SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

THE DESIGN SCHOOL

FOUNDATION IN NATURAL AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT

NAME: ADAM PANDOR

STUDENT ID NO: 0322743
FILMS SELECTED: THE HUNGER GAMES AND DIVERGENT
WORD COUNT: 767
ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE - CONTRAST ESSAY
LECTURER: GOPIGHANTAN MYLVAGANAM
SUBMISSION DATE: DECEMBER 4TH 2015

Compare and Contrast

Science fiction is a genre of a real life science technology and the imaginary world of
make-believe. It is a genre involving imaginative content with futuristic settings;
futuristic technology that sometimes involves space travel, time travel, aliens etc.
Science fiction films were not that popular back in the 1920s but there is no doubt that it
is now perhaps the most versatile genres in films in the 21st century. I chose the movies
The Hunger Games and Divergent because they dont include those typical space
travel, time travel, aliens, sophisticated technology but rather a downcast theme was
illustrated. These two movies have a lot in common, such as the protagonists traits,
setting (dystopian world), and plot (storyline).
These two movies took place at an unspecified point in the future where vague
disasters caused the nation of Panem and Dystopia to be surrounded by a giant fence. the
world outside of Panem and Dystopia is ruined. Every year in Panem, a male and female
between the ages of 12 and 18 are selected from each of the 12 districts to participate in
the games. The tributes are chosen during the annual reaping and are forced to fight to
death, leaving only one survivor to claim victory. As for Divergent, everyone must choose
a faction out of the five; Abnegation the selfless, Dauntless the brave, Erudite the
intelligent, Candor the honest, and Amity the peaceful. Once all teenager reach the age of
16, they must choose to either stay in their faction of birth, or transfer into another
faction.
The protagonists of these two movies are very similar to each other in many ways.
The traits of bravery and selflessness only describe a powerful human being that has a
heart of a stone. Nobody has such determination and bravery as Katniss and Tris; theyre
not even comparable to a strong compact rock. The boldness that these two characters
share is phenomenally courageous. Katniss and Tris are brave, selfless and strong, both
mentally and physically.
Although Katniss and Tris are just sixteen year-old girls, i admire how brave there
are. In The Hunger Games, when Clove was about to kill her; instead of pleading for her
life, she kept her eyes wide open and spat in Cloves face. She is not only brave but also
intelligent. In the beginning of the movie, she chose not to charge into the bloodbath like
many others. Instead, she ran to the opposite direction into the forest, and not to mention
how daring she was to shoot an arrow near one of the gamemakers head to catch their
attention. In contrast, Tris has the same inspiring determination as well, she was willing
to do whatever the other dauntless members initiatesdid especially the scene where she
volunteered to be the first jumper. She was brave enough to jump down not knowing

what will happen if she jumped.

We cannot deny that the fans of these two movies are fan-girling over the love
between Katniss and Peeta and the relationship between Tris and Four. These two couples
were very similar in many ways. Both males in each of the relationships were subjected
to some relationship which made them think that their partners were the enemy. In The
Hunger Games, Peeta was hijacked with fake memories of Katniss being a threat to him.
When she found out that Peeta was saved from the Capitol, she wasted no time in looking
for him. When she was about to embrace him, he tried to strangle her because of the fake
memories. In the same way, in Divergent, Four had his mind programmed with different
scenarios with some sort of serum and he was not in control of his mind. But after
hearing Tris voice, the serum was unable to take control of his mind.
In a nutshell, after watching both movies i realized that these two movies used very
similar concepts in terms of character traits, setting and the plot. Both the protagonists
had similar qualities like bravery and selflessness. Science fiction often explores the
potential upshot of not only scientific but other innovations as well, hence sci-fi is also
known as literature of ideas.

References
Cardieri, N. (2012, December 11). Dystopian Fiction: 2012. Retrieved December 4, 2015,
from
http://room116dystopianfiction.blogspot.com/2012/12/characters-katniss-from-hungergames.html
Jerry, M. (2013). The similarities and differences between The Hunger Games and the
upcoming Divergent (2014 movie). Quora.com. Retrieved December 4, 2015, from
http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-similarities-and-differences-between-The-Hungergames-and-the-upcoming-Divergent-2014-movie
http://m.imdb.com/title/tt1392170/synopsis?ref_=m_tt_stry_pl