Young women are rapidly taking charge in the world of science fiction
by Nicole Sperling / © 2013, Los Angeles Times. Distributed by MCT Information Services.
Katniss Everdeen never intended to become an icon for a struggling people. Yet the scrappy, resourceful heroine at the heart of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games trilogy, with her incomparable archery skills and defiant spirit, became a rare sort of pop-culture touch point precisely because she [was] embraced by a sometimes lost, sometimes achingly restless tribe: adolescents.
But the wily teen, played by Jennifer Lawrence, didn’t only inspire Collins’ readers and the filmgoers who turned up for Gary Ross’ movie adaptation of The Hunger Games. Her success has also helped fuel a continuing, voracious appetite in Hollywood for sci-fi tales featuring young women in empowered roles.
“I’m a very strong advocate of taking charge and being a wild woman,” said Shailene Woodley, who stars in [2014’s] Divergent. Set in a dystopian future Chicago, Veronica Roth’s series of novels center on a world where teens are herded together based on specific skills and attributes—when 16-year-old Beatrice Prior finds herself gifted in multiple areas, she’s labeled as an outcast, one who finds herself in a position to affect the future of humanity.
“I think it’s really profound that right now there are so many opportunities in film that depict young women as strong, courageous and taking care of themselves,” said Woodley, who [plays] Beatrice in the film.
Getting more attention
The Hunger Games and Divergent both [took] center stage at San Diego’s Comic-Con International, the annual pop-culture expo that routinely draws more than 130,000 people from around the world for a celebration of movies, TV and comic books. The convention does not reveal precise attendance figures; the demographics for the event skew male, though the number of women attending has increased every year for the last 10 to 15 years, with the ratio now 60 to 40 male-female.
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