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 paren ts 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, th e 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 th District 12 in the 74 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 d eath. 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 commen t 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 74 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 co uldnt 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
th

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 goe s 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.