*TW: Rape, Sexual Violence and SPOILER ALERTS for the movie DIVERGENT!*
I recently sat down to watch one of the newest teen crazes, “Divergent.” While I only watched the movie, I am in possession of the book by Veronica Roth and I plan to read that before 2015 is over. At first I was planning on writing this after reading the book so I could do a comparison, but after realizing that my reading list is far longer than I anticipated, I decided to write solely on the movie and post about the book at a later date.
Despite casting anti-feminism star Shailene Woodley as the lead protagonist, the movie was interestingly sculpted. I admired Tris early in the film for her choice in faction. She had a choice to take control of her own life or follow in the footsteps of her family. I got the impression that Tris knew which faction she wanted to choose before she even took her test, simply because she seemed so transfixed on Dauntless. I think a lot of people could argue that she only swayed from the faction she was supposed to choose because her brother did before her, but I just don’t see that. Especially with how fast the whole faction choosing ceremony was, I think Tris knew that she wanted a change before her brother did.
I was also interested in the fact that the leader of this new society was a woman, played by Kate Winslet. Winslet portrayed a powerful, intelligent, all knowing leader of this new society. This reminded me strikingly of “The Giver,” another dystopian novel featuring a female leader of society. I also appreciate seeing women in positions of leadership in these teen novels because I think, especially in the United States where I am based, that teens are used to seeing men in power. The key example here being the fact that we have never had a woman president. I believe novels normalizing women in power will make the idea become more acceptable for young people and help pave the way for female leadership in real life.
Okay but here’s the tidbit I found the most interesting in the film! In order to stay in Dauntless as a full fledged member of their society, Tris must take a virtual test that will examine whether or not she really belongs in Dauntless. This is exceptionally difficult for because Tris early on in the story finds out she is Divergent, a combination of all of the factions. Tris, being Divergent, understands that the fears she faces in the test are not real, and she has to train herself to fight them head on like someone in the Dauntless faction would. These (I believe five?) test levels are ranked by how afraid she is of them, this means that she fights her worst fear last. The second to last fear that Tris faces is the fear of being raped, the boy who attempts to assault her is her current boyfriend/love interest.
Now, a lot of critics have stated that they felt this came out of nowhere, as Tris had never expressed this fear before. However, I believe this was masterfully done. After all, women are conditioned from birth to believe that sexual violence can and will happen to them and that they are both powerless to stop it and somehow to blame for this violence. Tris is stating her very real fear that she has as an average woman, the fear of her security being taken away by this violence. I liked that they sort of added this in as an afterthought because I think while not all women have had to confront this violence head on, it’s still a very real fear for most women that has been conditioned within them. I think this small scene was used very well as a chance to speak out against this injustice.
I definitely think I’ll see the second movie, I enjoyed the first a lot more than I thought I would, and I’m very much looking forward to reading the book!
Yes, I'm an Actual Feminist 