#gryrr.txt

First, Arachne’s death. This one is maybe a little more forgiving since Snow’s duplicitous nature is hard to translate on-screen, but still minor changes made some striking differences in characterization. When Arachne is killed in the film, Snow jumps into action, being the first to go to Arachne’s aid, and tries to keep her alive. Whereas in the book, he pretty much shakes in his boots before Lucy Gray shocks him into action, and even then, he’s nearly more concerned with his reputation on camera than Brandy’s nor Arachne’s death.

And then, Clemensia. The academic-focused Asian. In the film, she’s depicted as too greedy for success, butting her way into Coriolanus’ assignment when he gets Dr. Gaul’s attention. When she tries to take the credit for Coriolanus’ work, she “rightfully” gets what she deserves when she’s bit for lying

In the book, she’s more forgivable. She’s distraught over Arachne’s death and doesn’t think that Dr. Gaul would still be expecting the assignment, which both her and Snow were voted into, instead of her volunteering for it. She lies so that it doesn’t look like she’s “feeble”, and doesn’t even hog the credit. Still, for this lie, she gets six mutated and highly poisonous snake bites (and not just the one like in the film lol). In the book, you see her left isolated in her suffering and her body gaining snake mutations from the side effects, even with the quickly administered antidote. It’s such a disproportionate punishment for a pretty harmless action, and shows Dr. Gaul’s unjustifiable ruthlessness

Lastly—and they did her a downright disservice—is Lysistrata. In the film, she’s practically an afterthought. When Jessup’s revealed to have contracted rabies, it is Coriolanus who has to force her to action. He pleads for her to send water to scare him off and that he’s “practically dead”, and precious moments are lost to Lysistrata’s indecision as Jessup chases Lucy Gray, shouting, accusing, “what have you done to me!”

In the book, while she has relatively minor role, it’s still a significant one, especially when you foil her with other students like Arachne, Sejanus, and Coriolanus himself. She’s intelligent, and compassionate. While she’s not as vocal as Sejanus from the start, she voices her opinion against war during discussions, and openly shows her gratitude after Jessup saves her life. She quickly realizes that water is needed to scare Jessup (who in the book seems more dazed, zigzagging into Lucy Gray’s direction, but nonetheless dangerous) and sends so unprompted. She‘s more or less composed, but sheds a tear over his death, and is one of the very first to acknowledge the tributes as human beings.

When you add up all of these differences together, I wouldn’t say Coriolanus’ arc in the film falls in parallel to the books. In the film, Snow is kind of a “good egg” (especially compared to his Capitol-born classmates, who’re either power-hungry, oblivious, or meek to a fault)

And if you combine that with the “official” story where the mother who raised her forced her to always “look like a boy” because the “bad men will be looking for a girl”, you get the impression that she’s a cis woman who was forced to be a man for survival. Except I just don’t see that, personally. Just seeing it from a trans perspective—heck, even a cis one—where is the dysphoria? If she was a woman, we don’t really ever see her distressed about dressing as a boy and looking like one. We don’t see her really mourning the loss of her hair or even trying to explore her femininity (appearance-wise) when she begins to hit puberty. You don’t see her comparing herself to other girls and seeing what she “could have had”

Nah, when they start developing breasts, they start binding with bandages and that’s such a trans masc media staple you can’t help but snort. When Mizu gets a husband and becomes a wife, you don’t even see her use that newfound freedom to explore “finally being a woman”. You don’t see her awe at her new silhouette with the more feminine hairstyle and kimono. The most you see is her trying to learn to cook (which, still, is a stretch since that is more her trying to fulfill wife duties), letting down her hair, and having sex with a man with her tits out and all (more of the tits out, frankly, but how much of that is her being a woman vs the show’s addiction to showing boobs).

Also, while you do eventually see Mizu as a “wife”, as properly as she can be, I can’t help but think it looks so… awkward. On her. With the odd-looking makeup and the still-masculine-looking torso covered by a feminine kimono, I can’t help but think she resembles many of my butch and trans masc friends who have been forced into makeup and a dress. Who lower the cinch on their waist down to their hips or flatten their chest to emulate a more masculine silhouette until it looks a little goofy, and like you’re forcing a square peg into a round hole. And that Mizu looks infinitely more comfortable in their own skin as a very male-passing rogue samurai. But maybe I’m just projecting hard

But laying all these side-by-side make it a pretty confusing picture. Freaking Nimona was a more straightforward trans allegory and the character in question is not even human