• About
  • Editorial Board
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
The Wellesley News -
  • News and Features
    • Welcoming Wellesley’s Green Class of 2025
      Welcoming Wellesley’s Green Class of 2025
    • 2020 Alumnae Achievement Awards Held Virtually; 3 Awardees Honored
      2020 Alumnae Achievement Awards Held Virtually; 3 Awardees Honored
    • Students Remember the Legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsberg
      Students Remember the Legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsberg
    • News
      • News in Brief
      • Nation & World
      • President’s Corner
      • Senate Report
    • Features
      • Alumnae Spotlight
      • Eye on Science
      • Faculty Focus
      • LGBTQIA+ Column
  • Opinions
    • No image
      You have no valid reasons to oppose raising the minimum wage
    • No image
      Free the pee: cut the hygiene theater and let us use other bathrooms
    • Wellesley, why can’t you meet our dietary needs?
      Wellesley, why can’t you meet our dietary needs?
    • Staff Editorial
    • Letters to the Editor
    • The Elephant in the Room
  • Arts
    • “Judas and the Black Messiah” subverts, soars as Civil Rights story
      “Judas and the Black Messiah” subverts, soars as Civil Rights story
    • Black Entertainment Without Black Trauma: Recommendations for BHM!
      Black Entertainment Without Black Trauma: Recommendations for BHM!
    • Queer Storylines in “The Prom” Fall Flat
      Queer Storylines in “The Prom” Fall Flat
    • Arts In The News
    • Reviews
    • Music Peek
  • Health and Wellness
    • COVID-19: Popping the Wellesley Bubble
      COVID-19: Popping the Wellesley Bubble
    • No image
      Athletic impacts of Covid-19
    • No image
      A new kind of PE
    • Athlete of the Week
    • Boston Sports Update
    • The Vegan Digest
    • The SHE Corner
  • Miscellanea
    • No image
      Remote students experience existential crises; change class years in email signatures
    • President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
      President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
    • Your next on-campus romance isn’t going to work out
      Your next on-campus romance isn’t going to work out
    • The Artichoke
    • The Dose
    • The Olive Branch
    • Multimedia
      • Galleries
      • Infographics
      • Videos
By Sharvari Johari Arts, ReviewsDecember 3, 2014

‘Mockingjay: Part I’ keeps Hunger Games franchise intense and engaging

The third installment of The Hunger Games trilogy, “Mockingjay,” starts with Katniss Everdeen crouched in the corner chanting, “My name is Katniss Everdeen, and I’m from District 12. I was in the Hunger Games,” in a state of madness until she is dragged to a hospital room. The first 30 seconds establishes the tense mood of the film and throws the audience right back into the dystopian universe of the Hunger Games book series. Although the gap between the second movie, “Catching Fire,” and “Mockingjay” was only a year, director Francis Lawrence makes very deliberate choices to remind the audience of the story up to this point without relying on clunky dialogue.

The structure of “Mockingjay” deviates from the plot of the other two books which revolved primarily around the Hunger Games themselves. Making an exciting movie out of the first books was an easier task. The Games provided exhilarating action scenes, which made it easy to keep the audience engaged. However, in the third book, Katniss finds herself in District 13, where an organized group of rebels hope to overthrow the Capitol and use Katniss as their symbolic leader. Organizing a political rebellion is not nearly as entertaining as seeing children fight for survival. The production company also decided to split the book into two movies, leaving Mockingjay: Part I to be primarily exposition.

However, Francis Lawrence handles this material deftly by focusing on Katniss’s internal struggle between her two love interests: Peeta and Gale. Jennifer Lawrence’s performance in “Mockingjay” proves again that she deserves all the accolades she has won. It also makes me wish the Academy gave more attention to big blockbuster movies, because her performance in “Mockingjay” was far more powerful than her role as the boozy housewife in “American Hustle.”

In “Mockingjay,” Katniss is driven primarily by her love for Peeta, which was not as clear in the other two movies and books. The Hunger Games franchise has often marketed a love triangle between Katniss, Peeta and Gale. In “Mockingjay,” any question that Peeta comes out as the winner disappears. Lawrence’s Katniss never shows Liam Hemsworth’s Gale the depth of emotion she displays  with Peeta. Katniss and Gale share one tepid and forgettable kiss where both actors telegraph the performance. In contrast, Lawrence can’t hide her emotion when she sees Peeta on screen during Capitol TV. The quality of this movie, because it is so focused on character development, depends heavily on Lawrence’s performance.

While many fans would argue that the love triangle is not the primary narrative of the story, Katniss’s motivation does come primarily from wanting to save Peeta. However, one of the most nuanced aspects of Katniss’s characterization is that her main motivation is wanting to save Peeta, but that does not detract from her intelligence or strength.

At the beginning of the movie, Katniss joins the rebel forces, albeit reluctantly. As the movie progresses, she becomes more and more committed to the cause. However, she never becomes the revolutionary that Gale and Natalie Dormer’s Cressida are. Francis Lawrence does an excellent job of communicating the tense, anxious atmosphere in District 13. Philip Seymour Hoffman’s performance as Plutrach Heavensbee is particularly strong, and gives the audience the chilling sense that he is not to be trusted.

Francis Lawrence also does a wonderful job of intermixing the tense underground complex of District 13 with bright outside scenes. While the underground symbolism and implications of the revolution are still present, the film never feels claustrophobic. Lawrence intermixes Katniss’s actions and propaganda videos with truly stunning scenes of citizens of the district rebelling. The scene of Katniss singing the “Hanging Tree,” followed by shots of the rebels singing the song and destroying the Capitol’s dam was particularly haunting. By including the scenes of other riots outside District 13, Lawrence does a wonderful job of reminding us of the world outside the narrative of our protagonist.

“Mockingjay: Part I” has the problem of adapting only half of an already short book with less action than the other two installments. However, the confident direction of Francis Lawrence and beautiful performance of Jennifer Lawrence kept Mockingjay incredibly powerful.

Share on

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Google +
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Previous articleBoston Ballet debuts an enchanting ‘Swan Lake’
Next articleShakespeare Society’s ‘The Tempest’ enchants audiences

You may also like

“Judas and the Black Messiah” subverts, soars as Civil Rights story

Black Entertainment Without Black Trauma: Recommendations for BHM!

Queer Storylines in “The Prom” Fall Flat

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Email Newsletter

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

Top Articles

  • Free the pee: cut the hygiene theater and let us use other b...
  • COVID-19: Popping the Wellesley Bubble
  • Queer Storylines in “The Prom” Fall Flat
  • Black Entertainment Without Black Trauma: Recommendations fo...
  • You have no valid reasons to oppose raising the minimum wage

Recent Tweets

Tweets by @Wellesley_News

The independent student newspaper of Wellesley College since 1901.

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

  • About
  • Editorial Board
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
COPYRIGHT © 2021 THE WELLESLEY NEWS
Back to top