#also it's insane how funny autism is. why am i taking hunger games analysis in 2024 more seriously than my real life research job 🤨

[assblastergaster]

this may be a weird thought, but I've always thought that Peeta being "broken from his curse" was a beautiful choice, even if it seems like it's lacking the realism the rest of the series emphasizes.

to that point, choosing to make it happen only under extreme duress was not only a narratively satisfying choice, but the correct cinematic one. to the latter, there's nothing inherently wrong with "cool for the sake of cool," especially when the rest of the story is cohesive and follows its own rules (i.e. it's not jumping the shark).

but i also simultaneously believe that it wasn't just for the rule of cool.

all of katniss' interactions with peeta post-brainwashing were very terse. after the initial attack—where katniss is convinced he's beyond saving and therefore dead—she's absolutely trying to remain as unaffected as possible. for one thing, she's scared. for another, if she lets her walls down and he responds to it positively, there's no way she wouldn't notice that; but katniss was always of the mind that if they could turn him into that, that there was no way it could be undone—she believed he was fully dead, and any small amount of hope would just deepen the pain of losing someone should they truly be lost.

i mean, trying to separate herself from him takes up the last half of mockingjay, when she keeps getting snippets of updates that he's getting better. she pushes herself further away, only to be forcibly reunited when coin guesses (incorrectly) that his presence will make her clumsy enough to become their martyr.

but, of course, coin's fatal flaw was not understanding that him being there drags her away from the precipe of suicide by warzone. he distracts her from acting aloof and cut off, accidentally allowing herself to become friends and allies with the team she was selfishly planning on leaving through death. suddenly, she can't put on the brave face for either party.

suddenly, peeta is seeing the katniss he knows. not the one trying her hardest to pretend like she doesn't know him. not the one mourning him. the one trying to keep him alive, against all odds and good advice.

it's a horrible, romantic parallel of the situation they've been in since day one.