Written by Amanda Rodriguez
Mild Spoilers
Trigger Warning: mention of sexualized violence
The much-anticipated film Divergent is based on the series of teen sci-fi novels by Veronica Roth dealing with a walled-off, post-apocalyptic Chicago wherein society has divided itself into factions in an effort to create order and peace. Our heroine Beatrice “Tris” Prior (Shailene Woodley) finds out she is “Divergent,” a taboo non-conformist who doesn’t fit into any of the factions and is therefore threatening to the caste system.
Disclaimer: I haven’t read the novel series yet.
As a sucker for female-driven sci-fi stories, I liked the premise, but Divergent stands on the shoulders of many young adult and teen movies that came before it. Divergent features training-based dream-like hallucinations like in Ender’s Game.
Tris is another thin, white heroine who learns she is more capable than she ever suspected, much like Katniss from The Hunger Games or Clary from The Mortal Instruments: City of Ashes series.
Divergent‘s Choosing Ceremony has young people choose which faction they’ll belong to for the rest of their lives (“faction before blood”). With factions like Abnegation, Erudite, and Dauntless, the Choosing Ceremony hugely resembles the Sorting Ceremony from the Harry Potter series, wherein wizarding youths are sorted into houses like Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw (representing bravery, hard work, and intelligence respectively).
Divergent also spotlights the obligatory overwrought teen romance replete with multiple manly rescues of our heroine in a way that bears a strong resemblance to Twilight (though Tris admittedly has more fortitude and independence than her counterpart, Bella).
Divergents themselves are essentially misfits with special abilities that speak to the potential of human beings for evolution into a more advanced species like in the famed comic book turned cartoon series turned movie franchise X-Men.
Lastly, I think we should expect the second film (Insurgent) to really play up the youth rebellion angle like in The Legend of Billie Jean.
So, yes, Divergent is derivative and predicable. Funny how a movie with an emphasis on the importance of being different…isn’t all that different itself. I was, however, still entertained, and I’m willing to wait and see if the second two films pave their own way, uniquely establishing themselves within the lexicon of the iconic pop culture fantasy/sci-fi teen series genre.
Divergent is basically an unnecessary prequel. I’m a fan of training sequences and didn’t tire of them despite the fact that Tris repeatedly gets her ass handed to her.
However, almost an entire film dedicated to Tris’ martial training, her budding romance, and the requirements of survival within the faction of Dauntless are not strictly necessary for the big picture scope of the series. I suspect the real story starts in the next movie, Insurgent, with the caste system in upheaval and Tris coming into her own as a leader of dissidents.
I was disappointed at the under-utilization of Kate Winslet‘s extensive acting powers in her role as the Erudite leader and villainess Jeanine. I’m frankly so tired of the cold, fanatic female villain trope. Jodie Foster played a similarly uninspired role in the sci-fi film Elysium. At first, I hoped that Jeanine would only be Tris’ first foe, the patriarchy-complicit woman, and that Tris would advance beyond that to actually deconstructing the patriarchal system of oppression in the following films. A quick Wiki search disabused me of that notion.
No, it looks like our lead villain throughout the series will be Jeanine, which makes me question the underlying thematics behind the class structure that the film and book series critique. Is it claiming that cold, intelligent women are the problem? Are they the purveyors of this dysfunctional culture? If so, for which real world social ill is the post-apocalyptic world of Divergent a stand-in? What problematic mechanism of power does this sci-fi series seek to illuminate? So far, all we’ve got is a generic argument that being different and thinking differently is a good thing. Not much subversiveness going on there.
Tris also gets rescued a lot, mostly by her love interest, Four, played by Theo James (James Franco called…he wants his face back). This made me roll my eyes a lot because I didn’t pay $10 to watch a young woman lead be so dependent on a dude for her survival. Not only that, but through a fear simulation, we learn that one of Tris’ greatest fears is that Four will try to rape her, and that theme isn’t delved into at all. However, I did admire the close, loving relationship Tris shares with her mother (Ashley Judd) and that her mom also rescues her in a surprising act that would make both factions Abnegation and Dauntless proud.
As with so many other aspects of the film, I’m letting our heroine’s constant need to be rescued slide because I’m hopeful that Divergent, as the first installment of the series, is setting Tris up to be a memorable heroine in her own right in the following films. I’m hoping that Divergent is the story of the forging of our heroine, the exploration of her talents, abilities, and heart and that the second and third films will show her learning from her experiences, becoming a leader, and inspiring others. At the end of Divergent, we saw a glimmer of her potential in her rallying of others, quick thinking in a crisis, her empathy, self-sacrifice, inventiveness, and the steel in her spine.
The bottom line is that, despite Divergent‘s glaring flaws, I am so inspired by this outpouring of stories written by and about women. The mathematical expression of the term divergent is, simply put, “having no finite limits.” Right now, Tris’ story is empowering young girls and women with her bravery, her vulnerability, and her centrality. We have so desperately needed greater representation for young women so that they can imagine themselves in the roles of heroines, leaders, and catalysts for change. It is an important step forward that these films are being made at all. It is a coup that they are so damned popular, proving that people, in fact, DO want to see stories about women and that those stories DO sell. Eat your heart out Hollywood.
i do agree that it tries to piggy bank off of the hunger games but completely overlooks the idea of depth. it is SO derivative and contrived. ashley judd, who is not even getting much attention for her role, is actually great in the movie. but shailene is just horribly miscast to me. her character is underdeveloped and very very forced, like they’re trying to make shailene the type of actress that she just isn’t. she’s just not comfortable in this world and seems lost in it. therefore, the movie crumbles beneath her. it’s because of that, and the awful screenplay, that the movie suffers. it could have been good, but it was just severely lacking.
There’s a rumor around tumblr that there is a graphic rape scene in this movie. Is this true?
As part of Tris’ fear simulation, she has a triggering hallucination of Four attempting to rape her. She overcomes the “test” by beating him up.
In the book, I thought it was supposed to refer to Tris’s fear of consensual sexual intimacy with Four? Was it changed into a rape for the movie?
Yeah, it looks like it was changed. He definitely tries to rape her, but she fights him off. This is part of her “final test”, and everyone sees how she handles her fears. That’s a puzzling change to make from text to film. It seems wrapped up with a desire to very publicly humiliate our heroine.
Four does not save her “all the time.” The movie ended with Tris saving Four from Jeanine, in a fearless fashion. She worked hard to improve herself and there’s nothing wrong with him giving her tips when he is the experienced fighter. And his help with the fear test was necessary for concealment, she was capable of beating the test on her own, in her own way. Further she led a group of men, including her own father, in an infiltration of the erudite base. BAMF
The romance may have been overwrought but I think it was implied that they had sex and there were no repercussions for that which is a bonus.
I am also tired of the cold, clinical woman but American films tend to refuse their heroes the chance of hyper intelligence. Heroes get bravery, pluck, resourcefulness and kindness. Emotions over logic, therefore intelligence must become the enemy. As for intelligence being figured as woman, i have no problem with seeing more strong female characters, be they evil or good.
The mother being an experienced fighter was a nice surprise.
3 STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS+ male eye candy (which was not discussed by Tris and her dauntless friend=bechdel test pass) + ass kicking= good movie
Negatives: Acting was not the best by the girl who played Tris and the world building is a little lazy, dialogue meh and deaths did not emotionally impact me.
You are saying Divergent is not feministic enough, I thought it was too feministic. It’s great when women are strong, but it’s not normal when they are stronger then men. Do you think it’s ok that Tris’ mother went to rescue her while her dad was hiding and then when Tris came to him he helplessly asked: “And your mother?” Maybe if he tried to actually do something his wife would be alive. Aren’t men supposed to protect their families? Also the movie is run by women. Jeanine is a smart strong leader, Tris is a heroine, Natalie is her savior. I’m glad Four wasn’t as pathetic as the rest of the men in this movie.
As for the rape scene yes Tris was weak there, But don’t you feel weak when you are afraid of something? But she overcame that so I see no problem there at all.
There is no such thing as too feminist when you are telling both women and men what they should do and how they should be to be “proper”.
A novel written by a woman, for women as the male characters are portrayed as weak and pathetic. Wasn’t the one reason why feminist are angry is because female characters are portrayed poorly in films? If feminism is about equality then surely you all should also have a problem with this as well. If not, then guess what? You’re all a bunch of closet sexist under the guise of equality.
Women can’t be sexist because sexism is a system of power that privileges men over women. That’s 101. Are all the men portrayed poorly, as weak and pathetic? I certainly don’t think so. Four is strong and smart, and he teaches Tris much of what she needs to survive. Tris’ father is a good, kind, selfless leader, and I think much is in store for Tris’ brother. Her good friend, Will, was also an inspiration for her, and when she was forced to kill him, it devastated her. I think there are definitely bad men in this movie who are portrayed as cowards or weak or who use their physical prowess to exploit those who are physically weaker than themselves, but that rings true to life, especially since there are foils for those characters like those I’ve mentioned above.
Does this system still exist today? Being a male in this generation, I have only been in the company of female issues where discussing male issues is adversely considered anti-female. The system today in the west is no longer attuned to men for men, but rather catered for women. Women only facilities such as gym, banks, library, transports, media ratings, extra curriculum for female under graduates, career advisors, employment opportunities etc. where as a young man like myself have no aspirations nor model to take after. And please don’t lump me in with other successful men. They’re not doing it for other men but rather only for their success alone. Simply put, men today are alone. That doesn’t sound like a male privileged system to me.
And one more thing. If women feel uncomfortable seeing a man beating up a woman, then i find it equally uncomfortable seeing a woman beating a man. As a male in the new generation i take equality very literally! Because Equality has no exceptions today. If there was then it’d be discrimination.
Sexism is sexism. No exceptions!
Yeah, they want to see stories about women, if they make the women basically a guy with boobs and put them in action shots with guns and stuff blowing up.
I actually gave this movie a chance. you could just see what was going to happen throughout this movie. There was nothing new, or groundbreaking in this movie. You could always tell that tris and four was going to get together. Chick flick all the way. This movie gets a 4 out of 10 to me.