Katniss: Bringing Back the Goddess
Katniss, bringing back the Goddess
A modern-day Artemis, Athena, and Persephone, The Hunger Games’ Katniss is bringing back the goddess.
With her dark hair and olive skin (as described in the book) she physically resembles Greek deity.
And she reflects them:
Artemis/Diana
Artemis (Roman: Diana) is the goddess of nature and the hunt. She is great with a bow and arrow, which makes her self-sufficient, adventurous and leaves her spending a lot of her time in solitude. But she also spends a lot of time with other women, and is a protector of them.
Artemis likely derives from the original earth mother goddess.
Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt
Katniss is also great with a bow and arrow, and favors the color green because of her love of forests. Like Artemis, she is quiet, independent and fierce.
When we meet Katniss, she is living with women: her mother and younger sister, since her father died in a mining accident. Some suggest that most of her emotionally deep on-screen moments are with women.
Mockingjay Movie Poster
She is also a protector of her sister and nurtures those who need her.
And in the end, she is a mom.
Persephone
Persephone is a sensitive and empathic healer who moves into the Underworld – not by choice — where she faces her shadow side and learns.
Persephone
Katniss is also plunged into a dark underworld, where she shows sensitivity and empathy. And she grows. In a fight of all against all she learns to support others — and encourages them to do the same. She comes face-to-face with her own desire for revenge but eventually works to stop the awful cycle of violence.
Katniss
Athena
Athena is the strong-willed goddess of wisdom and war.
Athena
Katniss becomes much the same over the course of her adventure. One critic describes her as having:
evolved from a backwoods scrapper in the first movie into a battle-scarred champion and an exemplar of female power… she has returned as destined to finish the fight, defeat the enemy.
Citizens, inspired by Katniss’ spirit, begin to rise up against their oppressors. And Katniss rises to her calling for leadership, growing exponentially.
In the end, she holds onto her wisdom and humanity in the midst of war.
Katniss leading the army
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Posted on December 16, 2015, in feminism, women and tagged Artemis, Athena, goddess, Katniss, Persephone, The Hunger Games. Bookmark the permalink. 6 Comments.
BroadBlogs 
Hi. I like your blog all together because it addresses so much of my questions. I wonder if you can write about role reversal when it comes to seduction and initiating sexual interaction between males and females whether in a relationship or in general. Sometimes all it takes for a man to be seduced is a cleavage and a dirty look.But I don’t think a guy with a V-neck and a dirty look would work the same if we reversed it. Guys have to work a lot harder to seduce a girl (Not saying it’s anyone’s fault). Moreover, and this is important, when men initiate, mostly it is approach, a “hand reach” so to speak. As for women, they can use both “hand reach” (for lack of better term) or “hand pull” dynamic, depending how dominant/submissive they are or what mood they’re in..etc. However, for men, sexually submissive men especially, this is extremely hard to use the “hand pull” dynamic, as they want to initiate without seeming dominant or “reaching out” their hands, and at the same time not losing their masculinity with a “hand pull” approach (considering the said woman is even into taking charge). I can’t even imagine a fantasy scenario how that would work,lol. I’m trying to get my point without being too graphic. Also I live in a very conservative society (hence the name) and I’m sure my words expose how little I know, but that’s why I’m asking, and I hope no one is offended if I said something that stereotypes or make false generalizations, I really don’t mean to. And thanks for this blog!
I’m glad you like the blog!
I need more information, though. Do you mean people who haven’t met before? In which case I’m not sure what you mean by hand reach versus hand pull. Or do you mean people who are in a relationship and what happens when someone initiates sex? (And even then I’m still guessing on the reach versus pull part). Maybe you could be a little bit more specific.
By “hand reach” I mean an assertive dominant seduction approach. A hand reach approach can be translated to saying ” I want to do etc etc to you ” (Most common male approach, females can apply it excellently too)) or “I want you to do etc etc to me” (less common for males but still applicable..I think, and most common for females) (Not actually saying that, but seducing in that matter). . No one would feel too weird about it. A hand pull would be “Use me as you like” or “I’am all yours” approach. Basically “just take me now!” lol. Now for females, this approach is also applicable and it won’t feel weird and not that rare. But for guys, I never seen or heard a guy approach a woman with a “use me as u like” / I’m all yours” approach, aka “the hand pull” lol. I guess it’s because most guys are dominant or are taught to be dominant or depicted so. And at the same time,most females are submissive/taught to be,depicted so. Sometimes we just don’t know what to do except copy what society made us familiar with, even if it’s not our thing. So for a submissive, non passive guy, he would want to approach/initiate, but he can’t use the dominant hand reach, and the hand pull “I’m all yours/use me as u like/take me” approach will very likely make him appear less masculine/attractive and thus rejected. Of course, in a relationship, things would be a lot easier since they know each other and communicate together (but the male hand pull approach remains hard still). And in a casual hook-up scenario, the male hand pull seems impossible,lol. Hope this makes any sense to you, and not too naive or dumb topic. Thx again.
Of course, it depends on the man. Some men won’t want a dominant woman because of his socialization. And some women won’t want to be dominant because of their socialization. But the longer a couple have been in a relationship the less they tend to worry about that sort of thing. And I do know of men who wish that women would be more aggressive with them. Since women aren’t taught to initiate, they very often don’t. (it’s one of the reasons why lesbians have sex at a lower rate than other couples — which can surprise people given how with lesbians are portrayed in porn.)
You might be interested in this survey on sex fantasies:
Men, Women & Domination Fantasies
You might also be interested in these:
Why Women Don’t Ask Guys Out
Yeah, I’ve Asked Men Out
Do Men Want Women To Ask Them Out?
Why Dating Resists Gender Equality
I love that you wrote this. I’m working on a project that explores this theme in depth. I may come back to you for insight/questions. 🙂
Cool! I’m happy to help.