It goes without saying that this article features massive spoilers, right?
At the end of Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt. 2, after all the killing and the brutality and the terror is over, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) is shown having a tranquil moment in her home, District 12, with her (surprise!) husband Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) and their (surprise!) two children. It’s a beautiful scene of pastoral, domestic bliss.
Here’s the thing. I don’t begrudge Katniss her happy ending. She deserves her happy ending. And I certainly don’t begrudge the fact that she ended up married to Peeta, with children.
I do take some issue, though, with Katniss’s outfit: A simple floral dress. Katniss has always been a reluctant warrior—just because she’s good at fighting that doesn’t mean she likes it. And while she no longer needs to hunt to live, she is still an outdoorswoman and a person with eminently practical tastes. Pants make more sense for Katniss because it’s easier to run through thick brush in pants and because they provide more protection against the elements. Young Katniss bristled at the idea of “girly” things. She liked to run and jump and crouch. She wouldn’t be caught dead in a dress.
But the dress is merely a symbol of my larger issue with the tableaux: Katniss is sitting in a meadow, with a baby in her arms. At one point, the baby cries and for a brief, horrible second, I thought she might actually breastfeed it. (She coos at it, instead.) Meanwhile, she’s gazing upon Peeta who is with their other child. I don’t exactly remember what he’s doing—I mean, he’s not chopping wood or anything—but he’s doing something: He’s playing with their child. He’s active in this tableaux, she’s passive. She is mother earth itself, sitting with her baby, in her floral dress, calmly watching the action.
I love the idea of Katniss being able to relax, and just live—but why couldn’t she have been the one swinging her child in the air, or running through the fields? Better still, why not show her and her family opening up the Primrose School for the Advancement of Peace (or something)?
Katniss is no longer a warrior—and that’s a good thing. She’s no longer the center of attention—that’s also a good thing, for someone who abhorred the spotlight. But Katniss has always been a woman of action. Why not show her that way! To borrow a phrase from another film: nobody puts Katniss in the corner.