The 2008 novel The Hunger
Games by Suzanne Collins became a 2012 movie hit. Both novel and film
are set in the world of Panem where Districts that were once at war with the
Capitol city were forced into submission. As a reminder of the war, we are
told, the Districts are forced to participate in a yearly lottery called a
Reaping which selects a young boy and girl from each District to participate in
the Hunger Games, a battle of survival in which only one of the 24 will emerge
alive. This basic plot line is in both book an film; however, if I’d only
watched the movie, I’d be left with questions begging for answers.
First of all, I’d want to know what’s their hunger? For what do the people in the movie hunger? And secondly, why do the Districts send their young to fight to the death each year? What coerces them?
Because I read the book, I know that most of the Districts, except for the privileged Districts 1 and 2, are supposed to be starving but several characters don’t even seem to be hungry. Peeta Mellark is understandably heftier and healthier looking than other characters in both the book and the movie because his family owns a bakery. However, both Katniss Everdeen and Gale Hawthorne look just as hefty and healthy, a look that doesn’t fit people who are supposed to be deprived of food by the Capitol.
As confusing as this was to see, it was more disturbing to have some important characters missing. For instance, except for a photograph briefly shown on a mantel, we know nothing about Katniss’ father who taught her the skills she had to survive in District 12 as well as in the games and from whom she learned the song she later sings during the games. We never meet Madge Oversee, the mayor’s daughter, who gave Katniss the mockingjay pin that was clearly important to her even in the movie; however, in the movie we never know why nor is it clear why Cinna, Katniss’ “stylist,” had to sneakily get it to her. The book tells us that each contestant was allowed a token so why the secret? We also never know Peeta’s father and therefore do not know of the connection between the Mellark family and the Everdeens. There is only a brief hint in the movie of how Peeta defied his mother and fed Katniss when she was hungry, earning a beating for his defiance.
While these missing or changed characters contributed to small changes in the plot, the omissions from book to movie are bigger plot failures. One of the film’s failures is to never mention District 13 and its fate. Only in the book do we clearly know about the war between the Capitol and 13 Districts. Only in the book do we learn how District 13 was destroyed for leading the rebellion and the other 12 Districts’ punishment is to compete in the Hunger Games every year.
In the movie only 12 Districts are featured as they compete in the games. We fail to see the distinctions among the Districts in the movie while the novel explains how each Districts specializes in manufacturing or producing one product. Although those who read the book could understand the symbols that each District wore in the parade of competitors and why the Districts closer to the capitol were better trained, those who only saw the movie could not understand the symbolism of the fire on Peeta’s and Katniss’s costumes as representatives from the coal produing District 12; or the overalls worn by Rue and Thresh from the farming District 11; or the superior strength of Cato and Clove of District 2 which specializes in masonry; or the superior equipment of Glimmer and Marvel from District 1 which produces the luxury items the Capitol desired.
One of the movie’s biggest failures was to never reveal the prize for the “winner” of the games. There were many opportunities to bring it up when Hamish Abernathy, the former District 12 winner, appears or when the games are explained at the Reaping and when contestants appear on a talk show. Only in the book do we understand why Districts bother to send their young people to compete and the self-interest in why each District roots for its representatives.
It is difficult to include all
the details in a book when making a movie, but some of the changes and
omissions from The Hunger Games the novel to The
Hunger Games the movie change the point of it all. The novel is about
the hunger we see in the starving bodies of the outer Districts compared with
the healthier bodies of the inner Districts. It is about how those Districts
struggle to survive day to day and why they are desperately willing to risk the
lives of their youth to feed an entire District well for a year and reward the
winner with food and luxury items for life.
The movie is more about the games.
This is probably why we don’t see some of the scenes that explain the
characters. Instead they rush the story to get to the “action” and the
spectacle of young people trying to kill each other for reasons that the movie
never explain. It pains me to see promoters act the role of the oppressors --
President Snow and the Capitol -- by asking young people to choose between Team
Peeta and Team Gale.
The movie gave us awesome actors
and some fantastic visuals but it left me hungering for more.
