The Contemporary Postfeminist Dystopia: Disruptions and Hopeful Gestures in Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games. Issue 1 (July 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ruthven, Andrea
• Is Part Of: Feminist review. Volume 116:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 47
• Page End: 62
• Publication Date: 2017-07
• Subjects: postfeminism -- dystopia -- posthumanism -- care -- community -- The Hunger Games -- Suzanne Collins; Feminism -- Periodicals; 305.4205
• DOI: 10.1057/s41305-017-0064-9
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0141-7789

Abstract

Through an analysis of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy (2008, 2009, 2010 ), this text will consider the ways in which contemporary postfeminism can be read as a dystopic narrative. The protagonist of the novel (and the rest of the trilogy) is Katniss Everdeen, a young woman who through an ethics of care, disruption of the heteronormative script, and a critical posthuman embodiment offers an alternative to the dystopic present offered by postfeminism. In Katniss' dystopian world, Collins constructs a narrative that highlights the continued need for a feminist politics of engagement and activism that works against claims for neo-liberal individualism.