Tools of Characterization

Characterization in The Hunger Games

Clothing

If you check the clothes on these characters, you can see where a person comes from and what his or her function in society is. The residents of District 12, for example, wear simple plain clothes or coal-mining gear; even when they show up to the drawing, they're wearing cotton go-to-church clothes, nothing more glamorous. Contrast that with Effie's Purple Monstrosity, her elaborate make-up, and her shoes that would probably get you killed on general principles if you took them into a coal mine.

The other residents of the Capitol let their freak flags fly in a similar manner. Everything is over the top: the colors, the puffs, even the mascara is the sort of thing RuPaul would look and go, "nah, too much." You can tell the rulers from the ruled in an eye-blink. Just check the threads.

You can see everyone's role in society from their clothes. The Capitol Guards all dress in Stormtrooper chic, for instance (the fashionable look for despots across the multiverse). The Tributes are distinguished by either their uniform athletic gear or by the costumes they wear when speaking to Caesar. Everybody knows their place in this world.

Social Status

If you come from the outer Districts, then you're dirt poor and utterly powerless. If you live in the Capitol, then you live a life of saffron-coated decadence. That's going to inform how you feel about the Hunger Games, President Snow and every other aspect of the story. It's easier to feel good about a government if you have a big house and lots of food. But if you have nothing, and the government keeps taking more from you, well then you're apt to do the kinds of things that Katniss aims to do.

Locations

District12 is dirty and gray, the kind of place that breeds no-nonsense people like Katniss, who are used to dealing with struggles to survive. The Capitol's like an ongoing style-over-substance drag queen cabaret that breeds foolish peacocks like Effie. And then there's the arena, where all the social niceties drop and we get all red and nasty trying to kill each other. If you want to know anything about the characters in this movie, take a look at where they are at any given moment.

Speech and Dialogue

Everyone notices how plain-spoken Katniss is: how awkward and oddly she acts when the cameras are on her. Look at her first exchange with Caesar Flickerman, for example, where she basically goes all deer-in-the-headlights:

CAESAR: And what did you say to her... in the end?

KATNISS: I told her that I would try to win. That I would try to win for her.

Peeta, on the other hand, is a natural, because he says the right things when he's on TV. He's all cool like the other side of the pillow when talking to Caesar:

PEETA: You definitely smell better than I do.

CAESAR: Well, I've lived here longer.

PEETA: That makes sense

You see that kind of thing with everyone. Effie's obsession with shallow details comes out in her shrieks and whoops, while Cinna's voice is low, warm and soothing. It's more than what the characters say: it's how they say it.

Actions

We don't have to guess about what people are like in this film. Like another Campbellian hero once said, it's not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you. The Careers have no problems killing people in the arena. They even seem to enjoy it. Snow gives orders as a way of holding onto power, and shows his utter contempt for just about everyone but himself. Good people like Katniss, Peeta and Rue risk their lives to help out other decent folks in the arena, even when it's life-threatening to do so. Not much subtlety here—it's easy to tell the good guys from the bad guys.