Capitol Couture and The Girl On Fire

I recently finished reading The Hunger Games trilogy, the immensely popular YA series by Suzanne Collins. Though I was exposed to its popularity over the summer while teaching and seeing some of the fandom for myself at Dragon*Con, it was the trailer for the film adaptation that gave me that final push to start reading. Once I did, I couldn't stop. Those familiar with my work might know that I have a big interest in character creation, especially when it comes to creating strong female characters. Strong, however, doesn't mean writing basically a male character and putting them in a female body. Creating well-rounded characters, with both 'feminine' and 'masculine' traits is important whether that character is male or female. It doesn't just provide better role models, it makes your characters more interesting and believable. This brings me to the main character of The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen. The nicknamed "Girl on Fire" is definitely and strong female lead; a talented hunter, survivor, and fighter. On the surface, she's your typical bad-ass, tom-boy with few feminine characteristics, but with the point of view of the book being entirely from Katniss' perspective, we get to experience what's going on in her head, and it's often a different story than what she is presenting outwardly to the story's characters. The readers are privy to her internal dialogue, which reveals a young woman with insecurities, emotional vulnerability, and depth of feeling that makes her seem more like a real teenage girl. I find that Katniss has captured part of what I think makes the Twilight series' lead, Bella, so appealing to young girls and women--demonstrating character traits that are typically presented as a sign of weakness, unwanted--feeling grief, sadness, helplessness, love, emotional confusion, and desire. The fashion content that the wealthy Capitol city of The Hunger Games injects into the story provides a chance for our female lead to appreciate (though, it's not always the case) things like doing your hair, makeup, and wearing extravagant dresses. It's a nice balance between the relatable but useless (and poorly written) Bella, and your cliche stone-cold female bad-ass devoid of any feminine side. My one concern with the film adaptation is that this balance may be difficult to convey without access to Katniss' internal dialogue. In fact, often what Katniss does could be seen as quite cold-hearted and self-involved, from an outside perspective, without knowing the thought process that went into it. On the inside, she's strong willed, tough, and determined, but not without going through self-doubt, emotional turmoil, and internal struggle. I'm looking forward to seeing how the film version translates the novels--though, as a writer I try to keep in mind the "book was so much better" fallacy that can make us hyper-critical of book adaptations. One part of the movie's marketing I'm enjoying is their official tumblr set up to appear like it's run by the novel's fictional government. Check out Captial Couture, for a glimpse into the lifestyle the author created for wealthy citizens of The Capitol.