Stockholm Syndrome in The Hunger Games
The cannon of an ongoing narrative is stuff that the narrative has openly demonstrated is true. Head-cannon is basically theory that fans of the narrative develop based on the cannon. Using Doctor Who as an example: cannon information is that the Doctor can regenerate, head-cannon is a prediction of which actor will play the character when he has regenerated.
Obviously, being the opinionated person that I am, I have developed multiple head-cannons about random crap, but I want to discuss something specific today: the Stockholm Syndrome of Katniss Everdeen.
For those of you that don't know, Stockholm Syndrome is a mental condition where a hostage falls in love with their captor. This is a very baseline description, but it isn't as infrequent as you think. The reason this happens (from what little I know about this) is through prolonged exposure. If you hang around someone enough, you may develop a physical attraction to that person. Again, I don't know the specifics, but I don't need to in order to develop this theory.
If you haven't read the Hunger Games, or seen the film, I would stop reading this now. These next few paragraphs will contain several spoilers for Mockingjay and Catching Fire that you may not want to know about till you know the stories all the way through. They are good books, and I do recommend them.
At the end of Catching Fire, Katniss and all of the other tributes are rescued from the arena by the rebels in District 13. All except for Peeta. Peeta is taken to the capitol where they break his mind to the point that he hates and attacks Katniss when they get him back, yet it's Peeta who Katniss chooses to stay with.
The theory that I have developed, is that Katniss developed Stockholm Syndrome in the 1st book. It isn't quite Stockholm Syndrome, but it is something very similar. Through Katniss' forced relationship with Peeta, they managed to develop a strong bond. However, this was an artificial bond. They fell in love out of necessity and it stuck.
Now, yes, I know Peeta didn't kidnap Katniss, but it's certainly simulated. Since I only know the story through Katniss' perspective, I can't really say what Peeta exactly felt, but my educated guess is that he actually was in love with Katniss from the start. This makes his decent to pure hatred in Mockingjay even more prominent because Peeta and Katniss have been hot-wired to love each other to help them survive, and when one side of this partnership flips to the opposite end of the spectrum, they are left without a part of themselves. Katniss and Peeta literally can't live without each other due to psychological adaptation.
However, upon closer examination, this theory turns the love triangle that carries the story into bull crap. Katniss has to pick Peeta over Gale because she is biologically unable to do otherwise.
I'm going to stop there because I feel that I'm over thinking this. Thank you.
Obviously, being the opinionated person that I am, I have developed multiple head-cannons about random crap, but I want to discuss something specific today: the Stockholm Syndrome of Katniss Everdeen.
For those of you that don't know, Stockholm Syndrome is a mental condition where a hostage falls in love with their captor. This is a very baseline description, but it isn't as infrequent as you think. The reason this happens (from what little I know about this) is through prolonged exposure. If you hang around someone enough, you may develop a physical attraction to that person. Again, I don't know the specifics, but I don't need to in order to develop this theory.
If you haven't read the Hunger Games, or seen the film, I would stop reading this now. These next few paragraphs will contain several spoilers for Mockingjay and Catching Fire that you may not want to know about till you know the stories all the way through. They are good books, and I do recommend them.
At the end of Catching Fire, Katniss and all of the other tributes are rescued from the arena by the rebels in District 13. All except for Peeta. Peeta is taken to the capitol where they break his mind to the point that he hates and attacks Katniss when they get him back, yet it's Peeta who Katniss chooses to stay with.
The theory that I have developed, is that Katniss developed Stockholm Syndrome in the 1st book. It isn't quite Stockholm Syndrome, but it is something very similar. Through Katniss' forced relationship with Peeta, they managed to develop a strong bond. However, this was an artificial bond. They fell in love out of necessity and it stuck.
Now, yes, I know Peeta didn't kidnap Katniss, but it's certainly simulated. Since I only know the story through Katniss' perspective, I can't really say what Peeta exactly felt, but my educated guess is that he actually was in love with Katniss from the start. This makes his decent to pure hatred in Mockingjay even more prominent because Peeta and Katniss have been hot-wired to love each other to help them survive, and when one side of this partnership flips to the opposite end of the spectrum, they are left without a part of themselves. Katniss and Peeta literally can't live without each other due to psychological adaptation.
However, upon closer examination, this theory turns the love triangle that carries the story into bull crap. Katniss has to pick Peeta over Gale because she is biologically unable to do otherwise.
I'm going to stop there because I feel that I'm over thinking this. Thank you.