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Notes -
I write some genre fiction under a female pen name. One thing my partner constantly has to point out is that I focus entirely too much on events that are happening, rather than how the characters in the story feel about those events. There are a handful of things related to voice and psychology that also come up, but that's the big one.
Hunger games comes to mind as an example where the female lead spends most of her time quietly reflecting about what is going on without doing much. A somewhat common criticism of the first film was that the actor seemed emotionless. Issue being that this is actually somewhat accurate to the source material, where she simply sits and thinks a lot.
I honestly felt cheated by the movie [and have the impression the book was similar] simply because Dankness Evermeme (or whatever her name is) was mostly just getting lucky with conditions suitable for environmental kills (with maybe an excusable reflex shooting to make that one guy rue the day he dared set foot in the arena). If there was manipulation to place those convenient weapons right in her way, it wasn't clearly stated.
It is supposed to be a commentary on reality shows. The TV hosts will do whatever they can to create an interesting narrative. The reader is supposed to assume that everything that happens in the game is a result of manipulation by the hosts. Being good at surviving in the wild helps you, but the most important factor that lets you get home in one piece is being liked by the audience. In the books it is made pretty clear that she spends a ton of time metagaming and trying to appeal to the viewers.
Katniss is being kept alive by the producers because they wanted a tragic love story. They manipulate the environment to place her in dangerous situations where her skills give her an edge. The movie leans more into the action though, so I understand why that might be disappointing when you realize she basically cheats.
Honestly the part I felt cheated by had more to do with the "oh, so we're just going to make the protagonist basically blameless" thing than anything else.
It would have been more interesting had the killer bees been delivered as a gift more than the
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