In the article ‘Twilight’ vs. ‘Hunger Games’: Why Do So Many
Grown-Ups Hate Bella? Talks about who would win a fight between Bella and
Katniss. At the beginning of this reading it seems like most would root for
Katniss because she has the skills of a fighter and has been put to the test to
save her own life and others; whereas Bella is just a wimpy little girl who can’t
do anything for herself even if she tried. After reading the Twilight series
and seeing the movies, I feel like Bella really finds herself at the end and
whom she has wanted to be for so long. When writers are making their script for
a movie, I would think their first question to themselves would be “Am I
grabbing the audiences attention and relating to them on a more personal
level?” Which is what they did when writing the Hunger Games and Twilight. One
is more athletic and headstrong and the other is not athletic at first and
emotional. I think they did their job by connecting to all different girls at
different age groups.
With the article, Escape from Wonderland: Disney and the
Female Imagination by Deborah Ross talks a whole lot about gender roles and the
opinions of feminists on the roles of these animated women. Of course being a
young girl watching Sleeping Beauty, Mulan, and Pocahontas I aspired to be one
of those girls. Little did I know the real meaning behind each character and
the roles of what they were portraying. This article talks about ethos and how these
movies grab the emotions of the audience, especially young girls. Media plays a
huge part in stereotyping gender roles and how women/men should be acting.
Movies today do the same exact thing by swaying your opinion on something. The
good news is that we all have a right to our own opinions, such as what movies
we watch, and whether we like them or not. It’s also not just through movies
either it can be music, tv ads and just anything to make your opinion up for
you.
I’m not sure I would say that Bella finds herself at the end. The reason I say I’m not sure is because I have not read the twilight series in a long time and I’m sure I never will again. But from what I remember Bella knew what she wanted not very far into the first book. A line from the 8th paragraph of the article sums it up. “Bella, like any good girly girl, is in touch with her desires---she wants to marry and skrew Edward,not necessarily in that order, and she spends the series trying to do just that.” I think it would be more accurate to say that she gets what she wants at the end. I agree with you that both authors of the books do a good job of creating characters that different types of people can relate to. I don’t think relating to Bella is a very positive thing though. She’s so utterly lame and helpless. Katniss on the other hand is athletic and strong willed and interesting (as far as I can tell from what I read in the article since I have not read any Hunger Games books). I can see why more guys and girls alike would like her over Bella.
ReplyDeleteWhat I took from the Escape from Wonderland article was that Deborah Ross didn't like the inconsistencies found in many of the Disney movies because she thinks they have the potential to affect children's emotions and imaginations. Like with the little mermaid she says, “Whatever Ariel might say or sing what we se her do is flee a world of infinite possibility to settle in the land of the banal.” She said that the market forces that drive disney are powerful and aimed mainly at self promotion. I totally agree with you when you say that movies, music, and various other things try to sway our opinion and that when it comes down to it we need to be able to form our own opinion.
I agree with Savannah. In the beginning of 'Twilight' vs. 'Hunger Games': Why Do So Many Grown-Ups Hate Bella? , Berlatsky gives the reader the image of Bella and Katniss as opposites against each other in a fight. Katniss would take Bella down easily until Bella becomes a vampire in the last book of the ‘Twilight’ series. I think they might seem different to people that just know what they’ve seen and don’t go into deeper in both series. Later in the article, Berlatsky tells us the Bella has desire while Katniss doesn’t and Katniss has power that Bella doesn’t. They both end up with these traits, Bella has power and desire as a vampire and Katniss ends up with the power she had and a family, the desire. I think Bella and Katniss might not necessarily agree on everything, but they would understand where the other came from.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ross in Escape from Wonderland: Disney and the Female Imagination. I think the three movies she chose show “young women who fantasize about a life more vivid and exciting than their reality.” I think that the media does this as well with commercials, ads, and movies that are a little more up-to-date than Alice in Wonderland (1951), The Little Mermaid (1989), and Beauty and the Beast (1991, re-released 2001). I know I’ve seen ads that show how life can be more exciting and fun if you have this pair of shoes or that new dress. These images give girls and women the idea that they need material items to be happy and have a better, more vivid social life.
i agree with Savannah than in the article ‘Twilight’ vs. ‘Hunger Games’: Why Do So Many Grown-Ups Hate Bella? The author Noah Berlatsky talks about who would win in a fight between Bella and Katniss. To start off I have never seen or read any of the Twilight or Hunger games or read any of the series, but I do get the jist of the plot and what they are mostly about based on observation and friends informing me on what I am missing out on. Based on this article the author describe Bella and Katniss as totally opposites, Bella being weak, helpless and not being able to take on danger on her own; Katniss on the other hand is a strong will powered girl who handles things on her own, who kicks butt and takes names. So of course the winner would most likely be Katniss, but as the author digs deeper into the text we find out that though these are two totally opposite people, they both have features of want that they both share. Bella wants to have power and stand up for her-self so she can stop being so helpless, and Katniss wants to throw some of her power to the side and find love. At the end of each movie the main character eventually ends up find what they were seeking after, through trial and error. To bring this fantasy into reality it seems like we always search for what we don’t have, and most women feel like Bella and want a higher ranking in life, to have attributes like Katniss yet still be able to find a man who isn’t intimidated by that ranking.
ReplyDeleteEscape from Wonderland: Disney and the Female Imagination the author Deborah Ross talks about gender roles and meanings behind the roles of these Disney characters. I have been watching Disney movies all my life yet I have never really analyzed it in depth due to just seeing it as a kids movie and not have the right thought process yet to develop true though about the movies. When I did finally gain some thought process I saw past the colorful images and did some research, and got all this crazy stuff about illuminati and super secret imagery and hidden things within these Disney movies. Reading this article brings a literal light to the Disney movies as opposed to tall tales and unknown truths. This article speaks on how Disney pushes the complacentness of a girls reality, to where she wants more than just mediocre, she wants a prince or a knight in shining armor. Girls admire these characters because who dosnt want more in life or to marry a prince and become royalty. All that is nice and all but it gives them a false since of hope, maybe this might happen to one or two girls but not all, there is only so many princes to go around, someone has to be normal and be a peasant to the new found royalty. The Media plays a huge roll in our society, and they tug at our wants, emotions, and needs to change and mold society as a whole to how they would like it, or how it might benefit them money wise. (rich, high society).
I agree with Savannah as well in the article of Twilight and the Hunger Games. Both of these movies portray woman in a very different way and each at the opposite side of the woman spectrum . Bella in Twilight is a wimpy, helpless, and basically useless girl, while in the Hunger Games Katness is the brave, athletic, heroic type of woman. Either movie shows how woman “should act”, but the reality is that most woman don’t fall into either of the categories. They produce a false picture for woman, and I believe that most men don’t want either woman and would much rather have one that fits somewhere in the middle of the two. I think contemporary media portrays woman in so many different ways that the ideal woman becomes blurred. I believe that woman should just be who they want to be and stop trying to be something they aren’t. We have been on this topic of media and how it portrays men and woman for a few weeks and at the end of the day we as a whole need to stop relying on the media to decide on how we should live or who we should be in our lives. Everyone is different and everyone has a different purpose in life, so let’s stop worrying about gender norms when we have bigger problems to worry about in life..
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the article “Twighlight Vs Hunger Games” by Noah Berlatsky and Savannah’s blog entry, I can say that I personally strongly do agree with her on all of her points about the article. I personally have never read/seen either of the two films/books. But after reading this article, Berlatsky was able to allow me to understand the two female characters that were involved in the main subject; Bella and Katniss. Berlatsky describes Bella as a weak female that has absolutley no power in anything, and then she tends to describe Katniss as the complete opposite of that; a strong female who has tons of power and who’s independent. I agree with the author, from the way that Berlatsky described Bella, I do not believe that she has the strength, not only physically but mentally and emotionally to survive a fight. I believe that this is a perfect example of how the media implies gender norms. The media tends to make females who look up to specific characters (like Bella and Katniss) think that it is “cool” or “the right way” to act because people look up to them. I believe that the media has a huge impact on the way that females believe that they should act, due to the characters that they look up. I do not believe that woman should be so helpless, I believe that woman should be more like Katniss, strong and confident. But then again people should just be themselves, and be their own role models and look up to themselves. Not allow the media to have an impact on who they truly are.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Savannah on the issue of "Twilight vs. Hunger Games". I've never read or seen Twilight, so I have to assume everything Berlatsky said in respect to Twilight was true. Both are made with an idea of a character in mind, and they both represent women and men in the way that they choose. In the case of twilight, they're not trying to represent all women on earth. They're just portraying the character they want to portray, which happens to be a weak teenager. The same applies to Katniss of the Hunger Games; To tell the story that the makers want to tell, they created the strong Katniss as the protagonist. If women or men want to watch the movie and they decide they want to be like the protagonists, then that's their prerogative.
ReplyDeleteI have seen both movies and I agree with Berlatsky on the note that Twilight is less popular with grown up because Bella is portrayed as this pathetic, out-of-control, spastic, girl who makes retarded decisions based on emotion alone. She acts like a whiney little bitch therefore in my opinion it’s hard to gain respect for her. Whereas Katniss is this strong, independent fighter, who happens to be a lot less selfish, in comparison to Bella. She is seen higher up as a human even if she is in such a lower class. For the feminists view of each movie I can understand why Bella is discomforting. She needs the men in her life she would be absolutely nothing without them and Katniss does not, she is equal. I think it is more about that than who's girly and who's a tomboy. I believe as well that power and desire have to be separate or the character kind of falls apart. Katniss has power and with that power she tries to achieve her desires but they are much more complicated than what her limited power can do for her. Whereas Bella has her desires but no power what so ever until turned into a vampire at the end but now where does the desire go she has everything she wanted. I also agree with Christopher Jon Taylor when he says, “If women or men want to watch the movie and they decide they want to be like the protagonists, then that's their prerogative.” I couldn’t have said it better. I think it’s more than obvious that I side with critics on their choice of which heroine they prefer.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Savannah's blog entry concerning the Twilight vs. Hunger Games article. Although the characters are drastically different, there are still going to be people who love Bella and people who love Katniss. Each movie portrays women in a different way. Bella is more of the stereotypical female who is emotional all the time and focuses too much on boys and Katniss is the girl who we dream about being. She is tough, independent, and a badass. I agree with Tanner's response where he says that girls in society today mostly want to be a mix of the two. They want to be someone in the middle of the two characters. They still want to have the "girly" traits, such as being emotional and dreaming about boys and whatnot. They also want to be like Katniss and be independent and fierce. I believe that Disney movies really display a wide variety of female characters ranging from Alice as a little girl who's never truly satisfied, to Mulan who practically becomes one of the men. People argue that movies and media today are all wrong and portray female and male character all wrong, but I disagree. There is such a wide variety of movies with guys and girls who play different roles. And when it comes down to it, media is made strictly for entertainment purposes. They want to make money. Nobody is forcing anybody to sit in front of the TV and watch certain shows or movies; you choose what you watch. If you have an issue with the way certain media is, the solution is easy: don't watch it.
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