Rachel Zegler Claims ‘The Hunger Games’ Was First Story To Depict A Female Character That Was Anti-Establishment And Anti-Government

John F. Trent |

Oct 27, 2023

Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird and Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Photo Credit: Murray Close

Rachel Zegler shared that she believes The Hunger Games novels by Suzanne Collins were the first stories depicting a young woman as anti-establishment and anti-government.

In a pre-recorded promotional video for the upcoming The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Rachel Zegler said, “The Hunger Games kind of started that era of like Divergent and Shadowhunters.”

She elaborated, “You know, it was like, she was really, Suzanne was the first to write this young woman who was anti-establishment, anti-government, and really standing up for what’s right in a really unconventional way without an era of sweetness. There was nothing cordial about her either. She was very rough around the edges. And it was amazing to read that.”

Rachel Zegler thinks Suzanne Collins created the first story depicting a young woman as anti-establishment and anti-government#HungerGames #RachelZegler #SnowWhite pic.twitter.com/uFizb5TK9u

— Bounding Into Comics (@BoundingComics) October 27, 2023

Ironically, Zegler’s comments are similar to actress Jennifer Lawrence, who starred as Katniss Everdeen in the original The Hunger Games film.

Lawrence claimed in an interview with Viola Davis as part of Variety’s Actor on Actors bit, “I remember when I was doing ‘Hunger Games,’ nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie because it wouldn’t work. We were told. Girls and boys can both identify with a male lead, but boys cannot identify with a female lead.”

“And it just makes me so happy every single time I see a movie come out that just blows through every single one of those beliefs, and proves that it is just a lie to keep certain people out of the movies,” she continued. “To keep certain people in the same positions that they’ve always been in. It’s just amazing to watch it happen, and watch you at the helm.”

Lawrence would eventually walk back her comments telling The Hollywood Reporter, “That’s certainly not what I meant to say at all.”

She elaborated, “I know that I am not the only woman who has ever led an action film. What I meant to emphasize was how good it feels. And I meant that with Viola to blow past these old myths that you hear about the chatter that you would hear around that kind of thing. But it was my blunder and it came out wrong. I had nerves talking to a living legend.”

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) attempts to disguise herself amongst the rebellion in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015), Lionsgate

As for Zegler’s comments about Collins being the first person to write about young women being anti-government and anti-establishment, George Lucas might like to have a word given Princess Leia clearly was anti-government and anti-establishment in Star Wars.

One can even look at real historical figures as well and point to how absurd the comment is. St. Joan of Arc, the patron saint of France, led French forces against England as well as the Burgundians. She would eventually be captured by the Burgundians, turned over to the English, and martyred.