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Becoming Divergent:

How Moral Perfectionism transcends Virtue Ethics in Divergent (Burger) and Insurgent

(Schwentke)

Master Film Studies: Thesis

Date: 28 June 2019

Name: Marijke van Putten

Studentnumber: 5984017

Thesis Supervisor: mw. dr. C.M. Lord

Second Reader: dhr. dr. G.W. van der Pol

| Becoming Divergent

3 Thesis – Marijke van Putten – Master Film Studies – University of Amsterdam – 2019

Index

Introduction: Experiencing ethics through a dystopian tale ................................................................... 5

Chapter 1: No world for divergents: the interplay of ethical movements in a dystopic world ............. 11

Introduction: creating a dystopian world .......................................................................................... 11

The ethical mix: the political forces within the film world ................................................................ 13

Conclusion: to be self-reliant is to be rebellious ............................................................................... 20

Chapter 2: Fear as a divergent’s catalyst: conformity versus self-reliance ............................................ 23

Introduction: who is Beatrice Prior?.................................................................................................. 23

Jumping into the unknown: a turning point for Tris .......................................................................... 26

Soldiers not rebels: Fear as a catalyst ................................................................................................ 30

How to handle fear Dauntless style: conformity as a strategy .......................................................... 33

Conclusion: becoming knowledgeable and cultivating skills ............................................................. 38

Chapter 3: Inner struggles: overcoming the damaging effects of guilt and shame .............................. 41

Introduction: guilt and shame ........................................................................................................... 41

Lying is denying: how guilt and shame stand in the way of self-transformation .............................. 45

May the truth set you free: do revelations trigger compassion or suspense? .................................. 47

The box: the suspense of moral perfectionism ................................................................................. 49

Conclusion: becoming the one that is worthy ................................................................................... 53

Conclusion: Dare to be divergent .......................................................................................................... 55

Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................... 59

Appendix 1: Plantinga’s stances toward Fictional Characters............................................................... 61



Introduction:

Experiencing ethics through a dystopian tale

Politics in the world seems to be shifting; or so it feels. On the one hand people are encouraged to be

who they are and celebrate it; consider for instance the popularity of Lady Gaga’s song: Born this way,

but on the other hand human rights and equal rights seem to be under stress now that there is a rise

in populism and far right political parties and judging by the rise in people marching in protest against

them. This might also cause people to be appealed by films that are themed around conformity and

rebellion and what better genre to depict this than dystopia’s.

In the two films that I will explore, Divergent (Burger) and The Divergent Series: Insurgent

(Schwentke)1, the journey from adolescence to adulthood proves difficult for our protagonist, Beatrice

Prior, because she is different from the norm. But she also comes to realize that the society she lives in

is far from perfect. The political structure in place within the film world is based on moral virtuous

behaviour. For instance putting the tribal group, faction, before family. It is not meant for people like

Beatrice before she transforms into her new character Tris. In fact, for Beatrice it proves to be

nightmarish to live in this society made up of factions, when you cannot conform to just one of them.

It is like not fitting into a clique at school, only with the added terror of being in mortal danger if those

in power find out you are divergent. This sense of being different, of not belonging, of being unable to

conform versus being your own individual self, seems to be a recurring theme in teen films and series.

This theme is likely to appeal to a lot of young adult spectators that feel different, and are afraid of

becoming a social outcast.

Beatrice ‘Tris’ Prior is at that age where everybody in their society chooses which of the five

factions they are going to spend the rest of their lives at: Abnegation, Erudite, Dauntless, Candor or

Amity. The society in this film is divided in factions based on peoples affinity for a certain virtue. This

structure is put in place to keep the peace; each group has their own task within the society. For the

first sixteen years Beatrice has lived at Abnegation with her family; a faction that is all about helping

others. But she never felt she fully belonged there. She was afraid the test would tell her to stay, but at

the same time she was afraid it would tell her to leave. The test, in which she undergoes a simulation

in her unconsciousness to see what kind of choices she would make and what kind of solutions to

problems she would come up with, should have told her where she belongs. But, as it turns out, she is

divergent and therefor has an aptitude for multiple factions. This, as it turns out, is a problem and not

just in a sense of not fitting in. Divergents are considered a threat to society.

The protagonist, Beatris Prior, encounters her first crisis now that she does not have the test to

1 In the remainder of this thesis I will refer to The Divergent Series: Insurgent as: Insurgent.



rely on. According to cultural scholar Catherine Driscoll “the modern idea of adolescence as personal

and social crisis” is one of the four necessary conditions for teen film (Driscoll 12). The other three

necessary conditions being: censorship and classification systems to protect youth that rely on “a set

of debates about age, maturity, citizenship, literacy, and pedagogy that are not only an important

context for teen film but shape its content”; “the emergence of targeted film marketing” and “the

translation of modern adolescence into institutions for the representation, analysis, and management

of adolescence” (Driscoll 12-3). By institutions I read her to mean she is referring to social theories, like

respecting family rules and public policies, like no underage sex. According to her the problems of

modern adolescence are defined by these institutions, among which she also gathers new film genres

like the high school film. High school, she considers, being a step between childhood and social

independence. She also says that the fourth condition: “the translation of modern adolescence into

institutions for the representation, analysis, and management of adolescence” overarches the first

three: 1) the modern idea of adolescence as personal and social crisis; 2) censorship and classification

systems to protect youth; 3) “the emergence of targeted film marketing” (Driscoll 12-3). Meaning that

these institutions set the parameters upon which the first three conditions are based. For this thesis I

will focus on the first condition: “the modern idea of adolescence as personal and social crisis” (Driscoll

12). From Driscoll’s book it becomes apparent that teen films all deal with ‘coming-of-age’. According

to Driscoll “teen film is less about growing up than about the expectation, difficulty, and social

organisation of growing up” (Driscoll 66). The journey from adolescence to adulthood in teen films

seem to always be troubled and ridden with “the ambivalent relationship between rebellion and

conformity” which Driscoll calls “so important to teen film” (Driscoll 22). This leads to a personal and

social crisis. Rebellion and conformity are also important themes in Emerson’s theory of self-reliance.

According to Emerson the highest virtue in society is conformity and self-reliance is its adversary (Cavell

22). Self-reliance can therefor also be seen as rebellion. Cavell, when explaining Emerson, also claims

most people encounter periods in their lives where they do not agree with society and this period is

most likely to reveal itself for the first time during adolescence (Cavell 23). Both films, Divergent

(Burger) and Insurgent (Schwentke), will prove excellent examples in which the journey to adulthood

is complicated by the choice of conformity or rebellion and this I will link to the theory of self-reliance.

Conformity generally proves easy if the society you live in agrees with your values and virtues. It

becomes problematic however when you encounter not a utopian but a dystopian society.

“Pick your present-day dilemma; there’s a new dystopian novel to match it,” says American

history scholar Jill Lepore (Lepore). The title of the article reads that it is the golden age for dystopian

fiction. “Radical pessimism is a dismal trend” (Lepore). According to Lepore dystopian tales are often

sparked by a period of optimism, as a reaction to it. The latest surge being at the end of the Obama era

and the start of the Trump era. The sales of the classic dystopian novel 1984 spiked after Trump’s



advisor Kellyanne Conway used the phrase ‘alternative facts’ in an interview. Immediately comparisons

were drawn with 1984’s ‘newspeak’ (Guardian). Yet, Cecelia Goodnow, (former) Life & Arts and

Consumer Team reporter at Seatle Post-Intelligencer, attributes the popularity of the genre, especially

among Young Adults, to it mirroring all the bad stuff that has been going on in the world lately. ‘The

genre is popular because it “mirrors a world beset by some of the most frightening problems in recent

memory, from climate change to terrorism and the shredding of privacy and free will,” making it “the

zeitgeist of the times”’ (qtd. In Ames 6). According to literary scholar Melissa Ames, it is the socio-

political climate after 9/11 that is responsible for “the mass consumption of these texts” (Ames 6).

Since 9/11 there have indeed been many Young Adult dystopian novels published. And some have

made it to the big screen (often with massive success), like: The Hunger Games Trilogy, The Maze

Runner Series, Ender’s Game, The 5th Wave, The Giver and Divergent Series. As mentioned before the

first two films of the Divergent Series will prove excellent case studies for exploring the theme of

conformity versus rebellion, an important topic for adolescents especially in regards of current world

politics.

Literary scholars Carrie Hintz and Elaine Ostry say “literature encourages people to view their

society with a critical eye, sensitizing or predisposing them to political action” (qtd. in Ames 16). Literary

scholar Melissa Ames explains that in general utopian and dystopian literature does the same and that

“it would follow that this would work on teenagers just as well as adults” (Ames 16). According to Ames,

young adult dystopian literature has an educational potential, when these texts are taught in

educational settings. Not only are students stimulated by these texts to think critically about the world

they live in, but the text could even spark real action (Ames 16-17). It happens to be that the films are

based on the bestselling novels by Veronica Roth, but for this thesis I have refrained from reading these

novels. This way I can solely focus on the film without interference from the books. However, since the

films are based on dystopian novels, they are likely to have the same potential Ames refers to. In fact,

in this thesis I will argue that dystopian films can add an extra dimension to spectators thinking critically

and being sparked into action by experiencing a story. In order to do this I will turn to philosopher and

film scholar Robert Sinnerbrink’s theory of Cinematic Ethics. Sinnerbrink states that film has the

potential “for exploring moral issues, ethically-charged situations, and moral thought experiences in

film” (Sinnerbrink 5). According to Sinnerbrink a crossover of phenomenology and cognitivism can

prove the idea that cinema is a medium of ethical experience. He supplements phenomenology with

cognitivist approaches “that highlight the complex forms of affective response, emotional engagement,

and moral allegiance at work in our experience of moving images” (Sinnerbrink 80). Sinnerbrink claims

that the problem with phenomenological approaches on their own is that they have a descriptive

character instead of an explanatory. He therefor adds cognitivist theories, so the phenomena in

question can be provided with causal explanatory accounts (Sinnerbrink 83). Phenomenology in short



describes how spectators experience and perceive the film world. Cognitivism explains why spectators

reason with their experience and perception. For instance, if a film elicits anger, the spectator might

have a bodily response that expresses itself in a rapid heartbeat and muscle tension and the spectator’s

affective state might be a feeling of tension (Sinnerbrink 87). So far, this describes merely the

phenomena related to the elicitation of anger. But the spectator might not stop there, he might

evaluate the situation or pass judgement on a character in light of what he feels (Sinnerbrink). This falls

into the realm of the cognitivist theories. Sinnerbrink illustrates this crossover theory with an analysis

of the Iranian film A Separation by Asghar Farhadi from 2011 and concludes the following:

This is a fine example of cinematic ethics that shows how emotional engagement,

social conflict, moral argument, and cultural-political background all contribute to

understanding the reasons for an individual’s behaviour. (…) [The film] offers a

powerful demonstration of how cinema can be used to cultivate moral perception

and exercise our ethical imaginations, inviting viewers to consider all the relevant

perspectives and complexities informing a particular ethical situation, as well as the

all-important role of the normative context or broader social-cultural world in which

the characters are embedded. (Sinnerbrink 102)

What Sinnerbrink is trying to explain here is that spectators are invited to critical thinking by watching

films. Critical thinking about ethical themes in films could cause spectators to learn and therefore

evolve in real life. In order for cinema to have this power it needs to engage spectators in the cinematic

world, according to Sinnerbrink. To show how spectators might be engaging with the films I have

chosen to analyse, Divergent (Burger) and Insurgent (Schwentke), I will use Carl Plantinga’s theory of

stances toward fictional characters. According to Plantinga the affect and emotions that are elicited by

a film “are strongly related to the moral judgment of spectators” (Plantinga, Moving Viewers: American

Film and the Spectator's experience 218). He claims that when making judgements about characters,

spectators follow their emotions and often do not questions these emotions. This is how filmmakers

can make spectators accept certain behaviour by characters and films therefore may even “alter or

reinforce patterns of thinking and feeling” (Plantinga, Moving Viewers: American Film and the

Spectator's experience 218). In other words, eliciting affect and emotion is key to making spectators

pass judgement and thereby experience ethics. Using Plantinga’s theories will therefor ensure this

thesis is a crossover of phenomenology and cognitivism, like Sinnerbrink recommends.

In order to show how spectators could be experiencing ethics, one needs to know how the film

deals with ethics. In the first chapter of my thesis, I will lay out the political structure of the film world

and explain how, what Sinnerbrink based on his reading of Cavell regards as, the four main ethical

approaches (Virtue Ethics, Universalism, Utilitarianism and Moral Perfectionism) play a part.



If we assume that ‘ethics’ refers either to universalizable rules of conduct

[Universalism], the rational calculation of utility [Utilitarianism], or the cultivation

of received moral virtues [Virtue Ethics], then we miss the ethical significance of

many important ‘philosophical’ films that fall outside these three categories – films

better described, Cavell claims, as exploring moral perfectionism. (Sinnerbrink 33)

Sinnerbrink and Cavell both regard moral perfectionism to be the fourth main ethical approach. All of

these ethical approaches will prove to be relevant, since they all simultaneously work together and

against each other to form the political and cultural structure of the film world. The political and

cultural structure of this society being the faction system that is based on Virtue Ethics, but that is being

regulated by universalism. At the same time society is being threatened by Erudite faction leader

Jeanine whose aversion to human nature and her attempts to eradicate it is a result of a utilitarianist

approach. The main protagonist Beatrice ‘Tris’ Prior needs to find a way to fit into the world she lives

in. She goes through a process of self-transformation in the sense of moral perfectionism. Therefor I

will elaborate on this fourth ethical approach using Cavell’s take on Emerson and explaining the

differences between the two. The main difference being the role of the friend in Emerson’s moral

perfectionism, which seems to be less significant to Cavell. The exposition of the political and cultural

structure and the main characters navigating in it will explain how the society within the film world

proves to be a dystopia. Of course, in order to prove this I will need to explain more about dystopia.

Therefor I will start chapter 1 with an explanation of dystopia.

In the second chapter I will analyse the first film of the Divergent Series, called Divergent

(Burger). The film came out in 2014 and was directed by Neil Burger. The story is set in a future Chicago

of a post-apocalyptic world. The town is closed off from its surroundings and has formed their own

political and cultural structure. The story revolves around main character Tris, who is at the verge of

leaving home to join the faction where she belongs. However, according to the aptitude test she is

classified as divergent, and it is therefore not clear which faction she belongs in. On the day of the

choosing ceremony she chooses to follow her heart and joins the faction she looks up to most:

Dauntless. Here she meets instructor Four, who helps her through the training stages of the Dauntless

faction. Together they discover that Erudite faction leader Janine is conspiring with the leadership of

Dauntless to forcefully overthrow the government, which is trusted upon the faction that is most

selfless: Abnegation. Tris and Four set out to defy Janine, but in the process Tris is forced to make an

impossible moral choice: killing her friend Will who is under mind control or let him kill her. Also, she

is faced with the loss of her parents. The theme conformity versus self-reliance will be explored along

the central emotion of this film: fear. I will argue how fear functions as a catalyst toward self-reliance

instead of a paralyzing agent. Fear is what drives the protagonist. It will cause her to make decisions



that will allow her to go through a process of self-transformation; a key ingredient in Emerson’s moral

perfectionism as I will explain in the first chapter. I will mainly look at the main characters Beatrice ‘Tris’

Prior and Tobias ‘Four’ Eaton and how their relationship evolves. This I will do, because I will argue how

Tris goes through a process of self-transformation in the Emersonian sense of (moral) perfectionism,

and thus gets help from ‘the Friend’ who will come in the form of Four. Four teaches Tris how to

conform so she can survive. He in turn respects Tris for showing self-reliance because it is the right

thing to do, even when it gets her into trouble. Conformity versus self-reliance therefor will also play a

pivotal role in this chapter. I will pair these Emersonian theories with Plantinga’s stances on fictional

characters in order to show how the spectator might engage with the characters and how they might

value them and their moral decisions.

The third chapter will be about the second film of the Divergent Series, called Insurgent. The

second instalment of the film series was released in 2015 and is directed by Robert Schwentke. The

film starts off with Tris and Four on the run, along with Tris’ brother Caleb, Four’s abusive father Marcus

Eaton and the semi-untrustworthy Peter. They find shelter in the Amity faction. Janine in the meantime

took power over Chicago and is openly hunting divergents. The central emotions in the film are guilt

and shame, which is what Tris feels about the deaths of her friend Will and her parents. When it is no

longer safe to stay at Amity Tris and Four travel to the Factionless compound followed by the Candor

building in search of their Dauntless friends. At Candor Tris and Four are faced with a trial through a

truth serum to test their involvement with the raid on Abnegation. Tris is forced to tell the truth about

what happened to her parents and to her friend Will. Something she did not want to tell, since she

feels guilty for them dying during the first film. In the meantime Jeanine is looking for that one special

divergent that can open the box that contains a message from the founding fathers. This turns out to

be Tris. In the third chapter I will further explore moral perfectionism along the lines of feelings of

worthiness versus guilt and shame. I will use Plantinga’s theory about the rhetoric of emotion to explain

how spectators might engage with feelings of guilt and shame and the actions that are caused by these

feelings. I will also show how guilt and shame are holding Tris back from self-transformation. And how

these feelings leave her dealing with her emotions on her own, since Four will not be able to fulfil his

role as the friend in the Emersonian sense because Tris lies about how she feels and omits the truth

about what happened to Will. In this chapter therefor the Cavellian notion of moral perfectionism plays

a more central role.

To conclude the thesis I will take what I have learned through all three chapters and evaluate

how ethical approaches have shaped a dystopian tale that uses emotion to elicit critical thinking. I will

define what role moral perfectionism, in both the Emersonian and Cavellian sense, has played

throughout the two films and what it’s rhetorical significance has been.



Chapter 1:

No world for divergents: the interplay of ethical movements in a

dystopic world

Introduction: creating a dystopian world

First I will look at the two ‘outer layers’ of the film: the genre and film world. The genre of the Divergent

film series is dystopia. It is important to know the genre, for the genre conventions give the spectators

certain expectations about the film. Since dystopia’s are all about a certain society which plays a huge

part in the characters’ lives, I will explore the film world that is created; which is expected to be a

dystopic world. In this dystopic world I will mainly discus which ethical movements are at play, as this

will play a part in the main character’s moral choices. Dystopia is generally considered to be a subgenre

of Science Fiction. For example, the famous dystopic tale Nineteen eighty-four by George Orwell is

classified as Sci-Fi on IMDb (Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)). Science Fiction films in turn often share

many generic elements with the Action, Thriller, Mystery and Adventure genre. Since the films are

expected to borrow elements of dystopian literary fiction, because they are based on novels, I will

borrow theory from literary studies.

Literary scholars Charlotte Balaka Basu, Katherine R. Broad and Carrie Hintz explain the term

dystopia as follows:

Orthographically speaking, it seems like it ought to be the reverse of a utopia, the

non-existent society “considerably better” than the current world. But instead, the

dystopia often functions as a rhetorical reduction ad absurdum of a utopian

philosophy, extending a utopia to its most extreme ends in order to caution against

the destructive politics and culture of the author’s present. (Basu, Broad en Hintz 2)

A dystopia thus is derived from utopia, but is taken to its extreme and becomes a dystopia. Also, you

could argue that one’s utopia can be considered another’s dystopia, since there are several

philosophical approaches to forming a utopian society. As stated in the introduction I will follow what

Sinnerbrink regards as the four most important philosophical approaches: Universalism, Utilitarianism,

Virtue Ethics and Moral Perfectionism. What would be utopian to a true universalist would be dystopian

to a true utilitarian, since these philosophies are contradictory to another. Dystopias have a negative

prescription. “It tells us not how to build a better world, but how to perhaps avoid continuing to mess

up the one we’ve got” (Basu, Broad en Hintz 3). The main goal of the dystopia is to warn the spectators

from what is going on in the world. This is especially the case in traditional dystopias such as Nineteen

Eighty-Four. In Young Adult dystopias however, there is also room for hope, besides fear. “The dystopian



worlds are bleak not because they are meant to stand as mere cautionary tales, but because they are

designed to display – in sharp relief – the possibility of utopian change even in the darkest of

circumstances” (Basu, Broad en Hintz 3). In Young Adult Dystopian literature the genre also borrows

from the Bildungsroman, the Adventure Story and the Romance (Basu, Broad en Hintz 6). These

elements are clearly present in the Divergent series as well. Main character Tris is on a quest to find

herself and find out where she belongs. A classic element of the Bildungsroman when adolescents are

going through a period of moral and psychological growth (Basu, Broad en Hintz 7). Tris literary leaps

into the unknown in search of herself, when she jumps off a building into her new home. During this

adventure she falls in love with Four, who will become an important factor in her journey towards moral

perfectionism. Dystopias concern themselves with global issues like liberty and self-determination,

environmental destruction and looming catastrophe, questions of identity, and the increasingly fragile

boundaries between technology and the self (Basu, Broad en Hintz 1).

In a similar vein the Divergent series concerns itself with the issue of liberty and self-

determination, since the faction system mandates that people choose to be in the faction that relates

to their natural abilities. “Faction before blood” is a common phrase in the series. Even Tris remarks

that societies leaders (like Erudite leader Jeanine, whom she is talking to at that point) do not want

people to choose whatever they want and that the test should tell them what to choose. So, people do

not really have the freedom, just the illusion of freedom during the choosing ceremony. Also, people

do not really get to determine for themselves which future they get. This becomes abundantly clear

when Dauntless instructor Eric announces that not everybody gets to stay at the Dauntless faction, only

the best. The rest will become factionless.

The Divergent series also concerns itself with the issue of identity. Main character Tris struggles

with who she is and where she fits in. She is Divergent and therefore can’t conform. She relates to all

factions and as a consequence she does not feel she fits in anywhere. She is worried about what other

people think of her, as is seen during the water box scene in her fear landscape. During this simulation

she sees her friends behind the glass, laughing at her, but unable to hear what they are saying. In the

end of the first film Tris states that she does not know who she is. Boyfriend Four replies with that he

knows exactly who she is. In the second film Insurgent Tris needs to come to grips with what she has

done to Will (her best friends boyfriend). Again, she struggles with herself and becomes her own worst

enemy. The Box Jeanine finds in Tris’ parents’ house, can (ironically) only be opened by a divergent like

Tris, provided she is able to come to grips with herself. The fragile boundary between technology and

the self also plays a part in the series. In the film there are many instances in which Tris is placed in a

simulated environment to see which choices she would make and how she would handle fear. Through

technology the leaders are trying to see who they have in front of them. But together with boyfriend

Four, Tris finds a way to cheat the system. Though the series play in a post-apocalyptic world, the issue



of environmental destruction & looming catastrophe does not play a huge part in the first two films. It

is merely said that beyond the wall of the city of Chicago it is not safe. No one knows what is out there.

According to Basu, Broad and Hintz the main themes in dystopias are the threat of

environmental destruction, post-apocalypse and conformity (Basu, Broad en Hintz 3). The film series

show a post-apocalyptic world, but conformity is the main theme of the series. Tris, being divergent, is

unable to conform to society and is therefore considered dangerous, especially in the first film. In order

to not be discovered, she needs to find a way to blend into society. Even after her secret is discovered,

she is forced to behave accordingly to the faction she is hiding at, which proves difficult. In this thesis I

will explore how Tris uses conformity as a strategy to survive, but how she is naturally more inclined to

do the opposite of conforming. I will argue this using Cavell’s reading of Emerson’s theory of self-

reliance. While trying to survive it is paramount to Tris to know who she is. The issue of identity, that

as stated above is one of the global issues dystopia’s concern themselves with, will be paired with the

theory of self-transformation, which is the cornerstone to reaching moral perfection; both in the

Emersonian and Cavellian sense.

The ethical mix: the political forces within the film world

As mentioned earlier, I will discuss four main movements in the philosophy of ethics: Universalism,

Utilitarianism, Virtue Ethics and Moral Perfectionism. These four movements are at play in the film

world of the Divergent series as well. You could argue that it is the interplay of these movements that

makes up a society, because a society rarely consists of just one movement. The movement that is most

dominant, however, is what characterises the society. And it is this dominant movement that people

are forced to conform to and are inclined to challenge. This strokes with Emerson’s saying: “The virtue

most in request in society is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion” (qtd. in Cavell 22). Cavell explains

conformity as being asked to show consent to the society you live in. “(…) to recognize the legitimacy

of its governing you” (Cavell 23). He puts this demand for conformity “as the expectation of your ‘taking

your place’ in society” (Cavell 23). However, Cavell also assumes that we all recognize moments in our

life where we do not see or like the place we live in and we merely take on the appearance of accepting

it. According to Cavell we pretend to conform throughout our entire lives, but we first encounter it

when we are coming of age. “I am assuming that we can all recognize such moments in our lives. They

are not confined to the period between adolescence and the claims of adulthood, though they may be

first encountered, and be concentrated, there” (Cavell 23). Self-reliance, as the aversion of conformity,

happens when you stop pretending to conform and adopt “a counter way of life” (Cavell 22) to the

most dominant ethical movement in society. The most dominant ethical movement in the Divergent

series is Virtue Ethics, therefore this will be the starting point of explaining how the different ethical

movements work together or against each other in the film series.



Virtue Ethics: the basis of the faction system

Virtue Ethics has played a large role in the history of philosophy. It goes back as far as the ancient Greek

philosophers like Aristotle, Plato and Socrates. Virtue ethics is based on character traits; it is a

disposition that will make a person do things in a certain characteristic way (Hursthouse and

Pettigrove). Stanley Cavell describes it as follows: “(…) a study that puts emphasis on the assessment

of a person and on a way of life, as opposed to features of actions and reasons for actions, is sometimes

called virtue ethics” (Cavell 318). Joseph Kupfer says virtues are “excellent qualities of individuals that

make them valuable to themselves and to other people” (Kupfer). So, Virtue Ethics has everything to

do with what a person is naturally inclined to do in certain circumstances. Yet, one can nurture certain

character traits in order to be the best you can be. There are many lists of virtues put together by

philosophers. Aristotle has a list of twelve moral virtues: courage, temperance, generosity,

magnanimity, self-confidence, proper ambition, good temper, truthfulness, wittiness, friendliness,

proper shame and righteous indignation (Fieser). And Plato only has four: justice, wisdom, courage and

moderation (Cavell 318). Socrates, Plato’s teacher, sees knowledge as the highest virtue: “If virtue is to

be beneficial it must be knowledge, since all the qualities of the soul are in themselves neither

beneficial nor harmful, but are only beneficial when accompanied by wisdom and harmful when

accompanied by folly” (Ambury). To Socrates, thus, all virtues are meaningless, unless wisdom

accompanies them.

The idea of cultivating peoples best qualities so they will be most useful to society is the central

idea in the society that is in place in the Divergent series. Five factions make up this future society, with

the ultimate goal of keeping the peace. The five factions are: Dauntless, Candor, Erudite, Amity and

Abnegation. Dauntless is meant for those who have courage, bravery and strength. The people in it are

trained to be societies protectors, their soldiers and police. Tris describes them as follows: “They're our

protectors, our soldiers, our police. I always thought they were amazing. Brave, fearless, and free. Some

people think Dauntless are crazy, which they kind of are” (Burger). Dauntless members are recognized

by their black leather clothing and their tattoos and piercings. Their symbol is fire. About courage

Kupfer says the following: “Courage seems to be an especially important and dramatic virtue of

execution or willpower. We must be courageous when moral conduct is risky, and courage can be

essential to the expression of other virtues. Individuals may need courage to keep their integrity, to be

patient, or to maintain their loyalty” (Kupfer 26). The film will show that Tris is most courageous, more

so then most Dauntless members, since they only follow orders. Tris, however, has the courage to defy

an unhealthy regime.

Candor is the faction that is responsible for the judiciary system. “Candor value honesty and

order. They tell the truth, even when you wish they wouldn't,” says Tris about them (Burger). The



audience only gets to meet the Candor faction and its facilities in the second film. Tris will then be

forced to tell the truth by being injected with a truth serum. She does not like it, since by then, she has

secrets about things she has done that she is ashamed of.

Erudite is the faction that is all about knowledge. “The smart ones, the ones who value

knowledge and logic are Erudite. They know everything,” says Tris (Burger). When the audience hear

her say this, they can almost hear her roll her eyes. It is a prelude to the role erudite will play in the

film. Since they value knowledge, they feel that they should govern the city. They appear to have a

Socratic view on knowledge and wisdom, since they feel superior to the other virtues in the city. They

take the phrase ‘Knowledge is power’ to the extreme. Logic, they feel, is more important than human

nature. In fact, they even want to eliminate human nature. It is this faction, and especially its leader

Jeanine, that will be Tris’ main adversary in the first two films.

The hippies of the city are the people belonging to the Amity faction. They are all about

kindness and peace. They dress in colourful clothes and are responsible for the food supply of the city.

They work on the land as farmers and their symbol is a tree. Tris says about them: “Amity farm the

land. They're all about kindness and harmony, and they are always happy” (Burger). The audience gets

to know the faction in the second film, when Tris, boyfriend Four, brother Caleb, the partially

untrustworthy Peter and Four’s abusive father Marcus are on the run from Dauntless and Erudite.

Amity agrees to letting them hide at their faction, but only on the condition that they adapt to their

lifestyle. Which turns out to be especially difficult for Tris, since she struggles with who she is. She does

not like herself very much, due to what she did at the end of the first film. Plus, she has just come out

a violent situation. Amity, or kindness, is a virtue that is not on the lists of every Virtue Ethicist, but is a

virtue none the less. It is not in everybody’s nature to be passive when met with violence or unkindness.

And it is not everybody’s virtue to be at harmony with nature and humanity. As is seen in the Erudite

faction, where human nature is seen as a weakness.

Lastly there is Abnegation, the faction that values selflessness. Tris is born in this faction, so is

her brother Caleb and her boyfriend Four. “My faction is Abnegation. The rest all call us stiffs. We lead

a simply life, selfless, dedicated to helping others. We even feed the factionless, the ones that don't fit

in anywhere. Because we're public servants, we're trusted to run the government,” says Tris (Burger).

The people at Abnegation live a minimal life, they get by with the basic necessities. Everything else they

give away to people who need it. They dress in raggedy clothes and are not preoccupied with how they

look. Therefore they also rarely look in the mirror. Like Tris says, they run the government, to the dismay

of the Erudite faction, who believe they should be in charge.

On the surface, the faction system seems to work, but underneath it crumbles. Most people

know what is expected of them, they all do their job and society seems peaceful. The factions however,

all have their own philosophy of what would be best for society, and do not fully trust the other factions



to do the right thing. It does not help that Erudite envies the governing position of Abnegation. Also,

the faction system turns out to not be ideal for everybody. There is a chance you are not virtuous

enough to fit in anywhere. In which case you become factionless. Or, in Tris’ case, that you are virtuous

in all areas and become a threat to those that want to keep control over everybody.

The factions system in place in this future Chicago could be considered a thought experiment

to see what would happen to a society and its citizens, if the virtues played a central part in the political

structure. A film would certainly prove to be an ideal method to test this approach, since in real life

one does not come across a society like this. And I assume it would be difficult to find volunteers to

undergo such a political structure for a long period of time.

Hursthause and Pettigrove claim that the focus on the virtues only became the focus of

Utilitarianism and Universalism (Kant did write about virtues, but it wasn’t under anyone’s attention

before) after Virtue Ethics re-emerged: “Its re-emergence had an invigorating effect on the other two

approaches, many of whose proponents then began to address these topics in the terms of their

favoured theory. (One consequence of this has been that it is now necessary to distinguish ‘virtue

ethics’ (the third approach) from ‘virtue theory’, a term which includes accounts of virtue within the

other approaches)” (Hursthouse and Pettigrove). Hursthouse and Pettigrove also explain the difference

between the three approaches:

It [Virtue Ethics, M.C.P.] may, initially, be identified as the one that emphasizes the

virtues, or moral character, in contrast to the approach that emphasizes duties or

rules (deontology) or that emphasizes the consequences of actions

(consequentialism). Suppose it is obvious that someone in need should be helped. A

utilitarian will point to the fact that the consequences of doing so will maximize

well-being, a deontologist to the fact that, in doing so the agent will be acting in

accordance with a moral rule such as “Do unto others as you would be done by” and

a virtue ethicist to the fact that helping the person would be charitable or

benevolent. (Hursthouse and Pettigrove)

In short, the motive a person has when, for instance, helping someone, is key to the approach used. A

Utilitarian is motivated by the consequences, a Universalist is motivated by duty and a Virtue Ethicist

is motivated by moral character. Although Virtue Ethics can stand on its own as an approach, it rarely

stands alone in society. Sooner or later the other ethical approaches rear their (sometimes ugly) heads.

As is the case in the Divergent series.



Universalism: “faction before blood”

Another ethical approach is Universalism, also known as Kantian ethics, which is based on the

deontological approach. Deon is Greek for duty and the rest of the term translates to ‘study of logic’

(Alexander and Moore). So, duty and logic are central aspects of this ethical approach. “Kantianism

seeks rationality in the universality of the principle on which one acts (it is against reason to exempt

oneself from the judgement of one’s principles)” (Cavell 42). As said before, why you act, is important

here. A universalist will act because it is the right thing to do, based on (universal) rules, even if it means

that the consequences of this act are not beneficiary for you. A possible problem with Universalism is

therefore that your actions might not bring you happiness (Staat).

In the Divergent series the faction system, which is based on virtue ethics, works because it is

peoples duty to put the faction’s (and thereby the system’s) needs first. The system is thus kept in check

by a Universalist approach. “Faction before blood” (Burger), is the mantra that the people of the city

use to keep this principle in mind. It means that faction is more important than family. This becomes

very clear in a conversation between Tris and the leader of Erudite Jeanine. Jeanine tells Tris point blanc

that if asked, if she can count on Tris to do the right thing when it turns out that Abnegation (which

includes her parents) is at fault (abnegation is accused of harbouring divergents); implying, would she

kill her family if it is demanded of her to do so as a soldier or police officer. Jeanine expects Tris to

uphold the law and not give in to natural tendencies. According to Jeanine, nature is the biggest flaw,

because it defies logic and undermines the system she wants to keep in place. So, you could argue that

to Jeanine conformity to the system is the highest virtue those that, according to her, do not have the

intellect to rule the government can achieve.

Utilitarianism: Jeanine’s aversion to human nature

Contrary to Universalists, Utilitarianists are very much concerned with the consequences of one’s

actions. Instead of doing what is right, despite of the consequences, it is considered best to do what

does the most good. “The Classical Utilitarians, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, identified the

good with pleasure, so, like Epicurus, were hedonists about value. They also held that we ought to

maximize the good, that is, bring about ‘the greatest amount of good for the greatest number’”

(Driver). The ultimate goal of Utilitarianists is to find happiness, because that is something that,

according to them, everybody desires. However, we only know in hindsight that we desired it (Staat).

And therein lies the crux. If you do not know for sure that something will make you happy, then you

also do not know if what you are doing does the most good. The only thing you can go on is that your

actions feel good; and this is highly subjective. When the pursuit of happiness is taken to its extreme,

there is a possibility that the goal will justify the means (Staat). What is clear about this approach is



that they are the opposite of Universalists. Utilitarianists will not act based on duty and logic, if they

know the outcome will not bring happiness; or at least they will be reluctant to do so.

Some Utilitarianists say that happiness is the will of God. David Hume however is “in favor of a

naturalistic view of human nature and a reliance on our sympathetic engagement with others” (Driver).

As I have described previously, in the film Jeanine sees human nature as a flaw. With this, she disregards

Utilitarianism and along with that, she disregards the consequences of her actions. Her goal in fact is

to eliminate human nature, by injecting people with a serum that will make them susceptible to

suggestion. With this serum, she can control people’s minds so they no longer listen to their own

desires, but follow orders without question instead. The only problem: divergents are immune to the

serum. This is why Jeanine hunts divergents. Though she tells everyone they are dangerous, to her,

they are just inconvenient. Divergents do not conform and therefore cannot be controlled.

(Moral) Perfectionism: a divergent way of life

So far I have discussed the three major ethical theories in modern culture, but Stanley Cavell proposes

an alternative perspective: moral perfectionism. To explain this alternative he draws mostly on the

theories of Ralph Waldo Emerson: self-reliance and perfectionism. Emersonian perfectionism does not

strive for an utopian ideal (like the other three major ethical theories do). Instead, it encourages people

to become intelligible about the world around them with self-transformation as its goal. This results in

the afore mentioned self-reliance, where one moves away from conformity. So far, Cavell stays in line

with Emerson. However, how self-transformation comes about differs between Cavell and his hero

Emerson. According to Cavell there is a “lack of given means of making ourselves intelligible (to

ourselves, to others)” and that this implies that people have a need of invention and of transformation

(Cavell 26). He follows with two dominating themes in Emersonian perfectionism. “The first theme is

that the human self – confined by itself, aspiring toward itself – is always becoming, as on a journey,

always partially in a further state. This journey is described as education or cultivation” (Cavell 26). This

could be explained as human beings being inclined to forever be scholars of life and cultivating their

role in it. “The second dominating theme is that the other to whom I can use the words I discover in

which to express myself is the Friend – a figure that may occur as the goal of the journey but also as its

instigation and accompaniment” (Cavell 27). Within Emersonian perfectionism one aspires to change

the world by reinventing relations with others. This requires a conversation with ‘The Friend’. The

Friend will assist you in your quest to self-reliance, constantly question your sincerity, acknowledge

your identity and hereby facilitates self-transformation. But, as Cavell shows in his studies of the

melodrama of the unknown women, the female protagonist needs to reinvent herself without

conversation with the Friend, since such a relationship is lacking. Therefore, Cavell’s notion of moral



perfectionism focusses on the individual.

Cavell writes the following about how moral perfectionism relates to the other major theories:

“Utilitarianism seeks rationality in the maximization of value (it is irrational to

achieve less pleasure for fewer persons if you have the choice to achieve more for

more). Kantianism seeks rationality in the universality of the principle on which one

acts (it is against reason to exempt oneself from the judgement of one’s principles).

(…) This is the aim of moral reasoning in perfectionism, not to assess pluses and

minuses of advantage, nor to assess whether the act is recommendable universally,

but yet to see to what those two standard theories wish to accomplish, namely that

the one in question make himself intelligible, to others and to himself. Perfectionism

concentrates on this moment.” (Cavell 42)

So, instead of doing something because it does the most good, or doing something because it is the

right thing to do, perfectionists reflect on the options first, talk it over with the Friend and then decide

what is the best thing to do in each situation. Perfectionism therefor does not dismiss the other major

ethical theories, but merely reflects on them. But foremost, it is a way of discovering for oneself what

kind of person one wants to be. It “focusses instead on the worth of a way of life, of my way of life,

which has come to a crossroads demanding self-questioning, a pause or crisis in which I must assess

something the romantics (explicitly including Emerson) articulated as the imperative to become the

one I am” (Cavell 49). To Universalists and Utilitarianists “if an act is bad or wrong, then it is bad or

wrong period; no matter who you are” (Cavell 50), but a perfectionist will take into account ones moral

standing in the matter.

According to Sinnerbrink “Cavell suggests that narrative cinema is ideally suited for exploring

characters embarking on a quest for self-knowledge or experience creative self-transformation; the

ethical process, as Nietzsche described, of ‘becoming who one is’ (2007 [1888]), independent of

canonical moral rules or abstract theoretical reflection” (Sinnerbrink 32). This is also the case for the

Divergent series and its main character Beatrice ‘Tris’ Prior. She is on a quest to find out who she is and

where she fits into the world. Especially now that she has learnt why conforming to just one faction,

which is expected of her, is so difficult for her. She is divergent and therefor can’t conform. She can

merely pretend.

Sinnerbrink claims there is great importance to adding Cavell’s moral perfectionist theory to

cinematic ethics. He quotes film scholar David Rodowick saying Cavell is the one contemporary

philosopher that deals the most with the problem of ethics in film and philosophy; especially by his

reading of Emerson’s moral perfectionism. (Sinnerbrink 27). According to Sinnerbrink “Cavell has

opened up the field of film-philosophy in ways that are only now being appreciated” (Sinnerbrink 27).



Sinnerbrink is most interested in Cavell because of “his claim that (Emersonian) moral perfectionism,

as enacted in particular cinematic genres, offers a response to (cultural and moral) scepticism via its

emphasis on creative self-transformation” (Sinnerbrink 28). What is meant by scepticism is that in

modern society, with all its knowledge of the world and the questioning of traditional religious

certainties, people do not know the world and the people in it (including themselves) with certainty. It

is in art, through images, that people reflect on the world and try to make sense of it. And according to

Sinnerbrink cinema holds a special position in this matter.

Cinema is the most accomplished expression of modernity’s technologically-mediated

culture; it is the global art form that takes the visual rendering of the world through images

to its apogee. It is both the highest exemplar of Heideggers’s ‘age of the world-picture’, the

reduction of the world to an image-world, and the medium that explores all the possibilities

of scepticism – of disconnection, disengagement, or isolation from the world – via the

mediation of moving images. (Sinnerbrink 30)

In other words, cinema holds the power to reflect on the world in a way other arts cannot, because

moving images are most capable of reflecting real life. In light of these claims I would like to argue that

cinema can make the spectator more knowledgeable about the world they live in and therefor gives

the spectator a stronger basis for self-reliance. In the next chapters I will explore both films through

the lens of moral perfectionism.

Conclusion: to be self-reliant is to be rebellious

The faction system that is in place in the film world is based on Virtue Ethics. The highest virtue the

people of this future Chicago can reach is conforming to one of the five factions; preferably the faction

that they have the most aptitude for. “Faction before blood” is the mantra that is employed in order to

sway people into believing that this is the highest virtue. It is meant to have people chose duty over

natural tendencies like choosing family and friends above all else. The Virtue Ethics approach that the

society is based on is therefore kept in check by a universalist approach. There is a downside to the

society that is in place. People that do not have a knack for any of the five factions run the risk of

becoming factionless, which equates to being homeless and being dependant on handouts or stealing.

These are the people that fall between the cracks of the system and are treated as social outcasts. It

also instils fear in young people that have to make sure they fall in line with the faction system when

they are at that age where they need to choose which faction they will spend the rest of their lives at.

The aptitude test is meant to tell them which faction they would thrive at. For our protagonist Beatrice

Prior this does not have the expected result. She is divergent, meaning that she has an aptitude for

multiple factions. This means that she cannot conform like people are supposed to. The only options

for her are either pretending to conform or deploying self-reliance. This is problematic, because this is



considered to be a threat to society. If you cannot conform, you cannot be controlled. To be self-reliant

is to be rebellious.

Erudite leader Jeanine is most extreme in her views about conforming. She believes human

nature is the enemy and she wants to eradicate it. She creates a serum which places people under mind

control, removing “everything that makes up a person: thoughts, emotion, history” (Burger). With this

act Jeanine forces them to conform and therefor takes away not only peoples identity, but also their

liberty and self-determination; both are central themes in dystopia’s according to Basu, Broad and

Hintz. To Jeanine the goal, creating a peaceful society in which the intelligent rule based on logic,

justifies the means. This is a utilitarian approach. However, divergents are not affected by the serum

and Jeanine decides to hunt them down. The utopia of the faction system has been taken to it’s

extreme and has become a dystopia, especially for people like Tris. But Tris decides to fight the system

by becoming more knowledgeable about the world she lives in. With this she follows a moral

perfectionist approach, while cultivating skills that help her survive. In the next chapters I will analyse

the films using a moral perfectionist lens. In the first film Tris clearly gets help from The Friend, in the

Emersonian sense, who will come in the form of Four. In the second film however, Tris distances herself

from Four by omitting the truth. For the second film I shall therefore focus on Cavellian moral

perfectionism.



Chapter 2:

Fear as a divergent’s catalyst: conformity versus self-reliance

Introduction: who is Beatrice Prior?

In the opening shots of the film, Divergent (Burger), we see a future Chicago. The camera follows the

sunrise outside the city until it’s at eyelevel and then pans left toward the city. The camera moves

toward the city, rises to get over the electric fence and moves in further into the city (Figure 1). The

camera movement and it’s pace might elicit the feeling that the spectator is being drawn into the city

and into the story.

Figure 1: symmetrical shot of the city while camera rises over the electric fence (Burger)

All shots are symmetrical in composition, using the horizontal and vertical lines of the city: streets,

bridges, gaps between buildings etcetera. The symmetry and the straight lines could be seen as

soothing for the eye, making the spectator more accepting to what it sees. A diegetic voice over by

main character Beatrice Prior tells us about this city. How it is divided into factions and that some

people fit in naturally into those factions, but how she doesn’t know where she fits in. While Beatrice

tells us about the society she lives in, images of the city and its factions are shown. The camera

movement accelerates along with the music. Again, the spectator is taken along by the camera into the

space and time the story takes place. Her own faction, Abnegation, she mentions last. About the faction

system Beatrice says: “It all works, everybody knows where they fit in, except for me.” She says this

while an aerial shot of the Abnegation neighbourhood pans toward the horizon looking out of the city.

The image abruptly cuts to white and a fade in follows. The sound of scissors and hair falling down in

slow motion follows. A moment in time seems to be extended, for it is an important moment: a

conversation between mother and daughter on a very important day.



The first secondary character we meet is Beatrice’s mother, Nathalie Prior. She is cutting

Beatrice’s hair and putting it in a bun. Unlike the opening sequence the camera movement comes to a

halt after a slow motion shows the cutting of hair. It is a special moment which, as we will learn later

on, Beatrice savors. Extreme close ups, close ups and medium close ups follow each other, as well as

two-shots of Beatrice and her mother. They talk about the test and whether Beatrice is nervous. In the

brief moment Beatrice gets to look in the mirror (at Abnegation mirrors are locked away in a cupboard)

we see a shot/reverse shot of Beatrice and her mirror image. Abnegation members are not supposed

to put their own needs above that of others; to not look to long in the mirror. Yet, Beatrice is worried

about who she is and where she fits in. The moment she has with herself in the mirror signifies that.

During this exposition the spectator has been acquainted with the city, the faction system that is in

place and with the main protagonist Beatrice Prior. They have also learned what is worrying her, her

biggest fear: not fitting in. A theme that might resonate well with the target audience of the film: young

adults. Hearing Beatrice’s thoughts and worries while being drawn into the story by the camera

movements is likely to elicit allegiance with Beatrice by the spectator.

As the exposition comes to an end the voice over stops and we no longer hear Beatrice’s

thoughts. We do however see Beatrice’s nature and how she is held back by her brother Caleb. He is a

little overbearing when it comes to Beatrice. He tells her what to do and how she should behave. When

Beatrice sees another kid from Abnegation being bullied by Peter, a character we will come to know

later on, her first instinct is to stand up for the kid. Caleb holds her back and tells her not to, and so she

doesn’t do anything. It shows that Beatrice relies on her brother and doesn’t stand up to him. During

this scene Beatrice is positioned in the middle of a group of people. She looks small and closed in.

When her brother says: “Beatrice, don’t” he looms over her and Beatrice responds by keeping her head

down. This ends when a group of Dauntless kids arrive. Beatrice is shown standing in front of the group,

a bit larger than the rest, with her head held high. Beatrice is in focus, while the others are out of focus.

There are several shots of her separately looking at and admiring the Dauntless faction. The purpose

of this scene is to give clues about which faction the presented characters lean towards, but more

importantly it is meant to have the spectator form stances toward several fictional characters that play

a central role in the story. Plantinga makes an overview of stances the audience may have toward

fictional characters. These stances are the following from negative to positive: opposition, antipathy,

dislike, neutral interest, liking, sympathy, allegiance, projection2 (Plantinga, "I Followed the Rules, and

They All Loved You More": Moral Judgement and Attitudes toward Fictional Charachters in Film 43). In

light of the exposition it is safe to say that the spectator is supposed to form an allegiance with Beatrice

and possibly even projection. It is shown that Beatrice has a tendency to stand up for others and protect

2 For explanation of the stances see Appendix 1: Plantinga’s stances toward Fictional Characters.



them from bullies, which may be considered an admirable quality. Unlike the others from Abnegation,

she is not inclined to turn the other cheek. She shows she is more of a risk taker, but is held back by

her brother Caleb. Although Caleb is a natural at helping people and would, according to Beatrice, fit

perfectly in Abnegation, it also becomes clear how Caleb makes decisions in his life. He tells Beatrice

to trust the test and the system that is in place. It is clear Caleb trusts science above anything else, like

someone from Erudite would do. His phrase “It is not that hard, Beatrice”, after helping a woman up

and him wondering why Beatrice did not help, could therefore also be seen in a different light. A

deduction of logic: Abnegation is selfless, and therefore you help others. So perhaps helping others

does not come as natural to him as Beatrice thinks, it is just pure logic when you are presenting yourself

as belonging to Abnegation. He simply pretends to conform, because it is considered the smart thing

to do; like Cavell says people do throughout most of their life. It is also a prelude to the relationship

Beatrice and her brother will have in the future. Beatrice will, on various occasions, be disappointed in

her brother, because he will not act on his feelings about something, but merely acts based on logic.

Caleb siding with Erudite is another thing Beatrice will be disappointed about. The way Caleb behaves

towards Beatrice, towards whom the spectator is encouraged to have an allegiance with, may elicit the

spectator to dislike him. Presenting characters that are meant to be disliked may also strengthen the

positive stance the spectator may have toward the protagonist.

It is now time for the film to expose the complications Beatrice faces and needs to overcome.

The test all sixteen year-olds need to take is an aptitude test that will show them which faction they fit

into best. The test however did not work on Beatrice. So, not only does Beatrice not know which faction

she belongs to, the test doesn’t ‘know’ either. Also, she appears to be in danger, because she does not

conform to society. Like Tori said, she cannot trust anyone, only herself. This scene informs the

spectator of the main complication the protagonist faces. And the decisions Beatrice makes throughout

the rest of the first film of the series, all stand in relation to this first and foremost complication. It is all

about knowing who she is, where she belongs and who she can trust.

In this chapter I will explore how Beatrice deals with the fact that she does not fit into just one

faction, like the system demands. Now that she has learned that she is divergent, she needs to figure

out what that means and how she can navigate through the system that is in place. In other words, she

needs to educate herself on life and cultivate her role in it, which, through Cavell’s lens, is the

cornerstone in Emerson’s moral perfectionism. She needs to become intelligible about the world

around her so she can reach self-transformation. Basically, there are only two ways to do this when

considering Emerson’s theory and that is either by conforming or by its adversary: self-reliance. This

chapter will show how Beatrice goes about doing this and as Emerson prescribes she gets help from

‘The Friend’, who will come in the form of Four. I will also show how her search for knowledge about

who she is (as in: what is divergent?) and why she is considered a threat, creates suspense for the



spectator. Key ingredient here is ‘fear’, which forms the central emotion in this film. This I will do

because, according to Sinnerbrink, it is important that spectators engage with the film world in order

to elicit critical thinking.

Jumping into the unknown: a turning point for Tris

Now that the test is not the solution to knowing where she belongs, she needs to figure out another

way to get the answer. Like Tory said, she can only trust herself, so she needs to learn to rely on herself.

This is where the theory of self-reliance comes in. Beatrice is divergent, therefore she cannot conform

and therefore she needs to find another way to live her life. At least she knows what she does not want.

She does not want to stay at Abnegation, as she has mentioned during the exposition of the film. When

she is walking home alone after the inconclusive test, she comes across a factionless woman who is

going through a dumpster. That doesn’t seem to be an appealing future either. During dinner Beatrice

is reprimanded by her parents for going home early without telling anyone. They explain that

Abnegation, and especially its leaders (among which Beatrice’s parents) are under a lot of scrutiny from

Erudite. During this scene the spectator sees the family sitting in a very dark room with merely one

table light lighting up their faces (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Beatrice having dinner with her family (Burger)

The scene comes across as very secretive. Like no one is supposed to say out loud what Erudite is doing.

According to her parents Erudite is discrediting Abnegation, making allegations about the way they

govern, because in reality Erudite feels they should rule the government. This scene makes clear that

Erudite is untrustworthy. The situation is also educational for Beatrice. She learns more about the

politics that lie behind the seemingly perfect faction system. It is useful for her to know that Erudite

has ulterior motives that might threaten society. They also discuss Abnegation leader Marcus’s son,

who defected to another faction during his choosing ceremony. Rumours say that he defected because



his father was abusive. Beatrice’s parents say the rumours are not true and Beatrice’s mother says that

children defect for all kinds of reasons. At this point we see Beatrice looking at her own reflection in

her spoon (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Beatrice looking in the reflection of her spoon (Burger)

This signifies that she is already thinking about choosing another faction at the choosing ceremony the

next day. The whole scene is meant to create suspense for the spectator, since they now know that

there is something fishy about the presented society.

At the day of the choosing ceremony we can already see that Beatrice is starting reinventing

herself. When the family is at the venue where the ceremony takes place they run into Erudite leader

Jeanine. Beatrice is demure at first, needing her brother to introduce who she is to Jeanine. But when

Jeanine remarks that she is sure their parents will support whatever choice they make, Beatrice finds

the courage to speak up: “It’s not supposed to be a choice, the test should tell us what to do,” she says.

When Jeanine responds that she is still free to choose, Beatrice remarks: “But you don’t really want

that”. Her brother Jacob warningly says her name, but Beatrice looks at him like she doesn’t care for

his belittlement. She responds differently towards her brother than she did before. It seems that

Beatrice does not shy away anymore from confrontation, not even when it’s with a superior like Jeanine

who is literally standing above her (Figure 4).



Figure 4: Jeanine lecturing Tris (Burger)

This indicates that she is already closer to making her decision as to which faction she will join, even if

she does not fully realize it yet herself. Beatrice herself, still feels she does not really know where she

belongs. This is shown when Jeanine says to the crowd: “The future belongs to those who know where

they belong.” When Jeanine says this we see a shot of her from behind where she is in focus and the

crowd is out of focus. Directly after her statement we see the focus shift. Jeanine becomes out of focus

and Beatrice becomes now in focus instead.

After choosing Dauntless everything happens really fast. The music picks up, the camera

movements are faster and the shots change at a higher pace. The Dauntless members are running in

the streets. The mood also becomes hopeful and cheerful, which contrasts the tension of the previous

scene. As Basu, Broad and Hintz said, hope besides fear characterizes young adult dystopia’s contrary

to traditional dystopia’s. The sun is shining and people are cheering and laughing out of excitement.

We see Beatrice smiling as well, she looks relieved. Now that she is with Dauntless she needs to keep

up with the fast pace. She is clearly not used to this, as we see her being the last in the group at various

moments. She is the last one to climb onto the train tracks that are high above ground level. She is the

last to jump onto the train and she and her new friend Christina, whom she met on the train, are the

last to jump out of the train onto the roof. But in the spirit of reinventing herself, she volunteers to be

the first to jump off of the roof into a dark pit not knowing what lies at the bottom (. Just before she

jumps we see a close up of Beatrice. It is a symmetrical shot with her in the centre. She takes a deep

breath, closes her eyes and jumps (Figure 5).



Figure 5: A symetrical shot before Tris jumps (Burger)

The non-diegetic music stops and all we hear are the swooshing sounds of the wind as she falls down.

We see shots of her falling. The most significant one being a worms eye view, where the camera is

directly below Beatrice which shows her falling towards the spectator. Because the camera is looking

up at the bright sky and the camera is positioned in a dark area, we only see a silhouette of Beatrice.

The silhouette has the shape of a cross, because she holds her arms wide as she is falling down (Figure

6). As it turns out, there is a net at the bottom. When we see Beatrice lying in the net her arms are still

wide and her legs are slightly bend. The shot of her lying in the net resembles Jesus on the cross Figure

7).

Figure 6: Beatrice falling towards the camera in the shape of a cross (Burger)



Figure 7: Beatrice lying in the net, resembling Jesus on the cross (Burger)

By being the first jumper of the group she sacrificed herself by jumping into the unknown. The idea of

sacrifice is enhanced by the young man that helps her out of the net asking: “what, did you get

pushed?” and Beatrice answering with “no.” Beatrice being presented as the sacrificial lamb is telling

for her role in the films. She is the person that will ultimately be the one that will be considered the

hope for humanity the founders of this society talk about in the message that is revealed at the end of

the second film. It is a strong and iconic image that may ensure the audience having allegiance with

her and possibly even desire to emulate her. The young man that helps her out of the net is Four.

Beatrice gasps as he picks her up out of the net and we see his hands placed firmly around her upper

body. He will become an important ally in the story. We can already tell that is the case by the shot and

reverse shots between him and Beatrice, which give the illusion that they are the only ones in the room.

He is kind to her and tells her she can pick a new name if she wants and after Beatrice introduces

herself as Tris, he welcomes her. Beatrice changing her name to Tris is another sign of Beatrice

reinventing herself.

Soldiers not rebels: Fear as a catalyst

The euphoric mood of the previous day does not last. The first bombshell is dropped by Eric, a not so

kind Dauntless leader. He informs the initiates of a new rule: those that rank below the red line after

the first and second training stage will no longer get to stay at Dauntless and become factionless. The

first stage of training is physical and since Tris is born at Abnegation, she lacks physical strength. The

threat of becoming factionless is enhanced when they see a bunch of factionless people during a run.

Peter, the bully we met before, remarks: “check it out stiff, that’s going to be your new family.” And by

stiff he means Tris. During her first fight, first jumper versus last jumper, Tris is knocked out. Upon

looking at the scoreboard Tris is ranked 32 out of 33. Tris is worried. In the evening she meets Tori, the

lady that altered her test results and send her home before anyone would find out about her being



divergent. Tori does not want to talk to Tris, so Tris decides to get a tattoo, since Tori only does tattoos.

“You made a mistake choosing Dauntless,” Tori whispers, “they will find out about you here.” Tris askes

who and Tori says: “the people you’re a threat to.” Tris wonders who these people are and Tori explains

that it is society. “If you don’t fit into a category, they can’t control you,” Tori says. In response Tris

states: “I don’t get it. I’m Dauntless, I’m going to be Dauntless, I chose Dauntless.”. Tori says: “For your

sake, I hope so.” This conversation is meant to increase suspense; will Tris make it at Dauntless or not?

And how much danger is she actually in? Questions that will have the spectator expectedly at the edge

of their seat. It is also another moment in which Tris becomes a little more knowledgeable about her

situation, even though she does not understand why she is in danger, she does know that she in fact is

in danger.

Tris is determent, despite the threat of people finding out about her or becoming factionless.

And it seems to shift the film into a higher gear, representing the protagonist being propelled forward

in her self-transformation. Non-diegetic up beat music accompanies Tris’ extra training sessions before

the others have woken up. Shots of her improving her physical skills follow in a fast pace. We see Tris

looking at the rankings and she has moved up to number 26. Four notices her hard work and decides

to help her. “You’re weak, you have no muscle,” he says, “You’re never gonna win, not like that.” Tris

replies: “That’s good to know.” “Yep, you have to use your whole body, keep tension here,” he says as

he adjusts her position. We see a shot of Four’s hands touching her. Tris gasps at his touch. It shows us

another intimate moment between the two. Both are close up and in focus, while their surroundings

are out of focus. It shows the spectator that Tris might have an ally. Also, Four is very attractive and

along with the way he touches and helps Tris young female spectators may have a strong stance of

liking towards him. It may also make them wish they were Tris, making it likely that the stance towards

her goes from allegiance to projection; the most positive possible stance a spectator can have towards

a character.

Though Tris is moving up in the ranking, there are still things that complicate her life. Erudite is

actively working on taking over the government. This becomes apparent when Peter reads Tris an

article about her, her family and Abnegation that questions Abnegations teachings and leadership. Tris

defends them by saying her parents and the people at Abnegation are good people. What follows is a

scene in which Tris and her friends run into Jeanine and her following in the corridors of the Dauntless

compound, which strikes them as odd. Jeanine recognizes Tris and starts talking to her. “You’ve made

an impressive choice, Tris, despite your parents and your test results.” It turns out Jeanine is keeping

tabs on the Prior family, including Tris. Jeanine and her following leave the corridor and enter a room

which houses all sorts of technology. “That was weird,” Christina remarks. In the meantime the non-

diegetic music sounds nervous, most likely representing what Tris is feeling right now. We see a shot of

Beatrice looking at Jeanine who is walking away from her. The group wonders what Erudite are doing



here. Will, a former Erudite member, says: “I bet they’re hunting divergents. It’s all they talk about at

Erudite these days.” Seeing Jeanine is a reminder for the spectator of who the true opposition is and is

meant to add suspense. It also makes Tris more intelligible about who she is ultimately up against.

We see Tris looking at the scoreboard again. She has moved up to number 22, one place

removed from being safely above the red line. But, as it turns out Eric is not done with Tris yet. She is

called upon to fight Peter. She gets knocked out. What follows is a sort of dream sequence of her mom

cutting her hair, just like she did at the beginning of the film. It signifies that Tris is back at square one

again, but also that she longs for simpler times where she was still safe with her mom taking care of

her. When she wakes up in the infirmary Christina and Will tell her she did not make it, that Eric says

she is out. Christina and Will need to catch the train to join the war games Dauntless is playing and Tris

cannot come along. But Tris, being the rebel that she is, gets up and chases the train anyway. The non-

diegetic music is upbeat and hopeful again. She makes it just in time and Four pulls her into the moving

train. Eric askes: “Who let you out?” “I did,” Tris says. “You did?” Eric replies followed by a silence where

they size each other up. “Ok,” Eric concludes. Apparently he cannot really fault her for not giving up,

since that has been his mantra during the training: “Dauntless don’t give up.” But we can consider it a

rebellious act. Again we see Tris care about Four’s reaction, when we see a shot-reverse-shot between

the two. Four looks impressed and there is even a little smile. This little non-verbal tête-à-tête signifies

Fours role as the Friend. She cares about what he thinks of her. And even though there is not an actual

conversation, there is an acknowledgement from Four about her identity. This clearly gives Tris a boost

in her self-transformation. She becomes the one that leads her team to victory during the game and is

invited to an initiation ritual which involves riding an enormous zipline across town at a very large

height. It is even higher than the Ferris wheel she was on earlier and thus higher than Tris has ever

been. It signifies her growth as a person and announces the halfway mark of the film which will be

reached soon. Tris enjoys coursing through the air at great heights. It gives her a sense of freedom. She

is even looking at herself in the reflection of a window, smiling and reaching her hand out to herself

(Figure 8).



Figure 8: Tris looking at herself coarsing through the air on a zipline (Burger)

It appears she likes who she has become. Tris is so into it she even almost forgets to pull the breaks

when she gets to the bottom and almost crashes into the wall. It is like her mother said in the beginning

of the film: “There is an art to losing yourself.” This moment of losing herself also preludes her mother

coming to visit her the next day, to warn her that she is in danger and that the second stage of training

is where she is most at risk of people finding out she is divergent.

How to handle fear Dauntless style: conformity as a strategy

The second stage of training is mental training. A special serum triggers fears inside the mind to come

to the surface while being in a simulation. It’s called a fear landscape in which you need to train how

to handle fear. While you are in this simulation, supervisors can see what you see in the simulation. In

her fear landscape Tris is outside the city, beyond the fence, but she gets attacked by a random flock of

birds. It's an analogy to Hitchcock's film The Birds, where, according to Raubicheck and Srebnick people

only get attacked by birds when they are outside, signifying the entrapment of civilians (Raubicheck

and Srebnick). Similarly, Tris is trapped in Chicago that is governed by a society that categorizes people

into factions. A society she cannot conform to and to which she is seen as a threat. Entrapment is a

recurring theme in Tris' fear landscape. She gets stuck in quicksand as she is trying to run away from

the birds. She is tied up to a wooden pole in the middle of a fire after she got rid of the birds by using

the fire. She is trapped in a glas box and drowning in water. And during her final fear simulation she is

even pinned down on the bed by Four, who, in her simulation, only wants her for her body. Interestingly

enough, earlier in the film she got a tattoo of birds on her clavicle. It was when she was trying to ask

Tori for help after she realised she might not make it at Dauntles and she is not allowed to go home.

Again, a sense of being trapped. Also, not knowing who to trust is a form of entrapment because it

leaves her alone with her secret without any help. In her fear landscape this is shown as her friends

and peers being on the other side of the glas, laughing at her, wispering in each other’s ears, while Tris



is standing there as if on display unable to reach them. Tris is remarkably fast in solving her fears in her

fear landscape. Too fast it turns out. In one instance she breaks the glass of the waterfilled box she is

trapped in by tapping her finger on the glass. Four starts asking questions about the results of her

aptitude test. Tris repeatedly states that her result was Abnegation, the result Tori manually entered.

Four says: “Just so you know, Dauntless don’t break the glass like that.” The scene shows that Four

knows Tris is divergent, but wants Tris to tell him she is. He wants her to show him she trusts him.

Tori tells Tris her brother was like her too; divergent. He went through the second stage of

training with flying colours and ended up dead because of it. He was murdered by Dauntless leadership;

thrown into the gorge. Upon hearing she is in mortal danger, Tris flees Dauntless and seeks help with

her brother Caleb who is at Erudite. Apparently Caleb is still her default for telling her what to do when

she gets herself in trouble. But upon talking to him, she comes to the realization that this is misguided.

She does however learn Erudite is making serious plans to overthrow Abnegation and taking over

leadership. When she is leaving the Erudite building two Erudite security men try to capture her. She

fights them to get away when Jeanine stops them. Jeanine takes Tris to a meeting room for a chat.

Figure 9: A meeting room that feels open and bright (Burger)



Figure 10: A close up of Jeanine, signifying she is closing in (Burger)

Figure 11: a conversation that feels confined (Burger)

The room they are sitting in is very open and bright (Figure 9), but the conversation that follows feels

confined (Figure 11). This is shown by the camera zooming in on their faces during a shot-reverse-shot

sequence. The open space around them becomes out of focus and eventually is not even visible in the

shots. The music becomes more and more ominous during the conversation. The close ups of Jeanine

become closer signifying the threat of Jeanine coming closer to Tris (Figure 10). At the end of the

conversation Jeanine says she will have her car bring Tris back to Dauntless. Again, Tris is trapped, but

this time it is not a simulation. The scene proves to be very informative for Tris as well as the spectator.

Tris becomes more knowledgeable about the danger she, but also society, is in. For the spectator this

creates suspense.

When Tris gets back to Dauntless she is attacked by three masked men that try to throw her

into the gorge. One of the attackers turns out to be her friend Al. Tris is saved by Four. He takes care of

her and washes the wounds on her hands. During this act Four is kneeled in front of Tris. He is of service



to her. Tris can’t believe Al was one of the attackers. “You are moving up through the ranks and he is

failing,” Four says, “He is just afraid.” “Everyone’s afraid,” Tris says. But Four says Tris is different from

people like Al. “Fear doesn’t shut you down, it wakes you up. I’ve seen it.” And it is true, he has seen

it, as have we, the spectators. It is another sign Four knows about her being divergent, yet he still does

not confront Tris with it. Instead the conversation is meant to acknowledge her identity. Four knows

who she is, but Tris is still on a quest to discover this. To show Tris she can trust him, he takes a spot on

the floor to sleep on while she takes his bed. The next morning Tris tells Four about what she has

learned about Erudite and their plan to overthrow Abnegation. Tris says she is worried about her

parents and Four says: “Yeah. But I think you got other things you need to worry about.” Four is a

character the spectator is encouraged to like at the least. He will eventually develop into an important

character that ensures the spectators allegiance with Tris, even when she in the future will temporarily

stray from doing likable things. Which will become an issue in the second film.

Al is sorry about attacking Tris, but Tris calls him a coward. Later, Al is found at the bottom of

the gorge. It is said he jumped. Tris and Four talk about what happened. Tris feels it is her fault Al is

dead. Four says: “No, it was not because of you. It was his own choice. He would have been factionless,

he was not going to pass that final test.” “Neither am I,” Tris says. Four asks: “Why do you say that?”

Tris answers: “You know why.” Without actually saying it out loud, Tris is confiding in Four. Finally. Now

Four can actively help her navigate through her fear landscape the way a Dauntless member would.

Ensuring she passes the final test. Basically he teaches her how to conform in order to survive. A skill

that will later on prove useful. To practice her Dauntless mental skills, he takes her into his fear

landscape. It does not get more intimate than this. With this act, Four shows Tris what trust looks like.

We, the spectators, also learn more about Four. His character becomes more rounded, now that we

know his fears. He has four of them: heights, confined spaces, getting ordered and having to kill an

innocent (he can never do it, unless he looks away) and finally his abusive father. As it turns out, Four’s

real name is Tobias Eaton, the son of Abnegation leader Marcus Eaton. Four’s default strategy to make

it in this society appears to be conformity. In his case conform to the Dauntless faction after he defected

to get away from his abusive father. Now that we know more about Four it is probable that the stance

toward Four has developed from liking to sympathy.

Just before the final test Four showed Tris what Erudite has been bringing in to Dauntless: a

large amount of vials containing a serum that makes people susceptible to suggestion. Enough to create

an army. After the test, everybody is injected with it by Dauntless leaders, saying it is a tracking device

and just a precaution. The next morning it turns out everybody is mind controlled except for those that

are divergent. Tris pretends she is under mind control too, which is smart because a young man that is

not under mind control gets shot and killed for being divergent. Four teaching her how to conform pays

off in this situation. The mind controlled Dauntless army is shipped to the Abnegation faction where



they are issued to round up all Abnegation members and execute them. On their way there Tris finds

Four and together they try to find Tris’ parents. During the search they are captured however and taken

to Jeanine. She takes Four to run tests on him and leaves Tris to be executed. Just before she is being

shot her mom runs in and saves Tris; as it turns out her mom used to be Dauntless as well. Together

they try to make it to the hiding place where her dad is harbouring other Abnegation members. In the

process she runs into Will who is still under mind control. Will is controlled into killing Tris and it

eventually leaves Tris no choice but to kill Will. Tris is heartbroken over this, but her mom ushers her

to move on. The fact that Tris has killed Will, one of her best friends, will become a complication that

will be further developed during the second film. The positive moral judgement the spectator has

towards Tris might become shaky here as will be elaborated further in the next chapter. Another

complication is her losing her mom, who gets shot and killed by Dauntless soldiers as they are on the

run. Tris feels it is her fault. Tris makes it to the hiding place and finds her dad, her brother Caleb and

Abnegation leader Marcus, among the others hiding there. Together they go to the Dauntless

compound to put a stop to the mind control. They take the same route to the compound as Tris took

at the beginning of the film when she joined Dauntless. Her father is amazed by how Tris has changed,

by how courageous she is. It is now time for Tris to leave conformity for what it is and save Abnegation

and Four. She manages to reach the place where Jeanine is controlling the simulation, but her father

dies in the process. Another thing Tris will blame herself for.

Four is put under mind control and as it turns out, he is programmed to kill Tris. Jeanine comes

in, she talks proudly of her creation: “Amazing, isn’t it? Everything we think of that makes up a person,

thoughts, emotions, history, all wiped away by chemistry.” It shows Jeanine has no patience for human

nature and is the exact opposite of Tris. Tris tries to call Four out of the simulation. Jeanine says: “He’s

gone and we are all safer for it.” Tris askes how we are all safer for it. “The brilliance of the faction

system, is that conformity to the faction removes the threat of anyone exercising their independent

will. Divergents threaten that system. Don’t get me wrong. There is a certain beauty to your resistance.

Your defiance of categorisation. But it’s a beauty we can’t afford.” It all boils down to Erudite’s

conviction that knowledge and logic should rule and that human nature should be suppressed. Jeanine

does not seem to trust people will follow the universalist approach of “faction before blood’ and has

decided she needs to help things along for the greater good. Jeanine walks away and another Erudite

member turns on Four like he is a killing machine, aimed to kill Tris. But Tris knows Four, he cannot kill

an innocent without looking away.



Figure 12: Tris aiming the gun at herself (Burger)

Figure 13: Tris forcing Four to look at her (Burger)

Tris uses this fear, that is rooted in his brain, to snap him out of the simulation. She turns her gun on

herself (Figure 12), he takes the gun and holds it to her head. Tris forces him to watch (Figure 13) and

just before he pulls the trigger he is freed from the simulation. Since fear is a core emotion it appears

to be stronger than any mind control. Together they manage to stop Jeanine from executing the entire

Abnegation faction and destroy the simulation program.

Conclusion: becoming knowledgeable and cultivating skills

Over the course of this first film Beatrice reinvents herself from a demure girl that lets her brother tell

her what to do to a courageous young woman that ends up saving the Abnegation faction from being

killed and stopping Jeanine from turning innocent soldiers into emotionless killing machines. She

manages to do this by becoming more knowledgeable about the world she lives in and about herself.

The driving force for Tris to reach self-transformation is fear. Instead of fear paralyzing her, like it would



others, it shifts her into a higher gear which is shown cinematographically on multiple occasions. For

instance during the training stage and when she catches the train ensuring she cannot be kicked out of

the faction. These scenes might accelerate the spectators heartrate and create suspense, but it also

has them rooting for Tris to make it through. Having Four on her side has proven to be helpful as well.

There may not have been many conversations about identity and ones role in society, but by looking

to him for approval, guidance and acknowledgement Tris has been facilitated by him in her journey to

self-transformation. Choosing Dauntless has proven to be a journey that has been educational in the

sense that she has gained knowledge about the society she lives in and the dangers about being

divergent, but she has also managed to cultivate the skills needed to find her role in society. Among

these skills is conforming when necessary in order to survive, even though it is her nature to be self-

reliant.

During the film the spectator has repeatedly been invited to engage with the film and the film

world. It did so from the beginning by the camera movements drawing the spectator into the city and

the faction system that is in place, ensuring that the spectator is likely to accept the cultural and political

forces that are at play within the film world. The spectator is also constantly encouraged to form a

stance of allegiance with Tris and on some occasions perhaps even a stance of projection. Tris’ acts of

self-sacrifice, like jumping first and the numerous occasions in which she stands up for others, even if

it gets her into trouble, are admirable character traits that may result in the spectator passing positive

moral judgement towards her. Throughout the film the spectator is repeatedly cued to feel suspense,

especially when Tris becomes more knowledgeable about the politics underneath the faction system.

This In short being that Jeanine feels that Erudite should be in charge because they have the knowledge,

which is in compliance with Socrates view that knowledge is the most important virtue of all. She claims

that she wants to eliminate human nature for the greater good, to make the faction system work and

to ensure peace. This could be considered a universalist motivation, however the way she goes about

it is not morally right. In her eyes however it is justified to use whatever means to reach the goal, which

can be viewed as a utilitarianist conviction, especially since her raining society will most likely give her

personally pleasure. Tris however is a force that threatens Jeanine’s desires because she transcends

the faction system that is based on virtue ethics. This will become clear in the following chapter.



Chapter 3:

Inner struggles: overcoming the damaging effects of guilt and shame

Introduction: guilt and shame

Tris and Four are running through the woods. A high angle shot aimed at the fence shows a flock of

birds flying up out of the woods. The camera tilts down to a birds eye view of Tris, Four, Jacob and Peter

running through the woods. They stop at the edge of the woods, they have arrived at Amity. “We need

to make sure it’s clear,” Four says. But Tris cannot wait. She runs towards the settlement, the others

run after her. She frantically asks for help from the gathering. They circle around her. “Sorry, you have

to leave, you just don’t belong here,” Amity leader Johanna says. “It’s all her fault,” another voice says.

When Tris looks over she sees her best friend Christina bowed down next to Will (Figure 14). There is

blood on his face and now also on Christina’s hands. “You’ve killed Will,” Christina says in disbelieve.

We hear whispers from the crowed. The camera rotates fast around Tris, it resembles a sense of

disorientation. We see Four closest to her looking back at her; he doesn’t say anything. Then a reverse

shot of Tris. Behind her, her father appears with blood stains on his clothes marking the places he got

shot. Tris turns around, the camera moves a little to her side and her mother is there too, also with a

large blood stain on her side at the place she got shot (Figure 15). “Mama,” Tris whispers. “You killed

us all,” her mother says as she walks towards her. The screen becomes black and white and we see a

flashback of when Tris shot Will. At the sound of the shot Tris wakes up.

Figure 14: Tris is having a nightmare about Christina finding out about her killing Will (Schwentke)



Figure 15: Tris is seeing her parents in her nightmare (Schwentke)

The exposition of the second film Insurgent is quite short, compared to the first film. Which is logical,

we already know the film world, the situation and the characters. All we need to know for the second

film are the premise of this film and the central emotions of the film, which are guilt and shame. In the

first film we saw how Tris was ‘forced’ to shoot Will before he would shoot her. Will was her friend and

also her best friends boyfriend. Tris feels ashamed of killing him. In the first film we also saw Tris loose

her parents. Her mom died trying to save Tris and her father died trying to make way for Tris so she

could stop Jeanine and save Four. Tris feels guilty for her parents getting killed. These are the events

that haunt Tris’ dreams. In Cavellian moral perfectionism self-transformation is not reached by a

conversation with the friend, but through self-questioning which can manifest itself in either a pause

or a crisis that eventually leads to “the one I am” (Cavell 49). In this chapter I will focus on Tris being in

such a crisis, how she gets through it and becomes the one she is.

In the second film Tris is no longer the only focalizer, like was the case in the first film. In this

film we also see Jeanine as a focalizer. However, as I will elaborate further in this chapter, Jeanine does

not receive the spectators allegiance like Tris does. Instead, the spectator is expected to have an

oppositional stance towards Jeanine. The scenes in which Jeanine is the focalizer therefore function as

a way to let the spectator know what Jeanine is up to and how she continues to be a threat to Tris and

divergents in general. It is like the exposition of the film is saying: though the focalization of Tris mainly

focusses on her inner struggle, we must not forget the real threat that is still out there.

As you can see I wrote the word ‘forced’ between quotation marks when talking about Tris

shooting Will. Like Plantinga explains in his book Moving Viewers how spectators experience events

often has a sociomoral dimension. This is also the case for how spectators might feel about Tris killing

Will under the circumstances she was under. Plantinga explains this sociomoral dimension using the

emotion of disgust. Though disgust is in its core an instinctive reaction rooted in biological necessity, it



can also have a social component. “Orthodox Jews find the eating of pork to be disgusting, while Hindus

have similar reactions to the eating of beef.” (Plantinga, Moving Viewers: American Film and the

Spectator's experience 205) Plantinga argues that basic emotions can be “mobilized into the realm of

morality” (Plantinga, Moving Viewers: American Film and the Spectator's experience 206) and thus can

mean something different to groups of people with different moral beliefs. So, Tris shooting and killing

Will out of self-defence can elicit various emotions for different groups of people. First of all we need

to keep in mind that the film is made in the United States, where most people feel differently about

guns and killing in self-defence than in other parts of the world. People who are not prone to guns

might wonder why Tris did not incapacitate Will in another way than just flat-out shooting to kill; she

certainly had the military training. But in the United States people may feel differently about using

deadly force in a clear case of self-defence. It is even stated in the ‘Stand your ground’-law in Florida

that a person may “Shoot first and ask questions later” (Emert), a phrase said to be drawn from the old

cowboy ways (Stover). So, from an American standpoint killing Will in this instance may be perceived

as the only way she could have possibly saved herself given the situation. And the film encourages the

spectator to feel this way as well; which probably will come easier to American spectators than for

instance Dutch spectators. However, shooting other mind controlled Dauntless soldiers did not pose a

problem to Tris, she and her mom where shooting their way out of the situation without thinking about

it. It is probably also something spectators of Hollywood films have grown used to, since there are

hundreds if not thousands of Hollywood films with gunfighting scenes. The crisis lies in the fact that

she killed her friend.

According to Plantinga “shame and guilt often accompany one another” (Plantinga, Moving

Viewers: American Film and the Spectator's experience 160). He cites Susan Miller to explain the

difference between the two: “wrongdoing experienced as voluntary produces guilt, while wrongdoing

experienced as involuntary produces shame ‘both in relation to the action itself and to the failure of

self-control’” (Plantinga, Moving Viewers: American Film and the Spectator's experience 160). In other

words, you feel guilty if you could have prevented the wrongdoing and you feel ashamed if you could

not have prevented the wrongdoing. As for the latter, one can argue if the act in that case should still

be considered ‘wrongdoing’. In the case of Tris shooting Will however, it is not as clear cut whether this

is a case of shame or guilt, because it is not clear whether shooting Will was voluntary or not. It is the

fact that Will was a friend that makes the act of killing in self-defence problematic. She did not want to

shoot him. She tried not to shoot him. But she did it anyway. Whether she tried hard enough not to kill

him is not the debate that takes centre stage in the second film. It is merely the fact that it was someone

close to her that lost his life because of her that is the issue. Just like her parents losing their life for her

is an issue. Though she did not pull the trigger in the events of her parents dying, she does feel

responsible. She feels it is her fault they died and therefor she feels guilty. As a result, Tris lashes out at



others and lies to those closest to her. In fact, she has not told anyone about what happened to Will,

not even her boyfriend Four. The only person that knows what happened, who was there when it

happened, was her mother who died soon after. Her mother did not judge her. In fact, when Tris froze

because of her act, her mother encouraged her to move on because there was simply no time to really

contemplate what just happened in the dangerous situation they were in. Now that Tris has found

shelter at the Amity faction, there is time to contemplate what happened and Tris is not liking herself

for what she has done.

According to Plantinga, guilt and shame are not direct emotions like for instance fear is. When

a character experiences fear, a spectator can be elicited to feel the same. This is not the case for indirect

emotions like guilt and shame. The spectator generally does not feel shame or guilt themselves when

watching a fictional film. Not even when the main character they feel allegiance for feels shame or

guilt, simply because the spectator is not responsible for the actions of the character. Plantinga says

that spectators instead may feel “compassion for or experience suspense in relation to the guilt or

shame of a character” (Plantinga, Moving Viewers: American Film and the Spectator's experience 162).

Whether this is the case for Tris will be explored further in this chapter. Furthermore shame and guilt

are emotions that have a close relation to the feeling of worthiness, according to Plantinga. “Shame is

rooted in a concern about respectability, both being intrinsically worthy in some sense (for example,

worthy in physical appearance, social grace, religious piety, athletic skill, or intellectual aptitude) and

having the social appearance of such worthiness.” (Plantinga, Moving Viewers: American Film and the

Spectator's experience 160) This is in line with Cavell’s reading on moral perfectionism as, according to

him, the worth of a way of life is the goal of self-questioning. In this chapter I will argue that this sense

of worthiness will also play a central role in the second film, juxtaposing the feelings of shame and guilt.

As mentioned before, Jeanine has her own plan in the film, which has everything to do with

the box that is found at the beginning of the film by her Dauntless minions. The box is found at Tris’

parents old home at Abnegation and is said to hold a message from the founding fathers. Jeanine

expects it to be an explanation of why divergents are a threat to the faction system. But ironically

enough, only a divergent can open the box by completing the aptitude simulations of all five factions.

As it turns out, Tris is ‘the one’ that can open the box, but in order to do so she needs to prove her

worthiness during the simulations. This, however is not without risk. Several divergent test subjects

have tried and failed; meaning they have died during the simulation. In this chapter I will argue that

that guilt and shame function as a blockage for self-transformation and explore how Tris overcomes

her crisis and becomes worthy of opening the box.



Lying is denying: how guilt and shame stand in the way of self-transformation

After Tris wakes up from her nightmare she walks outside onto the veranda. She finds a pair of scissors.

We see a flashback towards the beginning of the first film in which her mother cut her hair. But the

memory is tainted with her mother dying in her arms after getting shot trying to save her. We see Tris’

reflection in the glass window but she is not looking at herself. Instead she takes the scissors and cuts

her hair (Figure 16).

Figure 16: Tris cutting her hair (Schwentke)

Figure 17: Tris shows Four her new haircut (Schwentke)

Upon showing Four what she has done to her hair (Figure 17) she says: “I just wanted to do something

different.” She is apprehensive about whether Four will like her new hairstyle, indicating that it might

not be pretty anymore. This perhaps could signify that Tris does not feel she deserves to have pretty

long hair. She does not feel pretty, she does not like herself and cutting off all her hair might signify

atonement for what she has done. It signifies the moral crisis she is in: questioning herself and weather



she is worthy, which according to moral perfectionists is imperative to becoming the one she is. Four

tries to make her feel better, saying that even though everything else is not fine, the two of them are.

But he does seem worried about Tris. Upon asking her what is going on with her, she says “nothing”

and “it’s fine”. Upon asking whether she still has nightmares Tris lies to him and says no. She does not

look him straight in the eyes as she says this. These are the first lies we encounter in this film and they

are not the last.

As it turns out there was something hidden at Abnegation that Tris’ mother never told her

about. During the exposition of the film it was revealed as being a box that was found by Dauntless

members that work for Jeanine. Marcus tries to tell Tris and Four about what was hidden at Abnegation,

but does not get the chance to get the two to listen to him. One could argue that a hidden truth is a lie

by omission. The truth about this box will become an important factor in this film and will lead towards

Tris finding moral perfectionism. But until then, Tris still has a long way to go. At this point of the film

she is still trying to deny what happened and can therefore not move past it and evolve.

In the mean time Jeanine is spreading lies about how divergents are a threat to society and

that a group of renegade divergents and their sympathisers are responsible for the attack on

Abnegation. It gives Jeanine the means to institute Marshall law and take control over the government.

Now that she has the box and needs a divergent to open it, she actively starts hunting divergents. This

puts Tris and the people around her directly in danger. Dauntless soldiers arrive at Amity to seek out

divergents. Tris, Four and Caleb are betrayed by Peter, but are able to get away anyway. During their

escape they run into Factionless, who at first are not friendly. This leads to the revelation of another

lie. Apparently they know Tobias Eaton (Four), who turns out to be the son of their leader. This is

information Four has not shared with Tris. Again, a lie by omission. It is clear that Tris and Four are not

having the conversations Emersonian moral perfectionism requires. They are not informing each other

about what concerns them. Four apparently is still upset by his mother lying about her death when he

was a young boy and for hiding at factionless for all his life, leaving him home alone with his abusive

father. Four found out she was alive a year earlier, but has not maintained contact because he does not

trust her. Since the spectator has an allegiance with Four and sympathises with him, the spectator

might also feel his mother cannot be trusted. Tris however, is quite taken by Four’s mother Evelyn

because she has the same goal Tris has: overthrowing Erudite and killing Jeanine. Tris, being consumed

by her feelings of guilt and shame, accompanied by her anger with Jeanine, comes across as not being

in control of her emotions. It causes her to be blinded by them. This becomes clear again during

another nightmare she has while at Factionless. In this particular dream it is her boyfriend Four she

finds next to her in bed, dead and covered in blood (like Will), just after Evelyn pointed out what she

truly is: deadly. Of course, it was not Evelyn that told her that because it was a dream and hence it was

Tris’ own thought. This nightmare reveals Tris’ (new) fear: that she gets people that are close to her



killed. Having nightmares also signify the moral crisis she is in.

In the first film fear would shift Tris into a higher gear, it would wake her up and take action.

However, because she is not owning up to what she has done to Will, this fear now holds her back. It

is like she has regressed to the girl that did not make her own choices and lets people tell her what to

do, like the girl she was before she chose to join Dauntless. Only this time it is not Caleb that is making

decisions for her. It is Four. But, because of the way Tris feels right now and because she trusts him, she

does not fight it. Also, Four does it out of love for her, while Caleb just felt he was better than her. It is

Four that decided that they needed to lay low at Amity. It is Four that decides that his mother cannot

be trusted and that they therefore will not collaborate with her. Also, it is Four that keeps Tris in check

when she lets her anger get the better of her. Just like Caleb kept her in check growing up. After arriving

at Candor to meet up with their Dauntless friends, Four makes another important decision. One that

Tris is not happy with. At Candor they are apprehended for being involved in the attack on Abnegation.

Four convinces the leader of Candor to subject them to a truth serum, instead of letting them be

handed over to Erudite and facing an unfair trial. Four however does not know Tris is hiding something.

May the truth set you free: do revelations trigger compassion or suspense?

Figure 18: Christina walking on the other side of the window (Schwentke)

Tris expresses to Four that she does not want to be submitted to the truth serum. As she says so we

see her friend Christina walk beside her on the other side of a window (Figure 18). It signifies what Tris

is most worried about: having to tell her friend the truth about Will. Upon arriving at Candor the first

thing Christina asked Tris was: “Have you heard anything about Will? Tris lies to her and says she has

not. “Nothing?” Christina asks, and again Tris says ‘No.” “Something must have happened to him, he

would have found me by now, you know,” Christina replies. Before Tris can say anything else they are

interrupted. During this time we see Tris having trouble lying to her friend. The words come out easy,

but her facial expression lets us know she is conflicted about lying. Now that she is facing a truth serum



Tris knows that not only will Christina hear what has happened to Will, but Christina will also know Tris

has lied to her face about it. The spectator knows why she has not told anyone about Will and because

they might feel compassion for Tris, they might also accept her dishonesty. But, lying to Christina, who

has been nothing but a loyal friend, might also make Tris less likable in the eyes of the spectator and

might cause the spectator to pass a negative moral judgement on Tris Therefore, the spectator might

also be ‘excited’ about her being submitted to the truth serum. Finally she will be forced to tell the

truth and it triggers a feeling of suspense.

Four is first to be submitted to the truth serum. Seeing Four go through the trial and seeing the

effects of the truth serum creates suspense, not because Four has something shocking to reveal, but

Tris does. “May the truth set you free,” the Candor leader says when Tris is up for her trial. Answering

the first questions comes relatively easy to Tris. She reveals she is divergent, but this is no longer the

big revelation. The Candor leader resumes: “So you never harmed any of your fellow Dauntless or the

Abnegation.” This is where it becomes tricky for Tris. She feels she did harm both. Revealing this makes

her feel unsettled. When the Candor leader asks who, Tris says: “My mom. I watched her die first.”

Figure 19: Tris struggling with the truthserum (Schwentke)

We see a close up of Tris struggling to fight the serum that is coursing through her body (Figure 19).

“And then my dad. They were killed trying to save me.” The truth serum is forcing her to answer the

questions truthfully, but at the same time she does not want to continue answering the question about

whom she has harmed. “Miss Prior, the more you resist, the more painful the serum will be,” the

Candor leader says. We see Tris’ face covered in tears. We see a shot of Christina and Tori looking at

Tris as she is hurting. “My friend… I killed my friend,” Tris reveals. Next we see a shot of Four looking at

her. He looks a bit shocked for not knowing this. “He was trying to shoot me and I…, says Tris seeming

physically in a lot of pain, “I shot him first.” Tris is in agony, but the Candor leader asks: “What was his

name?” Tris says: “I can’t” as she is pinching her arms struggling with the pain and fighting against the



serum. The suspense seems to be coming to a climax. The Candor leader asks again: “What was his

name?” Tris can’t fight anymore and says: “Will... I killed Will.” The pain caused by the truth serum

seems to settle down as she says it. The suspense that is elicited settles down with it. “This is what

happens to people if they get close to me,” Tris says. We see a shot of Four looking at her again. “They

get hurt or they die,” Tris concludes. “I can’t forgive myself,” she says while looking at the Candor leader.

We see the Candor leader again who says: “Thank you for your candor.” The crowd repeats his words

and the trial comes to an end. Tris takes a final look around and walks out crying. Four follows her and

says he is sorry. Tris is angry with him for making her go through that when she did not want to. As it

turns out Four did not judge her when we saw shots of him looking at her during the trial. He was

merely sorry for putting her through that pain. It shows he is completely devoted to her and it is very

likely this makes the spectator love him and trust him. Tris being mad at Four while he is nothing but

kind to her, might cause the spectator to sympathise with Tris less. Christina, who walks by, is

understandably upset with Tris and does not want to talk to her. Tris having lied to her friend does not

help Tris’ sympathy vote either. It is therefore more likely that the feelings of guilt and shame in this

case functioned as a way to create suspense rather than to elicit compassion. The spectator already

knew the secret Tris was carrying and possibly already passed judgement about it, but the suspense

was lying in the revelation towards others, especially to her friend Christina. Telling the truth however

did set Tris free from her worry of people finding out about what happened. It is the first step towards

breaking free of the moral crisis she is in. Her fear that because of her people get killed now has a

chance to propel her into action again, the same way fear formed a catalyst during the first film. A raid

on Candor by Erudite and Dauntless reveals the danger all divergents are in. Jeanine is searching for

that one special divergent that can open the box. A special device shows the percentage of divergence

people have and Tris scores a hundred percent. Those that are not a hundred percent are executed.

Tris therefore feels she needs to step up, so others do not get killed. She does not want to see more

people die because of her. This selfless decision could very well be the thing that ensures the spectator

to be fully allegiant with her again.

The box: the suspense of moral perfectionism

It is time for Tris to open the box. She may be one hundred percent divergent, she is however damaged

by the events that have taken place in her life. As we have seen throughout the film she has trouble

being kind and being truthful, so the Amity and Candor simulations might form a challenge. Her not

being truthful had everything to do with the shame and guilt she felt and the fear of what people might

think of her now and whether she has worthiness. These are quite selfish reasons to hide the truth and

selfishness does not work well with the virtues held high by Abnegation. Feeling guilt and shame also

brought her in a state of being blocked which prevented her from making smart decisions and being



brave enough to fight for what is right. So, overall, it does not bode well for her to be subjected to the

simulations of all five factions. But, she is forced to anyway. This creates a suspense for the audience;

will she be able to open the box or not? Being able to open the box will transcend Tris from being simply

virtuous in one area to being morally pure3; meaning that she is virtuous in all areas. A state a moral

perfectionist might strive for. During the simulations Tris will need to fast track her self-transformation

and apply all that she has learned so far.

Now that people’s lives are on the line, Tris’ Abnegation roots are showing again. Sacrificing

her own life to stop other divergents getting killed is also very brave and so her time at Dauntless is

also paying off. When Tris is faced with Jeanine she is being held at gunpoint by Peter. Peter thinks Tris

is dumb for coming to Erudite and blames it on her being Abnegation. Tris manages to take the gun

from Peter and threatens to kill him. Jeanine does not care, there are more guards. Tris bargains with

Jeanine about the suicides; Jeanine is mind controlling people, among them Tris’ friend Christina, into

taking their own lives in order to lure Tris in. Tris even threatens to kill herself so Jeanine does not have

a test subject. At this moment we see Caleb has joined Erudite again. It takes Tris by surprise and she

loses the gun in the process. The deal she manages to make with Jeanine is that if she succeeds and

passes all five sims, the forced suicides stop. Now, not only her own life is at stake, the lives of

everybody that still have the neurotransmitter lodged in their bodies are at stake as well. This is meant

to add suspense to what is to come. Again, this scene shows bravery and selflessness. It shows her

aptitude for both Abnegation and Dauntless, the faction she was born at and the faction she worked

hardest for belonging to. It is therefore no surprise that she passes these two sims with flying colour.

In fact, it is hardly noticeable she passes the Abnegation sim, which is no surprise because she has had

much experience being Abnegation having grown up there.

During the first sim she needs to save her mother from a burning building, a building that flies

off into the sky and keeps twisting and turning, making it nearly impossible for Tris to get inside to save

her mother. Another sim Tris walks through quite easily is the Candor sim. After saving her mom she

has a heart to heart with her mom. Her mom tells her she needs to be strong and that she believes in

her. “You are brave, braver than anyone,” her mom says. Tris does not feel brave. “I’m not brave mom,

I pretend that I am,” she says, “and I want people to think that I am, but I’m not.” Tris tells her mom

that she is in fact really scared. “Maybe we actually are what is wrong with this world,” Tris confesses

to her mom, stating that she is unhappy about being divergent, unhappy about who she is. “I can’t help

but think that if I was normal… we would all still be together,” Tris says, indicating the guilt she feels for

the family being torn apart and people around her dying. “Mom, I don’t want to be divergent anymore,

3 In the third film, which is not part of this thesis, Tris is reviewed as ‘morally pure’ by the man that is secretly controlling the city from the outside, while he regards all others to be ‘damaged’.



I just wanna feel save again,” Tris concludes. In the next shot we see the box on which the Candor light

flips on. Tris has passed the Candor sim. Again, this sim she passes quite easily, probably because she

has had the practice when she was given the truth serum. It shows that behaviour can be taught and

that becoming divergent is something that can be obtained. This is in line with the theory of moral

perfectionism that you can reach self-transformation by becoming more knowledgeable and cultivate

your role in life. At this stage there is a lot of ruckus in the room the test is being held. There is gunfire

around her and a wall is being blasted through. Four has come to save her. During the escape however

Four says something he could not have known about. It is enough to tell Tris she is still in the sim. The

fact that she is smart enough to know the difference between what is real and what is not qualifies her

for being Erudite enough. It is something she has been able to do throughout all the sims she has been

under from the day she took her aptitude test. Again, she has had the practice.

Tris manages to complete four sims in one day. More than any of the test subjects have ever

completed. It did however take a toll on Tris, her body is crashing. Jeanine decides to resume the next

day. There is now only one sim left: the Amity sim. This one proves to be more troublesome. Just before

she is taken in to the room she finds out Four is arrested and in one of the cells, so Tris is very agitated

at this moment. Like Jeanine says it is Ironic: Tris is now full of hate and she needs to pass an Amity sim.

Jeanine says it to agonize Tris. Apparently we are already watching Tris undergoing the sim. Jeanine

also says it is ironic that it is because of her mother she is in this situation. And also, that it is ironic that

the data her mother tried to protect, is going to be delivered by Tris, her own daughter. And that

therefore, her mother’s death, as well as her boyfriends death, will mean nothing. Since these are

things Jeanine says within the sim, we can assume that it is actually Tris that is saying these things to

herself. Just before Tris went into the sim, she learned from Caleb that the box was actually discovered

in her parents house. This is why this topic comes up during the sim. The things that are said in the sim

anger Tris, because of the guilt she still feels about her parents dying. The fact that they died for what

they believed in made it somewhat okay. Passing the Amity sim will actually mean that they have died

for nothing and that she is to blame. Tris gets so angry she breaks through the glass and attacks Jeanine.

It causes her to fail the sim.

Tris failing the sim could mean several things. The obvious one being that she is not capable of

kindness and forgiveness. This would be understandable given the circumstances. It is also possible Tris

just has not had enough time to learn how to be kind and forgiving, because she has been consumed

with guilt, shame and hatred for so long. Another possibility is that Tris simply does not feel worthy of

being the one to open the box. Or perhaps she felt that if she could not save anyone, including Four,

she just did not deserve to live anyway. But, on the other hand there is also a chance she did not want

her parents to have died in vain and that she has sacrificed herself, like her parents did, in order to

make sure the box would stay closed. However, as it turns out, not all is lost yet. Peter had injected her



with a paralytic just before she entered the room to complete the last sim. So, instead of physically

dying during the sim, she just appeared dead. Peter shows Four her body. Four attacks him, but before

he can strike him he hears Tris gasping for air. Peter and Four then overpower the other guards. Four

wants to go before Erudite finds out she is still alive, but Tris wants to get the box. She says: “It is not

what Jeanine thinks it is, I know it’s not, my mother would have destroyed it. We have to get it.” And

so together they make a plan to retrieve it. Tris however decides she cannot take the box before finding

out what the message inside it is. She wants another try at the Amity sim.

This time the Amity sim does not place Tris opposite of Jeanine, but opposite herself (Figure

20). Tris needs to find a way to forgive herself. The simulation shows the spectator the inner struggle

Tris has been having since the moment she killed Will and lost her parents. But this time, because there

is so much more on the line, she musters up all her strength to find forgiveness for herself (Figure 21).

It shows what she was supposed to do all along, like Johanna said when she was still hiding at Amity,

but was not able to do until now. The reason that she is able to forgive herself now is because now it is

in the interest of the greater good.

Figure 20: Tris facing herself in the simulation (Schwentke)



Figure 21: Tris forgiving herself in the simulation (Schwentke)

Figure 22: Tris being worthy of hearing the message of the founding fathers after unlocking the box (Schwentke)

Conclusion: becoming the one that is worthy

This film was all about Tris coming to grips with what she had done to Will and feeling responsible for

her parents deaths. This time however, she takes a more individualistic approach that resonates with

Cavellian moral perfectionism. Because she feels guilt and shame over what happened, she decides to

lie to Four about what happened and how she feels about it. He therefore cannot fulfil his role as The

Friend in the Emersonian sense. Instead Tris has an inner struggle in which she reflects on herself and

her worthiness. This corresponds with Plantinga’s theory that guilt and shame often go hand in hand

with feelings of worthiness.

The spectator might initially feel compassion for Tris, but her constant lying about it might

cause the spectator to like her less. Especially lying to her best friends Christina’s face might cause the

spectator to pass negative moral judgement on her. It is not until she is forced to reveal the truth that

Tris has a chance to truly move forward in her journey of self-transformation which leads to moral



perfectionism and eventually become the one she is, like Cavell says happens after a period of self-

reflection.

Eventually we see who Tris truly is when she is able to pass all the simulations to open the box.

The one she is takes all that she has learned during her stay at the various factions and transcends the

faction system by excelling in all virtues. Key here is forgiving herself and coming to grips with who she

is as a person. The reason she is finally able to do it, is because she feels the people have a right to

know what the message in the box is. She is convinced it is for the greater good. This is what eventually

makes Tris worthy of opening the box (Figure 22).



Conclusion:

Dare to be divergent

The Divergent Series is one of the many dystopian tales that have made it to the big screen in the past

decade. Reasons for this sudden surge of dystopian tales have been the socio-political climate after

9/11 (Ames), a reaction to a period of optimism like the end of the Obama era (Lepore) and it mirroring

all the bad stuff that has been going on in the world in general (Goodnow). It clearly shows that the

presence of dystopian tales have everything to do with the world around us. It is a reflection of the

world that is meant to elicit critical thinking. Like Basu, Broad and Hintz say, dystopia’s tell us how to

avoid continuing to mess up the world we have, contrary to utopia’s that tell us how to build a better

world. Thinking critically about the world around you resonates with a moral perfectionist view that

prescribes becoming knowledgeable about the world around you in order to reach self-transformation

and cultivate your role in life. Dystopian tales, because of their reflective nature, can therefore have a

special role in this. Especially when it is being depicted through moving images like in cinema, because

according to Sinnerbrink no other artform can depict the world more realistically. Sinnerbrink

therefore sees cinema as a way to experience ethics, which he coins as Cinematic Ethics.

The films central to this thesis are meant for a young audience classified as adolescents, young

adults or teens. It is therefore no surprise that the film has a classic coming of age theme, which

according to Driscoll is always troubled and ridden with a struggle between rebellion and conformity.

This relates to Emerson’s theory of self-reliance because self-reliance is considered to be the aversion

of conformity. To be self-reliant is to show you do not consent to the society you live in and do not

recognize it governing you. Self-reliance can thus be seen as an act of rebellion. According to Cavell this

is something that all people recognize at some point in their lives, but it is most likely to be first

encountered in the period between adolescence and adulthood. Therefore, this theory connects

perfectly to teen film in general. It also connects well with dystopia, because in a dystopia one generally

does not consent to the society in place. However, as is seen in the analysis of the films, self-reliance

can get you into trouble. Pretending to conform can therefore be a good strategy while gaining

knowledge and cultivating the skills needed to survive.

Since conformity and self-reliance have everything to do with the society a person lives in, it is

wise to explore the ethical approaches that are at play in society. As said before one’s utopia is another

person’s dystopia. A utilitarianist would feel like being in a dystopian world when it would be governed

by a universalist, while a moral perfectionist would feel that way if forced to live in a society based on

virtue ethics. This last example being the case for the protagonist of the Divergent Series, Beatrice ‘Tris’

Prior. She lives in a society that is divided into factions that is based on Virtue Ethics. All citizens are



supposed to choose the faction they have an aptitude for. Every sixteen year old gets tested to see

witch faction they have an aptitude for. Tris however is divergent; she has an aptitude for multiple

factions. This causes her to not really fit in anywhere. She pretends to conform by choosing the faction

that she admires the most: Dauntless. It turns out to be the smart thing to do, because here she will

cultivate the physical and mental skills necessary to fight the system. While going through this process

of self-transformation she gets help from Four, who takes on the role of ‘The Friend’, which according

to Emerson is pivotal during a quest to self-reliance. Four acknowledges Tris’ identity on multiple

occasions, which tells Tris she is on the right track.

The first film focusses mostly on the fear of not fitting in, which might resonate well with young

adults that are still finding their place in the world. This is complicated by Jeanine, the leader of Erudite

that makes a play for power over the society, who has extreme views on how society should be ruled.

She wants to uphold the faction system, but sees a danger in human nature because it might lead to

people seeking individual freedom. She therefore wants to eradicate human nature and does so by

using mind-control. Tris is someone who values human nature, who acts according to how she feels.

This is shown for instance when she uses fear as a catalyst for self-transformation or on those occasions

that she stands up for others because it is the right thing to do. With this she rebels against keeping

her head down and pretending to conform. Jeanine, having no regard for human nature, is presented

as Tris’ opposite, which is also the stance the spectator is likely to have towards her.

In this thesis I have based these stances on Plantinga’s stances towards fictional characters.

The oppositional stances the spectator has towards Tris (Allegiance/Projection) and Jeanine

(Opposition) and the ethical approaches they stand for, are likely to invite the spectator to pass moral

judgement on them and the ethical approaches they represent and elicit critical thinking. Jeanine, who

employs mind-control to wipe out everything that makes a person human, will receive a negative moral

judgement from the spectator. Since Jeanine believes the goal justifies the means, thereby deploying

the pitfall of utilitarianism, it is possible the spectator will view this ethical approach as unmoral. Tris

on the other hand, who stands for self-reliance and becoming more knowledgeable, might elicit a

positive moral judgement in the spectator, favouring self-reliance over pretending to conform.

In the second film Tris follows a more individualistic approach to moral perfectionism, which

is depicted in her going through an inner struggle. This manifests itself in having nightmares about

violent events that happened during the first film on her account and is battled out during the

simulation she is under in order to open up a box containing a message from the founders of the

society. By lying to Four about how she is doing and omitting the truth about what she did to Will, he

cannot function in the way ‘The Friend’ should according to Emerson. A Cavellian approach to moral

perfectionism therefore takes centre stage in the analysis. Central to this film are the guilt and shame

Tris feels. It makes her question her worthiness. Not telling the truth causes Tris to come to a standstill



in her quest to self-transformation. It is not until she is forced to tell the truth she is finally able to face

her crisis head on and go through a period of self-questioning, which, according to Cavell, is imperative

to becoming who one is. During the second film Tris spends time at the factions that were not explored

in the first film, ensuring that Tris in total, has spent time and learned skills at all factions. The faction

she has most trouble with conforming to is Amity, because Tris does not like herself. It is not until she

has the courage to face herself and forgive herself that she is able to come to grips with who she is. It

is only then, she becomes worthy of opening the box. In other words, she has excelled in all virtues

and has thereby transcended Virtue Ethics by reaching moral perfectionism.

Though the stances the spectator has had towards Tris during the second film have wavered

somewhat because of her withholding the truth about Will especially towards her best friend, she has

managed to regain a strong stance of allegiance and possibly projection from the spectator in the end.

She has shown that having the courage to face her faults and finding forgiveness in herself is the

favourable thing to do. She has also shown that virtues can be nurtured by gaining knowledge and

cultivating skills. It might sway the spectator to think critically about who they are themselves, whether

they like who they are, what their role in society is and possibly give them the tools to embark on a

journey of self-transformation themselves; daring them to be divergent in real life.



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Appendix 1: Plantinga’s stances toward Fictional Characters

Stance Explanation

Opposition Strong “con” stance extended through large portions of the narrative. Often

taken toward antagonists and villains who directly threaten the protagonist,

and whose actions are judged to be morally evil.

Antipathy “Con” stance that may be weaker in strength and shorter in duration than

opposition. Often rooted in moral factors such as cruelty toward or unfair

treatment of other people or animals. Often taken toward minor characters

as well as central villains or antagonists

Dislike Negative affect directed toward any character for the character’s nonmoral

characteristics, such as style, quirks of behavior, appearance, dissimilarity to

the spectator, etc.

Neutral Interest Interest in, but lack of concern for, ironic amusement at, or mere cool

fascination with, a character

Liking Positive affect directed at a character for any number of reasons, from

similarity to appearance.

Sympathy Concern for a character rooted in the perception that the character is

suffering or has been treated unfairly. Usually accompanied by congruent

emotions. May be weaker and shorter in duration than allegiance.

Allegiance Strong “pro” stance extended through large portions of a narrative. Often

taken toward the protagonist and usually involving sympathies. Tends to be

governed by moral judgment and/or the promise of moral improvement.

Projection The desire to emulate a character, typically incorporating both strong

sympathy and allegiance, but extending to cognitive and affective activities

and responses beyond the viewing experience.

(Plantinga, "I Followed the Rules, and They All Loved You More": Moral Judgement and Attitudes

toward Fictional Charachters in Film)

ecoming Divergent

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