Compare how teenagers are represented in the action/fantasy genre looking at The

Hunger Games and The Amazing Spiderman by Niamh Sygrove

The Hunger Games and The Amazing Spiderman are two action fantasy films that can be
linked in many different ways. However they also have some differences when it comes
to the teenage representation.

In a common action/fantasy film, youd always expect to see a common male hero who
comes along with a leading lady in their life, who also falls in love with them in the end.
Youd always get the common villain, who always appears to be the stronger person over
the actual hero themselves, but always ends up losing to the hero. The leading lady in
the film would always get upset with the hero because they dont want them to go due to
their love for them and the fear of losing them to the villain. The hero would always have
some sort of special power within them and there would always be some sort of tragedy
towards the main character, where someone close to them during the film would die. But
in the end, the main message during an action/fantasy film is that all good will prevail.

The Hunger Games is set in a future North American place known as Panem. Here the
Capitol selects one boy and one girl from the ages of 12-18 from each of the 12 outlying
districts, to compete in the annual Hunger Games, a televised fight to the death
competition. This film is mainly centred around 16 year old Katniss Everdeen from district
12, who volunteers to be involved in the Hunger Games, in place of her 12 year old sister
Primrose who was chosen from the reaping. District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark is also
chosen, a 16 year old whom Katniss has some rather dramatic history with. Katniss and
Peeta are then rushed along to the Capitol, where they both undergo intense training,
before being thrust into the arena to go fight to become the victor of the seventy fourth
annual Hunger Games.

The Amazing Spiderman focuses in around Peter Parker, a common American teenage
boy who is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person that he is
today. He is also finding his way with his first high school crush Gwen Stacy, and together
they struggle with love, commitment and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious
briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents
disappearance, leading him directly to a science place called Oscorp, and the lab of Dr
Curtis Connors, his fathers former partner. As Spiderman is set on a collision course with
Connors alter ego, the lizard, Peter will make life altering choices to use his powers and
shape his destiny to become a hero to all.

Katniss Everdeen is a 16 year old girl from District 12 in Panem, a cold, damp District,
with very little money and food/drink. She volunteers in place of her sister Primrose,
when she gets chosen to be the next tribute for District 12 in the 74 th annual Hunger
Games. This straight from the start shows that Katniss is already a very brave, confident
character, who will do anything to look out for those she loves. She sacrifices her life for
her little sisters as she feels that Primrose was too young to be taking part in such a
monstrous event of death. Katniss questions the stereotype of hero representation in
films because of her gender. It is commonly seen that a guy in the film would be the hero
and the girl would be the second best or not even there at all depending on what film it
is. This stands out from the rest as she swaps this around, making her the best and the
guy second best. Because of this, it encourages the female audience to be more
confident about themselves and would more likely attract them towards the film more
than men, due to the female heroin. However, you could say that this could possibly
attract the male eye a bit more as well due to the fact that the leading role is a lady, and
if that lady is attractive, which in The Hunger Games a lot of them would say she would
be, theyd go just to watch 1-2 hours of her on the big screen. At the beginning of the
film, Katniss seems to come across to be quite sneaky, as her and Gale sneak out of the
District borders altogether to go hunting for animals to sell to buy food. Right from the
very start you can tell that Katniss and Gale have a very strong bond with their friendship
and this links them together greatly. The representation of Katniss comes long very
ragged and scruffy, due to the fact that shes from a poor district and that she cant
afford to sometimes even buy food, let alone new clothing. She lives at home with her
sister and her mum, and spends a lot of her time either hunting to get food or looking
after her sister Prim. Katniss appears strong from this point on because she has to do so
much to look after her sister, due to her mums old depression that sent her downhill for
a while. When Katniss is at the Capitol, she appears nervous as ever, but still doesnt
show a great amount of fear. She comes across as the sort of character that would try to
stay calm in any situation possible, for as long as possible. At times she represents
herself as quite a cocky character, for example when she takes her turn to show the
judges and sponsors what she can do, she fails the first time, so then shoots an arrow
right at an apple towards them, and leaves them with the sarcastic comment of thank
you for your consideration. This side of Katniss really got the judges and sponsors to like
her, and showed that she wasnt really as afraid of what was coming as they thought she
was. Throughout the whole film, Katniss manages to remain calm and strong. Even when
she got massively burnt by an incoming fireball. Overall she is a really powerful,
independent character.

Peeta Mellark is a 16 year old boy from District 12. He was chosen to be the male tribute
for the 74th annual Hunger Games alongside Katniss. Right from the very beginning when
you see Peeta in the reaping, you can instantly see the fear from his eyes and also from
the massive shock that you could read on his lips. Compared to Katniss, Peeta instantly
appears to be the weaker, and less able tribute to win the Hunger Games. Not once
during the first few minutes that he appears does his mouth go back to normal. His fear
overcomes him and leaves him panting, gasping and with his mouth wide open
throughout. You could also suggest from this that he remains with this fear, because of
the fact that he has to go there with Katniss, a girl he truly loves, but has treated awfully
in the past. As soon as he is on his way to the Capitol, a different side of him starts to
show, as he gradually starts to become a little bit more confident about himself knowing
that hes going to have to take part in the Hunger Games. Id say that Peeta encourages
the female audience to watch this film more than the male audience simply because of at
first how weak he appears, but also the fact that he comes across as a good looking
young guy, who the females would adore in the long run. Males may want to watch this
film, but overall not because of Peeta, as there are other male characters that they could
look up to more for being heroic and strong, for example with Cato or Thresh with their
incredible strength. When he reaches the train with Katniss, Peeta instantly begins to
seem interested in what is going to happen next and straight the way starts asking
billions of questions that he think the answers that he is given for them will keep him
alive. In terms of strategies, Peeta appears stronger at first, but slowly starts to fade out
when Katniss receives a far higher rank than him after impressing the judges and
sponsors. During this element of the film, another side of Peeta is shown and that is the
side of jealousy/envy. He knows that he has to step up his game if he even wants a
chance of winning, because 9/10 tributes did better than him. At one stage, Peeta shows
of his mega strength, when Cato and his crew look towards him as a type of meal, ready
to have in the Hunger Games. This stuns everyone thats around and gives Peeta a bit of
tribute respect towards them. It even gave a few tributes slight fear towards how much
strength he actually had. Due to the fact that Peetas family own the District 12 bakery,
he is slightly better off than Katniss and also has a massive talent for art, due to the fact
that he decorated all the cakes. This gave him a strong ability to camouflage himself to
whatever was around him, so that no one would know he was even there. He shows this
during his time in the Hunger Games, when he was stabbed in the leg and needed to
hide away from people, because of the fact he couldnt run due to how bad the injury
actually was. Overall, Peeta is quite a sneaky character, who has some element of
strength, but is not found to be the strongest as a whole. If it werent for Katniss being
there, Peeta probably wouldnt have the best chances of surviving the Hunger Games.

Gale Hawthorne is a boy from District 12, who is Katniss best friend and hunting partner.
Hes first shown hunting in the woods with Katniss, and cheekily distracts her when trying
to shoot the first deer that shed seen in a whole year, with a sarcastic comment what
are you gonna do with that when you kill it? This instantly shows a strong bond between
the two characters, as hes not afraid to be sarky around Katniss and the fact that she
doesnt take it massively to heart, even if the deer ran away, arrow free. He then has a
moment with Katniss where he shows his hatred towards the Hunger Games and how he
thought that if no one actually watched it for just one year at random, they wouldnt
have a game anymore and it would all be over for them forever. Hes then later on seen
again at the reaping where he whispers the words war, terrible war to Katniss, just
before Effie Trinket (the reaping host), plays a film that has been shown every year since
Gale and Katniss have been there. This shows a connection between the two characters
as they turn a horrifying scene, into a bit of a joke for a few seconds. This then drastically
changes within minutes, when Primrose was chosen and Katniss runs out screaming after
her. Because of this, Gale tries to calm everything down and when Katniss goes instead
of her sister, Prim starts screaming manically and so Gale has to carry her away from the
sight before something even worse happens. He appears various times throughout the
film, mainly showing his facial reactions towards Katniss and Peeta kissing in the Hunger
Games itself. Overall, Gale is a very stubborn, sarcastic, jealous almost guy, who we can
tell has a strong passion for loving Katniss and doesnt like anyone getting between that,
especially Peeta and the Hunger Games competition.

Peter Parker is a common American teenage boy nerd who has a massive passion for
science and photography. He first starts off in the film as his younger self, back when his
parents were around with him. Hes playing hide and seek with his dad and you can tell
straight from this that they had a good relationship together through his smile, until
something disturbs the game. When Peter suspects something rather unordinary, he
screams for his dad, completely changing the mood, and this then becomes a suspicious
time. Peters parents then move away and he ends up living with his uncle and aunty for
the rest of the film. Peter is clueless to why this has happened, but notices something
strange when he later on sees a briefcase in his uncles basement when searching down
there for things to stop a leak during his teenage stage. Like most other teenagers at this
sort of time, Peter is still trying to figure out who he is, but all he knows is he has a desire
for science, photography, and now his first high school crush Gwen Stacy. When hes
approached at school by a pretty girl, he instantly becomes very quiet and shy and is
unsure just how to talk to her. This then gradually changes to a more open and loud
version of him when he realises that she isnt interested in him in a lovey way. Hes also a
very gentle character and is not the sort that likes taking advantage of other people.
When he sees the school bully Flash hanging a young boy upside down forcing him to eat
his vegetables, he refuses to take a picture and encourages the bully to drop the boy and
leave him alone. This shows courage but also a slight bit of stupidity for actually standing
up to the bully in this way, as afterwards he pays the price of being beaten up by Flash. It
then focuses in on him being shy again when Gwen Stacy confronts him and asks him if
hes ok, what his name is and encourages him to go see the nurse about whats
happened to him. Its shown a lot through his body language how he reacts as being shy,
as he keeps his head down for a lot of the time, talks very quietly and also pulls silly
faces alongside little giggles in between. He sneaks into Oscorp, a big science
incorporation by using a fake identity, to find out just why his dad left him in the first
place. During this time there, he encounters a room full of dozens of spiders. One grabs
onto his back and bites him leaving him clueless as to whats happened, but knowing
that hes felt slight pain in his neck. When he goes home, he starts to understand these
new essences that are occurring to him, for example spider gripping on to objects, super
strength and agility. Because of this power, he then decides to look further into it and
ends up becoming a super hero when he realises that his uncle has been killed along the
way. Spiderman is finally born. Overall, Peter is a very shy guy, but has his moments of
strength, courage and bravery.

Through the reaping scene of the Hunger Games, it has been developed to be a prison
like setting that reminds you of the Holocaust and Concentration Camps. Its almost
shown as if the movie is a retro futuristic style. During this scene, it shows a lot of regret
and doubt in Katniss face when her sister Primrose is chosen. However, after this it
shows a lot of courage, bravery and sacrifice in her when she goes up and volunteers in
her sisters place. When Katniss goes up to the stage, she has an upright appeal shown
across her. When you look at how she appears to the eye, she is proven to be one of the
extremely poor people from her area because of her outfit compared to some of the
other people from District 12. This is especially shown as well through what Peeta is
wearing. He is in a much better looking outfit due to his family being wealthier and still
follows through the idea of being a retro futuristic style by him having a 1920s hairstyle
in a future set movie.

Through the forest/fire scene of the Hunger Games, it has been developed to show a lot
of action is occurring through the jerky camera movements when Katniss is running away
from all the fire. It focuses in on her puffing, panting and screaming as she has to run a
long distance in order to get away from the fire that is slowly creeping up on her. Her
pain is shown a lot through the way that she screams and also how that she instantly
falls as soon as she gets hit by an incoming fireball. This is all brought together with
dramatic music to show off the danger that is occurring and then slowly changes the
mood when she actually gets injured and becomes slower and almost sympathy like
when you see how much pain she is in from the burn. During this time, other tributes
have spotted her and they chase her along until she climbs up a high tree. Its then
shown Katniss through a birds eye view, looking down on Cato and the other tributes
that are pressuring her to come down and be killed. The other tributes are anxious to kill
Katniss because they know shes a big threat that could beat them, and so tease her
throughout this scene with shouting and encouragement towards Cato when he chases
her up the tree. She adds in her own flare of sarcasm and cockiness to the scene when
she returns the reply to Cato and his crew after failing to hit her with an arrow a few
times, why dont you throw the sword?

Through the school scene of the Amazing Spiderman, Peter appears shy at first around a
girl who seems interested, but then slowly eases off back into his normal boy self when
he realises she isnt. Its also shown that he might get messed around with a lot as when
hes putting up a debate club picture, a basketball is thrown at his head and nothing is
done about it except for people laughing at him. During this scene, there is also
something associated with being smart or science around Peter; for example: debate
club pictures, school club posters, science microscopes e.t.c. Also during this scene
youve got the common jock (in this case Flash, the boy who hit Peter in the head with
the basketball), bullying a younger kid in the school with everyone around watching and
chanting to cause more tension between them. Youve got the common hero (in this case
Peter), who sticks up for the younger kid and ends up facing the consequences for being
nice which can be seen to be slightly ironic. And finally you have the common girl (in this
case Gwen Stacy), who talks to the jock (Flash) in a calm way, and almost tries to
embarrass them at first. Gwens represented rather differently to other common girls in
movies as normally they would be seen as the coolest girl in school who everyone is
dying to be with and admires. In this film, Gwen is represented through intelligence by
her clothing and attitude. Shes wearing a white coat during this scene that appears like
a labcoat, shes reading a book that would be seen as a very intelligent one and like
Peter is surrounded by science equipment in the background.

The Hunger Games and the Amazing Spiderman are two very different films that question
the normal representation of teenage characters, but they do also have some similarities
that make them fall back into the normal representation category. For example: Katniss
and Peter are both the hero in the film, and this is normal because they are the main
characters of the films. They both have a loved one in their life (Katniss having Peeta and
Gale, and Peter having Gwen). In the end of cause good does prevail and they both win
the fight that they have been battling for throughout the film. Their characteristics
change throughout; at first they are extremely shy but then both turn out to be
amazingly confident characters. Both Peter and Katniss appear to be cocky around a
serious situation, Katniss when she realises that the other tributes are failing to kill her
and Peter when he becomes Spiderman and is easily winning against the villains. They
both end up losing a close loved one to them at some stage of the film (Katniss losing
Rue through the Hunger Games and Peter losing his uncle to a man who shot him). Like
stated previously they actually arent both the common stereotypical person in a film.
They both get an extremely serious injury but continue on like a good inspiring hero
should do. They both actually chose to be in the situation that they are in; Katniss didnt
have to volunteer for Primrose but felt she needed to, to protect her and then with Peter
because his uncle died, he wanted to go search for the guy who did it, whereas he
couldve just stayed at home and have lived a fairly normal life except the fact he had a
spider bite in his neck. Finally the fact that they had a signature, memorable costume
(Peters Spiderman costume and Katniss girl on fire costume whilst she was at the
Capitol with Peeta). These all lead up to very common representation features, but there
are some slight things that dont always match. For example: Peter is male and Katniss is
female; Katniss questions the whole superhero sexuality thing and also questions
womens strength at the same time. Also, Katniss uses her natural power of hunting and
strength whereas, Peter uses a supernatural power from the spider bite he got during his
time at Oscorp. Finally they both come from two completely different style backgrounds
which means their characteristics are completely different as well.

Overall, the teenage characters in the Hunger Games and the Amazing Spiderman are
represented in a very interesting way. Sometimes the same and sometimes different.