The Highs and Lows of Divergent
Film: Divergent (2014). Young Actress: Shailene Woodley, age 21.
I was pleasantly surprised by Divergent... but that might be due in part to the fact that I saw it soon after The Giver, which forced me to greatly lower my expectations for futuristic teen films. But my own prejudices aside, Divergent is still a solid movie; its target audience is clearly teens, but the characters and action-adventure storyline are handled well enough that viewers of any age will probably enjoy it.
The story takes place in futuristic Chicago, where society has been divided into five different factions, whose members' lives revolve a certain characteristic. Beatrice (Shailene) has been raised in the Abnegation faction, which embodies selflessness and serving others. At age 16, everyone gets to choose whether they want to join a different faction, or stay in the one that they were born and raised in. Again, this is similar to the coming-of-age ceremony in The Giver, but it's executed much better, and in a way that this society doesn't feel foreign.
Beatrice, in her gray Abnegation clothes, watches the Choosing Ceremony with her parents.
Beatrice is 16, and instead of remaining in Abnegation like everyone expects, she deflects to joint Dauntless, a faction that embodies courage. The members of Dauntless wear all black, yell instead of talk, run instead of walk, have lots of tattoos, and are always accompanied by booming offscreen drum beats. They get a little tiresome. To remain in Dauntless and not get kicked out and become "factionless" (this society's equivalent of homeless), Beatrice and the other new Dauntless members must train for and pass a series of physical and mental tests. This makes up most of the movie, and it's done well. Beatrice changes her name to Tris, and she's clearly self-conscious and struggling to adjust to her new life, which makes her relatable and easy to root for. Some scenes do scream "this is a teen movie," like the cafeteria scenes of Tris and her new friends (among them Zoe Kravitz, X-Men: First Class), which may as well have been titled "Dauntless High School." There's also a romance between Tris and Four (Theo James, The Benefactor, seven years Shailene's senior), a young Dauntless leader, but it's handled better than most teen movie romances.
In the second half of the film, a new storyline takes off (a bit out of nowhere) as the factions of this society descend into a civil war. It's up to Tris and her friends to stop the war, and this is where Tris looses a lot of her realism and crosses into "Mary Sue" territory. She's overwhelmingly perfect, strong, and brave, cracking clever one-liners in the middle of battle scenes, and there are one too many shots of her hair blowing in the wind. But by this point, Tris has come so far since deflecting from Abnegation that you're still mostly rooting for her.
Although Tris is a solid character, especially in the first part of the film, Shailene's acting felt very average throughout. Some critics called Shailene "the next Jennifer Lawrence" for this role, and while her acting is good, I hardly think that she warrants comparisons to Jennifer. I find it hard to understand why she was chosen for two of the biggest movies of 2014, this and The Fault in Our Stars. (The books were so popular that both films likely would've been huge successes, no matter which young actress was cast in the leads.) The supporting cast in Divergent are mostly very good, especially Ashley Judd as Tris's mom and former young actress Kate Winslet ( Steve Jobs), who seems to really enjoy sinking her teeth into an evil role as a corrupt government official.
An important point of Divergent is discussed in Peyton Thomas's excellent article, The Divergent Rape Scene: Why It Matters. In a fear simulation that's part of the Dauntless tests, Tris must fight off Four, her would-be boyfriend, when he tries to rape her. (To clarify, Tris isn't afraid of Four; she's afraid of sexual assault in general.) I saw Divergent not long after Perfect Sisters, which also contains an attempted rape scene. When Beth ( Georgie Henley), who happens to be the same age as Tris, is cornered by her mom's boyfriend, she tearfully asks him to let go of her. She puts up some resistance, but when he angrily tells her to "calm down," she stops. She sobs, pleads, and whimpers. It's a difficult scene to watch. Her big sister Sandra ( Abigail Breslin) eventually comes to her rescue, screaming at the creep and slapping him away, but by then, the scene has gone on for too long.
Even without comparing it to Perfect Sisters, the Divergent scene is incredibly empowering, especially for its brevity. Tris has a crush on Four. She's spent much of the movie secretly pining over him. But when she says no and he doesn't listen, she fights him off - I don't mean resisting, but actually fighting him off, fiercely and successfully. He's been helping her train and fit into Dauntless, but she knows that she doesn't owe him. She knows that he should listen when she tells him to stop, and rather than it ending with her crumpling to the floor like Beth did, it ends with Four getting kicked to the floor - all while theaters packed with teenage girls watched.
For the messages that it sends young people, Divergent deserves serious applause.
AWARDS
Critics Choice Awards: nominated for Best Actress in an Action Movie (Shailene)
MTV Movie Awards: won Favorite Character (Tris)
People's Choice Awards: won Favorite Movie Duo (Shailene & Theo James)
Teen Choice Awards: won Choice Movie: Action and Choice Movie Actress: Action (Shailene)
Young Hollywood Awards: nominated for Favorite Flick and Best Onscreen Couple (Shailene & Theo)
I was pleasantly surprised by Divergent... but that might be due in part to the fact that I saw it soon after The Giver, which forced me to greatly lower my expectations for futuristic teen films. But my own prejudices aside, Divergent is still a solid movie; its target audience is clearly teens, but the characters and action-adventure storyline are handled well enough that viewers of any age will probably enjoy it.
The story takes place in futuristic Chicago, where society has been divided into five different factions, whose members' lives revolve a certain characteristic. Beatrice (Shailene) has been raised in the Abnegation faction, which embodies selflessness and serving others. At age 16, everyone gets to choose whether they want to join a different faction, or stay in the one that they were born and raised in. Again, this is similar to the coming-of-age ceremony in The Giver, but it's executed much better, and in a way that this society doesn't feel foreign.
Beatrice, in her gray Abnegation clothes, watches the Choosing Ceremony with her parents.
Beatrice is 16, and instead of remaining in Abnegation like everyone expects, she deflects to joint Dauntless, a faction that embodies courage. The members of Dauntless wear all black, yell instead of talk, run instead of walk, have lots of tattoos, and are always accompanied by booming offscreen drum beats. They get a little tiresome. To remain in Dauntless and not get kicked out and become "factionless" (this society's equivalent of homeless), Beatrice and the other new Dauntless members must train for and pass a series of physical and mental tests. This makes up most of the movie, and it's done well. Beatrice changes her name to Tris, and she's clearly self-conscious and struggling to adjust to her new life, which makes her relatable and easy to root for. Some scenes do scream "this is a teen movie," like the cafeteria scenes of Tris and her new friends (among them Zoe Kravitz, X-Men: First Class), which may as well have been titled "Dauntless High School." There's also a romance between Tris and Four (Theo James, The Benefactor, seven years Shailene's senior), a young Dauntless leader, but it's handled better than most teen movie romances.
In the second half of the film, a new storyline takes off (a bit out of nowhere) as the factions of this society descend into a civil war. It's up to Tris and her friends to stop the war, and this is where Tris looses a lot of her realism and crosses into "Mary Sue" territory. She's overwhelmingly perfect, strong, and brave, cracking clever one-liners in the middle of battle scenes, and there are one too many shots of her hair blowing in the wind. But by this point, Tris has come so far since deflecting from Abnegation that you're still mostly rooting for her.
Although Tris is a solid character, especially in the first part of the film, Shailene's acting felt very average throughout. Some critics called Shailene "the next Jennifer Lawrence" for this role, and while her acting is good, I hardly think that she warrants comparisons to Jennifer. I find it hard to understand why she was chosen for two of the biggest movies of 2014, this and The Fault in Our Stars. (The books were so popular that both films likely would've been huge successes, no matter which young actress was cast in the leads.) The supporting cast in Divergent are mostly very good, especially Ashley Judd as Tris's mom and former young actress Kate Winslet ( Steve Jobs), who seems to really enjoy sinking her teeth into an evil role as a corrupt government official.
An important point of Divergent is discussed in Peyton Thomas's excellent article, The Divergent Rape Scene: Why It Matters. In a fear simulation that's part of the Dauntless tests, Tris must fight off Four, her would-be boyfriend, when he tries to rape her. (To clarify, Tris isn't afraid of Four; she's afraid of sexual assault in general.) I saw Divergent not long after Perfect Sisters, which also contains an attempted rape scene. When Beth ( Georgie Henley), who happens to be the same age as Tris, is cornered by her mom's boyfriend, she tearfully asks him to let go of her. She puts up some resistance, but when he angrily tells her to "calm down," she stops. She sobs, pleads, and whimpers. It's a difficult scene to watch. Her big sister Sandra ( Abigail Breslin) eventually comes to her rescue, screaming at the creep and slapping him away, but by then, the scene has gone on for too long.
Even without comparing it to Perfect Sisters, the Divergent scene is incredibly empowering, especially for its brevity. Tris has a crush on Four. She's spent much of the movie secretly pining over him. But when she says no and he doesn't listen, she fights him off - I don't mean resisting, but actually fighting him off, fiercely and successfully. He's been helping her train and fit into Dauntless, but she knows that she doesn't owe him. She knows that he should listen when she tells him to stop, and rather than it ending with her crumpling to the floor like Beth did, it ends with Four getting kicked to the floor - all while theaters packed with teenage girls watched.
For the messages that it sends young people, Divergent deserves serious applause.
AWARDS
Critics Choice Awards: nominated for Best Actress in an Action Movie (Shailene)
MTV Movie Awards: won Favorite Character (Tris)
People's Choice Awards: won Favorite Movie Duo (Shailene & Theo James)
Teen Choice Awards: won Choice Movie: Action and Choice Movie Actress: Action (Shailene)
Young Hollywood Awards: nominated for Favorite Flick and Best Onscreen Couple (Shailene & Theo)