The Hunger Games movie: I have thoughts

I saw The Hunger Games this weekend and I have thoughts! I wasn't planning on writing them down but then I left this long comment on Laura's post about the movie so I thought maybe I should write my own. But instead of a coherent post I'll just bullet point out things I loved.

*Spoilers so you should probably have already seen the movie. Or at least read the book*
Jennifer Lawrence made me like Katniss. As you may remember, I wasn't exactly enamored with Katniss from the book. Maybe because the book is from her point of view and it's a bad idea to spend that much time in the mind of a sixteen year old. But I thought book Katniss was whiny and oblivious and I wanted to smack her several times. JL Katniss was never whiny. She was brave and strong but still terrified, which is the exact reaction you should have in such a situation.

I loved District 11's reaction after Rue's death. Yes, I missed District 11 sending Katniss the bread after she covers Rue's body with flowers. However, I liked the riot a lot more. This wouldn't have worked in the book because the book was from Katniss's point of view and she couldn't see anyone's reactions. But seeing the people of District 11 riot after Rue's death shows you just how dangerous to the Capital Katniss's actions were.

On the topic of Rue's death, all the stuff about the race and how because Rue is black in the movie (and book people) that her death was less painful. Those people can go fuck themselves because seriously, that was so much more heart-wrenching in the movie. Maybe because you don't have to see this innocent little girl when you're reading. And Collins doesn't really describe her in detail until she and Katniss join up. But in the movie it's brought home exactly how young she is. And how sweet and childish she looks in her dress during the interviews. In the book I thought Rue's death was manipulative, just a chance for Katniss to feel a death and for the reader to feel the loss of a character that doesn't mean too much. But in the movie, just seeing this little girl, brings to the forefront the brutality of the games.

Cato's lines right before he dies. I like the Careers. They're made to be these enemies and in the arena they are a force but they lose their lives while they train for these games. Not only if they lose the game but they lose their entire childhood training to be killers. The movie gives a moment of insight into the Career Cato. He's bloodied and he's holding Peeta in a choke hold while Katniss aims her bow at him. He tells her if she shoots him, he'll just take Peeta down with him into the pack of wolf things below them. He says he'll have no problem killing Peeta. He can do it again, it's what he was trained to do. It's all he knows. And you can hear the shame in his voice when he's saying this. How he knows what he is, how he hates what he does but it's what he does. In those moments you get the feeling that he hates the games as much as everyone else in the Districts.

In the book we see the story from Katniss's point of view and hear her thoughts. We don't have that with the movie so they have the TV announcers fill in the holes. Not only does this mean more Stanley Tucci (yay!) but it also means you get to see how the Game is portrayed as entertainment. It really brings to light how callous the Games are. I've seen sports announcers display more pain at a missed free throw than these announcers display when announcing the death of a tribute. While reading the book you can forget that this is all entertainment but the movie doesn't let you forget.

Yes, [the Gamemakers] have to have a victor

I just finished The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. First Lord of the Flies, then this. Who knew books that dealt with children killing children would be a theme for my reading this month.

Firstly, yes, I liked it. Yes, I will be reading the other books in the trilogy even though I heard they're not as good. Yes, yes, you were right internet. I was drawn in, I didn't want to put it down, I was annoyed at my commute for not being longer, which is stupid because no I don't want that. See that's what this book did. 

So here's the thing, I know there have been a thousand and one reviews of this book. And I'm sure the majority of those are better than what I would write. Instead I want to focus on where I felt cheated. Now I want to it be clear that these problems come after the fact that I still really liked the book. Also in order for me to talk about my issues, I need to bring up plot points so this will contain spoilers. If you haven't read it yet, go read it (it will take you a couple days, it's a quick read) then come back here and say "Why, yes! I completely agree! What was going on with that?" or "What are you talking about? You have no idea what you're saying". Whatever floats your boat.

Spoilers

My first problem is the love story that they sorta shoehorned in there. I know, people have said it makes more sense in the other books, but it doesn't make a lot of sense in this one. It feels like it was shoved in there last minute and it's hard to have a love triangle when one of the triangle points is only in the book for about 7 pages. The fashion stuff with Cinna also seemed sort of shoved in there. It bothered me less than the beginning of this love triangle, but there still seemed to be more time than made sense dedicated to describing clothes.

Those are small things compared to my major complaint. I felt cheated. We have a story that centers on this messed up government holding a fight to the death among a bunch of children. These are kids that didn't ask for this (I'll get to the Career Tributes in a minute) and are thrown into a literal kill-or-be-killed situation where one's survival is directly related to another's death. And all of this is for the entertainment of the people watching. This has the opportunity for serious moral dilemmas. Not only does it have the opportunity, it sort of requires it. But Katniss hardly killed anyone.

Now I don't mean this as a "I thirst for blood!" kind of way. I mean Katniss is thrown into a arena where her goal is to be the last one surviving and even in this situation she is hardly forced to kill. And the kills she does complete are simple. She never has to deal a difficult death. She (somewhat) indirectly causes the death of a couple unnamed tributes when she drops the tracker jacker nest on them. She shoots another unnamed tribute who had just killed her ally and friend and was about to kill her. She mercy kills Cato after he'd been mauled by the weird muttations*. But she is never in the position where she has to kill someone she cares about, like Rue or Peeta. Hell, she never even has to kill someone she admires, like Thresh or Foxface. Never. What the hell? Again, it's not that I wanted her to have to kill someone she cared for, but that is sort of the whole point of the Games and by having Katniss never have to face this it means we, the reader, never actually face up to what these Games mean. Collins may say it over and over, and have Katniss think about how awful it would be to have to kill Rue or Peeta but she never shows it. You never get the emotional impact from it. What if she had to kill Rue? How would she have dealt with that in the aftermath? Yes, it would have made the book very depressing. But you know what? If you don't want to write a depressing book, don't write a book that centers on a fight to the death among children. It was a cop out and robbed the story of what it could have been.

I also want to talk about the Career Tributes. I didn't have a problem with them and I get why they're portrayed the way they are, since you're seeing things from Katniss's point of view. But when I was thinking of this and about how the kids that are thrown into the Games against their will, there is obviously the argument that the Career Tributes do want to be there. They are blood-thirsty, deranged killers, and they are disgusting. Besides that, these are people from the wealthier districts, that never felt the hunger and pain that someone like Katniss has felt. You're supposed to dislike these kids. They band together to attack the weaker tributes, they hurt Peeta, they kill Rue, etc. But thinking of them as the enemies, almost as bad as the Capitol, is wrong. Every District has to send 2 kids to the games. The names are picked out of a hat but someone can volunteer to take a tribute's place. These Career Tributes train their whole lives for the Games. They volunteer to take the place of other people that are picked. Which means they are saving the lives of other people in their District. The families in these districts know who will be going to the Games. Their kids aren't in danger. The Careers will go. Fine, they're more ruthless than the others. And they're volunteering for something that no one should want to do. But it's not like the Districts can just not send someone, so these kids are sacrificing not only their lives (since the odds are good they won't make it) but also their childhoods, which they are going to spend training to kill other people. I hope the Career Tributes get a little credit in the other books because they have their own heartbreaking stories.

So what do you think? Did you like the love story? Am I wrong about the cheat? Would it have ruined the story if Katniss had to kill someone she cared about? Would that have made it unfit for a YA audience? What about the Career Tributes? 

Spoilers in there

*I cannot say muttations without laughing, which kind of messes up how scary these things are supposed to be.

Title quote from page 344

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Scholastic, 2008.