I love the Hunger Games. I love the books. I love the movie. I even have the cookbook. And, like a proper fan, keep up on the news about said obsession.
I love how Jennifer Lawrence portrayed Katniss Everdeen.
Then the critics got involved. One commented on her ‘lingering baby fat’, and the New York Times had no problem just laying it out there:
A few years ago Ms. Lawrence might have looked hungry enough to play Katniss, but now, at 21, her seductive, womanly figure makes a bad fit for a dystopian fantasy about a people starved into submission.
In an industry where other people make it their industry to focus on the shape, weight, etc. of women, no wonder everyone looks bone-thin and unhealthy! No wonder all of these young women in America think they’re too fat. And now this ‘Oh no, we have a strong, healthy female actress on the screen portraying the heroine from your favorite books! She’s too fat!’ What?!
I love how Jennifer Lawrence looks. I admit, I noticed her weight. I loved that she wasn’t the normal Hollywood prescription. She has the curves in the right places. Her bones are not jutting out strangely.
I love even more how honest she is about body image in UK’s Marie Claire and how it needs to change. Now young women are not just being bombarded by images in magazines, movies and on television as ‘ideal’ but being told their Katniss Everdeen come to life is not thin enough, well, what damage does that cause?