It’s unbelievable to me people are complaining about Jennifer Lawrence’s body size after she did such a remarkable job portraying Katniss Everdeen in ‘The Hunger Games!’ It’s trivial and useless to even point that out!
Some of the country’s most-read critics — including ones from the New York Times and The Hollywood Reporter — have gone on record commenting on Jennifer Lawrence‘s normal-sized figure in The Hunger Games and how she doesn’t fit Katniss Everdeen’s skinny body type. Not only are these comments inappropriate, they are detrimental to any advances the 21-year-old actress has made in helping girls with body dysmorphia!
“A few years ago Ms. Lawrence might have looked hungry enough to play Katniss, but now, at 21, her seductive, womanly figure makes a bad fit for a dystopian fantasy about a people starved into submission,” Manohla Dargis wrote in the Times.
Her sentiment was echoed by Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter, who referred to Jennifer’s “lingering baby fat.”
Although I find it catty to comment on the talented actress’s weight at all, these highly influential writers could have reworded their thoughts and said “although Jennifer didn’t fit the physical description of Suzanne Collins‘s character…” and we would have gotten the point.
Yes, Katniss comes from a poor district. Yes, she is described as painfully thin. No, Jennifer isn’t a rail. But let’s be honest: did it really affect the storytelling in any capacity? No.
A writer on the site BlissTree, Briana Rognlin, was also upset about the Jennifer body controversy and made a point that struck a chord with me. ”When female characters are meant to be ugly, old or fat, we’ll easily ignore discrepancies (because who would want to actually hire an actress who’s any of those things?),” she said. “But if a character is meant to be emaciated or sick, we feel conned if she hasn’t made herself those things in real life.”
People are hyper-focusing on a small detail, which is doing more harm than good. There’s nothing constructive about calling Jennifer “thick” or “too normal” at this point. News flash: she was already cast; the film has already been shot and we’ve all already seen it. It’s not like Lionsgate is going to pick up the phone, call her and demand she drop 20 pounds so she can finally look how Katniss is supposed to in book one. Get over it already.
The best part? Jennifer knows she’s not a runway model and totally owns it. In fact, she embraces it.
“I’m totally normal. You see these 12 and 13 year olds ordering salads with dressing on the side and thinking they need to be on a diet,” she told UK Marie Claire. “I do want the stick-thin trend to end.”
Jennifer, we need more young actresses as level-headed and healthy as you. Keep up the good work.
Yours in “normal” solidarity,
Kirstin
fan
Jenna
Posted at 11:56 PM on November 26, 2012
I think she has an absolutely amazing, gorgeous body. But for the sake of the role, it would’ve been more perfect if she fits Katniss’ body type more – Katniss is STARVED, whether we like it or not, so Im sure she’s not supposed to have a robust body like JLaw’s. JLaw is a phenomenal actress, but it still bothers me she doesn’t fit the physical description of Katniss, which does take a bit away from the storytelling. Actors lose weight all the time for their roles, so why can’t she? She’s not promoting unhealthy body types; it would be for a ROLE.