Preliminary Exercise 2: Barthes' Theory of Semiotics - Hunger Games

  In this assignment, I completed an analysis of a specific scene in the Hunger Games movie. In this scene, protagonist Katniss Everdeen and her partner during the games announce her supposed pregnancy. Of course, we know that this was done to enrage the nation since sending a pregnant lady to fight to death was unethical and cruel. Moreover, in this scene Katniss' original dress was burned away and turned into a mocking jay dress. The mocking jay was a symbol of her inner spirit. This somehow intimidates the district, which was her plan. The mocking jay was the main item of symbolism in this scene. Normally, we just see a mocking jay for what it is: a bird usually with blue feathers. That would be the denotative meaning. The connotative meaning of the mocking jay, however, is what we already know it to be: Katniss' Everdeen's inner spirit during her journey in the Hunger Games.