Movie

The Divergent Series: Allegiant

Name: The Divergent Series: Allegiant
Released: 2016

2016 • Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Woke Score

out of 10

Plot

After the earth-shattering revelations of INSURGENT, Tris must escape with Four and go beyond the wall enclosing Chicago. For the first time ever, they will leave the only city and family they have ever known. Once outside, old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless with the revelation of shocking new truths. Tris and Four must quickly decide who they can trust as a ruthless battle ignites beyond the walls of Chicago which threatens all of humanity. In order to survive, Tris will be forced to make impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice and love.

Overall Series Review

The film continues the narrative of challenging entrenched societal structures, but shifts the critique from faction-based identity to a sinister government agency called the Bureau of Genetic Welfare. The journey outside the walls reveals that the entire Chicago society was a controlled experiment to fix 'genetic damage,' making the previous world a lie. The narrative's core conflict is a battle over eugenics, where the heroine fights against an attempt to reset the minds of the population, thereby erasing their identity and free will. The story is driven by a powerful female lead who consistently demonstrates superior courage and intelligence over the male protagonist, who himself struggles with an identity crisis and a corrupt family legacy. While the film explicitly rejects oppressive categorization and a technocratic elite, it replaces a corrupt civilization with a new, equally corrupt one, continuing the theme of universal distrust of centralized power and institutions. The primary villain is a morally ambiguous technocrat who attempts to play God.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics4/10

The plot focuses on a social and genetic hierarchy of 'Genetically Pure' versus 'Genetically Damaged,' replacing traditional social categories with eugenics. The true enemy, the Bureau, seeks to maintain this genetic hierarchy, which is a form of intrinsic, immutable characteristic-based oppression. The villain's ideology is based purely on a hierarchy of bloodline. However, the protagonist's core message is a rejection of all such categorization, advocating for merit and individuality over a fixed state of being, keeping the score moderate.

Oikophobia7/10

The central premise of the film is that the home civilization, the walled city of Chicago and its faction system, was fundamentally corrupt, oppressive, and founded on a lie. The ancestors and founders of the city are completely deconstructed as flawed experimenters, and the current government within the walls is led by an iron-fisted female tyrant. The narrative explicitly states the 'home' is a cage and the system a failed experiment of Western-style scientific arrogance, which necessitates its overthrow by the young generation.

Feminism6/10

Tris is the ultimate central figure of heroism and morality, continually outsmarting the male characters, including her love interest Four. She is depicted as the 'Genetically Pure' hero destined to save everyone, while Four is struggling with his 'Genetically Damaged' status and family corruption. Tris leads the mission, makes the critical decisions, and performs the ultimate act of sacrifice, positioning her as a classic 'Girl Boss' figure in relation to the main male lead who often plays a reactive or supportive role.

LGBTQ+3/10

The core relationship of the movie is a traditional, although non-marital, male-female pairing. The overarching scientific tyranny of the Bureau is noted to prioritize 'procreation' for its genetic experiment, which frames normative family formation as a controlled necessity rather than a celebrated unit. This critique of a forced, reproductive-focused structure is present, but overt sexual ideology is absent, which keeps the rating low.

Anti-Theism5/10

The protagonist questions if her parents' faith, and their entire belief system about right and wrong, was merely a tool fabricated by the scientists of the Bureau to maintain control over the experimental city. This frames traditional religion and morality as a manufactured component of systemic oppression. However, the film maintains a strong, objective moral structure based on selflessness and sacrifice, providing a transcendent moral law even in the absence of an explicit deity.