I went down a Hunger Games rabbit hole this week. The original film was on TV and I caught a few minutes and thought "I'd like to watch that again". Then I realized I never saw the last two films (Mockingjay Pt 1 and 2). So off I went.
I spent every night (with the exception of the night I went to see Les Miserables for like the 10th time) in Panem with Katniss, Peeta, Gale, Haymitch, President Snow....you know, the whole gang. I was also experimenting with a cannabis edible as a "sleep aid" that was entirely unsuccessful. So between the utterly bleak and agitating films and this pot mint that made me weirdly jittery, I slept really poorly all week.
Neat.
After watching the four films of the series, it really seemed to beg for a blog post but I thought "what can I really say about these films that hasn't been said?" Nothing, really. So I went for what I was thinking about while watching - Effie Trinket and her outfits.
First of all, I love Elizabeth Banks. She's great in these movies, she's so funny in Pitch Perfect (not to mention she produced that successful franchise). I even love her Realtor.com commercials. I feel like she'd be fun to hang out with.
And her Hunger Games costumes are ridiculous and amazing. They reach out of the screen and slap you around the face. They have spawned many Halloween costumes. (Beth was Effie and Todd was Caesar the year I was Katniss. We love a theme.)
Katniss, Caesar, and Effie - Halloween 2012 (apologies for the poor quality photo and I have no idea why I'm smirking at Todd)
What kept hitting me as I was watching this film is that Effie's outfits can be a barometer of the arc of these films as well as her character.
Using costuming to depict themes in films isn't new. Think Star Wars. Episode 4 - Luke and Leia in tan/white. Darth Vader in black. Iconic. Episode 5 - Luke begins to wear more black...he's so conflicted!
And to be fair, other people - much more learned than I - have already written about this in regard to The Hunger Games franchise. All I can do is to let you in on the little sliver of my brain that focused on this during my HG week.
So I give you:
The Effolution of Effie
(see what I did there?)
Hunger Games - released in 2012
Effie quote: Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favor.
One thing I love about this first film is the cinematography. The colors of District 12 are SO washed out - it just hammers the bleakness home. Effie is District 12's escort for the tributes. In this film she is consistently a bright pop of color, a solid representation of the Capital and how out of touch they are with the rest of the country. Everything she tries to do seems to hit a sour note from choosing the tributes to her relationships with Katniss, Peeta and Haymitch. But she remains sure of herself and her position in the universe.
I read that they make all her costumes very constricting to accentuate the Capital's restrictive hold over everyone.
Hunger Games: Catching Fire - released 2013
Effie quote: Eyes bright, chins up, smiles on.
So Katniss and Peeta have won their initial games but Katniss pissed off President Snow with her "subversive" ways so he places them in the games again by instituting the Quarter Quell - the 75th anniversary of the games - which brings the victors back to play again. Effie had been under the assumption that Katniss and Peeta were not only safe but incredibly lucky to have both survived so you can imagine how she's feeling. And even though she's afraid for her victors and possibly doesn't agree with decisions the President is making, she's still a Capital girl. Her outfits, at this point, are perhaps a bit subtler in color but no less elaborate. She wears a golden wig for much of the film; Katniss's Mockingjay pin is gold so this shows Effie's solidarity. Alexander McQueen inspired and created many of the costumes in this film including my favorite - the Butterfly Dress. Amazing. And what better outfit to point out that the Panem government - and Effie - are going through a metamorphosis.
Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt 1 - released 2014
Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt 2 - released 2015
Effie quote: Everything old can be made new again, like democracy.
Effie quote: (to Katniss) Everyone's either gonna want to kiss you, kill you, or be you.
I honestly couldn't decide between these two quotes from Pt 1 because they are both so great and, in fact, Effie doesn't have many lines at all in Pt 2.
These two films basically outline the revolution that Katniss's rebellion in the games has spawned. The President is awful and creating "fake news", children are being separated from their families. Science fiction is so weird, right? The Districts are finally uniting. Juliana Moore wants to be the next President and is equally as horrible as President Snow. I felt like much of this hit very close to home and goddammit it was depressing.
In Part 1 we discover that Effie has been taken in by the rebels. She's wearing - God forbid! - plain blue coveralls and a scarf wrapped around her head. She's not in constrictive clothing anymore; she's sloughed off the Capital's influence. And for a moment, it seems as though she's lost her identity. But Effie is a survivor. Eventually, she glams herself up and moves forward.
And we realize, by Mockingjay Part 2, that Effie really has grown. She's not a product of her Capital environment anymore. She sees the hypocrisy. She still lives in the Capital, preparing to put a life together in the new, uncharted future, but she's more subdued and, perhaps, more enlightened.
(My drink pairing for all these films are definitely NOT marijuana mints.)
My takeaways:
#1 - JLaw is a really good actress.
#2 - The games are child abuse. I knew this before but it hit me again. I know it's science fiction but that's pretty fucking bleak.
#3 - Massive shout out to Costume Designer Trish Somerville!!
xoxo...hashtagSueslife
