Creative Project- Reimagining Katniss Everdeen

A Relatable Katniss Everdeen

After having recently engaged in a movie marathon consisting of a wide variety of Dystopian trilogies including The Hunger Games, Divergent, and The Maze Runner wherein the main protagonists were often shown leading an entire rebellion, and generally hailed as heroes, I simultaneously noticed a general trend pertaining to their appearances. Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games), Tris Prior (Divergent), and Thomas Sangster (The Maze Runner) are all white main characters, and to them, religion is a foreign concept. Similarly, any of the side characters who retained some hint of diversity either died or were overlooked as the series progressed. For this Creative project I was inspired to reimagine one of these characters as someone I can relate to. Being a Muslim Indian-American teenager, I wanted to incorporate these characteristics into someone who is shown to be on the frontlines of a war against an oppressive government. For this reason, I chose to reimagine Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games), as throughout the series she is shown to be strong, brave, and highly skilled individual, and I wanted the same designation for a Muslim POC as well.

Out of the many options provided in the Creative Project prompt for paying tribute to our reimagined characters I decided on writing a script. I did so because I am not necessarily the most artistically gifted and if I had chosen something like a movie poster or comic it most likely would not have been able to convey my message. Within this script I renamed Katniss: Kajol, Prim: Pia, and Gale: Gusharib. I also added in Hindi words including: shukran (thank you), garam (warm), and api (sister), among others. In order to incorporate a religious aspect into my retelling, I also included a scene during which Kajol makes duah, which is a short prayer typically asking God for either supplication or when requesting something. In this case, Kajol was praying to God to aid her during the Hunger Games and keep her safe. 

You can view my script here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e8-6_mF1FIBVNMcVqD065spkZfLN2QyTdc9qUNc0KaU/edit?usp=sharing

- Mariam Vaid