I feel as if you are talking about some series that are NOT Hunger Games. Admittedly, I have listened to the series, not read it, but my audio book was unabridged which means it wasn’t changed?
My only explanation as to why we see everything so differently is that we have different experiences and somehow we bring our own experiences into what we gather from the book? For example, one thing: I see from your comment that for you worldbuilding doesn’t mean much and that that for you the series were all about Katniss where I always need a good worldbuilding to even start taking characters seriously ..
But regardless everything else, I need to state for the record that for me, Katniss (at the end of the series) is one of the weakest characters in the book series I have ever “met” because:
1. She is still cold to others at the end of the series. She has never forgiven her mother or cared too much about her (she has never said "sorry, mom", or simply "I understand" to her mother) . She never really cared for Gale or Peeta neither. The scenes where Katniss was plain nasty to Peeta after his brainwashing were terrible to read. 3. Self-centered: if this is what you call "asserts her own agency" and “wilful”, I agree. :D Only for me self-centeredness is not something good. 4. Low on brain matter: it was obvious from the beginning that Coin "had a plan" and everyone around Katniss saw this, but not Katniss. 4. Skilled with the arrows? I agree. Only I don't see it as a particular strength in an individual, and selflessness or quick thinking appeal to me more.
Also, I'm just pleased that a female character was allowed to be the lead character of a book series that was not marketed specifically towards girls.
What do you mean? This series is clearly intended for young girls, hence all the fashion descriptions and the low interest in worldbuilding. Statistically speaking, I have never "met" a male that have heard of the series. I might be wrong and there certainly might be some males who have read the series, but if you visit HG fansites it becomes clear that the gender ratio of “Hunger Games” readers is heavily inclined towards girls.
(see also: why I love Leslie Knope on Parks and Rec and Liz Lemon on 30 Rock. YAY FOR FABULOUS LADIES CARRYING SHOWS THAT ARE MARKETED TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC AND NOT JUST OTHER WOMEN!)
I am saying YAY! Because there are shows like that, at the moment for me “Warehouse 13” is like that: a general all-gender, all-age show with fabulous female charcters. Only Hunger Games is not like this because : a) it is more geared up towards young girls; b)I think Katniss (at the end of the series) is one of the weakest female characters I have ever “met”.
But the main thing is: For me everything else is more important than a single character. For me a book (especially three books) can’t be about one character only. I need to have other characters (almost non-existent in HG), interesting worldbuilding (atrociously bad in HG), etc. And there are also big issues with plagiarism in Hunger Games which issue is also important for me , especially because the plagiarism accusations concern the book from the Asian origin and for me the questions of race are very important.
So overall, although you seem to discuss the character of Katniss ONLY (I might be wrong, but I am just not seeing anything else in your comment), for me the series (any series) are never just one character, even the main one. Everything else has to be good too. So I see here we are different as well.
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Date: 2012-01-05 09:10 pm (UTC)My only explanation as to why we see everything so differently is that we have different experiences and somehow we bring our own experiences into what we gather from the book? For example, one thing: I see from your comment that for you worldbuilding doesn’t mean much and that that for you the series were all about Katniss where I always need a good worldbuilding to even start taking characters seriously ..
But regardless everything else, I need to state for the record that for me, Katniss (at the end of the series) is one of the weakest characters in the book series I have ever “met” because:
1. She is still cold to others at the end of the series. She has never forgiven her mother or cared too much about her (she has never said "sorry, mom", or simply "I understand" to her mother) . She never really cared for Gale or Peeta neither. The scenes where Katniss was plain nasty to Peeta after his brainwashing were terrible to read.
3. Self-centered: if this is what you call "asserts her own agency" and “wilful”, I agree. :D Only for me self-centeredness is not something good.
4. Low on brain matter: it was obvious from the beginning that Coin "had a plan" and everyone around Katniss saw this, but not Katniss.
4. Skilled with the arrows? I agree. Only I don't see it as a particular strength in an individual, and selflessness or quick thinking appeal to me more.
Also, I'm just pleased that a female character was allowed to be the lead character of a book series that was not marketed specifically towards girls.
What do you mean? This series is clearly intended for young girls, hence all the fashion descriptions and the low interest in worldbuilding. Statistically speaking, I have never "met" a male that have heard of the series. I might be wrong and there certainly might be some males who have read the series, but if you visit HG fansites it becomes clear that the gender ratio of “Hunger Games” readers is heavily inclined towards girls.
(see also: why I love Leslie Knope on Parks and Rec and Liz Lemon on 30 Rock. YAY FOR FABULOUS LADIES CARRYING SHOWS THAT ARE MARKETED TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC AND NOT JUST OTHER WOMEN!)
I am saying YAY! Because there are shows like that, at the moment for me “Warehouse 13” is like that: a general all-gender, all-age show with fabulous female charcters. Only Hunger Games is not like this because : a) it is more geared up towards young girls; b)I think Katniss (at the end of the series) is one of the weakest female characters I have ever “met”.
But the main thing is:
For me everything else is more important than a single character. For me a book (especially three books) can’t be about one character only. I need to have other characters (almost non-existent in HG), interesting worldbuilding (atrociously bad in HG), etc. And there are also big issues with plagiarism in Hunger Games which issue is also important for me , especially because the plagiarism accusations concern the book from the Asian origin and for me the questions of race are very important.
So overall, although you seem to discuss the character of Katniss ONLY (I might be wrong, but I am just not seeing anything else in your comment), for me the series (any series) are never just one character, even the main one. Everything else has to be good too. So I see here we are different as well.