Hunger Games

I believe the reason the author made the main character of the Hunger Games female is to break stereotypical norms that portray males as heroes. It is a common theme that heroism is defined with hyper-masculinity with superheros such as Superman, Batman, Wolverine, etc. Suzanne Collins tries to redefine heroism by giving Katniss strong maternal instincts. According to “Performing Not-Performing to Authenticate Femininity and Whiteness”, Dubrofsky and Ryalls  state “she seamlessly enacts conventional
feminine maternal behavior, behavior presented as essential to her construction as
heroic. She is instinctively maternal (with Prim, Rue, and Peeta)” (11). At different points in the film, we see Katniss caring for these other characters. In the beginning, she comforts her sister who had a nightmare about The Games, then also volunteers in her sister’s place in order to protect her. She exemplifies her own selflessness when she takes care of Peeta, treating his wounds and retrieving medicine for him during The Games. Dubrofsky and Ryalls also state “When Katniss does kill, it is motivated by her care and
concern: one of the final scenes is of Katniss killing Cato, out of compassion, to spare
him unnecessary suffering (already half-dead after an attack by a pack of wild dogs)” (12). Threats to those that Katniss cares about are what spur her to become a more powerful character, and her compassion for others is what becomes her superpower. Katniss’ victory in the Hunger Games represent how maternal and survival instincts can defeat hyper-masculine bloodthirsty foes exemplified by other champions from other the districts.

 

Why a Female Lead in The Hunger Games?

I think The Hunger Games series’ author, Suzanne Collins, chose a female lead in the series because she wanted to show that women can be fierce, strong, and brave when faced with adversity and danger, as Katniss Everdeen did in the series. I do think, however, that the romantic aspect of the series somewhat overpowered the powerful female lead. The “who will she choose – Peeta or Gale?” dilemma that she faced was out of step with Collins’ depictions of Katniss as a badass female lead. As far as dystopian young adult series go, The Hunger Games leaves a bit to be desired. If Collins did indeed choose a female lead for her series for the reason that she wanted to show how strong women can be in their own right, having female characters fret over prospective love interests shows that those women really aren’t that strong, and they can only be strong when they have a man by their side.

 

Hunger Games

I think the author of Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins, chose a female main character because she wanted her readers to see a character that does not have to be male in order to be a hero. It is a stereotype of most heroic characters are mostly male saving a damsel in distress, whom are often female. I also think that Katniss depicts not your usual feminine character because she is analytical and focused on survival. She despises people who are so overcome with their emotion that it controls their actions to not being able to do anything. Katniss would describe those people as weak and she does not want to be depicted as weak. But despite this dislike, she is forced to show how “feminine” qualities that was about emotions and caring could be seen as strong and not weak. It is evident in, “The Hunger Games: Performing Not-performing to Authenticate Femininity and Whiteness,” by Rachel E. Dubrofsky & Emily D. Ryalls, “When Katniss does kill, it is motivated by her care and concern: one of the final scenes is of Katniss killing Cato, out of compassion, to spare him unnecessary suffering…Nonetheless, as is her nature, Katniss kills him out of mercy. Katniss’s caring for others inspires her bravest and only emotional moments.” The author uses a female character because Suzanne Collins understands what it means to be a female in the world we live in today along with the struggles and societal pressures women go through. Collins illustrates that females are not just waiting in immerse themselves into just romance, but are capable of things of so much more and are stronger than people stereotype them to be. She depicts Katniss to be a capable and in equal grounds with the men or maybe even smarter as well as even stronger. It is also to show that not just love, but empathy is the way to understand the injustice in our world and maybe help bring peace.

Female Lead in Hunger Games

I think the author creates the story of The Hunger Games with a female lead character for a purpose. The author herself is a female and I think she makes a point to create the lead as a female to shift typical narratives of gender. Every word and idea put into a story is purposeful. This idea is holding a lot of purpose. It used to be rare that books and films would have female leads unless it was in a romantic drama of sorts. It was recently that the phenomenon of the powerful female lead emerged, We see this with the rise of Twilight (debatable in many senses), Divergent, Hunger Games, and many more. The optimistic part of me recognizes the growing power of feminism and the acceptance of women into typically male roles. The pessimistic side of me thinks it might just be a money grab or a trend. Maybe it is a little bit of both. I think a lot of it has to do with the growing number of female authors getting recognized. It is a lot easier to write from the perspective of one’s own gender I would imagine, so I’m sure that played a lot into why Katniss is the lead.

I think the female lead is positive, but it is always at the expense of a male counterpart, or counterparts in this case. The rising popularity of young adult literature was something that many authors caught onto and were able to add different elements to their stories, such as a female lead in a dystopian future. For this story, I think she made Katniss the lead because it was a new movement in literature and feminism and it was easier for her to write from a female perspective and portray the insight into the mind of a young woman.

 

 

 

 

 

3%: Offshore’s most valuable trait

In a Utopian/Dystopian society set in the future where only the best fit 3% of applicants are accepted into the Offshore where the privileged part of humanity lives, there is a crucial process in who is chosen. Outside of the shore, people live in total poverty. It is obvious that any person with the opportunity to be a part of the offshore would take it. However, the process breaks down its candidates to force them to try to fit to the standards and ideals shared by the populous of the Offshore. If I were to make the decision as the one choosing candidates, I wouldn’t necessarily choose the people with strong leadership abilities and a strong sense of justice. For the Offshore to continue its existence, its citizens must be capable of conforming to the ideals that the Offshore upholds. Any sort of rebellion can cause havoc and instability. If candidates seek admission, they first need to show that they are physically healthy and that they can obey. This way the elites continue to have a strong capable workforce without question or doubt of morale. Next is what the economy needs. Corporations could lobby for the acceptance of candidates with specific traits that make them better fit for their company. If its a software company, they would want candidates with strong creativity and critical thinking skills to help them satisfy current or upcoming market demands. If the entertainment industry is lacking, then candidates with special talents would be more desirable. But once again, there may be variation in the candidates abilities; however, the most important factor is if they will obey without question.

3% Series Question

If I were the one in charge of deciding who would make it to the off shore, the traits I would be looking for are adaptability, intelligence, capability, honesty, and empathetic. They have to have a diversity of traits that can be helpful in any situation because you can never know what might come at you at the off-shore. As I only watched the first episode of 3% on Netflix, I realized that the guy in charge is looking for these certain traits because the off-shore is a means to survival, in which only a select few can only go. We do not really know if the off-shore is really a utopia because there are bound to be conflicts and if he is to choose people for this peaceful society then he must choose those that are worthy to contribute to the society itself. I chose adaptability, intelligence, and capability because it has to show that in any situation they can cope as well as come up with new solutions with different perspectives in things. So the 3% that can pass the process can overcome any obstacle that is to come for them. There is also this test of their motivation, honesty, and empathy because in a peaceful society you want to really know the truth about people and lies would break down a team rather than save it for survival. The point of a society to be peaceful is working together and is not for selfishness of each individuals survival on their own so empathy plays a part. I think those who try to survive are their own is bound to lose in the process because as a society we work together to create peace between people and order, but if we were all selfish then it would be chaos as well as undisciplined enough to just cause conflict everywhere. According to Divided societies and identity boundaries: a conflict analysis framework by Angela Kachuyevski and Ronnie Olesker, ” Identity is clearly connected to the causes of and solutions for divided societies, but the above approaches do not directly engage with how perceived identity impacts these conflicts.” The group of people must form this identity in which they all have a uniform clear and in agreement of their true goal to what it means to create peace in society as well as how to deal with conflicts.

Traits to Look For

If I were the one in charge of deciding who would make it to the offshore, I would look for a diversity of traits. I have thought a lot about qualities and skills that would benefit a society that was stranded on an island, or a dystopian world in which all technology was lost and a society had to start from scratch. I think about this in reference to the career I will choose and the interests I pursue. I think the necessary occupations in a new, small society would be doctors/medical field, lawmakers/communicators, and engineers. All these things are necessary to a society and would need to be part of the offshore. Qualities affiliated with these occupations include medical knowledge and ability to work under pressure, critical thinking skills, mediation skills, an ethical conscious, innovation, and mathematical skills. These skills help a community move forward in an intelligent and efficient way. You need people to take care of others physically and mentally, you need to make laws and have people to facilitate those laws, and you need to be able to build and create infrastructure and technology efficiently and safely.

A trait I would also look for is empathy. I think empathy is a key characteristic in building a peaceful society. If everyone in a community were able to engage in a deep form of empathy, it would be a much more emotionally connected and peaceful society. It would be difficult to create a course in which these things are tested. It would also be difficult to decide who would get to move on depending on if they show multiple useful traits or just one.

 

 

Diversity is KEY!

 

If was the person in charge of letting people into the Offshore I would try to get people with different thinking styles and personalities. Diversity in thinking is the key to success in any group. There is a theory called group intelligence it basically says that intelligence from an evolutionary perspective is a whole species phenomenon. In that sense having people who have autistic qualities and are very good at one thing are good for a group of hunter-gatherers but it’s not beneficial if everybody has that form of cognition. The same for ADHD like traits where people tend to notice different things from there environment than people who don’t have ADHD.

If I was to pick people coming into the world I would want to live in I would want those people to be compassionate and ethical. At the same time, it would depend on the state of the Offshore. Is the Offshore at war? Is it peaceful? In a time of war you would need people with a different set of cognitions and personalities but in time of peace that same type of personality and thinking that is good for war would be counterproductive.

Since there are many different types of jobs and duties in any society the role of the “decider” would have to be to choose people best suited to those jobs. Someone with the characteristics of a good chemist typically does not have the same characteristics that make a good psychologist. Someone with the creativity of a writer might not have the best skill set to be a mathematician.

Avatar

I think that the Na’vi were accepting of Sully due to the environmental factors that surrounded his arrival. It was obvious in the film that the world of Pandora itself welcomed him. As the Na’vi are very in tune with their environment and ecosystem, which is full of spiritual factors, so they pick up on the acceptance of sully into it. They realize that his purpose here is worth their acceptance. The spiritual factors play a very big role in the way the Na’vi live life and I think sully entering their world shows that. You can tell that the makers of the film wanted to show that Pandora showed literal and physical signs of acceptance toward Sully. Basically, for the film to move forward the Na’vi had to accept him.

Sully also seems to be very accepting of the Na’vi and I think that helps them come to accept his presence. He is empathetic toward their culture and their world and that is different than those who have come before him. He shows a lot of respect to the land and the tribe. This is important. Both sides need to accept the other to make a relationship work and save Pandora.

Dreamwalker

In the movie Avatar written and directed by James Cameron, humanity has discovered a moon they named Pandora that has many reserves of a rare material known as unobtanium  The military wishes to mine for this material, but what’s standing in their way is a sentient race of humanoids called the Na’vi. Their home is the epicenter of where the military wants to mine, which starts a conflict between humans and Na’vi. Scientists have already been exploring a peaceful solution to the issue. They had developed human-Na’vi hybrid “avatars” that can be controlled by human consciousness to be sent as emissaries to eventually convince the Na’vi to leave their home. Progress has already been made in teaching the Na’vi English and learning their language and culture. Jake Sully is chosen to pilot an “avatar” in place of his brother to win their trust and clear the excavation site without bloodshed. On his way to the Na’vi home, Jake is becomes separated from the other “avatars”. He is almost killed by the wild animals of the forest before being rescued by Neytiri. As she escorts him to her village, she witnesses the seeds of Eywa land on Jake. She believes this to mean that he is being chosen by Eywa who is regarded as a god to the Na’vi. When they reach the village, Jake is treated with hostility from the other Na’vi, but Neytiri calms the situation by sharing that he was chosen by Eywa. Jake confesses he is indeed what the Na’vi call a “dreamwalker” and that his intention is to only learn of the Na’vi culture. They accept his request and is assigned to Neytiri as her student of sorts.

The reason the Na’vi were quick to accept Jake is because they hold very high regard for their god, Eywa. Being chosen by Eywa meant Jake has a pure spirit. This must have meant to the Na’vi that he was one who could be trusted. But why did Eywa choose him? Jake as a human was a paraplegic caused by some sort of accident in his past. Being an avatar allows him to walk once more, and he acts as though life has been brought back to him through the tremendous joy he expresses when he first wakes up in his “avatar”. He also expresses later on that his life as a human is beginning to feel like the dream, while controlling his “avatar” feels more like real life. It becomes clear that Jake is neglecting his duty that he was sent to do by the Resources Development Administration, but instead truly immersing himself in Na’vi culture. Perhaps Eywa had predicted that he would react this way and that is why he was chosen. Either way, Eywa’s decision seems to be respected by the Na’vi even though they may not entirely agree.