There’s no denying that I am excited for the Mockingjay film. After this past summer where we saw so few females onscreen, and so few in strong roles, I am psyched for the next installment of the Hunger Games.
The trailer which landed yesterday made me even more excited. Katniss is back and while she is a reluctant leader, she is a leader. They are no longer fighting to survive the Hunger Games, they are now fighting for all their futures, and Katniss is the key. It is rare that we see a woman (she is technically still a girl in the film) as the touchstone for a revolution. But maybe (I am the eternal optimist) things are changing, just a bit. As the NY Times recently wrote Hollywood is finally paying attention to women onscreen as the box office successes they can be. That’s not news to us, but if young women shooting arrows wakes up Hollywood, we’ll take it.
I liked the trailer because it reminded me of why I liked he novels in the first place — that women are at the center of the action, equal to their male counterparts, and that is also visible in Julianne Moore’s presence as President Alma Coin.
We might still only have 30% female characters onscreen, but when we get one like Katniss, it is important to take a moment to celebrate and hope that in the future these types of characters will be so commonplace that it won’t be something that we need to note as special.
Get ready for November 21. This will be another huge box office winner. It has potential to be the number 1 film for 2014. How cool would it be if Katniss ruled 2013 and 2014?
