Entertainment

MTV Doesn't Like Katniss (Or Strong Women)

Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss Everdeen beat out every male superhero in 2013, but she's being shut out of the MTV Movie Awards "Best Hero" category which features exactly zero women. Fans are very upset over this huge oversight and have launched a petition to get The Hunger Games character onto the list. So far there are over 15,000 signatures and it's growing every minute. The petition passionately reads:

There is not a single woman in the Hero Category. Don't let a strong woman like Katniss be overlooked! Young women already have too few female heroes represented in film and television. We're constantly shown by the entertainment industry that men are brave, powerful, or successful, while women are often given supporting roles and weak characters ... Teen girls and young women everywhere need to see that courageous, principled women can be rewarded just like men.

The Hunger Games grossed over $409 million and trounced other male-led hero movies this year. Yet there was no mention of the film's lead as a hero in the category, and no female heroes recognized at all. Instead the nominations went to Robert Downey Jr. for Iron Man 3, Henry Cavill as Superman in Man of Steel, Martin Freeman's Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Chris Hemsworth's character in Thor: The Dark World, and yes, even Channing Tatum as John Cale in White House Down, a film I don't think anyone actually even saw.

But despite Katniss' success at the box office, apparently she wasn't considered hero-y enough for MTV, and neither were any other female actresses. What does a woman have to do to be considered a hero? I understand traditional comic book heroes like Superman and Thor landing on the list, but if you're going to allow hobbits and plain old regular guys like Tatum's secret service character to be nominated, how can you not nominate The Girl on Fire? She inspired a nation to fight against the status quo that had been in place for 75 terrible years. That seems pretty darn heroic to me. Sure, she wasn't wearing a cape, but she has all the attributes of a hero.

MTV's oversight is just indicative of the growing problem for women in film. They don't get the recognition they deserve. Cate Blanchett acknowledged this problem in her Oscars acceptance speech addressing those "who are still foolishly clinging to the idea that female films with women at the center are niche experiences. They are not. Audiences want to see them and, in fact, they earn money. The world is round, people."

Just as Katniss inspired rebellion in the books, she is doing so in real life as audiences are refusing to accept her exclusion from MTV's "Best Hero" category. Female characters and actresses deserve to be paid attention to, and we can only hope this petition effort will be victorious.

Image: Lionsgate; boxoffice