When I started middle school, the dystopian market was really taking off. I had picked up The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins as a result of Stephanie Meyer recommending the book on her blog, and remembered the dread of having to wait for Catching Fire and Mockingjay to come out subsequently. There were many books that came out at the same time with a similar vein: The Maze Runner by James Dashner, Legend by Marie Lu, and The Selection by Kierra Cass, just to name a few.
Of course, I was excited when Collins recently announced that she would be releasing another Hunger Games book (if you missed my thoughts on President Snow after reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, click here). It was exciting to know that there was an opportunity to further explore the world how the author intended.
That news then became overshadowed when I saw that ScreenRant posted an article titled “The Movie Series that was Supposed to Replace The Hunger Games is Now on Netflix.” I was intrigued, kind of unaware that there was a series that was supposed to replace The Hunger Games, because even the books I had listed above don’t exactly compare. Of course I clicked to read the article.
And I would say that I am disappointed that the writer thought Divergent as a series would be comparable to The Hunger Games. Today, I’m going to get into the nitty-gritty of why the Divergent series struggled “due to faltering interest,” as Memory Ngulube wrote in the ScreenRant article.
I will preface this by saying that I only read the first book (because that was all I could bear) and I recently watched all the movies. I’ve organized my thoughts by movie.
Divergent
My first thought is that Tris is not a likable character from the beginning. There are two reasons for this: Beatrice Prior is not a completely fleshed-out character, and it is possible that she was miscast in the movies.
When we first meet Beatrice in the movie, it is obvious she doesn’t know who she is. While this might be a character trope for the coming-of-age, young adult genre, she does not know who she is to the point where she struggles to make a choice. While you could argue that Tris Prior and Katniss Everdeen are supposed to be mirrors of each other, Katniss knew her purpose from the beginning: she wanted to stay alive for her family. Tris reacts as a result of her circumstances, like a domino.
Moreover, while Shailene Woodley is a great actress, I found her a little too put together to be Tris. When I looked at Shailene for too long, I found myself wondering if she belonged in the movie. While we knew her for her starring role in The Secret Life of an American Teenager, she is a bit too poised to be having lunch within the Dauntless Faction.
Another thing that I struggled with when it came to the Divergent movie was the chemistry that was supposed to exist between Four and Tris. In my reading of the book, I want to believe that there was more to their relationship than we saw in the movie, but I can’t put my finger on where those differences would exist.
The part in the movie where they really seem to click is when Four lets Tris into his mind to see his fears. This leads me to believe that these two are actually trauma-bonded, in all of their fears and the events that start to happen as the series unravels. Which then reminds me: how is is that Tris’ parents and Four’s parents knew each other and worked together, and these two are two years apart in age, and didn’t know or recognize each other? Sounds like a plot hole to me.
And it isn’t just the romantic chemistry that is off. The friendships also could’ve been better developed and presented. How am I supposed to believe that Tris truly felt guilty about killing Will in self-defense, when Al committed suicide because Tris wouldn’t help him, and Al decided to almost throw her into a pit to her death? There’s the logic that any human would feel guilty, but the series doesn’t bring up any guilt she had with Al. Their deaths were the result of her defending herself, mind-controlled or not.
So after we get through the first half of the movie, I have to say that I became more impressed with the second half of the movie. What that might imply is that the build-up to this part of the movie could have been better. I do think it was a bit ruthless for Tris to have to watch both her Mom and Dad die in the first movie.
At the end of the movie, I also questioned how much character development Tris had. On one hand, I wanted to believe that she changed, but when I watched Allegiant, she went back to needing/blindly trusting what she was told. So I go back and forth about her character development.
Insurgent
If the series had ended with this movie, I think it would be a lot stronger overall. However, we know that isn’t the case. There are three movies, and they were originally hoping for a forth until the third failed at the box office. Now there is speculation that Netflix might have a chance at renewing it for a Netflix series, but I still think that is a bad idea.
Anyway, when we meet Four’s mom, I have to argue that she is not given a lot of depth. My sister says that it might be given to her in the books, but I still think we could’ve been given a flashback or something to round out her character more. Or maybe forcing Four to say one good thing about her to Tris, or something more than what we have been given. You know, other than she abandoned him for her safety and now wants to take over the world.
More on the relationships, the sibling bond between Tris and Caleb is not that strong. It is obvious that she is holding onto him because he is the only family she has left, but from the way he is okay with experimenting on her, it is apparent it does not go both ways. We aren’t given much insight into why that is, other than it might be a trait of the Faction that he joined.
I think it is interesting that the mirror/glass tapping to breakout of simulations isn’t mentioned again, or forgotten? I thought it was an interesting point to expand upon, but we don’t really get the chance to expand upon it. Like, ever.
The second movie would have been a great ending for the series, but it doesn’t end here.
Allegiant
I started my notes by saying “The characters are very surface-level,” and then crossed it out by the end and wrote, “actually, the whole thing.” They’re trying to build a world beyond Chicago (which we learn is the setting in this third movie), and it is all over the place and disorganized. There’s CGI, and I think the point is that it is supposed to be bad, but no one wants to watch that.
The only thing I really have to say is that Peter doesn’t have much character development at all. There’s so little character development in Peter that you would think Tris and everyone would have caught on by now. I also did not understand the purpose of Tori’s death. Maybe it was used to show how pointless the rest of Allegiant was going to be? All in all, I can’t imagine what a fourth movie could’ve possibly given us.
Are you a fan of the Divergent series? What Faction do you belong to? Is there a young adult dystopian novel that you believe could re-invigorate the genre? I would love to know in the comments below!
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Love Always,
Kristi My
Kristi My Dao 