Another needless epilogue
I went to see the final of the Hunger Games films this weekend, and had high hopes given how good part 1 of 'The Mockingjay' was (as well as being pretty braced for horror because jfc those books).
Whilst the film wasn't as good as the first part, it still delivered and conveyed everything that it needed to (and in some ways improved e.g. getting to see the final scene between Katniss, Snow and Coin), and I was looking forward to a suitably stark ending as per the books. Whilst I didn't necessarily like the setting, it was nicely low-key and as satisfying an ending as I was expecting to get from the franchise.
And then there was another ending...
Skipping forwards 5(?) years, we see Peeta and Katniss with 2 children, and Katniss explaining how she copes with her PTSD by thinking about how nice people are, and I am really quite angry about this.
- This removes any of the uncertainty/grimdark about the world falling back into its pre-Rebellion ways, removing a lot of the interesting tension around the politics of Coin and Paylor which made the books so unique.
- Massively trivialises Katniss' trauma from all the terrible things that she has exerienced/done (although the films seemed to forget about it around halfway through 'Catching Fire')
- Given everything they have experienced, why would Peeta and Katniss want to bring children into the world?
- Why does Katniss, wonderful emotionally distant and difficult Katniss who can barely take care of herself (and who had a terrible mother and lost her sister) suddenly want children? It's painfully unlike her.
It was suggested that this was just lazy storytelling/shorthand for happily-ever-after, and in some ways that's worse. Because I was looking forward to a happily-ever-after that was vague enough that I could imagine myself in it, rather than being explicity not included. What sort of ending do people like me get? Do we ever get an ending?
I think that I'm extra-senstivie and angry at the moment due to yet another flurry of babies being born to friends and family, but I am more hurt than I originally thought by this and don't know what to do.
Whilst the film wasn't as good as the first part, it still delivered and conveyed everything that it needed to (and in some ways improved e.g. getting to see the final scene between Katniss, Snow and Coin), and I was looking forward to a suitably stark ending as per the books. Whilst I didn't necessarily like the setting, it was nicely low-key and as satisfying an ending as I was expecting to get from the franchise.
And then there was another ending...
Skipping forwards 5(?) years, we see Peeta and Katniss with 2 children, and Katniss explaining how she copes with her PTSD by thinking about how nice people are, and I am really quite angry about this.
- This removes any of the uncertainty/grimdark about the world falling back into its pre-Rebellion ways, removing a lot of the interesting tension around the politics of Coin and Paylor which made the books so unique.
- Massively trivialises Katniss' trauma from all the terrible things that she has exerienced/done (although the films seemed to forget about it around halfway through 'Catching Fire')
- Given everything they have experienced, why would Peeta and Katniss want to bring children into the world?
- Why does Katniss, wonderful emotionally distant and difficult Katniss who can barely take care of herself (and who had a terrible mother and lost her sister) suddenly want children? It's painfully unlike her.
It was suggested that this was just lazy storytelling/shorthand for happily-ever-after, and in some ways that's worse. Because I was looking forward to a happily-ever-after that was vague enough that I could imagine myself in it, rather than being explicity not included. What sort of ending do people like me get? Do we ever get an ending?
I think that I'm extra-senstivie and angry at the moment due to yet another flurry of babies being born to friends and family, but I am more hurt than I originally thought by this and don't know what to do.