I read The Hunger Games trilogy not even a complete month ago after I heard they were planning a movie about a fierce heroine. I loved it! [Ahem, I loved The Hunger Games, Book I. I have issues with Mockingjay.] So I started to take an interest in the movie casting and came to find out some people didn't think Rue & Thresh were black. My eyebrows twitched. Here's an excerpt of an email I sent off to a friend about the subject. [Yes, I'm a lazy blogger.]
In the book some would say the author makes race vague. Well, I don't think so. Everybody's basically race-less until she specifically points out telling physical characteristics (i.e. blond hair, olive skin) and context clues. There are two characters, Rue & Thresh, who people are having issues w/ & which makes me really wonder about some people. Rue & Thresh are from the same district (let's say state or village). The girl, Rue, is described as having satiny dark brown skin and the boy, Thresh, is described to have the same dark brown skin as the girl. (Some say - they're white but tanned. If you want to be ignorant, go w/ that. If you want to invoke privilege, go with it). So the author goes on to describe the district they're from as being agricultural. This is basically the ruins of America. The district is close to Appalachia but in the south (so like Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi) not more than a day's train ride away, & hot. & basically describe slave-like conditions. Antebellum south correlation. C'mon! Anyway, it turns out the slave-like conditions are basically at the whim of the peacekeeper in charge of the districts. Therefore, if that district had a sympathetic peacekeeper it wouldn't have been that horrible. But still, the author wrote it for a reason. Anyway c'mon, google dark brown. It's not light skinned with a tan, you gotta be black or South Asian to be dark brown... or Egyptian or Samoan or Aborigine. But a whole district of South Asians et al in post-apocalypse America growing crops in the southeast, for real?!
And don't even mention the "they could be Mexican" cop out to me. Again I say google dark brown & use your context clues.
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Below are some of those context clues. Quotes from The Hunger Games that highlight why I believe Rue & Thresh are black...or of African American decent if you will.
''One by one, we see the other reapings.... ...most hauntingly, a twelve-year-old girl from District 11. She has dark brown skin and eyes, but other than that, she's very like Prim in size and demeanor." The Hunger Games, pg 45, Susanne Collins.
"For the opening ceremonies, you're supposed to wear something that suggests your districts principal industry. District 11, agriculture." The Hunger Games, pg 66, Susanne Collins.
"...See the little girl from District 11 standing back a bit, watching us. She's the twelve-year-old, the one who reminds me so much of Prim in stature. Up close she looks about ten. She has bright, dark eyes and satiny brown skin and stands tilted up on her toes with her arms slightly extended to her sides, as if ready to take wing at the slightest sound. It's impossible not to think of a bird. .... 'I think her name's Rue,' he says softly." The Hunger Games, pg 98 - 99, Susanne Collins.
"The boy tribute of District 11, Thresh, has the same dark skin as Rue, but the resemblance stops there. He's one of the giants, probably six and a half feet tall and built like an ox, but I noticed he rejected the invitation from the Career Tributes to join their crowd." The Hunger Games, pg 126, Susanne Collins.
Rue describes life in District 11; growing food but being punished for taking any. pg 282 of The Hunger Games, Susanne Collins.
This is all moot now that Collins came out & said Rue & Thresh are from a district representative of the deep south and are indeed African American. I thought I'd post this anyway since I still see comments like "but the book didn't specifically say..." and at the time I was really annoyed.
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Interviews where Collins mentions Rue & Thresh's skin color &/or geographic location.
- Team 'Hunger Games' talks: Author Suzanne Collins and director Gary Ross on their allegiance to each other, and their actors -- EXCLUSIVE http://t.co/O6Afalc
- The Hob - A Tribute to The Hunger Games: The Hob Exclusive Part 2: Suzanne Collins Signing ... http://t.co/aVx7jpl
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;-) Amandla Stenberg & Dayo Oekniyi casted as The District 11 tributes, Rue & Thresh, in The Hunger Games. http://on.fb.me/hnNTgW
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