Published in the fall of 2008, The Hunger Games, the first book in the trilogy by Suzanne Collins, had millions hooked to its intriguing plot and characters. On March 23rd, 2012,the film adaptation of the bestseller was released in North American theaters and made a record of $155 million in the film’s opening weekend. While many are pleased with the movie, there are also some disappointed fans who feel the movie neglected to include some of the plot details of the book. There are also some concerns for the future movies that will be released.
The trilogy is set in a post-apocalyptic future in the nation of Panem, where children from each of the 12 districts must offer up one male and one female between the ages of 12-18 to fight to the death in an annual televised event. Due to the premise of the series, the first movie barely got away with its PG-13 rating. The next two books in the series become even more violent, andparents are worried about how that will be portrayed on the big screen. However, the producers did not want to lose their core audience of 12-18 year olds. To do this, the filmmakers applied cinematic techniques such as shaking the camera during violent sequences so that the movie could just fit into the category of PG-13 for “intense violent thematic material and disturbing images.” There is a lot of controversy about the rating of this first movie, let alone future movies to come. Some argue that if you take the violence and brutality out of the movies, you get a watered-down version that has taken the heart out of the story. Others disagree and say that even though the story is full of violence, it is just too violent for a PG-13 film adaptation. It is one thing to read about it on paper in a novel, and it is another to actually see all of the cruelty play out on the big screen.
For example, in the third book entitled Mockingjay, various children, some of whom were previously wounded, are killed because of heart-wrenching deception involving toys. To add to that violence, Katniss Everdeen, the heroine of the novels, is caught up in this disaster and becomes graphically affected. Additionally, a commander of a group gets his legs blown off by a triggered bomb, saying his last words while typing frantically on his futuristic iPad.
The Hunger Games franchise has also gotten recent comparisons to other famous books, making people wonder if this series will become the next Harry Potter or Twilight. While these comparisons are very exciting and flattering, the two stories have very different plots and characters. There is a possible parallel is the sense of a love triangle, but The Hunger Games is not focused on that as much. In addition, there are supernatural beings like werewolves and vampires in the Twilight series. The Hunger Games is more about real people who are put into dire consequences; Katniss, for example, goes into the Hunger Games with a need to survive and with a strong love for her family.
Zoe Stoller ’14 shared her opinion on the comparisons. “The Hunger Games trilogy was 100 times better than theTwilight saga,” she praised. “The characters were more interesting, there were more subplots, and the story itself was more original, so for those reasons it should not be compared to Twilight. However, I feel that Jennifer Lawrence’s acting in The Hunger Games movie can be compared to Kristen Stewart’s acting in the Twilight movies because, at points, they both lacked enough emotion for the situation they were in. For example, when Katniss volunteers to take her sister’s place at the reaping for the 74th Hunger Games, at first she seems very distraught, but then, all of a sudden, she is completely lacking emotion. I understand that Katniss is trying to look strong, but it should have taken her at least a couple more seconds to compose herself.”
In making this movie, director Gary Ross had to think for a considerable amount of time about what elements of the story could be omitted without compromising the integrity and true nature of the story. Besides missing some well known quotes, there are a few main problems that seem to be perturbing the fans of the book series. Jamie Russo ’15 shared an opinion about Katniss’s prep team, who beautify her in preparation for her public events and interviews. Jamie said, “I liked the movie and the book. I feel that Katniss’s prep team should have been more involved in the movie, because you barely see them in the movie. In the book, Katniss forms a relationship with the three stylists throughout the books, and they come back in the rest of the series, so they should have been portrayed more as they were in the book.”
In the book and movie, before Katniss enters the arena of the Games, mentor Haymitch Abernathy tells her that she must find water. In the movie, water was not her main concern as she found it quickly. However, in the book, Katniss nearly died of dehydration. Another concern that arouse was the elimination of the character Madge Undersee, daughter of the mayor of District 12. In giving her opinion about Madge, Jacqueline Laret ’15 said, “Originally given to Katniss by Madge, a childhood friend from District 12, the mockinjay pin holds incredible meaning. Not only is it a sign of kindness, but it becomes Katniss’ symbol throughout the trilogy. Without Madge to give Katniss the pin, some of the importance and symbolism is lost, along with a significant character.”
Making a book into a movie is always a difficult task. In my opinion, the actors played their parts excellently. There were also interesting effects that made the movie more compelling as well as some necessary flashbacks that were nicely incorporated. It was also interesting to see different characters and different perspectives in the movie. In the books, everything is told through the perspective of Katniss. The movie had more liberty in the sense that the audience was able to see more thoughts of different characters. Problems aside, I think that The Hunger Games movie was a great adaptation of the book that included many important plot points and well-portrayed characters.