Photo: Courtesy of Lionsgate.When we reported on last week's announcement of MTV Movie Award nominations, we noticed a glaring omission in the Best Hero category. While the likes of Henry Cavill (Man of Steel), Channing Tatum (White House Down), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man 3), Chris Hemsworth (Thor: The Dark World), and Martin Freeman (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) were all nominated, Jennifer Lawrence's celebrated performance as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire was noticeably absent.
Well, it looks like we weren't the only ones to notice the snub.
An online petition courtesy of the activist social network Care2 is calling for Lawrence's inclusion in the category and has been gaining major steam. At the time of writing, it has already amassed over 10,000 signatures. "Young women already have too few female heroes represented in film and television," reads the petition. "We're constantly shown by the entertainment industry that men are brave, powerful, or successful, while women are often given supporting roles and weak characters." MTV has yet to respond to the request to add Lawrence to the category by March 14, but why producers failed to include her to begin with is curious. Catching Fire did better at the box office than any of the nominated films and was popular among men and women. Lawrence, too, appeals to both sexes.
Perhaps, with three nominations already, the MTV brass wanted to share the wealth and attract more stars to the April 14 festivities by nominating as many different celebrities as they can. Hey, you wanted Martin Freeman, you got him.