I've been so into this ongoing series of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire portraits. So into them! Which is helpful, because they've been debuting two a day for the last week, which involves a lot of analyzing costume choices and figuring out the symbolism of the white rose held by the tributes. But now they've gone and managed to screw it all up, by including rebellious dreamboat in the series supposedly sponsored by the Capitol. Check out this blasphemy below:
Debuting over at Pop Sugar, the poster reunites us with our favorite rogue played by Liam Hemsworth, looking just like you'd expect: rugged, handsome, pretty out of place, and not too happy about posing for a portrait. But his presence in this series is entirely nonsensical. These portraits are supposedly commissioned by the Capitol as part of their "Capitol Couture" series, showing off the fantastic clothing that's made and paraded around on television during the annual Hunger Games. Everyone we've seen so far is somehow associated with the Games, from interviewer Caesar Flickerman to tributes Katniss, Peeta, Beetee and Johanna.
But Gale is not involved in the Games. Gale does not even travel to the Capitol. The Capitol has no idea who Gale even is, as Katniss works to conceal her slightly romantic relationship with him to preserve the ruse that she's engaged to Peeta (thus the wedding dress Katniss sports in her own portrait). If we are to see these portraits as being part of the film's world-- and isn't that the entire point of viral marketing?-- then Gale's presence makes no sense. It's a pretty disappointing misstep in a series that's been really wonderful so far.
Hunger Games fans, let me know if you're as annoyed by this as I am in the comments below.
