Bella Swan Would Have Starved in the Hunger Games, and Katniss Would Have Stabbed Edward Cullen

The Hunger Games has been one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year. That in itself is an understatement, of course. The first installment broke records at the box office. Yet, what makes the movies and books so intriguing? Is it the parallels it draws towards today's obsession with reality TV? Is it a product of the post apocalyptic trend?

Personally, I think a large contribution to the series' popularity is the main character, Katniss Everdeen. Not since Princess Leah have we seen a heroine who has the perfect mixture of sexiness, moxie, and femme fatal. The appeal of a strong minded young woman is a long needed reprieve from the plague that has diseased young pre-teen girls idea of relationships and maturity.

The plague I'm talking about is of course, Twilight.

There's no comparison between Bella Swan, the protagonist in Twilight, and Katniss. When Edward left Bella, she moped around for months, and literally wallowed in self pity.

Katniss, on the other hand, at one point thought her "lover" was trying to kill her. What did she do? Cry? Feel sorry for herself?

No, she unleashed a hive of deadly wasps on him and his accomplices.

Throughout the entire series of Twilight, Edward denies Bella from becoming a vampire, and Bella goes a long with it, because, hey, anti feminism.

Yet when Peeta tells Katniss not to go retrieve a medicine that will save his life, Katniss does anyway without Peeta's permission. In fact, Katniss pretty much does whatever she wants without having someone come rescue her all the time or wait for anyone to tell her to do so.

The list goes on, but the point is this: the media seems to have finally had enough of the hopeless female character, and has gone back to strong, independent women. Women who think for themselves. Women who fight back. Women who take charge. Katniss is not portrayed as a  nagging, pants wearing, workaholic, either. Her struggles don't revolve around finding her identity, but rather her struggle of keeping her family alive.

(At this point I would like to go on a side bar and discuss how her struggle of providing for her family can be see as a metaphor of a mother providing for her children, shattering the stereotype of the typical 'housewife', but I will resist.)

The same can be said for Lisbeth, the protagonist in the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, or Joan from Mad Men. These women are self serving, decisive, and desirable. Perhaps finally girls who read the young adult genre are starting to wise up.