Spoilers, of course, but you knew that already!
I didn’t read the novels, so keep that in mind you Internet people!
Divergent is, in a total surprise to me, a pretty good movie! When it comes to the whole “young adult with special powers or circumstances fighting or passively waiting to create their own identity through love or revolutionary fervor”, I’ve not been much of a fan. Twilight suffers from an interesting premise rather than, you know, an actual plot. Vampire vs. werewolves takes a back seat to smoldering stares and a very creepy love story where a woman wants to be defined by a man. The Hunger Games, on the other hand, clearly doesn’t want to give Katniss Everdeen a hint of actual agency, instead relying on arbitrary machinations of the plot to make sure 1. she is a pure unspoiled virginal hero who 2. never kills anybody directly (I pointed this out in detail already, so I will spare you the facts this time).
Color me surprised, then, that Divergent created a world that I not only accepted even in its absurdity, but actually felt intrigued to find more about our protagonist’s thoughts and wishes. The difference between Tris and our other female protagonists is that she’s “divergent” – the world of this novel series / film operates in yet another post-apocalyptic settings, this time based around Factions. The Faction system supposedly keeps the small society of remaining human beings orderly without killing each other. Think of it as a separation of powers in government, except they give one faction all the weapons for some reason! When you reach a certain age (16 or so, I guess), you take a test which tells you what faction you should join, and you must choose your faction permanently.
Being divergent means that you don’t fit into a category out of the five factions (for those curious, Erudite, Dauntless, Amity, Abnegation, and Candor – all represent human attributes) – as a result, you pose a danger to this society. Still, that special nature does not magically make you the hero of the story, a god among men/women, or just a super hero – it just means, with the proper dedication and training, that you could possibly go past all categorization. Yes, the teen-related symbolism to identity and “not being one thing” are plain and obvious to me, but the difference is that our protagonist earns her status. Her future always feels uncertain, and she herself does not know what to do; the plot, on the other hand, never lets convenient deus ex machina force actual decision-making out of her hands, instead forcing her into irrevocable choices. I mean, I find it hard to not find this interesting as a result! Bad things happen when she makes a right or wrong choice; she doesn’t get to have it all.
Tris does not magically become IT; she sorta sucks at everything, much like Harry Potter seems merely average. The difference is, Tris actually works hard and strives to become better, eventually demonstrating that you do not need to stay where you are. She actively chooses her own path (into Dauntless, for example), and she accepts the consequences of her choices. This level of agency turns her into a far more interesting character than you would imagine otherwise. “Four”, as he is called, also doesn’t fall into the traditional YA romance stereotypes either; the level of danger that divergents pose means we do not quite know who looks for them, and whether friend or foe may prove a better bet to place your trust.
When you let a character employ real choice with real consequence, I get on board. And Shailene Woodley really sells the whole transformation amazingly well, allowing us to actually track her progress from uncertain young girl to a independent young woman (whether or not that’s because she is a good actress, or normal-looking enough to sell it remains up to you, the viewer). The movie uses its breaking points (like a leap of faith to Dauntless training) as actual character growth points; the visuals allow the audience to see how she grows through the film without having to say “I AM GROWING” through some boring expository dialogue. We can actually see it with our own eyes, make the connection, and not rely on unnecessary scripting to do it. I mean, I found that pretty amazing from a story with this origins and this stripe. None of it reeks of artifice or bizarre story mechanics to get there; the whole “we are training!’ element lets us see a clear track of progress, and thereby see both success and danger in tandem.
Also, an actual, definite conclusion to the film actually helps a whole lot! Even with the over two hour run time, I expected some kind of cliffhanger to really ruin everything, but they actually settled what they set up for the end of the film. Nothing works out in a totally contrived manner, and people die for actual reasons. Plus, they’ve obviously left plenty of unanswered questions to explore in future films/novels/whatevers, meaning that the intrigue of what happened to this world remains a factor, among other things. Maybe the sequel will prove me completely wrong and make me hate this series forever, but for now I am satisfied and happy.
Does the movie end in exactly the way you would imagine in this genre? Well, yes, I’m not denying that in any way. If you’ve seen one of these films before, you can take a wild guess and probably hit the bulls eye. Rather, when I jump into this genre, I expect effective world-building, interesting characters, and something to where I can let go of my preconceived notions and actually enjoy without over-thinking it, and Divergent really nailed that for me.
Honestly, I just can’t believe I enjoyed a movie like this at all, and I heartily recommend one of these things for once.
