As it says in the title, here be spoilers for The Hunger Games, movie and book. If you have not seen it or read it and plan on doing so and don’t want to know what it’s about? Go away now.
SPOILERS
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That should be enough space for anyone with an extract blog stream reader.
So, I read The Hunger Games about 3 years ago, before the release of Mockingjay in 2010 but after the release of Catching Fire. So I got to read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire right in a row and then wait, I think, about a year for Mockingjay. I enjoyed the whole series from beginning to end as it shocked me and made me laugh and cry and think.
And when I heard of the movie, I cringed. How on earth were they going to make it a movie? Reading about children killing children is one thing. Watching it on a screen? ::shudder::
And then it came out. And everyone I knew who watched it, and had read the book, thought it was amazing. So I gave it ago.
And they were right. It was amazing. Incredibly faithful to the book, the violence handled well (if you can say that about violence involving children), an entire universe created in 2 hours and 22 minutes.
There are some major differences, of course. The first being that, I think, Katniss is not given the Mockingjay pin until the second book and I know it is given to her by the daughter of District 11’s Mayor.
The next being that, again I think, District 12 is mentioned in the first book, at least in passing. No mention of it in the movie at all.
The whole subplot of the people being caught outside a district and Kat meeting up with the girl, whose tongue has been cut out, in the Capitol, as one of her servants was removed.
And, most interestingly to me, the roles of her ‘handlers’, other than Cinna, are completely non-existent except that they are there and have a few throw away lines. In the book, possibly books (really should re-read them!), it is through the handlers that we learn how citizens of the Capitol view the games; as just that, a game. No feeling for the deaths of the ‘tributes’ other than, perhaps, the sort of ‘ah dammit’ we might feel if our favourite Apprentice gets fired. Except the ‘tributes’, of course, die.
In the movie this attitude is shown, a bit more subtly, I think, through the actions of the people running the games. We see the control centre for the arena, including a great moment when the dogs that end The Game are created. The woman who creates them is so happy that The Game maker, Seneca Crane, is pleased with her creation and gives her a, literal, pat on the back for a job well done as they send these dogs into the arena to help kill the remaining contestants and end The Game. It doesn’t occur to this woman that she’s just killed children. All she cares about is she’s done her job well.
The ‘tributes’ aren’t really people to the citizens of the capitol. They did something, over 74 years ago, and still they must be punished for it. And any act of rebellion is quickly removed, as seen when District 10 riots after Rue’s death. The ‘peacekeepers’ are sent in, people are killed, rebellion over.
There are, of course, holes in the story. Where is the rest of the world? Is it completely destroyed or is all communication shut off so they don’t know that what is left of The Americas regularly sends it’s children to fight to the death? Or are they doing the same here in Europe? That’s the hole the bugs me the most, I must say.
But, of course, what makes The Hunger Games so very scary is how prophetic it is. Oh, we don’t have The Hunger Games. But the haves (Capitol Citizens, their 1%) are killing the have nots (the Districts Citizens, the 99%), or at least oppressing them, all over the world here in 2012.
The Tories are cutting benefit after benefit to the poor and the disabled and doing nothing to fix the problem using their own money. And on one is stopping them. Lord knows the Opposition government isn’t doing much.
The Republicans are waging a war on women, on children, on the 99% and the only thing holding them back is President Obama and sometimes it seems to be a losing battle.
So is it such a leap of imagination that if, god forbid, there is nuclear war or natural disaster that wipes out most of the world, the next step is The Arena?
May The Odds Be In Your Favour indeed.
I think that the Mayor’s daughter (Marsha? Mary? Marcie?) gave the Mockingjay pin to Katniss just after she volunteered. They were each allowed one token from their district to take with them into the arena.
I can see why that was skipped though, it can be taken out quite cleanly without any problems.