingjay and being floored by how psychologically damaged Katniss was, and the bravery of Susan Collins to write a main protagonist with such intense mental trauma. Katniss’s perspective can sometimes be jarring to read because she’s so unhinged. She constantly contemplates suicide and cannot seek inner peace no matter how hard she tries. I remember the last chapter of the book, Katniss rots away in a chair, unwilling to eat, sleep or do anything. It’s a rather depressing ending but so integral to Katniss’s arc and the overall message of the story. There are no winners in war. Katniss had to sacrifice her sanity and innocence for the sake of revolution. It’s rather sad really.
I was too young to catch a lot of this the first time I read through the books, but just finished listening to all three (and the Ballad). "Jarring" is the only word I can think of to describe Katniss after [major spoiler at the end of the war]'s death. I mean, I was rattled by it happening, but I was genuinely just staring at the wall in shock as Katness unraveled. She'd been unraveling for a long time and you could feel her increasingly holding on by a thread and how dire her mental health was getting, but that final fall killed me. She was just a girl trying her best to survive. Coin wanted to get Peeta out of the arena because he was a better speaker and would be easier to use. Katness' traumatized eyes saw Coin as a mirror image of Snow very early on, I think, but it took until that final moment when the hunger games threatened to continue for her to trust and finalize that understanding of Coin, that everything that haunted her would just keep coming back if both Snow and Coin weren't put down. She was used by everyone, and feared by those that used her because her motivations and her trauma made her different from others they were controlling. Katness' circumstances gave her fame and power she didn't know how to wield, her experiences made her reactive and untrusting. It's a dangerous combination for a girl, and both Snow and Coin paid for it I think. I was sobbing when the cat came back and Katness started feeling again. The severe depression, the panic attacks, were so familiar, the end was so realistic that it was haunting. I can't remember the last time a book pulled so much compassion out of me. I'm shocked these are young adult books. They're so haunting and real that my respect for their author has gone up immensely, enough that I want to try to write characters like her. And don't get me started on The Ballad...
Just want to point out that though the book show how katniss suffers from ptsd and the consequences of the war, the finale is also hopeful, that it is possible to grow, overcome and get better, which i think its important. We are never truly “broken”, we can find meaning in life even after so much suffering
Your point about adults failing her made me think of Haymitch and how he was probably the most reliable adult in her life despite being a trauma-addled drunk because he understood her, empathized with her, and did everything he could to save her despite both of them clashing. And it's sort of poetic.
I’m currently re-reading the books and what’s interesting is that, at the end of catching fire, Katniss does feel like Haymitch has failed her. During the second book she learns to genuinely rely on him and trusts him. A the end however, when she wakes up in the D13 aircraft and Haymitch explains what was going on, she feels deeply betrayed because everyone knew what was going on but her (and Peeta), and largely holds Haymitch responsible for that. And from her perspective at that moment, a major adult in her life has once again been unreliable/gone behind her back.
She expected him to make one of the hardest choices in a book I ever read, choosing Peeta over her. She was the reason that made Haymitch snap out of depression and be more focused on saving their asses outside the games. Peeta is charismatic, but their (Hay and Kat) bond from trauma and suffering... that is next level.@@alexiak8401
Also worth to note that in mockingjay she comes to realize how similar her and haymitch are. She has had quite a few moments with him where they bonded over their internal issues. If not that she at least understood that she was the one haymitch was willing to help out in the 74th games, I think it was after Peeta found out that haymitch didn’t bother to send him aid until Katniss found him
Holy fuck, now realizing this, on one hand, Yes Peeta is a genuinely kind and selfless guy, but also, the explanation behind his great skill on knowing how people works and manipulation was probably stemmed from abuse 💀you don't exactly get to avoid getting hit by your parent by being rash or rude. That's what allowed Peeta to survive - he has to learn how other people tick to know how to act and what to say next. Damn.
and it’s how he was able to understand katniss…he was observing and trying out what clicks and what doesn’t…I would say it’s unhealthy, but at least he got someone to protect him back and honestly it’s the best you can get in their situation…idk I’m just adding to what you wrote cuz I found it fascinating, you literally discovered to me why I’m a people pleaser, you are INSANE for that, thank you ❤️
@@versversa8083 that's not unhealthy if you respect the other person. Everyone does that all the time when they want to please someone. If people learned to read others better, we would have a more compassionate world; instead, we have a bunch of people who are always thinking about themselves and their emotions, that don't know how to act properly in situations of divergence and are incapable of understanding the complexity of communication. Reading others can only be manipulative if you're an egotist narcissist.
YOURE SO RIGHT. Katniss learned to survive by hunting, because her greatest threat was starvation. Peeta learned to survive by being likeable and being great at knowing what people want, because his greatest threat was making his abusive family angry
now that you point that out,it reminded of myself.I walk on eggshells everyday at my father’s house back then.I check their every steps and moods.Thats very true
“The odds were in Catos favor with his privilege and it didn’t matter, the odds were in prims favor and it didn’t matter” (her only having her name in the reaping once) was so important
I think the mockingjay movies were the worst when it came to showing us how traumatized katniss really was. She was borderline suicidal and kept being sedated because of her panic attacks. I think the movies focused more on the “action” rather than where she was at that point mentally which is what coin and the other adults in 13 took advantage of - her unstable mental health
yes! Katniss goes to a very dark place by the end. not a lot of YA books tackle characters in such a realistic way. i was so disappointed the movies didn't grasp the importance of showing that :(
Same. But I will say that when I first read the book at 14 I didn't grasp the depth of her trauma lol. I remember thinking that mockingjay was so much more slow compared to the other two books (an opinion my friends also shared) and its only when I recently reread the series that I realised how deep the book really is. From showing us how the adult characters saw a struggling teen and decided to sedate and use her instead of helping her and how you don't just magically get better after going through such drastic life altering events. I mean I came out of Mockingjay feeling like both Peeta and Katniss need therapy above all else lol. I think this is why for me personally the Hunger Games books are the only YA book series that still holds up (even including harry potter) because the books were not "simplified" for a child/ teen audience. @@artatmidnight
they hollywoodfied it lol, as expected. it is ultimately about a revolution against a criminal and ethnocentric empire... how would that be acceptable from the biggest empires of all, the US? They need to turn it into a steamy romance and a meaningless tale as much as possible. They need to profit from selling the aesthetics of revolution, because commodifying it will render it useless, just like the western population.
Yes! I wished they kept the scene at the end, after she killed Coin & Peeta knocked the nightlock out of her hand. Where she screams for Gale to kill her.
While Katniss likely has PTSD due to her tough childhood, Prim doesn't, since while their grieving mother checked out emotionally, leaving no one for Katniss, Prim always had her older sister. Also, I wish that they'd delved more into Finnick being forced to prostitute himself to save his family.
um i think quite literally everybody in the districts has cptsd from one side of the spectrum to the very opposite lol. living in a world as evil as that is not normal and any rational human being would react negatively. (very much like our world lol)
Prim has PTSD, she just doesn't have the extreme fear of abandonment Katniss has developed that leads her to push people out as a safety net (since you cannot be abandoned by people if you never let them in). Living in extreme poverty, your father dying in a brutal mining accident, your sister risking death daily just for getting food for your family and being forced to watch kids murder each other in a tournament made out to be a spectacle is enough to give anyone PTSD. Prim just got 'lucky' that her big sister loves her more than anything in the world so she never had to feel alone (until they took Katniss to the games)
I think Prim did have some PTSD (I mean the first scene of the movie shows her waking up from a nightmare screaming) I always saw Prim as someone who while kind, was very fearful of the world - hence her nightmares about being picked for the games even though her odds were slim. But once she had to fend for herself (even though Gale did look out for her family) after Katniss left for the games & after when she had to do victory tours, she gained independence & started to share Katniss’ burden of looking after their emotionally frail mother & caring for the wounded as she began to realise her strength as a healer. Her big turning point in stating that Katniss no longer had to protect her says a lot about how she dealt with her own trauma, however insignificantly it may have been portrayed compared to Katniss’.
Finnick in the movies didn't get to shone the way he did in the books and that was something thst really struck me about it. He was my favorite character all the way to the end in the books
I'm sure Prim has trauma from losing her father at a young age and her mom's depression. I'm also sure she got trauma when she was reaped for the games and her older sister volunteered her life for her. During the series she has to grow up so fast, training to become a doctor before shes even turned 14 and volunteering to help victims in the war against the capitol. Katniss misses a lot of her younger sister's growth bc shes dealing with so much in her own life. Anyways tldr Prim has trauma too thats valid, it just takes a different shape than Katniss's trauma.
honestly, the fact that katniss never wanted to be the symbol for the rebellion makes it so much more realistic to me. imagine you’re a teen and the future of your country depends solely on you??? everybody watching you and looking at you for hope?? I would FOLD.
Totally agree. The concept of a teenager helping to overthrow a government is cool, but Katniss's arc is realistic about it. No teen would ever want to carry the weight of a revolution on their shoulders, because it would just crush them.
To be fair, katniss main concern throughout the whole series was keeping her family safe. The last thing on her mind was to be a revolutionary for a country that shits on its people. And there are some young people throughout history that have become a symbolic figure for different causes/movements. You have Amariyanna Copeny and Bisan Owda rn that make active efforts for their homes. It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible. Then again fighting for basic needs and your mere existence is draining, something no living being should have to endure much less have to tirelessly fight for. But again katniss, like most of us is literally just fighting for herself and her family to stay alive.
When I watched the movie with my family recently, I was continuously annoyed saying... "effie wasn't there for that. She didn't do that". I kind of don't like her inclusion. I love Elizabeth banks and how she played Effie. I just don't like the fact that they made it seem like she was there and that she contributed to things that she didn't. She was locked away and tortured with Joanna and Peeta. So idk why that bothers me so much but it does lol
@@kellifavazza8021 I guess it’s just matter of preference. They decided to increase her role because she became such a fan favorite. And her addition in District 13 didn’t really hinder the plot at all. Sure in the books she wasn’t there, but the general plot beats were still largely the same. Less new characters made the overall cast a lot more intimate, something that’s important when acting but not as important in a book, so their chemistry really shined. Notice in the movies, members of Katniss’ squad going into the Capitol dies off, but because there wasn’t much time to flesh out their characters, their deaths are largely inconsequential, making their inclusion somewhat useless. Accurate to the books, but not conducive to a screenplay. But Effie, a character we had two movies to get to know, added a fun comedic relief that wasn’t too out of place in the story. I guess I’m fine with changes in movie adaptations so long as they don’t disrupt the overall plot too much, hinder general character development, and so long as the changes are a fun and welcome addition.
While I love her, I don't like her addition to that arc that much. I feel like the torture she suffers in captivity would be the final hit on her gliterry views of the capitol. Watching her be emotionally, phsycologically and physically scarred while trying to cover it with her bubbly personality (and I do think that will be a reflex for most of her life if not all of it) would have been a lot more interesting and deep. And I'm sure Elizabeth Banks would have loved to be able to show more depth on our girl. I do like her humour, especially the banter with Haymitch (and ngl those hand holding a drop earrings she wore on her final look live rent free in my brain, as do most of her outfits).
@@depressed_khaleesi yeah, but all of that is offscreen so we wouldn't get to see that anyway. I prefer seeing Effie having to come to terms in 13, a place that strips away everything she loves and her agreeing to help. I find her transformation from buying into the decadence and power of the Capitol to her being a rebel who actively helps much more compelling than if she just got tortured
As much as I love the books and the movies, the Mockingjay ending (the movie) was extremely disappointing to me. In the books she has most of her hair missing because of the fire, she had insane burnt scars all over her body, she was suicidal, she had spent weeks in an empty room in the Capitol awaiting her trial, she was completely broken. In the movie her skin was porcelain clean, her hair gorgeous and shiny, and her suicidal-depressive state was just presented as walking sadly around the mansion. Then she returned to 12 and the movie made her trauma look like it disappeared within days. All it took was one pretty spring day and a walk to the woods. I was ready to cry my eyes out but I was so disappointed instead. Still loving the series, but yeah, the ending minimalized her trauma to almost zero.
Really? I actually thought that years passed, and despite all the suffering and trauma. Life still goes on. To me, the last scene wasn't about she still looking good or perfect but rather than an alternative to her sanity. "I make a list of the things that remind me that are worthy". That's actually used in Congnitive Behavioral Therapy. That scene seemed like a last chance to think human again. Ofc, not a promising method on all PTSD patients. But still a very little piece of psychological work.
@@ingreed4154 Please read my comment again. I'm clearly not talking about the epilogue. I'm talking about the last like 5 minutes of the movie, from where she is burnt from the parachutes to her return to 12.
Hunger Games was the first YA dystopia i read. So I naively expected it to end well. I almost couldn‘t bear the last book, because Katniss and Peeta were both so traumatized. Obviously that is what makes the strory believable. But I still remember my anger at Suzanne Collins for writing a story of a sick and awful society that greatly damages people, and the overthrowing of this society, which damages the people involved even more! It is a story about the high cost of revolution. And as a teenager, who just wanted Katniss to fonal,y be home (with Peeta), I was unprepared for that.
I actually LOVE the book ending. I lived a bit as a kid in and near a war zone. Oddly, the Hinger Games and it’s ending is one of the best depictions of the end result of war, for the survivors - you do your best to live and move forward, but you forever carry those scars. Anytime I see someone joyfully calling for violence, it just…hits. I know there are times where it’s necessary, but I want people to understand what they’re asking for when they call for it. And this book series does a devastatingly good job of showing that.
Yes like I think I cried a bit daily for a week after finishing books but I loved this ending, because it’s just so true. I also lost my father to war and my mother and I moved to a different country away from it and she was quite unavailable emotionally when I was a child. It parentified me a lot, because she also relied on me to provide that emotional support. So all in all I really related to Katniss as a character but also to that whole ending. Result of war and vileness is just… devastating. Not glorious at all. I hate victory parades.
And people don't give enough credit about the Capitol putting the working class kids against each other, making they kill and hate each other for reasons that are not theirs.. it's all about control and keeping the dominance of the Capitol
O god, I hope that you will never have to be in such a situation again. I was not in a war but grew up while the war in Yugoslavia was raging. We had many refugees from these region. They were with me in kindergarten and school. The stories you heard and the terror in some of their eyes will always remind me how fragile our world is.
Yes, I liked how the author humanized the tension between that need for violence vs. the revulsion for it. Katniss thought that rebellion was her only choice, because not rebelling had not saved her sister from being traumatized. Prim had lost her father to the mines, and lost her mother to grief (temporarily), and lost her sister to the games. Katniss didn't want to rebel, but decided that staying in the status quo would leave everyone in even more long-term jeopardy than war. Gale was eager for war because he saw that need for change earlier, and maybe being a few years older had more time to feel capable of meeting the challenge to handle it. Katniss was only 11 when she had to step up and lead her family after her father died, and she hated having to do it. She was only 17 when she had to step up to lead her nation in rebellion, and she hated that even worse because she felt even less prepared for those responsibilities.
I feel like the ballad of songbirds and snakes had this same problem. The characters of both Katniss and Coriolanus are too complex to condense into a two and a half hour movie, especially without narration or internal monologue.
yesss i hate how they failed to show Coriolanus' thoughts sometimes, especially when SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER he became a peacekeeper in 12, in the book he was actually going through a crisis and was suicidal at one point, whereas in the movie he just told Sejanus while staring at the window how "hey i was just thinking of ending my life" which came out a bit tone deaf and jokish compared to the book
Yes I just saw BOSAS and without reading the book beforehand I can see how confusing his character might come off. I wish we got to see more of his inner thoughts and monologue
It's interesting how Lucy Gray Baird is essentially the anti-Katniss; she has almost no combat or survival skills that would help her in the games but is immensely charming and charismatic.
In an interview Rachel Ziegler said that "Katniss was a fighter forced to perform, and Lucy Gray was a performer forced to fight" & I think that sums it up really well
It's amazing how she is so similar to Katniss in so many things, and reminds her so much, and yet, her character is the complete opposite. Basically, Lucy Gray is Katniss with Peeta's personality.
Mockingjay is already a difficult book to adapt with its controversial ending, and they decided to split it into 2 films despite stretching out the emotional beats. I hated the ending on first read because all the trauma Katniss went through was for nothing. It did trigger me to reread the entire thing again right away, which made me realize that that's the point. All of Katniss trauma has been for nothing because that's how it is in society. While there was rebellion and hope, the shiny filter has also been taken off by the end, leaving just the harsh reality of war and angry, traumatized people.
This comment really helps put into perspective a lot of the issues I used to have with Mockingjay. I used to be very mad that Katnisse's whole journey to the capitol was for nothing as the rebels just took over anyway and Katnisse's group didn't have a direct effect on the plan. But reading this, I realize that that was the point. When Katniss becomes driven by anger and violence at the end of Mockingjay it only leads to more suffering and death, which builds her up for ultimately choosing Peeta in the end. Although I think the book could've hammered in this point more, I think it's an important aspect a lot of people often overlook.
i always thought of the name peeta being similar to the name peter. peter means rock/stone and peeta is very steady and grounds katniss when shes worried/ scared/ or sad. also a gale is a burst of wind and a hawthorn is a bush that has tons of thorns on it. small animals often hide under them but they get cut up when a gust of wind messes with the branches. I think that this shows how gale wants to protect but its in his nature to hurt people because hes too angry inside.
i truly don't feel like "team gale" was ever really a choice. i'm not a fan of how the movies played up the love triangle stuff because to me, in the books, it was always sort of obvious that the obvious ending was peeta. i love gale as a character, i hate how people don't understand him or villainize him, it's truly frustrating interacting with the fandom who tend to preach the idea of "they're all children" and "nuance" and then don't extend that hand to gale. really amazing video, you hit all the points! i look forward to any other videos you post!
I think Gale was very much like Katniss but he made a different choice at some point. And I respected her choice and really disliked his. So in the end I can’t say I’m “burn him on a stake!!!” Type of person cause that’s just flattening whole complex nuance of this complicated character, but oh my god the words I used in my head for him when I was reading his later not so great choices. But even by my current profession I’m deeply disliking war criminals (which he is). At the same time there are root causes which led him a certain way to be recognized here. And while I despise his choices because I despise this type of violence and conviction, I also think in real world the most effective way to avoid those choices is to address the root causes.
I read the books thinking there was no way someone as stubborn as Katniss would fold and fall in love with the person that was basically forced on her. I identified a lot with Katniss and I know that having someone like Peeta forced on me would only make me want the other person (Gale) more. Her connection to Gale was so much deeper in the books and felt WAY more organic to me than her bond with Peeta. I know that's a highly unpopular opinion in the THG fandom but it's just the way I've always felt. The movies failed to capture what made Katniss and Gale a good pairing that actually made sense. I hate the way Gale is villainized but it's mostly Suzanne's fault for essentially throwing Gale under the bus so Katniss could realistically end up with Peeta.
@@goldrush18xtbh I was kind of hoping she would end up with neither of them when I first read the books in middle school. Peeta felt way too forced and Gale felt more like a family member than a love interest
@@slickmf4634 I always thought best friends to lovers would've been a very natural and inevitable transition for Katniss and Gale had she never been reaped. He did feel like a family member to her but hey, husbands are family members. I've seen some Everlark shippers claim that he couldn't possibly be a romantic option because they "looked related" in the books. Considering Katniss and Gale were seemingly POC in the books, that suggestion feels a bit racist to me. The ending frustrated me for many reasons but one of them being the fact that Katniss was so against having kids and she basically ended up caving and giving Peeta everything he wanted after being pressured for fifteen years. Everlark shippers love to gloss over that detail but best believe it would be treated very differently if Gale was in any way implied to have pressured Katniss into having children. It would be just another reason for him to be villainized.
@@goldrush18x im personally not a fan of any of the ships myself, but thank you so much for calling out the "but they look like siblings!!" argument, it always bothered me the way people use that sentiment a lot when it comes to two characters of similar racial backgrounds possibly being together. I think Gale is a very valid character who needed much more emphasis in the films, his anger is realistic and to be honest it would have been nice to see a redemption with him growing from his ways as hes afforded a better life. People forget that he also grew up in the slums, he also lost a parent, he also is burdened by having to grow up too fast. He was doing for his people what boys are taught is their responsibility to do, it would have been such an interesting lesson to allow Gale to subvert these expectations by instead channeling his destructive energy into something good for his people. His intelligence and his knowledge on machines could have done so much good for his people had it been directed for that but instead he's forced into the role of a soldier and he stays there
It’s been almost a decade since I read the books but I can recall feeling awful after finishing Mockingjay. Realizing that Katniss never “won” anything in a sense, not coming out stronger or better, but survived with so much damage that she’d still have even years later absolutely wrecked me in 7th grade.
I think Jennifer did an incredible job as Katniss. She’s quiet but not timid. You can’t read her expressions, she never attempted to be a spectacle or “put on a brave face” she’s raw and strong something we rarely see especially among female characters. The casting was perfect.
I think for the most part Jennifer Lawrence did an amazing job, but imo there was one issue and that is that Jennifer Lawrence was too charismatic. She naturally projects such strenght and confidence and I think it takes away some of her complexity
and i really loved how collins made it very clear that katniss doesn't act like a hero. She is just a girl who wants to protect her sister at all costs and who is pushed to be the face of the resistance
I think Jennifer Lawrence did a crap job, and for all the reasons you just listed. She fails to capture the emotion of her character. Her expression is unreadable because she doesn't bother being expressive. It's not that she has an icy demeanor, it's that her acting was stiff. She hardly ever captures the fear and trauma of her character. She isn't "raw" or "strong", her character is supposed to be, but she's legitimately just there as a pretty face to star in a big hollywood blockbuster. Katniss as a character isn't emotionless, covered in makeup from the beginning, and just strong because the story needs her to be. She's dirty, emaciated, and has a sturdy frame. She isn't some wooden hollywood prop to just look cool. The movies and her actress made her the very shallow icon that the books had her pretend to be for the capitol's propaganda pieces. It misses the human side of her, and of most of its characters.
Another thing the movies missed was Katniss’ olive skin and Peeta’s disability. Katniss looked different than Prim due to her darker complexion which the movies didn’t represent. Peeta had a metal leg after Katniss saved him. Both these features would’ve been needed in the movies as they add to the characters! Wished we saw that :(
@@sewgeekdesigns9113 Surprisingly, I never picture JLAW as book katniss. Book katniss looks way younger and exactly as described, in my brain. It's really important to remember how young these kids actually look in the story. She's a small, skinny 16 year old. I totally support JLAW wanting to be a realistic looking female role model when it comes to body type. And at least Katniss was decently well-fed due to the hunting.
katniss was always an incredibly deep character and her main goal of protecting prim made me cry on my most recent binge of the series. she spent years trying to keep prim safe and innocent, had to become more aggressive to survive, joined the hunger games which led to her becoming the mockingjay; all for her hard work to be thrown away as prim was killed right in front of her.
Also the implication that Coin planned for Prim to die, as a means to destroy Katniss after she had served her use for her. "For a 13 year old to be allowed to join a military mission, someone with great power had to give permission." (Or something like that). In Katnisses realisation thoughts just before killing Coin. So cold.
@@artatmidnightthank you so much for this! I feel as though people never truly understand how tragic Katniss is. Yes there are characters that suffer a lot too like Finnick and Peeta, but they often ignore or don't mention Katniss or her family. I feel like it's because we see Peeta and Finnick (along with Effie) having personalities which is kinda meta since to survive in THG, you need to be likable. Its like we are falling prey to they very thing we despise the Capitol for
The ending of Mockingjay completely destroyed me. I remember reading it as a teen and feeling traumatised for days myself. I just couldn't accept what had happened and felt so deeply with what Katniss was going through. Even now, when I think back to how I felt reading it, it's such a strong painful feeling. The writing of all three books really puts you in Katniss' shoes and in her world, you feel what she feels so deeply.And you feel so let down, robbed, destroyed, and almost beyond repair in the same way that Katniss does. The book does an excellent job of conveying the finality and irreparability of injustice. Both Katniss and Peeta deserved so much better. I so deeply wished Prim had survived.
Same! I was devastated reading the ending. Even though Katniss and Peeta survive physically, they both have a long ways to go with healing. That and Katniss does her best to shield her children from the neglect her mother had for her (though she just calls them "the girl" and "the boy") while struggling to know how to open up to them about her/Peeta's past. Just so haunting yet hopeful, it moved me.
the moviemakers didn't seem to understand that the lower a character sinks before rising up again, the more rewarding their path to redemption feels to the viewers. people often complain that the ending of mockingjay (the book) is underwhelming b/c all katniss does is return to 12 and live a normal life. but that's the thing, her simply being able to live a normal life is rewarding, b/c in the book, she had to go thru all this trauma before returning to normalcy. it doesn't feel rewarding in the movies, where they cut out her struggles w/ PTSD, drug addiction, and suicidal thoughts.
This was a really good video. I like that you mentioned Katniss' feelings towards Gale were complicated. People like to say it was never going to be Gale, and Gale was always "the worst", but I feel like this take is a disservice to the quality of Susanne's writing. Gale, just like Peeta and Katniss is a product of trauma. Gale is angry and hurt and as the saying goes "hurt people, hurt people". Was Gale right in his thinking? No, I'm not condoning war crimes. HOWEVER, starving, being the provider for your family from a young age, watching children get slaughtered annually, etc. would not make you the soundest thinker. Just as you said, Katniss IS like Gale. Except unlike Katniss, Gale didn't have anyone other than Katniss. Once Katniss was exposed to more people, she was able to work on her anger. Peeta gave Katniss emotional support. Effie showed her that Capitol citizens aren't pure evil, some are just oblivious. Haymitch showed her tough love and nuances of life in Panem. Cinna showed the fatherly love and protective spirit she needed. Even Boggs had a hand in helping her. All these people helped her from letting that angry traumatized person get worse. Gale is like the guy that never left his dead end town. And gets involved in all the wrong things because he feels like those are his only options. And the moment Gale gets support its people that want to harness his anger for their bidding. Also not saying Gale didn't voluntarily do the things he did. But just saying if you see an angry person punching the air, the last thing you need to do it give them a bomb. And that’s what I feel Coin and Plutarch did. I just feel Gale deserves a lot more depth than people tend to give him.
A very spot on analysis of Gale, and honestly a very realistic person we’ve all likely encountered. I empathize greatly with his grief, but as you said he needed to process it in way that didn’t become the unbridled anger we were shown in the books. But gosh did it still make him a great read! 😭 ❤️
I don't think Gale is portrayed as purely wrong in the books. Yes, Katniss is repelled by some of his ideas but she also struggles with the question wether he is right about the necesity. I think Gale as a character in the 3rd book poses the question to what extend the end justifies the means. Which is a though call in such a war situation. In the end, Katniss does disagree with him. He does take things too far. But he is also emphathised with, being the one that has witnessed district 12 being burned to the ground.
As someone who can relate to some of Katniss trauma (although her trauma is much more severe), the protecting of a younger sibling can be a way of coping, its like nurturing a light and hope like you said, and it can help to distract from inner turmoil and latch on to a purpose. Obviously the protectiveness also comes from genuine love but i think trauma also comes to play in some way for Katniss.
i also think sometimes caring for and protecting another, especially a sibling, is almost like getting to give yourself the care and protection you didn't receive (that led to your own trauma). not sure if i explained that right but yeah, i totally agree with you!!
Honestly the way Katniss was so traumatized repeatedly and lost so much but still in the end wanted to live and remember is so inspiring. I think a lot of people who have ptsd or cptsd like myself are so terrified of having kids or living "normal or happy" that we don't consider it an option because we're too damaged or broken and we'll mess it up.
It's so true. I had childhood trauma that messed me up badly, but I also had kids because I was raised to think that was my only option. I encouraged my kids never to have kids though, because I recognize the trauma that got passed along to them, and I'd really like this messed up bloodline to end. We can devote ourselves to helping other families have better lives. We have no obligation to keep risking our own patterns of neglect and ruined psychology on babies with nobody but us to care for them. Sometimes it's better to be an occasional blessing in another family's life and keep our PTSD trauma flashbacks to ourselves alone in our house where nobody but us has to suffer through them.
I often think about the epilogue and how it really wasn't, to me, a happy ending... She still carried damage... The movies really didn't deliver that for me
@@blueyeshadow2738 I guess! I was never into the HG fandom, loved the books but I never went deep into fandom, but my controversial opinion, not sure if people had an opinion about this lmao, is that she only had her children and family bc she felt that was what Peeta deserved, not something she primarily wanted for herself. Truly an amazing ending and character
@@SignorinaBelI disagree that katniss made the choice for peeta, remember in the first book she said she would never have kids because of the games...and it ending with her having kids means although she doesn't have perfect peace, there is enough that she felt comfortable bring new life into her world.
@@SignorinaBelkatniss has never done anything she didn’t want to even for Peeta though she loves him. She had said many times throughout the books that she would never children in that world because of the games but Suzanne showed her maternal instincts through rue and prim and her being able to have children is because she finally feels safe in the world she lives in. I feel like making that choice about Peeta reduces her journey and her autonomy
I think a huge point to her decision of the triangle was how the boys evolved into the third book. Gale’s quest for more revenge actually got Prim killed with that one bomb that wounds then goes off again when people come to help. Peeta was brainwashed but despite this was trying his best. It also is interesting how at the very end, finally losing Prim was the thing that actually made her do a crazy rebellious plan to earn Coins trust then shoot her instead of Snow because she would have been just as bad and made the reverse Hunger Games.
I'm so happy with this video, i feel like a lot of people reduce these books and Katniss herself to a "love triangle" too much (mind you, the promotion of the movies kinda fell on that too) but both the books and Katniss are greatly written in my opinion and i need more analysis of them like this! Thanks for this
I’m really happy to see this video because in the hunger games fandom, we have this conversation a lot, who’s the most traumatized? Everybody always says it’s some combination of Finnick, Joanna, Haymitch, and Peeta. It always makes me sad how nobody ever considers Katniss’s trauma for even a second. She is such a kind person, and she cares about others even when they don’t care about her. Child neglect in her past means that she can’t fathom that other people would love and want to care for her. She has humongous abandonment issues and she doesn’t understand how to express her feelings correctly. She disregards her feelings and hurts herself so entirely to help people who treat her terribly, especially during Mockingjay. She beats herself up about every single death that she may be responsible for, and she spends most of the books believing that she is the worst person when she is so good. This one line from the movie always makes me so mad. It’s when Haymitch says “in a million lifetimes you could never deserve that boy.” I think that Madge, Peeta, Rue, and Primrose are the only people who come even close to deserving her.
I think Haymitch just underestimates Peeta at this point. To be with a person as damaged as Katniss is a challenge. She is not good. Yes, she has a strong moral but only for people near to her. She is unpredictable and even cruel at times. Her empathy bursts out and is not a consistent characteristic. She is disconnected from herself. Haymitch thinks Peeta with his - seemingly - happy goes lucky attitude deserves a simple, lucky girl. But his empathy and deep understanding of her trauma makes him the perfect friend for her. I actually would have preferred a strong platonic relationship because in a certain way the epilogue felt like he took advantage of her. But when I read it I was in a strong „Why ends everyone in a romantic relationship?“ phase.
@@Siures I don't think Peeta took advantage of her. Do you remember how Katniss said that she would never become a mother because the life she would bring into the world would always be under threat by the cruel world they lived in? The Hunger Games was an example of that. The fact that she had children, symbolises that she feels safer than before, otherwise she would not have had children. Also, I don't feel as if Peeta would have forced her to have children just because he wanted them, everything described about him in the books is nothing close to selfish, he primarily just wants them to be happy, if possible. This was a long message and I don't know if you read it all, but thank you for reading if you did and I hope you have a nice day :)
@@doldfamily9983 I only said it FELT like it for me. I actually do not think it is in character for him. As I said: Simply prefer not to let everything end in a romantic relationship, especially if it is so complex as between Peeta and Katniss. And Katniss was soo broken at the end that the cut to her being a mother in a - kind of - traditional relationship felt... strange. Has nothing to do with her wanting kids in the beginning or not. Maybe a chapter with short texts of her life in between would have solves this problem for me.
@@Siures Oh, okay. I understand. I've just seen stuff on the topic I was talking about before and assumed you were talking about the same thing, sorry for the presumption. I personally think that the jump from the last chapter to the beginning of the epilogue felt quite natural because it always felt like she was the same person, it was just time and safety that had changed drastically. But it would be nice to have some fill-ins for the development of District 12, Katniss and Peeta, then the complexity of it all would have a better pay-off for you. There is a fanfiction by @igsygrace. It's not really the same thing as canon but her writing is really good and it covers that time period. If that's not your thing... I don't really know what to say after that, but imagine the developments that feel most natural for you.
Katniss not only has PTSD, she has almost textbook complex PTSD (CPTSD) as well as parentification trauma. As someone who has been in a constant, traumatic environment instead of a single event or series of events, Katniss shows many of the symptoms of CPTSD; difficulty controlling her emotions, avoiding friendships and relationships, and experiencing dissociative symptoms such as depersonalization or derealization. Even before the games she was in a constant loop of trauma, the Games only compounded that. She experienced parentification at age 11 when she had to take on the role of mother and father. Prior to this she struggled, but had stability in her home. But losing her father is the turning point for everything. Because of her parentification trauma Katniss hasn't been able to develop a clear sense of her own needs and feelings. She finds it hard to trust others or to form healthy intimate relationships. It isn't until the epilogue that she has had any opportunity to heal from both of these things. Peeta offers her the support needed to start that healing, something that Gale would not be able to do. Suzanne Collins was able to weave Katiniss's trauma into every fiber of her personality in a way that feels organic. Unless you are looking for it and have the emotional maturity to see it she comes off only as harsh and angry. Rereading the series as an adult I am able to see the patterns of this and it makes me even more impressed with how much Collins was able to pour into her characters.
It’s 1 am I’m reading your comment and literally just screamed: “yes! Parentification!!!” lol I read these years before my first try in therapy and didn’t know what patentification and losing a parent (at war no less) while the other one is kinda unavailable emotionally does to you. But o remember relating to Katniss SO HARD. No joke, I projected my whole self into that character. I didn’t know why then but she was just like me from page one. Movies were okay, but I was missing so hard this inner depth they didn’t show.
@@TesisI'm sorry that you had to survive that and I hope you are in a better place now ❤ Having experienced parentification and CPTSD myself as a child/teen I know the effort it takes to heal from that kind of trauma. I felt connected to Katniss for the same reasons you mentioned. Her trauma felt *real*, like I was looking at a dystopian mirror of myself. A lot (most) of YA books don't show that part of a character's personality; either because the author isn't comfortable writing it or because it's considered too adult for the genre. I really wish more books written for that age group allowed their characters - especially of it is in a dystopian or darker setting - to have this kind of introspection. Trauma doesn't go away because the good guys win. I think The Hunger Games trilogy was the first time I was able to experience that in written media.
If you haven’t already, you should check out Cinema Therapy’s video about Katniss and complex PTSD. They echo a lot of what you said here and it’s really fascinating to see just how good of a representation of CPTSD Katniss is (though I worry about Suzanne Collins that she’s able to write PTSD so accurately…)
@@TheOtherBoobJustDropped I absolutely *love* Cinema Therapy! Their deep dives into the psychology of a character/psychological themes and how it is conveyed through the medium of film is fantastic.
How can you have forgotten how devastating the Mockingjay book is? The entire book is Katniss going from a bad situation, to an even worse one. She spends most of the book in the hospital. It's so incredibly dark and it's my favorite, at least of the 3 original books.
Would also like to point out that Katniss saying that singing isn’t used to survive is super interesting given Lucy Gray Bairds use of singing as a tactic to will people over!
She also associated singing with her dad, and then later was singing as a way to cope, at least what I assume was cope when she was isolated in that room after witnessing prims death
I had honestly forgotten how traumatic and depressing Mockingjay was, especially towards the last few chapters. I just remember being in a sad state for about a week after finishing the book, and only being able to pin my dissatisfaction with the ending on the fact that Prim was killed. Now that I'm older, I realize that Suzanne Collins just wanted to portray the brutality of war and its lingering effects as realistically as possible. And yes, while the books were extremely good, I do think the movies actually did a wonderful job honoring the source material with the constraints of making feature films palatable enough for a young audience. Far too many stories don't get the same treatment when being adapted for the silver screen.
I think part of it, too, is that Katniss is the first person to resist the capital successfully on national television. The viewers in the districts, see her as an ordinary person, not a superhero. It gives them hope, because if she can beat the capital, maybe they can. Snow told (Heavensbee? Crane?) that hope is the most dangerous thing of all.
I just read ballad of songbirds and snakes and reread the hunger games- something that frustrates me about their respective movie adaptations is the lack of food shown! we’re with katniss and snow for nearly every meal they have, and witness how much of their thoughts revolve around finding food and worrying about having enough. the mental calculations they do reveal so much about their motivations and it’s lost in the movie. this could also be an interesting conversation surrounding the hierarchy of needs- where katniss is trying to fulfill her physiological and safety needs, snow is trying to fulfill those as well as his esteem needs. he knows what it’s like to have enough food and wants to solely focus on bettering his social standing. he’s worried about his family having enough money to eat… to live up to the snow name. there’s so much to say about that book and so much to analyze, and I feel like people aren’t doing it! lol. thanks for this video, it was great!
I think ultimately the Hunger Games is an example of how different mediums are better suited at different things. As you said, the books are able to better delve into character POVs in ways that a film medium simply isn’t ever going to be able to with the same level of depth. In the same vein though, I think the films are able to create visuals in powerfully resonating ways that imagining it from page itself might not be able to really convey.
Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen is easily one of the greatest casting choices of all time. On par with Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man and Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool. Just irreplaceable, can't imagine anyone else as Katniss other than Jennifer
She goes through the games all for her sister goes through the trauma of killing other kids only for her sister to die from an explosion in front of her because of the women she was fight for… she volunteers for her sister not to die only for her to die during the revolution.
And that is exactly what Suzanne Collins wanted you to feel. She wanted to showcase the brutality of war, of it's senselessness. War kills innocents for no rhyme or reason
Yes, but she didn't have the resilience to keep on like Gale's mother did. You really can become paralyzed in a world of sadness, especially in the face of unrelenting stress.
not just emotionally but physically too, prioritizing her love for her husband over literally everything else. she was too deep in depression to care whether her own kids, with her husband who she loved, lived or died
The book does a better job of reflecting how like her own mother she became, at the end when Katniss was catatonic from losing Prim. She lost the will to live or care for herself, even to eat or bathe. She would not have recovered if others hadn't been there to care for her. It was Peeta bringing her a primrose flower that somehow sparked a flicker of life in her again. Peeta returned to district 12 to care for Katniss. Gale stayed away, and built a life for himself doing whatever he considered more important. That's why Peeta was the one she couldn't survive without. He was the only one who could still touch even a flicker of hope in her, and was devoted to her enough to do it.
I know this video is supposed to be about the first book only, but one of my favorite parts in Mockingjay is the conversation Katniss overhears between Gale and Peeta. Because Peeta is still hijacked at this point but it really showcases where each of the characters' mindset was. While Peeta and Katniss are concerned about how they're going to survive this situation and finish the war, Gale is still primarily concerned with who Katniss is going to end up with. Mockingjay really highlights the absolute trauma that Katniss and Peeta were left with after the Games and in the events following all of that. And while they're all teenagers who had to grow up too fast, Katniss and Peeta are worried about bigger things than their love life. Which showcases how Gale just truly didn't understand Katniss even after everything they went through.
I'm only halfway through this video and already awed by your observations and analysis. Katniss is an incredibly complex and layered character and this essay explores her characterisation wonderfully.
I know this was only talked about for a split second, but I think the names of the characters actually make a lot of sense. Their names have a lot of cultural/regional references and some characters are named after something that describes who they are as a character and possibly their fate. It makes sense that they wouldn’t have what we would call “traditional names.” The hunger games is set in a futuristic dystopian society that has long been separated from the world we currently know, so the way they name children is different, especially because people in the districts most likely do not have resources like a baby name book. So to look for names, they look at what is around them and their culture. Katniss, living in the poorest and one of the most rural districts (12), is named after a plant. This plant is important because it provides a source of food for those who are starving. Her father even says this “as long as you can find yourself you will never go hungry.” Her sister’s name is Primrose, which is also a plant. Peeta is named after bread; his parents are bakers. While this name may be sorta odd to us, it makes sense in this context. The bread they make provides them a living and meals. (It’s safe to assume his brothers also have bread or grain like names, or names that are earthy or old) Gale is defined as “a very strong wind” but I did some research and there is a plant called “sweet gale” that can be found in North America, especially in the north and northeast, which is close to where 12 is located. Many other names throughout the series supports this idea. Rue, Thresh, Cedar, and Chaff, the tributes from district 11 in the 74th and 75th games all have names that are significant to their district and the culture that surrounds it. Rue= a type of plant Thresh= a type of bird (thrush) or the act of separating grain from (a plant). Seeder= could be the type of tree (cedar) or a machine used to seed fields. Chaff= either husks of corn or chopped hay/straw that is used as fodder We can also see this with the tributes of district 1: Glimmer, Marvel, Cashmere, and Gloss. All of these names are fancy sounding names, reflecting their district’s production of luxury goods. Even the Capitol had its own culture around names, even if it wasn’t explicitly stated. Many capitol-born characters have these eccentric names that reflect the eccentric lives they live, and if it’s not about their eccentric lives, it is about their status. Coriolanus Snow, Tigris, Effie Trinket, Clemensia Dovecote, Flavius, Caesar Flickerman, etc. There are some names that don’t fit this exact naming trend, but these names are “old sounding” names that may have been passed down family names, or names found in books that may still exist. (I don’t know if books are uncommon in the districts, I didn’t find any info about it lol. These names include Johanna, Annie, Alma, Mags. Anyway, I think the names in the series are very fitting and reflect the separate cultures that have formed due to the strict separation of these groups of people. It’s also really cool to think about. I really liked your video and thought it had really good commentary on Katniss’s character!
I think it's funny how Katniss, whose name sounded so odd to me the first time I heard it, remarked in the book how odd Glimmer and Marvel's names sounded to her. She really said "ugh!" over it. She had similar baffled distaste over the makeup and glamor and accent of the Capitol. Something I've never seen pointed out is that in the book it's specifically stated that Katniss comes from Appalachia, and hears "the cadences of home" in Haymitch's voice. Her Appalachian accent is never portrayed. My impression is that The Capitol isn't really as over-the-top as the movies portray. It's just us, the way we are in America today, wearing makeup and tattoos and looking and sounding very odd to deep country mountain folk who never wear makeup and consider a nice dress to be a lifetime luxury. Even wedding gowns tend to be worn by dozens or hundreds of girls, not just one. The blue dress her mother lent her for the Reaping is mentioned as being very precious to her. I always felt kinda bad that it got lost on the train and probably never returned. But then again, kids in the reaping were sent wearing their best clothes as a way of having them dressed for their own funerals, in the terrifying chance they were chosen.
I always thought it to be remarkable that Katniss was kind of popular at school and in 12 in general. Peeta tells her that everyone kind of looked up to her or envied her, because of her hunting skills, her fearlessness of going and trading at the hob and her relationship to (handsome and older) Gale. Love how she won't further think about it , although surprised by the info, because it would just be a waste of recourses: her time and braincells lol she rationalizes the people in 12 being nice to her by saying they respected her father or liked Prim ( the hob willing to trade, peetas father, I mean even his mother respected Katniss before the games etc.) She just can't see herself in their eyes and never will. I think the only person who really gets her 'twisted' nature is Haymitch, still he loves her because Katniss really... isn't wicked at all. Her straight up oblivion to her popularity makes her even more attractive imo, like that otherworldly, 'out of reach' type of girl. It's kind of sad though because she doesn't intend to be that way, it seems she's just naturally intriguing, it's an important part of what kept her alive but also what pushed her into the leader path full of loss and trauma.
I never made the connection between “Peeta” and “Pita” (bread). I always associated it with a colloquial pronunciation of “Peter”, meaning “rock”… because Peeta was (other than when he was hijacked) in many ways Katniss’ rock in the storm. Who knows, maybe Collins meant it to have a double-meaning?
In an interview, Suzanne Collins said she came up with the name because she was watching a lot of Family Guy and after a while of hearing Louise say "Peter," it started to sound like "Peeta."
@@JulietteVeronica1201LMAO whether or not this is true, when i first heard the name “peeta” that’s exactly what i thought of since i’ve never really heard that name in my life, so i always imagined the characters saying his name as peter but with a heavy accent. i’ve gotten used to it though as i think of it as pita bread like other ppl say are there interviews uploaded on here where she said this?
While I love these movies with my entire heart, it is pretty hard to express the internal complexity of a character who’s depth is shown a lot in her inner monologue 😭😭😭 I think they did a fantastic job though, love the channel
the same with tbosas, we lose context for snow's character too, like how the mockingjays were disgusting to him because its "unnatural" and he didnt like the idea of something district and something capitol coming together
This was genuinely the best analysis on Katniss and her two romantic relationships that I have ever watched. I've never seen anyone explain so succinctly why Peeta was, indeed, the correct choice, and your reflection on their relationship helped me realize what I myself might truly need in a partner. Thank you.
ableism in hollywood was a huge reason for the missing context, i doubt they just “forgot” the fact that katniss was deaf, disfigured, and borderline catatonic by the end, or that peeta lost his leg. these things just weren’t “pretty” enough for the big screen. it’s so disappointing, as they could’ve been not only a deeper message about war and how ugly and brutal it is, but also been a bit of representation for people who also are disfigured or have disabilities like deaf people and amputees.
Yes - all of this. While I'm glad they didn't use a Twilight-esque voiceover to make Katniss's thoughts known, her inner world is almost completely cut out (along with tons of seemingly minute but world building details). Her sarcasm, cynicism, protectiveness, and empathy rounds her out instead of her either being a blank slate or a poor archetype.
I recently found out I have CPTSD, and rewatching the movies I have a new perspective. Katniss really speaks to me as a character, I feel her pain and I understand why she is the way she is. It's funny that a lot of what you said the movie doesn't portray enough, I still felt it from her character given my personal context on trauma.
understanding how traumatized katniss was changed my understanding of her character so much as a child. but also, viewing her through an autistic lense also changed a lot for me
I think the movies did their best to portray the complexity of Katniss and other characters motivations. I think it would really depend on the viewers age and understanding of certain topic. I remember when I first watched I couldn’t really understand some of it but I knew I liked 😂 but I recently rewatched it and I understood everything (symbolism, why she didn’t want to be friends with Gale, why she killed coin, etc.)which made the film more impactful.
I find it annoying how a lot of people don’t like katniss’ character, because they think she’s simply a character that’s “not like most girls”. When in fact she’s actually quite a well written and human character. I’ve never read the books but even through the moves I think Jennifer Lawrence did her character extremely well and I was able to pick up character details.
this whole book series is so well written, it deserves to be remade into a tv show with possibly multiple seasons. & this time they need to show katniss' darker skin tone & peeta's prosthetic leg!
this was an amazing video. i saw the movie when it came out (all of them) but hadn't read the book until last year. the book was so amazing (haven't gotten to mockingjay yet) and i loved it a lot more than the movie, and i loved the movie. it was the only movie that had a lot of death in it that i would watch over and over when i was younger. one thing that really got me was when katniss volunteers and her family comes in to say goodbye, she doesn't even say goodbye to them. instead, she is giving them orders in case she doesn't comeback. she is planning for their survival when this is her last chance to ever see them again. i think the only reason she hugged prim was because prim was inconsolable. and i think the best thing about the world in relation to katniss' character is that, even if katniss volunteers for her now, prim could just be in the games after this. i thought it was a really good scene haha
I will forever shout from the hills that Catching Fire is the greatest book to film adaptation of all time. It's SO to the book. The script is lifted straight from the book with VERY few changes. But yes, Katniss was never going to be a perfect film heroine because of how internally calculating she is in the book. But I guess that gives us access to seeing how the Capitol saw her more than how she saw herself. Both medias played to their strengths and I think that's why it's such a successful series.
I love Katniss. She had to step up before even going to the Games, and her strength is her shield, but it's also her burden. She didn't choose to be the figurehead of a revolution, she just wanted her sister safe. Great video!
i think this is the first THG video I've seen that actually has a nuanced look at gale's character and his importance in katniss' life rather than just the creator talking about how much they personally dislike him
I can’t even tell you how much I loved this video. one of my favourite things in the world is the psychology behind books and well written characters. it’s almost magic when you are able to see it and find the reason behind their every action in your mind. it’s soooo interesting and beautiful. I never quite understood every corner of Katniss, so truly thank you so much
This video made me want to read the books. I always felt like I wasn't gonna like them because of the action packed scenes in the film but they seem to touch on a lot of emotional aspects based on your point of view. Loved the video!
You definitely have to read the books. I recommend them to everyone, young or older because they are just "kid" or "teen" books. They can resonate with anyone, any age
As an A-level psychology student, hearing Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs in a film essay video fills me with glee. I wish more channels would apply psychological theories to their stuff. Anyways I'm hooked.
@3:51 The resentment Katniss feels towards her mother for abandoning her always hits so close to home. My demon wasnt starvation, it was my abusive dad.
Another thing to mention about Katniss's beliefs and actions re:rebellion is that, in her own words, "who hasn't broken the law?" The book describes how the Peacekeepers buy game off her and shop in the underground market. Not even they, the local embodiment of the Capitol itself, care about following the Capitol's rules. The mayor buys strawberries off her. The highest people in power in the district willingly ignore or actively support people like Katniss and Gale breaking the law. Them going outside the fence and hunting isn't rebellious, it's the norm for district 12. That's part of what makes her so compelling as a face of the rebellion. Like you said, she's not doing it to get revenge on the Capitol. She's literally just trying to keep her sister safe. She isn't even trying to stay alive, it's all for Prim. Which makes her death even more tragic.
Going outside the fence isn't the norm, it's extremely unusual. Most people are terrified of the predators in the woods, even Peeta. Breaking the law for most people involves nothing more strenuous than shopping at the hob, or being silent when told to applaud Katniss volunteering. It's all they can do. The peacekeepers and Mayor indulging in illegal spoils, as long as the "criminals" involved aren't too openly rebellious about it, reminds me of many systems set up for the privileged class to benefit from exploiting the poor. The laws criminalizing those behaviors exist for control, not elimination of the behaviors. They give an excuse for the law to kill anyone they want, whenever they want. So people break the laws very quietly, and full of shame, knowing the risk to themselves and their families. They don't call attention to their lawbreaking or incite rebellion because that would get too many people killed. That's the whole point. Even Plutarch Heavensbee in District 13 complains that there isn't any side action to get forbidden treats like coffee "for the upper classes". He didn't imagine a world where laws would pertain to himself or others used to privilege.
About Peeta's name - my assumption while reading the books was that Peeta was supposed to be named Peter, but he lives in a society that does not value literacy, so all that's left is the vague sound of the name. His parents might not have known that the name means "rock" but that's what Peeta turns out to be, whereas Gale is a storm through and through
I read the books a decade ago and Katniss never left my mind. Upon listening to the audiobooks this year I was in a pool of tears. The end of Mockingjay where Katniss has lost everything was devastating to THE CORE. This is a horrifying cautionary tale.
With all this knowledge, I now need a deep dive into how similar Snow and Katniss really are. Snow was raised in the Capital and Katniss was raised in District 12, but their childhood and teen years are so similar. Survival, acting a part, protecting family, and probably so much more.
Idc what anyone says, the scene where katniss sings the hanging tree and the rebellion follows suit with bombs on the forest floor and the attack of the dam is one of my favorite moments in any movie ever. Definitely my favorite in this series. It absolutely slapped. That scene alone bumped it up in my ranking of the films
I watch a lot of these breakdowns from different content creators because, as a writer, I love to see how audiences interpret ideas. This is my research as an author. That being said, I have to said this breakdown is one of the better ones I've watched (and I've watched many). Not only do you have a great speaking voice, but you dive deeper than surface value. I really think you should keep going with these Hunger Games analysis. There is A LOT to unpack in this entire series. Sussanne Collins is one of my favorite writers. I think I've read this series at least 3 times and watched the movies 3 times as much. Keep up the good work! You have a new subscriber in me! 😀
I cannot tell how fast I CONSUMED this book series right after I first saw the first trailer for the first movie. And to this day, it is still one of my favorite book series for young adults/teenagers. The movie adaptation was really good considering what we were having by the time about book adaptations, and im really glad it exists. Also, i will always be team Peeta, he is absolutely wholesome and IMO Katniss is really far from deserving him, even by the end.
Similar for me . I believe I saw the first movie and then I had so many questions. I remember putting a post on Facebokk saying.. so did Katnkss pretend to love Peeta or did she actually love him? And thar question alone made me go read tbe books. And I read them and re-read them so many times over the years. And I recommend them to anyone, they are amazing books
She never thought she deserved him. But he loved her all his life since he was 5, and it wasn't a choice for him. It was part of who he was. And retaining his sense of self included retaining his love and devotion for Katniss. That's why he returned to care for her when she was catatonic, while Gale found other things to do.
Finally some good analysis! There are hundreds of UA-camrs who have “analysis channels” where they only spout their opinions without any proper analysis. Thank you for such a great video! And if you’d like, I would love an analysis of Katniss trauma in the last book, especially since everyone glosses over how she became catatonic after killing coin, like she walked it off or something, when it is crucial that a 17 year old whose life depends on survival tries to kill herself by not eating.
I feel so extremely validated by this video essay -- you've pointed out things about Katniss that I've always believed and have always been kinda disappointed that no one ever really seems to talk about. Thank you for this~ great job!
Yes she starts with the trauma of abandonment basically where she had to get parentified to survive and save her family. Not to this extreme extent but I relate to this and I related so hard during these books with her. Like I felt it could have been me. It was do uncanny. My sister was born just a few years prior to me reading these and I was kinda playing a role of a mom towards her in a lot of ways - I felt that love and dedication to her safety when I read Katniss’ to Prim. So oh my god I think I had to pause reading for a day when Prim died. I was so inconsolable. Seriously. It was like “SHE DID ALL THIS ONLY FOR HER SISTER TO DIE, like what is the point of all of this crap???? What was the POINT.” I was so upset 😅 I think I kind of projected that whole thing into myself Anyway, I always loved how devastatingly the story and Katniss were written. Btw I also lost my father to war and my mother and I had to move to a different country away from war. So that also created this uncanny connection.
istg i got flashbacks of tht brief period of time people were trying to decide on shipnames and katniss/peeta was peeniss before they landed on everlark
dang, i would’ve said katta which is also pretty stupid, but i do remember seeing peeniss somewhere and it was pretty funny. forgot it was hunger games that came up w that
I remember loving the Hunger games. I loved finally finding a complex character to relate to that wasn’t for a lack of a better word just vanilla. Loved her “unique” way of thinking and bending things to her need and/or her not understanding the need for acting for survival. Taught me a lot loved it 10/10
This was the most insightful, thorough, and thought-provoking analysis I've seen of one of my all-time favorite book series. I have craved something like this ever since I first read them more than a decade ago. I've never been able to fully explain why these books are so much more than the typical YA dystopia, but you nailed it. Thank you, and I look forward to watching more of your videos!
If you do another one, I’d like to see a discussion of hunger in the Hunger Games. I was very surprised at Katniss in the film refusing food where in the book she was eating as much as she could without making herself sick.
Katniss was always going to be a difficult character to adapt to the silver screen because of how cerebral she is, but I do think it was possible; however, I don’t think the movies accomplished that, and the reason is pretty obvious. So much of Katniss’s psyche is a twisted ball of creeping dread and anxiety that gnaws her from the inside out. An adaptation that managed to capture that feeling of creeping dread would’ve been a lot better at portraying her, but the movies focus a lot more on the action, and her character suffers as a result.
I think it would have been a good addition to the movies to have her do an interview throughout the movies. Especially the first one, since she's alone for most of it, we really just get action sequences with weird effects. Doing an interview/action style movie, a bit like a documentary could have been great. And interview catniss would be old catniss from after the revolution (when she's processed a part of her trauma... could even bith with a psychiatrist or Natalie dormer's character)
I love these vids❤. I think meeting Rue changed Katniss for life too. I remember reading that vividly in the books like “She was like Prim but not Prim. Prim was safe back in District 12. Rue was here and dying.” It was like she just realized tributes die, when a tribute became close to her other than Peeta.
I'm just here procrastinating from my work and uni projects, but this was SUCH a good video essay. You really quite beautifully and in detail put into words waht I was feeling and thinking when I'd read the books. The story is very intricate and the movies are great, but there were some moments in them that I did not understand no matter how many times I watched them - not until I read the books. You can see so much more character in ... the characters.., and you get all the reasoning / backstory for them. Thank you for this analysis, 's very interesting and educational. And well-made!
Seeing kindness as a debt is so too true. Even when it shouldn't be. Growing up, my family was by no means in poverty or anywhere at all comparable to the living conditions of Prim and Katniss, but things like going out to dinner on a whim, just because it felt like a good night to go out for dinner, that was a foreign concept to me. When friends in high school offered to take me out for dinner, I felt like I was either committing theft or accepting a debt whenever I didn't immediately decline the offer, even before we reached the restaurant! Looking back, I see that my friends were willing to pay for my food because they were willing to pay for me to be present, because they wanted me to be there, even if it costed them some money that they could easily afford from their allowance. I just wish I had more context and realized I could say yes without breaking the bank back home
I have always felt that if you haven’t read the books you don’t fully understand what is happening. Especially to Katniss. I feel the same way about a ballad of songbirds and snakes. Without that inner monologue you can’t fully understand why they are acting the way they are.
I thought I knew everything about these books, and you still gave me new insights! Thank you so much. It's the best analysis I've ever seen! I do hope for a Part Two, because there is still so much to unpack about deeper details, like Katniss' Appalachian accent, the Capitol fashions being exaggerated for the sake of American audiences, and Peeta's devotion to Katniss being so much a part of who he is, that he cannot leave her even after being hijacked, even when she is catatonic. And how disdainful Katniss feels not only at the Capitol for their shallowness, but also for other districts who name their children ridiculous things like "Glimmer". And the prep team who seem so self-centered that even deaths in the Arena become all about how THEY felt seeing it while getting their eyebrows waxed. And yet her unique ability to empathize even with these people she despises, realizing that had her own life been different she may have become just like them. And how much like her mother she was in her grief, though she never admitted to being anything like her mother in any way. And why the heck were we never given the names of Katniss' parents? (Which I think was because we're supposed to think of ourselves as Katniss, and to us our own parents have no names beyond "Mom" and "Dad".) And how children were sent to the Reaping in their best clothes "to look good for the Capitol", but really to look their best if that's their funeral.
i just got to reading the books (ik im VERY late to the party) but your point about her lack of self esteem reminded me of page 91 of the book when Peeta says “She has no idea. The effect she can have” and Katniss refused to believe that it was a compliment. your reference to her hierarchy of needs perfectly makes sense to me, especially when looking at the contrast of how she grew up vs how Peeta did.
I will never tire of this series. The books are phenomenal and this video really showcase how the films ( as good as they may be) cannot do it justice entirely. If you haven’t read the books do yourself a favor and READ them. Even with spoilers , it’s still a tremendous read ! .great video! *also love your narration! So fun to listen to! Can’t wait for more videos! 🥳
27:58 I only saw the films myself. And I didn't finish with the feeling of "happy ending, everything is perfect." I felt melancholy. It was a good ending in the face of so many worse odds, because they managed to defeat the villain. But trauma cannot be denied. If I ended up feeling melancholic and a little depressed with the films, I imagine what it will be like when I read the books😓
i know is very out of nowhere, but i wanted to say how much i LOVE your videos! someway you're always talking about something i have so much interest for and you still speak in such a smart and direct way, you're one of the best channels i've seen!! much love and success for you💗💗
This is one of my favorite stories, and this video really makes me apreciate it even more. I really love how you analice the story and make really good conclucions about it. Thank you
So glad that the hunger games resurgence has come with more character analysis videos like these! I live for any commentary about this series, especially character studies. Thank you!
so anyway are you team peeta or team gale
peeta like cmon
team peeta obviii
Team Katniss Goes to Therapy
Team Peeta. 100%
Team Katniss
I didn't realise until I was older that Katniss likely has PTSD due to her horrible childhood, long before the Games. She has difficulty trusting people, which is why she thinks that Peeta is lying when he says that he's in love with her, experiences frequent night terrors, anger, impulsiveness, and fails to relate to other people.
they gloss over her pre-existing trauma in the movies, but it is so important to understanding her character. her story is a lot sadder than people realize :(
@@artatmidnight Katniss is Native American or a Latina. Jennifer Lawrence played her well but in today's climate she'd be played by Jenna Ortega. But I'd prefer a Native American actress.
Or you know, because men will fake emotional intimacy to get sexual favors and then abandon you because “they lost feelings” can confirm that by my experiences
@@suezcontours6653why do you say that? I don’t see any clue in the books that she was either of thise ethnicities
@@suezcontours6653 In the books she says she has olive skin, which can be a caucasian physical trait.
I remember reading Mockingjay and being floored by how psychologically damaged Katniss was, and the bravery of Susan Collins to write a main protagonist with such intense mental trauma. Katniss’s perspective can sometimes be jarring to read because she’s so unhinged. She constantly contemplates suicide and cannot seek inner peace no matter how hard she tries. I remember the last chapter of the book, Katniss rots away in a chair, unwilling to eat, sleep or do anything. It’s a rather depressing ending but so integral to Katniss’s arc and the overall message of the story. There are no winners in war. Katniss had to sacrifice her sanity and innocence for the sake of revolution. It’s rather sad really.
I was too young to catch a lot of this the first time I read through the books, but just finished listening to all three (and the Ballad). "Jarring" is the only word I can think of to describe Katniss after [major spoiler at the end of the war]'s death. I mean, I was rattled by it happening, but I was genuinely just staring at the wall in shock as Katness unraveled. She'd been unraveling for a long time and you could feel her increasingly holding on by a thread and how dire her mental health was getting, but that final fall killed me.
She was just a girl trying her best to survive. Coin wanted to get Peeta out of the arena because he was a better speaker and would be easier to use. Katness' traumatized eyes saw Coin as a mirror image of Snow very early on, I think, but it took until that final moment when the hunger games threatened to continue for her to trust and finalize that understanding of Coin, that everything that haunted her would just keep coming back if both Snow and Coin weren't put down.
She was used by everyone, and feared by those that used her because her motivations and her trauma made her different from others they were controlling. Katness' circumstances gave her fame and power she didn't know how to wield, her experiences made her reactive and untrusting. It's a dangerous combination for a girl, and both Snow and Coin paid for it I think.
I was sobbing when the cat came back and Katness started feeling again. The severe depression, the panic attacks, were so familiar, the end was so realistic that it was haunting. I can't remember the last time a book pulled so much compassion out of me.
I'm shocked these are young adult books. They're so haunting and real that my respect for their author has gone up immensely, enough that I want to try to write characters like her.
And don't get me started on The Ballad...
Sorry to be this person but it’s Suzanne
Peeta too, they were both so destroyed psychologically I remember thinking there was no way these movies wouldn’t be incredibly hard to watch.
She works for the CIA an comes from a CIA family Susan Collins so she knows all about trauma these books were explicitly written for a reason
Just want to point out that though the book show how katniss suffers from ptsd and the consequences of the war, the finale is also hopeful, that it is possible to grow, overcome and get better, which i think its important. We are never truly “broken”, we can find meaning in life even after so much suffering
Your point about adults failing her made me think of Haymitch and how he was probably the most reliable adult in her life despite being a trauma-addled drunk because he understood her, empathized with her, and did everything he could to save her despite both of them clashing. And it's sort of poetic.
I’m currently re-reading the books and what’s interesting is that, at the end of catching fire, Katniss does feel like Haymitch has failed her. During the second book she learns to genuinely rely on him and trusts him. A the end however, when she wakes up in the D13 aircraft and Haymitch explains what was going on, she feels deeply betrayed because everyone knew what was going on but her (and Peeta), and largely holds Haymitch responsible for that.
And from her perspective at that moment, a major adult in her life has once again been unreliable/gone behind her back.
@alexiak8401 this is a good point. I'm rereading them too but I'm only on the first book, so I forgot all about that!
She expected him to make one of the hardest choices in a book I ever read, choosing Peeta over her. She was the reason that made Haymitch snap out of depression and be more focused on saving their asses outside the games. Peeta is charismatic, but their (Hay and Kat) bond from trauma and suffering... that is next level.@@alexiak8401
Also worth to note that in mockingjay she comes to realize how similar her and haymitch are. She has had quite a few moments with him where they bonded over their internal issues.
If not that she at least understood that she was the one haymitch was willing to help out in the 74th games, I think it was after Peeta found out that haymitch didn’t bother to send him aid until Katniss found him
I thought Cinna was the most reliable - there are many times in the books where Collins makes the point of how UNreliable Haymitch is….
Holy fuck, now realizing this, on one hand, Yes Peeta is a genuinely kind and selfless guy, but also, the explanation behind his great skill on knowing how people works and manipulation was probably stemmed from abuse 💀you don't exactly get to avoid getting hit by your parent by being rash or rude. That's what allowed Peeta to survive - he has to learn how other people tick to know how to act and what to say next. Damn.
SUCH a good point
and it’s how he was able to understand katniss…he was observing and trying out what clicks and what doesn’t…I would say it’s unhealthy, but at least he got someone to protect him back and honestly it’s the best you can get in their situation…idk I’m just adding to what you wrote cuz I found it fascinating, you literally discovered to me why I’m a people pleaser, you are INSANE for that, thank you ❤️
@@versversa8083 that's not unhealthy if you respect the other person. Everyone does that all the time when they want to please someone. If people learned to read others better, we would have a more compassionate world; instead, we have a bunch of people who are always thinking about themselves and their emotions, that don't know how to act properly in situations of divergence and are incapable of understanding the complexity of communication. Reading others can only be manipulative if you're an egotist narcissist.
YOURE SO RIGHT. Katniss learned to survive by hunting, because her greatest threat was starvation. Peeta learned to survive by being likeable and being great at knowing what people want, because his greatest threat was making his abusive family angry
now that you point that out,it reminded of myself.I walk on eggshells everyday at my father’s house back then.I check their every steps and moods.Thats very true
“The odds were in Catos favor with his privilege and it didn’t matter, the odds were in prims favor and it didn’t matter” (her only having her name in the reaping once) was so important
One slip. One slip in a thousand. The odds were entirely in her favor. But it hadn't mattered- pg 21
I think the mockingjay movies were the worst when it came to showing us how traumatized katniss really was. She was borderline suicidal and kept being sedated because of her panic attacks. I think the movies focused more on the “action” rather than where she was at that point mentally which is what coin and the other adults in 13 took advantage of - her unstable mental health
yes! Katniss goes to a very dark place by the end. not a lot of YA books tackle characters in such a realistic way. i was so disappointed the movies didn't grasp the importance of showing that :(
Same. But I will say that when I first read the book at 14 I didn't grasp the depth of her trauma lol. I remember thinking that mockingjay was so much more slow compared to the other two books (an opinion my friends also shared) and its only when I recently reread the series that I realised how deep the book really is. From showing us how the adult characters saw a struggling teen and decided to sedate and use her instead of helping her and how you don't just magically get better after going through such drastic life altering events. I mean I came out of Mockingjay feeling like both Peeta and Katniss need therapy above all else lol. I think this is why for me personally the Hunger Games books are the only YA book series that still holds up (even including harry potter) because the books were not "simplified" for a child/ teen audience. @@artatmidnight
It was no wonder why katniss turned on Coin, of course she would
they hollywoodfied it lol, as expected. it is ultimately about a revolution against a criminal and ethnocentric empire... how would that be acceptable from the biggest empires of all, the US? They need to turn it into a steamy romance and a meaningless tale as much as possible. They need to profit from selling the aesthetics of revolution, because commodifying it will render it useless, just like the western population.
Yes! I wished they kept the scene at the end, after she killed Coin & Peeta knocked the nightlock out of her hand. Where she screams for Gale to kill her.
While Katniss likely has PTSD due to her tough childhood, Prim doesn't, since while their grieving mother checked out emotionally, leaving no one for Katniss, Prim always had her older sister. Also, I wish that they'd delved more into Finnick being forced to prostitute himself to save his family.
um i think quite literally everybody in the districts has cptsd from one side of the spectrum to the very opposite lol. living in a world as evil as that is not normal and any rational human being would react negatively. (very much like our world lol)
Prim has PTSD, she just doesn't have the extreme fear of abandonment Katniss has developed that leads her to push people out as a safety net (since you cannot be abandoned by people if you never let them in). Living in extreme poverty, your father dying in a brutal mining accident, your sister risking death daily just for getting food for your family and being forced to watch kids murder each other in a tournament made out to be a spectacle is enough to give anyone PTSD. Prim just got 'lucky' that her big sister loves her more than anything in the world so she never had to feel alone (until they took Katniss to the games)
I think Prim did have some PTSD (I mean the first scene of the movie shows her waking up from a nightmare screaming) I always saw Prim as someone who while kind, was very fearful of the world - hence her nightmares about being picked for the games even though her odds were slim. But once she had to fend for herself (even though Gale did look out for her family) after Katniss left for the games & after when she had to do victory tours, she gained independence & started to share Katniss’ burden of looking after their emotionally frail mother & caring for the wounded as she began to realise her strength as a healer. Her big turning point in stating that Katniss no longer had to protect her says a lot about how she dealt with her own trauma, however insignificantly it may have been portrayed compared to Katniss’.
Finnick in the movies didn't get to shone the way he did in the books and that was something thst really struck me about it. He was my favorite character all the way to the end in the books
I'm sure Prim has trauma from losing her father at a young age and her mom's depression. I'm also sure she got trauma when she was reaped for the games and her older sister volunteered her life for her. During the series she has to grow up so fast, training to become a doctor before shes even turned 14 and volunteering to help victims in the war against the capitol. Katniss misses a lot of her younger sister's growth bc shes dealing with so much in her own life. Anyways tldr Prim has trauma too thats valid, it just takes a different shape than Katniss's trauma.
honestly, the fact that katniss never wanted to be the symbol for the rebellion makes it so much more realistic to me. imagine you’re a teen and the future of your country depends solely on you??? everybody watching you and looking at you for hope?? I would FOLD.
Totally agree. The concept of a teenager helping to overthrow a government is cool, but Katniss's arc is realistic about it. No teen would ever want to carry the weight of a revolution on their shoulders, because it would just crush them.
To be fair, katniss main concern throughout the whole series was keeping her family safe. The last thing on her mind was to be a revolutionary for a country that shits on its people.
And there are some young people throughout history that have become a symbolic figure for different causes/movements. You have Amariyanna Copeny and Bisan Owda rn that make active efforts for their homes. It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible. Then again fighting for basic needs and your mere existence is draining, something no living being should have to endure much less have to tirelessly fight for.
But again katniss, like most of us is literally just fighting for herself and her family to stay alive.
Not a exact comparison but Katniss kind of reminds me of Joan of Arc.
@@razortheonethelight7303girl on fire.. ironic
One thing the movies added that I LOVED was the expansion of Effie’s role. I’m so glad they included her in the District 13 arc
When I watched the movie with my family recently, I was continuously annoyed saying... "effie wasn't there for that. She didn't do that". I kind of don't like her inclusion. I love Elizabeth banks and how she played Effie. I just don't like the fact that they made it seem like she was there and that she contributed to things that she didn't. She was locked away and tortured with Joanna and Peeta. So idk why that bothers me so much but it does lol
@@kellifavazza8021 I guess it’s just matter of preference. They decided to increase her role because she became such a fan favorite. And her addition in District 13 didn’t really hinder the plot at all. Sure in the books she wasn’t there, but the general plot beats were still largely the same. Less new characters made the overall cast a lot more intimate, something that’s important when acting but not as important in a book, so their chemistry really shined. Notice in the movies, members of Katniss’ squad going into the Capitol dies off, but because there wasn’t much time to flesh out their characters, their deaths are largely inconsequential, making their inclusion somewhat useless. Accurate to the books, but not conducive to a screenplay. But Effie, a character we had two movies to get to know, added a fun comedic relief that wasn’t too out of place in the story. I guess I’m fine with changes in movie adaptations so long as they don’t disrupt the overall plot too much, hinder general character development, and so long as the changes are a fun and welcome addition.
@meccalovett4616 that's definitely valid, I can agree with that
While I love her, I don't like her addition to that arc that much. I feel like the torture she suffers in captivity would be the final hit on her gliterry views of the capitol. Watching her be emotionally, phsycologically and physically scarred while trying to cover it with her bubbly personality (and I do think that will be a reflex for most of her life if not all of it) would have been a lot more interesting and deep. And I'm sure Elizabeth Banks would have loved to be able to show more depth on our girl. I do like her humour, especially the banter with Haymitch (and ngl those hand holding a drop earrings she wore on her final look live rent free in my brain, as do most of her outfits).
@@depressed_khaleesi yeah, but all of that is offscreen so we wouldn't get to see that anyway. I prefer seeing Effie having to come to terms in 13, a place that strips away everything she loves and her agreeing to help. I find her transformation from buying into the decadence and power of the Capitol to her being a rebel who actively helps much more compelling than if she just got tortured
As much as I love the books and the movies, the Mockingjay ending (the movie) was extremely disappointing to me. In the books she has most of her hair missing because of the fire, she had insane burnt scars all over her body, she was suicidal, she had spent weeks in an empty room in the Capitol awaiting her trial, she was completely broken. In the movie her skin was porcelain clean, her hair gorgeous and shiny, and her suicidal-depressive state was just presented as walking sadly around the mansion. Then she returned to 12 and the movie made her trauma look like it disappeared within days. All it took was one pretty spring day and a walk to the woods. I was ready to cry my eyes out but I was so disappointed instead. Still loving the series, but yeah, the ending minimalized her trauma to almost zero.
this !!
Really? I actually thought that years passed, and despite all the suffering and trauma. Life still goes on. To me, the last scene wasn't about she still looking good or perfect but rather than an alternative to her sanity. "I make a list of the things that remind me that are worthy". That's actually used in Congnitive Behavioral Therapy. That scene seemed like a last chance to think human again. Ofc, not a promising method on all PTSD patients. But still a very little piece of psychological work.
@@ingreed4154 Please read my comment again. I'm clearly not talking about the epilogue. I'm talking about the last like 5 minutes of the movie, from where she is burnt from the parachutes to her return to 12.
Hunger Games was the first YA dystopia i read. So I naively expected it to end well. I almost couldn‘t bear the last book, because Katniss and Peeta were both so traumatized. Obviously that is what makes the strory believable. But I still remember my anger at Suzanne Collins for writing a story of a sick and awful society that greatly damages people, and the overthrowing of this society, which damages the people involved even more! It is a story about the high cost of revolution. And as a teenager, who just wanted Katniss to fonal,y be home (with Peeta), I was unprepared for that.
I agree. The movies are very watered down for the sake of the pg 13 rating. At least the casting, visuals and acting are good.
I actually LOVE the book ending. I lived a bit as a kid in and near a war zone. Oddly, the Hinger Games and it’s ending is one of the best depictions of the end result of war, for the survivors - you do your best to live and move forward, but you forever carry those scars. Anytime I see someone joyfully calling for violence, it just…hits. I know there are times where it’s necessary, but I want people to understand what they’re asking for when they call for it. And this book series does a devastatingly good job of showing that.
Yes like I think I cried a bit daily for a week after finishing books but I loved this ending, because it’s just so true.
I also lost my father to war and my mother and I moved to a different country away from it and she was quite unavailable emotionally when I was a child. It parentified me a lot, because she also relied on me to provide that emotional support.
So all in all I really related to Katniss as a character but also to that whole ending. Result of war and vileness is just… devastating. Not glorious at all. I hate victory parades.
And people don't give enough credit about the Capitol putting the working class kids against each other, making they kill and hate each other for reasons that are not theirs.. it's all about control and keeping the dominance of the Capitol
@@capsulamental like how some parents compare their kids and pit them against each other
O god, I hope that you will never have to be in such a situation again. I was not in a war but grew up while the war in Yugoslavia was raging. We had many refugees from these region. They were with me in kindergarten and school. The stories you heard and the terror in some of their eyes will always remind me how fragile our world is.
Yes, I liked how the author humanized the tension between that need for violence vs. the revulsion for it. Katniss thought that rebellion was her only choice, because not rebelling had not saved her sister from being traumatized. Prim had lost her father to the mines, and lost her mother to grief (temporarily), and lost her sister to the games. Katniss didn't want to rebel, but decided that staying in the status quo would leave everyone in even more long-term jeopardy than war. Gale was eager for war because he saw that need for change earlier, and maybe being a few years older had more time to feel capable of meeting the challenge to handle it. Katniss was only 11 when she had to step up and lead her family after her father died, and she hated having to do it. She was only 17 when she had to step up to lead her nation in rebellion, and she hated that even worse because she felt even less prepared for those responsibilities.
I feel like the ballad of songbirds and snakes had this same problem. The characters of both Katniss and Coriolanus are too complex to condense into a two and a half hour movie, especially without narration or internal monologue.
They needed to be TV series tbh. Be able to give details a lot of focus. By god, make it an animated series even. Not CGI, but 2D.
I definitely agree, a TV show would’ve allowed them to go more in depth
yesss i hate how they failed to show Coriolanus' thoughts sometimes, especially when SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER he became a peacekeeper in 12, in the book he was actually going through a crisis and was suicidal at one point, whereas in the movie he just told Sejanus while staring at the window how "hey i was just thinking of ending my life" which came out a bit tone deaf and jokish compared to the book
YES. I THOUGHT THAT TOO!!!
Yes I just saw BOSAS and without reading the book beforehand I can see how confusing his character might come off. I wish we got to see more of his inner thoughts and monologue
It's interesting how Lucy Gray Baird is essentially the anti-Katniss; she has almost no combat or survival skills that would help her in the games but is immensely charming and charismatic.
In an interview Rachel Ziegler said that "Katniss was a fighter forced to perform, and Lucy Gray was a performer forced to fight" & I think that sums it up really well
It's amazing how she is so similar to Katniss in so many things, and reminds her so much, and yet, her character is the complete opposite.
Basically, Lucy Gray is Katniss with Peeta's personality.
So basically she's a little like peeta or peeta is like her if we consider the timeline
Mockingjay is already a difficult book to adapt with its controversial ending, and they decided to split it into 2 films despite stretching out the emotional beats. I hated the ending on first read because all the trauma Katniss went through was for nothing. It did trigger me to reread the entire thing again right away, which made me realize that that's the point. All of Katniss trauma has been for nothing because that's how it is in society. While there was rebellion and hope, the shiny filter has also been taken off by the end, leaving just the harsh reality of war and angry, traumatized people.
I wouldn’t say it was for nothing, as the new government was less bad than the previous one.
This comment really helps put into perspective a lot of the issues I used to have with Mockingjay. I used to be very mad that Katnisse's whole journey to the capitol was for nothing as the rebels just took over anyway and Katnisse's group didn't have a direct effect on the plan. But reading this, I realize that that was the point. When Katniss becomes driven by anger and violence at the end of Mockingjay it only leads to more suffering and death, which builds her up for ultimately choosing Peeta in the end. Although I think the book could've hammered in this point more, I think it's an important aspect a lot of people often overlook.
@@blabla187 well, I didn’t say she got what she wanted…
@@ludmilamaiolini6811 in the mind of Katniss it was for nothing. Her only aim was to save her sister. She failed.
i always thought of the name peeta being similar to the name peter. peter means rock/stone and peeta is very steady and grounds katniss when shes worried/ scared/ or sad. also a gale is a burst of wind and a hawthorn is a bush that has tons of thorns on it. small animals often hide under them but they get cut up when a gust of wind messes with the branches. I think that this shows how gale wants to protect but its in his nature to hurt people because hes too angry inside.
inncorect peeta derives from the latín Word pita which is another Word for bread
@@MartinAlvarez-cq1kw So not exactly incorrect, since Fiona said that they "are similar" - as in pronounced similarly.
That's incredibly insightful!
Wow I didn’t think of it like that!
i truly don't feel like "team gale" was ever really a choice. i'm not a fan of how the movies played up the love triangle stuff because to me, in the books, it was always sort of obvious that the obvious ending was peeta. i love gale as a character, i hate how people don't understand him or villainize him, it's truly frustrating interacting with the fandom who tend to preach the idea of "they're all children" and "nuance" and then don't extend that hand to gale.
really amazing video, you hit all the points! i look forward to any other videos you post!
I think Gale was very much like Katniss but he made a different choice at some point. And I respected her choice and really disliked his. So in the end I can’t say I’m “burn him on a stake!!!” Type of person cause that’s just flattening whole complex nuance of this complicated character, but oh my god the words I used in my head for him when I was reading his later not so great choices.
But even by my current profession I’m deeply disliking war criminals (which he is). At the same time there are root causes which led him a certain way to be recognized here. And while I despise his choices because I despise this type of violence and conviction, I also think in real world the most effective way to avoid those choices is to address the root causes.
I read the books thinking there was no way someone as stubborn as Katniss would fold and fall in love with the person that was basically forced on her. I identified a lot with Katniss and I know that having someone like Peeta forced on me would only make me want the other person (Gale) more. Her connection to Gale was so much deeper in the books and felt WAY more organic to me than her bond with Peeta. I know that's a highly unpopular opinion in the THG fandom but it's just the way I've always felt. The movies failed to capture what made Katniss and Gale a good pairing that actually made sense. I hate the way Gale is villainized but it's mostly Suzanne's fault for essentially throwing Gale under the bus so Katniss could realistically end up with Peeta.
@@goldrush18xtbh I was kind of hoping she would end up with neither of them when I first read the books in middle school. Peeta felt way too forced and Gale felt more like a family member than a love interest
@@slickmf4634 I always thought best friends to lovers would've been a very natural and inevitable transition for Katniss and Gale had she never been reaped. He did feel like a family member to her but hey, husbands are family members. I've seen some Everlark shippers claim that he couldn't possibly be a romantic option because they "looked related" in the books. Considering Katniss and Gale were seemingly POC in the books, that suggestion feels a bit racist to me. The ending frustrated me for many reasons but one of them being the fact that Katniss was so against having kids and she basically ended up caving and giving Peeta everything he wanted after being pressured for fifteen years. Everlark shippers love to gloss over that detail but best believe it would be treated very differently if Gale was in any way implied to have pressured Katniss into having children. It would be just another reason for him to be villainized.
@@goldrush18x im personally not a fan of any of the ships myself, but thank you so much for calling out the "but they look like siblings!!" argument, it always bothered me the way people use that sentiment a lot when it comes to two characters of similar racial backgrounds possibly being together. I think Gale is a very valid character who needed much more emphasis in the films, his anger is realistic and to be honest it would have been nice to see a redemption with him growing from his ways as hes afforded a better life. People forget that he also grew up in the slums, he also lost a parent, he also is burdened by having to grow up too fast. He was doing for his people what boys are taught is their responsibility to do, it would have been such an interesting lesson to allow Gale to subvert these expectations by instead channeling his destructive energy into something good for his people. His intelligence and his knowledge on machines could have done so much good for his people had it been directed for that but instead he's forced into the role of a soldier and he stays there
It’s been almost a decade since I read the books but I can recall feeling awful after finishing Mockingjay. Realizing that Katniss never “won” anything in a sense, not coming out stronger or better, but survived with so much damage that she’d still have even years later absolutely wrecked me in 7th grade.
I think Jennifer did an incredible job as Katniss. She’s quiet but not timid. You can’t read her expressions, she never attempted to be a spectacle or “put on a brave face” she’s raw and strong something we rarely see especially among female characters. The casting was perfect.
I agree
I am such a Jennifer Lawrence fangirl
I think for the most part Jennifer Lawrence did an amazing job, but imo there was one issue and that is that Jennifer Lawrence was too charismatic. She naturally projects such strenght and confidence and I think it takes away some of her complexity
and i really loved how collins made it very clear that katniss doesn't act like a hero. She is just a girl who wants to protect her sister at all costs and who is pushed to be the face of the resistance
I think Jennifer Lawrence did a crap job, and for all the reasons you just listed. She fails to capture the emotion of her character. Her expression is unreadable because she doesn't bother being expressive. It's not that she has an icy demeanor, it's that her acting was stiff. She hardly ever captures the fear and trauma of her character. She isn't "raw" or "strong", her character is supposed to be, but she's legitimately just there as a pretty face to star in a big hollywood blockbuster. Katniss as a character isn't emotionless, covered in makeup from the beginning, and just strong because the story needs her to be. She's dirty, emaciated, and has a sturdy frame. She isn't some wooden hollywood prop to just look cool. The movies and her actress made her the very shallow icon that the books had her pretend to be for the capitol's propaganda pieces. It misses the human side of her, and of most of its characters.
Another thing the movies missed was Katniss’ olive skin and Peeta’s disability. Katniss looked different than Prim due to her darker complexion which the movies didn’t represent. Peeta had a metal leg after Katniss saved him. Both these features would’ve been needed in the movies as they add to the characters! Wished we saw that :(
I watched the movies and now reading the books. I know of the olive skin thing, I picture it. I just keep seeing Jennifer in my head 😅
katniss was also partially deaf after the first games. both her and peeta are disabled and the movies never showed it :/
woah i totally forgot about that. wow i need to go back and read these books
@@singulariteasshe was only partially deaf until she won the first games, after which her ear was repaired by the capitol
@@sewgeekdesigns9113 Surprisingly, I never picture JLAW as book katniss. Book katniss looks way younger and exactly as described, in my brain. It's really important to remember how young these kids actually look in the story. She's a small, skinny 16 year old. I totally support JLAW wanting to be a realistic looking female role model when it comes to body type. And at least Katniss was decently well-fed due to the hunting.
katniss was always an incredibly deep character and her main goal of protecting prim made me cry on my most recent binge of the series. she spent years trying to keep prim safe and innocent, had to become more aggressive to survive, joined the hunger games which led to her becoming the mockingjay; all for her hard work to be thrown away as prim was killed right in front of her.
Yes I agree that’s devastating and the cat part at the end is heartbreaking.
Also the implication that Coin planned for Prim to die, as a means to destroy Katniss after she had served her use for her. "For a 13 year old to be allowed to join a military mission, someone with great power had to give permission." (Or something like that). In Katnisses realisation thoughts just before killing Coin.
So cold.
This is one of the best essays on Katniss's psychology I've ever seen.
thank you so much! 🥹🩷
I 100% agree!
@@artatmidnightthank you so much for this! I feel as though people never truly understand how tragic Katniss is. Yes there are characters that suffer a lot too like Finnick and Peeta, but they often ignore or don't mention Katniss or her family. I feel like it's because we see Peeta and Finnick (along with Effie) having personalities which is kinda meta since to survive in THG, you need to be likable. Its like we are falling prey to they very thing we despise the Capitol for
Bar none, I'd say. This commenter nailed it in ways nobody else even touched.
The ending of Mockingjay completely destroyed me. I remember reading it as a teen and feeling traumatised for days myself. I just couldn't accept what had happened and felt so deeply with what Katniss was going through. Even now, when I think back to how I felt reading it, it's such a strong painful feeling. The writing of all three books really puts you in Katniss' shoes and in her world, you feel what she feels so deeply.And you feel so let down, robbed, destroyed, and almost beyond repair in the same way that Katniss does. The book does an excellent job of conveying the finality and irreparability of injustice. Both Katniss and Peeta deserved so much better. I so deeply wished Prim had survived.
Same! I was devastated reading the ending. Even though Katniss and Peeta survive physically, they both have a long ways to go with healing. That and Katniss does her best to shield her children from the neglect her mother had for her (though she just calls them "the girl" and "the boy") while struggling to know how to open up to them about her/Peeta's past. Just so haunting yet hopeful, it moved me.
i felt that last line. prims death is so horrible that it looms over me every time i re-read the series. and it without fail destroys me every time.
Katniss’s trauma was so overlooked and mishandled in the movies. They glossed over too much
the first one did it very well tbh, they just couldn't show all that backstory, but her emotion throughout the games - MAN it makes me cry every time
the moviemakers didn't seem to understand that the lower a character sinks before rising up again, the more rewarding their path to redemption feels to the viewers. people often complain that the ending of mockingjay (the book) is underwhelming b/c all katniss does is return to 12 and live a normal life. but that's the thing, her simply being able to live a normal life is rewarding, b/c in the book, she had to go thru all this trauma before returning to normalcy. it doesn't feel rewarding in the movies, where they cut out her struggles w/ PTSD, drug addiction, and suicidal thoughts.
The way most people talk about her is insane. they don’t understand her or try to empathize with her. only Peeta and others.
This was a really good video. I like that you mentioned Katniss' feelings towards Gale were complicated. People like to say it was never going to be Gale, and Gale was always "the worst", but I feel like this take is a disservice to the quality of Susanne's writing.
Gale, just like Peeta and Katniss is a product of trauma. Gale is angry and hurt and as the saying goes "hurt people, hurt people". Was Gale right in his thinking? No, I'm not condoning war crimes. HOWEVER, starving, being the provider for your family from a young age, watching children get slaughtered annually, etc. would not make you the soundest thinker.
Just as you said, Katniss IS like Gale. Except unlike Katniss, Gale didn't have anyone other than Katniss. Once Katniss was exposed to more people, she was able to work on her anger. Peeta gave Katniss emotional support. Effie showed her that Capitol citizens aren't pure evil, some are just oblivious. Haymitch showed her tough love and nuances of life in Panem. Cinna showed the fatherly love and protective spirit she needed. Even Boggs had a hand in helping her. All these people helped her from letting that angry traumatized person get worse.
Gale is like the guy that never left his dead end town. And gets involved in all the wrong things because he feels like those are his only options. And the moment Gale gets support its people that want to harness his anger for their bidding. Also not saying Gale didn't voluntarily do the things he did. But just saying if you see an angry person punching the air, the last thing you need to do it give them a bomb. And that’s what I feel Coin and Plutarch did.
I just feel Gale deserves a lot more depth than people tend to give him.
Gale's character is quite complex, and I agree that it feels like a disservice to Collins's writing to chalk him up as an angry love interest.
A very spot on analysis of Gale, and honestly a very realistic person we’ve all likely encountered.
I empathize greatly with his grief, but as you said he needed to process it in way that didn’t become the unbridled anger we were shown in the books.
But gosh did it still make him a great read! 😭 ❤️
I don't think Gale is portrayed as purely wrong in the books. Yes, Katniss is repelled by some of his ideas but she also struggles with the question wether he is right about the necesity. I think Gale as a character in the 3rd book poses the question to what extend the end justifies the means. Which is a though call in such a war situation. In the end, Katniss does disagree with him. He does take things too far. But he is also emphathised with, being the one that has witnessed district 12 being burned to the ground.
As someone who can relate to some of Katniss trauma (although her trauma is much more severe), the protecting of a younger sibling can be a way of coping, its like nurturing a light and hope like you said, and it can help to distract from inner turmoil and latch on to a purpose. Obviously the protectiveness also comes from genuine love but i think trauma also comes to play in some way for Katniss.
i also think sometimes caring for and protecting another, especially a sibling, is almost like getting to give yourself the care and protection you didn't receive (that led to your own trauma). not sure if i explained that right but yeah, i totally agree with you!!
@@littleseaturtle yeah definitely!
Great insight.
Honestly the way Katniss was so traumatized repeatedly and lost so much but still in the end wanted to live and remember is so inspiring. I think a lot of people who have ptsd or cptsd like myself are so terrified of having kids or living "normal or happy" that we don't consider it an option because we're too damaged or broken and we'll mess it up.
It's so true. I had childhood trauma that messed me up badly, but I also had kids because I was raised to think that was my only option. I encouraged my kids never to have kids though, because I recognize the trauma that got passed along to them, and I'd really like this messed up bloodline to end. We can devote ourselves to helping other families have better lives. We have no obligation to keep risking our own patterns of neglect and ruined psychology on babies with nobody but us to care for them. Sometimes it's better to be an occasional blessing in another family's life and keep our PTSD trauma flashbacks to ourselves alone in our house where nobody but us has to suffer through them.
“a sacrifice is a debt unpaid, not a gift for her” this is a relatable feeling
I often think about the epilogue and how it really wasn't, to me, a happy ending... She still carried damage... The movies really didn't deliver that for me
I think it was the happiest ending she could’ve gotten. It was sad but hopeful which is realistically the best Suzanne could’ve given her
@@blueyeshadow2738 I guess! I was never into the HG fandom, loved the books but I never went deep into fandom, but my controversial opinion, not sure if people had an opinion about this lmao, is that she only had her children and family bc she felt that was what Peeta deserved, not something she primarily wanted for herself. Truly an amazing ending and character
@@SignorinaBelI disagree that katniss made the choice for peeta, remember in the first book she said she would never have kids because of the games...and it ending with her having kids means although she doesn't have perfect peace, there is enough that she felt comfortable bring new life into her world.
@@SignorinaBelkatniss has never done anything she didn’t want to even for Peeta though she loves him. She had said many times throughout the books that she would never children in that world because of the games but Suzanne showed her maternal instincts through rue and prim and her being able to have children is because she finally feels safe in the world she lives in. I feel like making that choice about Peeta reduces her journey and her autonomy
I think a huge point to her decision of the triangle was how the boys evolved into the third book. Gale’s quest for more revenge actually got Prim killed with that one bomb that wounds then goes off again when people come to help. Peeta was brainwashed but despite this was trying his best. It also is interesting how at the very end, finally losing Prim was the thing that actually made her do a crazy rebellious plan to earn Coins trust then shoot her instead of Snow because she would have been just as bad and made the reverse Hunger Games.
Because at that point she snapped, her one purpose was gone and she had nothing to lose anymore
I'm so happy with this video, i feel like a lot of people reduce these books and Katniss herself to a "love triangle" too much (mind you, the promotion of the movies kinda fell on that too) but both the books and Katniss are greatly written in my opinion and i need more analysis of them like this! Thanks for this
I’m really happy to see this video because in the hunger games fandom, we have this conversation a lot, who’s the most traumatized? Everybody always says it’s some combination of Finnick, Joanna, Haymitch, and Peeta. It always makes me sad how nobody ever considers Katniss’s trauma for even a second.
She is such a kind person, and she cares about others even when they don’t care about her. Child neglect in her past means that she can’t fathom that other people would love and want to care for her. She has humongous abandonment issues and she doesn’t understand how to express her feelings correctly. She disregards her feelings and hurts herself so entirely to help people who treat her terribly, especially during Mockingjay. She beats herself up about every single death that she may be responsible for, and she spends most of the books believing that she is the worst person when she is so good.
This one line from the movie always makes me so mad. It’s when Haymitch says “in a million lifetimes you could never deserve that boy.” I think that Madge, Peeta, Rue, and Primrose are the only people who come even close to deserving her.
I think Haymitch just underestimates Peeta at this point. To be with a person as damaged as Katniss is a challenge. She is not good. Yes, she has a strong moral but only for people near to her. She is unpredictable and even cruel at times. Her empathy bursts out and is not a consistent characteristic. She is disconnected from herself. Haymitch thinks Peeta with his - seemingly - happy goes lucky attitude deserves a simple, lucky girl. But his empathy and deep understanding of her trauma makes him the perfect friend for her. I actually would have preferred a strong platonic relationship because in a certain way the epilogue felt like he took advantage of her. But when I read it I was in a strong „Why ends everyone in a romantic relationship?“ phase.
THANK YOU!!
@@Siures I don't think Peeta took advantage of her. Do you remember how Katniss said that she would never become a mother because the life she would bring into the world would always be under threat by the cruel world they lived in? The Hunger Games was an example of that. The fact that she had children, symbolises that she feels safer than before, otherwise she would not have had children.
Also, I don't feel as if Peeta would have forced her to have children just because he wanted them, everything described about him in the books is nothing close to selfish, he primarily just wants them to be happy, if possible.
This was a long message and I don't know if you read it all, but thank you for reading if you did and I hope you have a nice day :)
@@doldfamily9983 I only said it FELT like it for me. I actually do not think it is in character for him. As I said: Simply prefer not to let everything end in a romantic relationship, especially if it is so complex as between Peeta and Katniss. And Katniss was soo broken at the end that the cut to her being a mother in a - kind of - traditional relationship felt... strange. Has nothing to do with her wanting kids in the beginning or not. Maybe a chapter with short texts of her life in between would have solves this problem for me.
@@Siures Oh, okay. I understand.
I've just seen stuff on the topic I was talking about before and assumed you were talking about the same thing, sorry for the presumption.
I personally think that the jump from the last chapter to the beginning of the epilogue felt quite natural because it always felt like she was the same person, it was just time and safety that had changed drastically. But it would be nice to have some fill-ins for the development of District 12, Katniss and Peeta, then the complexity of it all would have a better pay-off for you. There is a fanfiction by @igsygrace. It's not really the same thing as canon but her writing is really good and it covers that time period. If that's not your thing... I don't really know what to say after that, but imagine the developments that feel most natural for you.
Katniss not only has PTSD, she has almost textbook complex PTSD (CPTSD) as well as parentification trauma.
As someone who has been in a constant, traumatic environment instead of a single event or series of events, Katniss shows many of the symptoms of CPTSD; difficulty controlling her emotions, avoiding friendships and relationships, and experiencing dissociative symptoms such as depersonalization or derealization. Even before the games she was in a constant loop of trauma, the Games only compounded that.
She experienced parentification at age 11 when she had to take on the role of mother and father. Prior to this she struggled, but had stability in her home. But losing her father is the turning point for everything. Because of her parentification trauma Katniss hasn't been able to develop a clear sense of her own needs and feelings. She finds it hard to trust others or to form healthy intimate relationships.
It isn't until the epilogue that she has had any opportunity to heal from both of these things. Peeta offers her the support needed to start that healing, something that Gale would not be able to do.
Suzanne Collins was able to weave Katiniss's trauma into every fiber of her personality in a way that feels organic. Unless you are looking for it and have the emotional maturity to see it she comes off only as harsh and angry. Rereading the series as an adult I am able to see the patterns of this and it makes me even more impressed with how much Collins was able to pour into her characters.
It’s 1 am I’m reading your comment and literally just screamed: “yes! Parentification!!!” lol
I read these years before my first try in therapy and didn’t know what patentification and losing a parent (at war no less) while the other one is kinda unavailable emotionally does to you. But o remember relating to Katniss SO HARD. No joke, I projected my whole self into that character. I didn’t know why then but she was just like me from page one.
Movies were okay, but I was missing so hard this inner depth they didn’t show.
@@TesisI'm sorry that you had to survive that and I hope you are in a better place now ❤ Having experienced parentification and CPTSD myself as a child/teen I know the effort it takes to heal from that kind of trauma.
I felt connected to Katniss for the same reasons you mentioned. Her trauma felt *real*, like I was looking at a dystopian mirror of myself. A lot (most) of YA books don't show that part of a character's personality; either because the author isn't comfortable writing it or because it's considered too adult for the genre. I really wish more books written for that age group allowed their characters - especially of it is in a dystopian or darker setting - to have this kind of introspection. Trauma doesn't go away because the good guys win. I think The Hunger Games trilogy was the first time I was able to experience that in written media.
If you haven’t already, you should check out Cinema Therapy’s video about Katniss and complex PTSD. They echo a lot of what you said here and it’s really fascinating to see just how good of a representation of CPTSD Katniss is (though I worry about Suzanne Collins that she’s able to write PTSD so accurately…)
@@TheOtherBoobJustDropped I absolutely *love* Cinema Therapy! Their deep dives into the psychology of a character/psychological themes and how it is conveyed through the medium of film is fantastic.
Oof, I understood Katniss completely when I was a kid because I felt like I could relate to her
How can you have forgotten how devastating the Mockingjay book is?
The entire book is Katniss going from a bad situation, to an even worse one. She spends most of the book in the hospital.
It's so incredibly dark and it's my favorite, at least of the 3 original books.
Would also like to point out that Katniss saying that singing isn’t used to survive is super interesting given Lucy Gray Bairds use of singing as a tactic to will people over!
She also associated singing with her dad, and then later was singing as a way to cope, at least what I assume was cope when she was isolated in that room after witnessing prims death
I had honestly forgotten how traumatic and depressing Mockingjay was, especially towards the last few chapters. I just remember being in a sad state for about a week after finishing the book, and only being able to pin my dissatisfaction with the ending on the fact that Prim was killed. Now that I'm older, I realize that Suzanne Collins just wanted to portray the brutality of war and its lingering effects as realistically as possible.
And yes, while the books were extremely good, I do think the movies actually did a wonderful job honoring the source material with the constraints of making feature films palatable enough for a young audience. Far too many stories don't get the same treatment when being adapted for the silver screen.
Agree completely
I think part of it, too, is that Katniss is the first person to resist the capital successfully on national television. The viewers in the districts, see her as an ordinary person, not a superhero. It gives them hope, because if she can beat the capital, maybe they can. Snow told (Heavensbee? Crane?) that hope is the most dangerous thing of all.
I believe it was Seneca Crane, when he was explaining why they have a victor.
I just read ballad of songbirds and snakes and reread the hunger games- something that frustrates me about their respective movie adaptations is the lack of food shown! we’re with katniss and snow for nearly every meal they have, and witness how much of their thoughts revolve around finding food and worrying about having enough. the mental calculations they do reveal so much about their motivations and it’s lost in the movie. this could also be an interesting conversation surrounding the hierarchy of needs- where katniss is trying to fulfill her physiological and safety needs, snow is trying to fulfill those as well as his esteem needs. he knows what it’s like to have enough food and wants to solely focus on bettering his social standing. he’s worried about his family having enough money to eat… to live up to the snow name. there’s so much to say about that book and so much to analyze, and I feel like people aren’t doing it! lol. thanks for this video, it was great!
I think ultimately the Hunger Games is an example of how different mediums are better suited at different things. As you said, the books are able to better delve into character POVs in ways that a film medium simply isn’t ever going to be able to with the same level of depth. In the same vein though, I think the films are able to create visuals in powerfully resonating ways that imagining it from page itself might not be able to really convey.
With all that goes on, it would’ve be a better tv series than movies
Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen is easily one of the greatest casting choices of all time. On par with Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man and Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool. Just irreplaceable, can't imagine anyone else as Katniss other than Jennifer
Add her to the list of people who deserved Oscar noms for sci-fi and fantasy films (AKA genres frequently overlooked for acting nominations/wins).
WELL YESSSSSS
Truly.
Objection: any native American actress
Agree, I can't imagine anyone else in this role. I sometimes forget that katniss is played by Lawrence. They like two different people for me
She goes through the games all for her sister goes through the trauma of killing other kids only for her sister to die from an explosion in front of her because of the women she was fight for… she volunteers for her sister not to die only for her to die during the revolution.
And that is exactly what Suzanne Collins wanted you to feel. She wanted to showcase the brutality of war, of it's senselessness. War kills innocents for no rhyme or reason
@@HelenaTing0624Were the games and the Capitol government supposed to just go away on its own?
@dedstar2132 The bombing that killed Prim was not necessary, it was stated several times
Katniss’s trust issues make sense when you consider that her mother, who was supposed to care for her, emotionally abandoned her.
Yes, but she didn't have the resilience to keep on like Gale's mother did. You really can become paralyzed in a world of sadness, especially in the face of unrelenting stress.
not just emotionally but physically too, prioritizing her love for her husband over literally everything else. she was too deep in depression to care whether her own kids, with her husband who she loved, lived or died
It's extra fucked up when you remember her mom moved away after Prim's death, abandoning her again
The book does a better job of reflecting how like her own mother she became, at the end when Katniss was catatonic from losing Prim. She lost the will to live or care for herself, even to eat or bathe. She would not have recovered if others hadn't been there to care for her. It was Peeta bringing her a primrose flower that somehow sparked a flicker of life in her again. Peeta returned to district 12 to care for Katniss. Gale stayed away, and built a life for himself doing whatever he considered more important. That's why Peeta was the one she couldn't survive without. He was the only one who could still touch even a flicker of hope in her, and was devoted to her enough to do it.
I know this video is supposed to be about the first book only, but one of my favorite parts in Mockingjay is the conversation Katniss overhears between Gale and Peeta. Because Peeta is still hijacked at this point but it really showcases where each of the characters' mindset was. While Peeta and Katniss are concerned about how they're going to survive this situation and finish the war, Gale is still primarily concerned with who Katniss is going to end up with. Mockingjay really highlights the absolute trauma that Katniss and Peeta were left with after the Games and in the events following all of that. And while they're all teenagers who had to grow up too fast, Katniss and Peeta are worried about bigger things than their love life. Which showcases how Gale just truly didn't understand Katniss even after everything they went through.
I'm only halfway through this video and already awed by your observations and analysis. Katniss is an incredibly complex and layered character and this essay explores her characterisation wonderfully.
thank you for the sweet words ! i'm so glad i can give Katniss the appreciation she deserves 🩷
I know this was only talked about for a split second, but I think the names of the characters actually make a lot of sense. Their names have a lot of cultural/regional references and some characters are named after something that describes who they are as a character and possibly their fate. It makes sense that they wouldn’t have what we would call “traditional names.” The hunger games is set in a futuristic dystopian society that has long been separated from the world we currently know, so the way they name children is different, especially because people in the districts most likely do not have resources like a baby name book. So to look for names, they look at what is around them and their culture.
Katniss, living in the poorest and one of the most rural districts (12), is named after a plant. This plant is important because it provides a source of food for those who are starving. Her father even says this “as long as you can find yourself you will never go hungry.” Her sister’s name is Primrose, which is also a plant.
Peeta is named after bread; his parents are bakers. While this name may be sorta odd to us, it makes sense in this context. The bread they make provides them a living and meals. (It’s safe to assume his brothers also have bread or grain like names, or names that are earthy or old)
Gale is defined as “a very strong wind” but I did some research and there is a plant called “sweet gale” that can be found in North America, especially in the north and northeast, which is close to where 12 is located.
Many other names throughout the series supports this idea.
Rue, Thresh, Cedar, and Chaff, the tributes from district 11 in the 74th and 75th games all have names that are significant to their district and the culture that surrounds it.
Rue= a type of plant
Thresh= a type of bird (thrush) or the act of separating grain from (a plant).
Seeder= could be the type of tree (cedar) or a machine used to seed fields.
Chaff= either husks of corn or chopped hay/straw that is used as fodder
We can also see this with the tributes of district 1: Glimmer, Marvel, Cashmere, and Gloss. All of these names are fancy sounding names, reflecting their district’s production of luxury goods.
Even the Capitol had its own culture around names, even if it wasn’t explicitly stated. Many capitol-born characters have these eccentric names that reflect the eccentric lives they live, and if it’s not about their eccentric lives, it is about their status.
Coriolanus Snow, Tigris, Effie Trinket, Clemensia Dovecote, Flavius, Caesar Flickerman, etc.
There are some names that don’t fit this exact naming trend, but these names are “old sounding” names that may have been passed down family names, or names found in books that may still exist. (I don’t know if books are uncommon in the districts, I didn’t find any info about it lol. These names include Johanna, Annie, Alma, Mags.
Anyway, I think the names in the series are very fitting and reflect the separate cultures that have formed due to the strict separation of these groups of people. It’s also really cool to think about. I really liked your video and thought it had really good commentary on Katniss’s character!
I loved digging into this a bit - thanks for the insights
I think it's funny how Katniss, whose name sounded so odd to me the first time I heard it, remarked in the book how odd Glimmer and Marvel's names sounded to her. She really said "ugh!" over it. She had similar baffled distaste over the makeup and glamor and accent of the Capitol.
Something I've never seen pointed out is that in the book it's specifically stated that Katniss comes from Appalachia, and hears "the cadences of home" in Haymitch's voice. Her Appalachian accent is never portrayed. My impression is that The Capitol isn't really as over-the-top as the movies portray. It's just us, the way we are in America today, wearing makeup and tattoos and looking and sounding very odd to deep country mountain folk who never wear makeup and consider a nice dress to be a lifetime luxury. Even wedding gowns tend to be worn by dozens or hundreds of girls, not just one. The blue dress her mother lent her for the Reaping is mentioned as being very precious to her. I always felt kinda bad that it got lost on the train and probably never returned. But then again, kids in the reaping were sent wearing their best clothes as a way of having them dressed for their own funerals, in the terrifying chance they were chosen.
ive seen it suggested that Annie's full name is Anemone, which i quite like.
I always thought it to be remarkable that Katniss was kind of popular at school and in 12 in general.
Peeta tells her that everyone kind of looked up to her or envied her, because of her hunting skills, her fearlessness of going and trading at the hob and her relationship to (handsome and older) Gale.
Love how she won't further think about it , although surprised by the info, because it would just be a waste of recourses: her time and braincells lol
she rationalizes the people in 12 being nice to her by saying they respected her father or liked Prim ( the hob willing to trade, peetas father, I mean even his mother respected Katniss before the games etc.) She just can't see herself in their eyes and never will. I think the only person who really gets her 'twisted' nature is Haymitch, still he loves her because Katniss really... isn't wicked at all.
Her straight up oblivion to her popularity makes her even more attractive imo, like that otherworldly, 'out of reach' type of girl.
It's kind of sad though because she doesn't intend to be that way, it seems she's just naturally intriguing, it's an important part of what kept her alive but also what pushed her into the leader path full of loss and trauma.
I never made the connection between “Peeta” and “Pita” (bread). I always associated it with a colloquial pronunciation of “Peter”, meaning “rock”… because Peeta was (other than when he was hijacked) in many ways Katniss’ rock in the storm.
Who knows, maybe Collins meant it to have a double-meaning?
In an interview, Suzanne Collins said she came up with the name because she was watching a lot of Family Guy and after a while of hearing Louise say "Peter," it started to sound like "Peeta."
@@JulietteVeronica1201 ACTUALLY??…
@@JulietteVeronica1201LMAO whether or not this is true, when i first heard the name “peeta” that’s exactly what i thought of since i’ve never really heard that name in my life, so i always imagined the characters saying his name as peter but with a heavy accent. i’ve gotten used to it though as i think of it as pita bread like other ppl say
are there interviews uploaded on here where she said this?
While I love these movies with my entire heart, it is pretty hard to express the internal complexity of a character who’s depth is shown a lot in her inner monologue 😭😭😭 I think they did a fantastic job though, love the channel
the same with tbosas, we lose context for snow's character too, like how the mockingjays were disgusting to him because its "unnatural" and he didnt like the idea of something district and something capitol coming together
This was genuinely the best analysis on Katniss and her two romantic relationships that I have ever watched. I've never seen anyone explain so succinctly why Peeta was, indeed, the correct choice, and your reflection on their relationship helped me realize what I myself might truly need in a partner. Thank you.
ableism in hollywood was a huge reason for the missing context, i doubt they just “forgot” the fact that katniss was deaf, disfigured, and borderline catatonic by the end, or that peeta lost his leg. these things just weren’t “pretty” enough for the big screen. it’s so disappointing, as they could’ve been not only a deeper message about war and how ugly and brutal it is, but also been a bit of representation for people who also are disfigured or have disabilities like deaf people and amputees.
You're so right
Yes - all of this. While I'm glad they didn't use a Twilight-esque voiceover to make Katniss's thoughts known, her inner world is almost completely cut out (along with tons of seemingly minute but world building details). Her sarcasm, cynicism, protectiveness, and empathy rounds her out instead of her either being a blank slate or a poor archetype.
I recently found out I have CPTSD, and rewatching the movies I have a new perspective. Katniss really speaks to me as a character, I feel her pain and I understand why she is the way she is. It's funny that a lot of what you said the movie doesn't portray enough, I still felt it from her character given my personal context on trauma.
understanding how traumatized katniss was changed my understanding of her character so much as a child. but also, viewing her through an autistic lense also changed a lot for me
I think the movies did their best to portray the complexity of Katniss and other characters motivations. I think it would really depend on the viewers age and understanding of certain topic. I remember when I first watched I couldn’t really understand some of it but I knew I liked 😂 but I recently rewatched it and I understood everything (symbolism, why she didn’t want to be friends with Gale, why she killed coin, etc.)which made the film more impactful.
I remember bawling my eyes out and gasping for air as a kid when I got to Rue’s death in the book. Seeing the movie scene still makes me tear up.
I always thought of Gale as both a destructive force of nature as well as flighty like a bird and reminding her of her father
I find it annoying how a lot of people don’t like katniss’ character, because they think she’s simply a character that’s “not like most girls”. When in fact she’s actually quite a well written and human character. I’ve never read the books but even through the moves I think Jennifer Lawrence did her character extremely well and I was able to pick up character details.
this whole book series is so well written, it deserves to be remade into a tv show with possibly multiple seasons. & this time they need to show katniss' darker skin tone & peeta's prosthetic leg!
this was an amazing video. i saw the movie when it came out (all of them) but hadn't read the book until last year. the book was so amazing (haven't gotten to mockingjay yet) and i loved it a lot more than the movie, and i loved the movie. it was the only movie that had a lot of death in it that i would watch over and over when i was younger.
one thing that really got me was when katniss volunteers and her family comes in to say goodbye, she doesn't even say goodbye to them. instead, she is giving them orders in case she doesn't comeback. she is planning for their survival when this is her last chance to ever see them again. i think the only reason she hugged prim was because prim was inconsolable. and i think the best thing about the world in relation to katniss' character is that, even if katniss volunteers for her now, prim could just be in the games after this. i thought it was a really good scene haha
I will forever shout from the hills that Catching Fire is the greatest book to film adaptation of all time. It's SO to the book. The script is lifted straight from the book with VERY few changes.
But yes, Katniss was never going to be a perfect film heroine because of how internally calculating she is in the book. But I guess that gives us access to seeing how the Capitol saw her more than how she saw herself. Both medias played to their strengths and I think that's why it's such a successful series.
I love Katniss. She had to step up before even going to the Games, and her strength is her shield, but it's also her burden. She didn't choose to be the figurehead of a revolution, she just wanted her sister safe. Great video!
i think this is the first THG video I've seen that actually has a nuanced look at gale's character and his importance in katniss' life rather than just the creator talking about how much they personally dislike him
I can’t even tell you how much I loved this video. one of my favourite things in the world is the psychology behind books and well written characters. it’s almost magic when you are able to see it and find the reason behind their every action in your mind. it’s soooo interesting and beautiful. I never quite understood every corner of Katniss, so truly thank you so much
This video made me want to read the books. I always felt like I wasn't gonna like them because of the action packed scenes in the film but they seem to touch on a lot of emotional aspects based on your point of view. Loved the video!
thank you! the books are so well written and so much more emotionally complex than the movies. would definitely recommend 🩷
You definitely have to read the books. I recommend them to everyone, young or older because they are just "kid" or "teen" books. They can resonate with anyone, any age
As an A-level psychology student, hearing Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs in a film essay video fills me with glee. I wish more channels would apply psychological theories to their stuff.
Anyways I'm hooked.
@3:51 The resentment Katniss feels towards her mother for abandoning her always hits so close to home. My demon wasnt starvation, it was my abusive dad.
Another thing to mention about Katniss's beliefs and actions re:rebellion is that, in her own words, "who hasn't broken the law?" The book describes how the Peacekeepers buy game off her and shop in the underground market. Not even they, the local embodiment of the Capitol itself, care about following the Capitol's rules. The mayor buys strawberries off her. The highest people in power in the district willingly ignore or actively support people like Katniss and Gale breaking the law. Them going outside the fence and hunting isn't rebellious, it's the norm for district 12.
That's part of what makes her so compelling as a face of the rebellion. Like you said, she's not doing it to get revenge on the Capitol. She's literally just trying to keep her sister safe. She isn't even trying to stay alive, it's all for Prim. Which makes her death even more tragic.
Going outside the fence isn't the norm, it's extremely unusual. Most people are terrified of the predators in the woods, even Peeta. Breaking the law for most people involves nothing more strenuous than shopping at the hob, or being silent when told to applaud Katniss volunteering. It's all they can do.
The peacekeepers and Mayor indulging in illegal spoils, as long as the "criminals" involved aren't too openly rebellious about it, reminds me of many systems set up for the privileged class to benefit from exploiting the poor. The laws criminalizing those behaviors exist for control, not elimination of the behaviors. They give an excuse for the law to kill anyone they want, whenever they want. So people break the laws very quietly, and full of shame, knowing the risk to themselves and their families. They don't call attention to their lawbreaking or incite rebellion because that would get too many people killed. That's the whole point.
Even Plutarch Heavensbee in District 13 complains that there isn't any side action to get forbidden treats like coffee "for the upper classes". He didn't imagine a world where laws would pertain to himself or others used to privilege.
About Peeta's name - my assumption while reading the books was that Peeta was supposed to be named Peter, but he lives in a society that does not value literacy, so all that's left is the vague sound of the name. His parents might not have known that the name means "rock" but that's what Peeta turns out to be, whereas Gale is a storm through and through
You really explained the complexity of her character well. I feel like such well written teen female characters are very far in between.
I read the books a decade ago and Katniss never left my mind. Upon listening to the audiobooks this year I was in a pool of tears. The end of Mockingjay where Katniss has lost everything was devastating to THE CORE.
This is a horrifying cautionary tale.
With all this knowledge, I now need a deep dive into how similar Snow and Katniss really are. Snow was raised in the Capital and Katniss was raised in District 12, but their childhood and teen years are so similar. Survival, acting a part, protecting family, and probably so much more.
Idc what anyone says, the scene where katniss sings the hanging tree and the rebellion follows suit with bombs on the forest floor and the attack of the dam is one of my favorite moments in any movie ever. Definitely my favorite in this series. It absolutely slapped. That scene alone bumped it up in my ranking of the films
I watch a lot of these breakdowns from different content creators because, as a writer, I love to see how audiences interpret ideas. This is my research as an author. That being said, I have to said this breakdown is one of the better ones I've watched (and I've watched many). Not only do you have a great speaking voice, but you dive deeper than surface value. I really think you should keep going with these Hunger Games analysis. There is A LOT to unpack in this entire series. Sussanne Collins is one of my favorite writers. I think I've read this series at least 3 times and watched the movies 3 times as much. Keep up the good work! You have a new subscriber in me! 😀
I cannot tell how fast I CONSUMED this book series right after I first saw the first trailer for the first movie. And to this day, it is still one of my favorite book series for young adults/teenagers. The movie adaptation was really good considering what we were having by the time about book adaptations, and im really glad it exists. Also, i will always be team Peeta, he is absolutely wholesome and IMO Katniss is really far from deserving him, even by the end.
Similar for me . I believe I saw the first movie and then I had so many questions. I remember putting a post on Facebokk saying.. so did Katnkss pretend to love Peeta or did she actually love him? And thar question alone made me go read tbe books. And I read them and re-read them so many times over the years. And I recommend them to anyone, they are amazing books
She never thought she deserved him. But he loved her all his life since he was 5, and it wasn't a choice for him. It was part of who he was. And retaining his sense of self included retaining his love and devotion for Katniss. That's why he returned to care for her when she was catatonic, while Gale found other things to do.
Finally some good analysis! There are hundreds of UA-camrs who have “analysis channels” where they only spout their opinions without any proper analysis. Thank you for such a great video!
And if you’d like, I would love an analysis of Katniss trauma in the last book, especially since everyone glosses over how she became catatonic after killing coin, like she walked it off or something, when it is crucial that a 17 year old whose life depends on survival tries to kill herself by not eating.
It wasn't Coin's death that made her catatonic. It was Prim's. Her grief for Prim was just like her mother's grief for her father.
the audacity Sarah J. Maas had to take Katniss's backstory for Feyre and she's still so surface level basic
omg most upsetting thing to read acotar, see the parallels and just being left with surface level basic feyre. you speak to my heart!!
I enjoy reading the books so much! I watched the movies first and it really just scratches the surface.
I feel so extremely validated by this video essay -- you've pointed out things about Katniss that I've always believed and have always been kinda disappointed that no one ever really seems to talk about. Thank you for this~ great job!
Yes she starts with the trauma of abandonment basically where she had to get parentified to survive and save her family. Not to this extreme extent but I relate to this and I related so hard during these books with her. Like I felt it could have been me. It was do uncanny. My sister was born just a few years prior to me reading these and I was kinda playing a role of a mom towards her in a lot of ways - I felt that love and dedication to her safety when I read Katniss’ to Prim. So oh my god I think I had to pause reading for a day when Prim died. I was so inconsolable. Seriously. It was like “SHE DID ALL THIS ONLY FOR HER SISTER TO DIE, like what is the point of all of this crap???? What was the POINT.” I was so upset 😅 I think I kind of projected that whole thing into myself
Anyway, I always loved how devastatingly the story and Katniss were written.
Btw I also lost my father to war and my mother and I had to move to a different country away from war. So that also created this uncanny connection.
istg i got flashbacks of tht brief period of time people were trying to decide on shipnames and katniss/peeta was peeniss before they landed on everlark
Oh my god 😂 i didn't know this
It was that or Katpee
dang, i would’ve said katta which is also pretty stupid, but i do remember seeing peeniss somewhere and it was pretty funny. forgot it was hunger games that came up w that
I remember loving the Hunger games. I loved finally finding a complex character to relate to that wasn’t for a lack of a better word just vanilla. Loved her “unique” way of thinking and bending things to her need and/or her not understanding the need for acting for survival. Taught me a lot loved it 10/10
No you're so right about Peeta's and Gayle's names. They ick me out so much. Great video!!!
This was the most insightful, thorough, and thought-provoking analysis I've seen of one of my all-time favorite book series. I have craved something like this ever since I first read them more than a decade ago. I've never been able to fully explain why these books are so much more than the typical YA dystopia, but you nailed it. Thank you, and I look forward to watching more of your videos!
If you do another one, I’d like to see a discussion of hunger in the Hunger Games. I was very surprised at Katniss in the film refusing food where in the book she was eating as much as she could without making herself sick.
Katniss was always going to be a difficult character to adapt to the silver screen because of how cerebral she is, but I do think it was possible; however, I don’t think the movies accomplished that, and the reason is pretty obvious. So much of Katniss’s psyche is a twisted ball of creeping dread and anxiety that gnaws her from the inside out. An adaptation that managed to capture that feeling of creeping dread would’ve been a lot better at portraying her, but the movies focus a lot more on the action, and her character suffers as a result.
I think it would have been a good addition to the movies to have her do an interview throughout the movies. Especially the first one, since she's alone for most of it, we really just get action sequences with weird effects. Doing an interview/action style movie, a bit like a documentary could have been great. And interview catniss would be old catniss from after the revolution (when she's processed a part of her trauma... could even bith with a psychiatrist or Natalie dormer's character)
I love these vids❤. I think meeting Rue changed Katniss for life too. I remember reading that vividly in the books like “She was like Prim but not Prim. Prim was safe back in District 12. Rue was here and dying.” It was like she just realized tributes die, when a tribute became close to her other than Peeta.
I'm just here procrastinating from my work and uni projects, but this was SUCH a good video essay. You really quite beautifully and in detail put into words waht I was feeling and thinking when I'd read the books. The story is very intricate and the movies are great, but there were some moments in them that I did not understand no matter how many times I watched them - not until I read the books. You can see so much more character in ... the characters.., and you get all the reasoning / backstory for them.
Thank you for this analysis, 's very interesting and educational. And well-made!
Seeing kindness as a debt is so too true. Even when it shouldn't be. Growing up, my family was by no means in poverty or anywhere at all comparable to the living conditions of Prim and Katniss, but things like going out to dinner on a whim, just because it felt like a good night to go out for dinner, that was a foreign concept to me. When friends in high school offered to take me out for dinner, I felt like I was either committing theft or accepting a debt whenever I didn't immediately decline the offer, even before we reached the restaurant!
Looking back, I see that my friends were willing to pay for my food because they were willing to pay for me to be present, because they wanted me to be there, even if it costed them some money that they could easily afford from their allowance. I just wish I had more context and realized I could say yes without breaking the bank back home
I have always felt that if you haven’t read the books you don’t fully understand what is happening. Especially to Katniss. I feel the same way about a ballad of songbirds and snakes. Without that inner monologue you can’t fully understand why they are acting the way they are.
I thought I knew everything about these books, and you still gave me new insights! Thank you so much. It's the best analysis I've ever seen!
I do hope for a Part Two, because there is still so much to unpack about deeper details, like Katniss' Appalachian accent, the Capitol fashions being exaggerated for the sake of American audiences, and Peeta's devotion to Katniss being so much a part of who he is, that he cannot leave her even after being hijacked, even when she is catatonic. And how disdainful Katniss feels not only at the Capitol for their shallowness, but also for other districts who name their children ridiculous things like "Glimmer". And the prep team who seem so self-centered that even deaths in the Arena become all about how THEY felt seeing it while getting their eyebrows waxed. And yet her unique ability to empathize even with these people she despises, realizing that had her own life been different she may have become just like them. And how much like her mother she was in her grief, though she never admitted to being anything like her mother in any way. And why the heck were we never given the names of Katniss' parents? (Which I think was because we're supposed to think of ourselves as Katniss, and to us our own parents have no names beyond "Mom" and "Dad".) And how children were sent to the Reaping in their best clothes "to look good for the Capitol", but really to look their best if that's their funeral.
24:45 I love your explanation of Katniss choosing Peeta
i just got to reading the books (ik im VERY late to the party) but your point about her lack of self esteem reminded me of page 91 of the book when Peeta says “She has no idea. The effect she can have” and Katniss refused to believe that it was a compliment. your reference to her hierarchy of needs perfectly makes sense to me, especially when looking at the contrast of how she grew up vs how Peeta did.
I will never tire of this series. The books are phenomenal and this video really showcase how the films ( as good as they may be) cannot do it justice entirely. If you haven’t read the books do yourself a favor and READ them. Even with spoilers , it’s still a tremendous read ! .great video! *also love your narration! So fun to listen to! Can’t wait for more videos! 🥳
27:58 I only saw the films myself. And I didn't finish with the feeling of "happy ending, everything is perfect." I felt melancholy. It was a good ending in the face of so many worse odds, because they managed to defeat the villain. But trauma cannot be denied. If I ended up feeling melancholic and a little depressed with the films, I imagine what it will be like when I read the books😓
This was the best hunger games analysis I’ve ever seen-I consider myself a pretty big fan but you made so many points I hadn’t even thought about
i know is very out of nowhere, but i wanted to say how much i LOVE your videos! someway you're always talking about something i have so much interest for and you still speak in such a smart and direct way, you're one of the best channels i've seen!! much love and success for you💗💗
i'm crying thank you! 🥹🫶 comments like these motivate me so much & you've just made my day 🥰 love to you too!
This is one of my favorite stories, and this video really makes me apreciate it even more. I really love how you analice the story and make really good conclucions about it. Thank you
So glad that the hunger games resurgence has come with more character analysis videos like these! I live for any commentary about this series, especially character studies. Thank you!