Fears and Weaknesses VS Character and Profession

[vid87]

I recently came across two moments of character development that I'm having trouble understanding and would love some opinions on. The two are Katniss Everdeen from Hunger Games (book, not film) and Hit-Girl from KickAss 2 (film, not book).

Both are tough, determined women who go through brutal moments in their respective plots and survive in understandable ways due to their backgrounds and lifestyles: Katniss is a professional hunter who handles blood and gore on a regular basis, HG is a trained assassin.

However, both also have moments of weakness that, while I'm not against in terms of growth and experience, in my opinion clash with their given character definitions: Katniss is afraid of human diseases, and I'm not talking about stuff like exposed skeletons or even murdering other people - she states she hates puss, even though she regularly guts animals and handles their entrails. HG goes through her "re-assimilation" in High School and is actually mortified by the stunts the evil girls pull. I get she's trying to fit in and may honestly be emotionally investing herself in it, but when, a few scenes prior, she slices a guy's hand off without blinking, I just can't understand why she someone like her would give a crap.

Has anyone ever seen moments like those that make you say "...huh?" How do you reconcile that, or can you?

 

[Able Seacat]

I read The Hunger Games a while back so I don't remember it very well but perhaps Katniss fears disease as it's something she cannot fight head on. She's used to being the protector of her family and illness is something that can make her feel weak and unable.

With Hit Girl, she hasn't had a 'childhood' as she was brought up to be an assassin. The cruelty of the school yard is a lot more terrifying to her than the usual criminal activity she's used to dealing with. She is fighting between trying to become 'normal' which is what her guardian Marcus wants and what she feels is her true identity (Hit Girl) that her farther brought her up to be.

Of course these are just my interpretations and someone will likely give better ones.

 

[Queen Michael]

The way I see it, assuming that what you're talking about with Hit-Girl is the kind of nasty bullying that you might see in high school (haven't seen Kick-Ass 2 yet, only read the comic), then she's probably shocked that that kind of thing goes on in a school, outside the mean streets of the city. But I could be wrong, of course.

 

[vid87]

I read The Hunger Games a while back so I don't remember it very well but perhaps Katniss fears disease as it's something she cannot fight head on. She's used to being the protector of her family and illness is something that can make her feel weak and unable.

With Hit Girl, she hasn't had a 'childhood' as she was brought up to be an assassin. The cruelty of the school yard is a lot more terrifying to her than the usual criminal activity she's used to dealing with. She is fighting between trying to become 'normal' which is what her guardian Marcus wants and what she feels is her true identity (Hit Girl) that her farther brought her up to be.

Of course these are just my interpretations and someone will likely give better ones.

The Hunger Games interpretation actually makes a lot of sense, though I'm still a bit put off that it was just puss - I think it might have helped if the connection with disease was made clearer than just "it's gross, I don't like it" (if I remember correctly).

With Hit-Girl, maybe it was that violence was all she had as a defense from the outside world (hence using martial arts in the cheerleader tryout). Being civil left her with few options. Maybe it was an indication of just how hard she was trying to honor her dad that she came to care about such trivial things as much as she did.