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Articles

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2016)

‘Do you think she’s pretty?’ Femininity, feminism and teen film: an analysis of The Hunger Games and The DUFF

Submitted
September 3, 2016
Published
2016-09-26

Abstract

This paper examines the packaging of lead female characters in teen film as feminist icons to be idolised despite their adherence to idealised femininity. Undertaking a semiotic analysis, including mise en scène study, of The Hunger Games (Color Force, 2012) and The DUFF (CBS Films, 2015), this examination draws on feminist theory focusing on key depictions of female heroines as feminist, feminine or an amalgamation of both. It is revealed that teen films rely on tropes, such as the makeover, to establish an imitation of maturity throughout the narrative. Females in teen films succumb to the hegemonic ideologies associated with heteronormative femininity. The genre continues to display the negation of feminism for femininity as a requirement for conceived females to achieve their ‘happy endings’. Characters such as Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games, 2012) and Bianca Piper (The DUFF, 2015) either reluctantly or enthusiastically accept their destinies as models of femininity.

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