Some 'Hunger Games' critics say Jennifer Lawrence was too 'big' [View all]

[MineralMan]

http://entertainment.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/28/10904124-some-hunger-games-critics-say-jennifer-lawrence-was-too-big-to-play-katniss

While Jennifer Lawrence's acting performance in "The Hunger Games" was generally praised, some critics are saying she was too large to play Katniss Everdeen, a teen from a starving futuristic land, who must hunt every day to keep her family fed.

In her March 22 New York Times review, Manohla Dargis wrote, “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."

Lawrence's weight comes in for some mention in other reviews as well, though none as harsh as the Times' writeup. Todd McCarthy's review for The Hollywood Reporter praises Lawrence's acting but points out her "lingering baby fat." And on Hollywood Elsewhere, Jeffrey Wells focuses on Lawrence's size as compared to co-star Josh Hutcherson, calling her “a fairly tall, big-boned lady,” and writing that "male romantic figures have to be at least be as tall as their female partners."

Here's a photo of this "big" actor, in character:



I find these criticisms to be appalling. Even though the area the character came from had lots of hunger, the character was a hunter who provided additional food by illegal hunting. The critics are perpetuating the rail-thin female actors who are today's standard of "beauty." The amazing success of this film with its target audience of teen girls seems to indicate that the actor who played Katniss Everdeen is just fine. What a bunch of morons we have criticizing films today!