#thg discourse

i know people have talked about how it’s disappointing that we didn’t see age accurate casting for the hunger games series because it makes us more desensitized to the fact that katniss and peeta were children in the games, but i feel like no one touches on how that plays into how fans, adult fans, thirst over peeta. i read the books as a preteen and of course i loved peeta, and i still do at 18, but i can’t pretend i feel unfazed by the way adults thirst over him and forget that he was a child, and, although i love josh hutcherson and think he did a phenomenal job as an actor, i can’t help but feel it is in part due to that casting choice. throughout the series we are reminded frequently that the characters are children, but it becomes easy to overlook when the person you see and picture doesn’t look like a child. people often bring up that katniss was just a traumatized and exploited child, but i feel people often forget that about peeta as well, especially in the way the sexualize and romanticize him. and i know by the end of the series (pre epilogue) he is probably an adult (timeline is unclear bc katniss is an unreliable narrator) but still for the majority of the series we know him as a teenager. an incredibly endearing and lovable teenager, yes, but still a teenager. so i’m not trying to call anyone who has ever thirsted after him evil or a pedophile that is absurd but idk i cant help but find it remarkable how a main detail of the series, that they are children, is so easily overlooked because of the combination of a casting choice and the likability of his character. it’s reminiscent of the way capitol citizens watch the hunger games and are desensitized to children being forced to murder each other because it’s painted as a spectacle and entertainment rather than what it really is. it becomes easy to forget that peeta is a traumatized child when he a) wasn’t cast as one and b) the majority of fans don’t focus on the fact that he IS one because it’s easier, more comfortable, and more enjoyable to be distracted by his personality+appearance and romanticize/sexualize him. people always talk about how much they love, adore, or want him which distracts from the fact that he is a child, and because it does that, people forget he is a child and only focus on how much they love him rather than seeing and understanding his character and his significance in the narrative. it’s like an echo chamber kinda or a cycle.