Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The Hunger Games: Movie vs. Book Differences

If you haven't read The Hunger Games and seen the movie, this post will be useless to you and will only serve as a spoiler.  So if you haven't seen the the movie or read the book and would like to...don't read it dummy.
Source: http://www.wikipedia.com
Went to see The Hunger Games this weekend with a coworker and it was pretty true to form if I do to say so myself. Especially in the scenes while they were in the games were on par.  But of course, they missed some pretty big pieces that I'm not sure how they are going to fill in between now and the next movie, and here they are:
  1. Absence of the Avox - the people that have their tongues cut out and are destined to serve the people of the Capital for being viewed as a traitor (for whatever reason).  Many of these characters play larger roles within the next two books and minor roles within the first novel so I'm just wondering how they are going to bring this piece into the next movie.
  2. What, no Hob? - the market where Greasy Sae and the other stand owners had their shops is missing expect for a one minute scene...with no introduction or background on how vital it is to Katniss's survival and how it relates to her hunting!  Boo!
  3. How Katniss gets the mockingjay pin - They weren't even close on this one and missed the train.  In the book Katniss is given the pin by Madge Undersee, the Mayor's daughter.  It was originally her Aunt's, Maysilee Donner, a tribute who was killed in the 50th Hunger Games.  In the movie, she picked it up at the hob to give to her sister.  WAY different and WAY less significance.  
  4. No mockingjay bird background - Kind of important and I'm not sure why the skipped this one.  They never fully explained what the mockinjays were.  Originally jabberjay birds were genetically created to spy on the people of the districts and could recall entire human conversations back to the Capital.  Once people realized this, they sent back wrong information the informants.  The Capital then decided to let the birds die off in the wild...well...the jabberjays mated with mocking birds and created the mockinjay, a bird that repeats back the melodies that you make. 
  5. The beasts at the end weren't muttations of wolves mixed with the tributes - kind of a big deal that to me, showcased how sick the Capital and the game makers could really be.
  6. Peeta doesn't know Katniss was bluffing her love - HONESTLY.  If you only saw the movie you probably thought "how cute are they?" and didn't even understand how big of a background her and Gale have or about how Katniss is (for the most part) bluffing her relationship with him in order to stay alive.
Here are the original reviews that I did of all three books back in 2010 (before The Hunger Games was cool - just sayin'):

2 comments:

  1. Two more to ponder. I thought the relationship between Rue and Katniss was lacking. The comparison between her and Prim is significant, along with Katniss' compassion for her family and her intense hatred of The Capitol. The other was the "three finger protest." the book goes in-depth, but the movie shows district 11 rioting. Without the book, that would have been lost on me.

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  2. Ah - almost forgot the three finger salute! They forgot to explain that the three finger salute shown at various parts of the movie meant admiration, respect and even good bye to those that they respect.

    ALSO they missed the part when District 11 gave Katniss bread when she was starving in the games after how well she treated Rue, not a mere salute.

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