The best line to quote from the movie or book, The Hunger Games.
So, way back when this book first came out I had no clue it existed. It wasn't until after the second book, and the announcement of this first move that it was even on my radar. The only reason it was on my radar then was a friend of mine made me read the book.
Now, I read the book because my friend made me. I basically read the book just to get through the book and said I read it. That is how I read the whole series.
There were one or two things that really stuck out with me. However, the rest never retained in my mind. I went to the midnight premiere, you know when those used to be a big deal, and saw the film. I even dressed up. For whatever reason the movie didn't stay with me either. It kind came and went and I was over it. I bought the blue ray when it came out but I don't remember it after that really.
However, I am older, wiser, and I actually wanted to read the book this time around and I missed out on so much the first time.
I was really dreading reading this book because I was thinking "what if I read it just to get through it again"? Thankfully, when I started it was interested and did feel a need to rush through it. There was a lot more background set up than I remember but after watching the movie, and seeing how much was missed, I realized why it was so important. That set up does a wonderful job of setting up relationships, how Katniss sees them, with the people in her life. The love for her sister and father, the coolness to her mom after her father died, the stress of being the one to take care of the family after her father died. Her friendship with Gale, her love of hunting, and how she sees what District 12 is like. It sets up how Panem came to be.
It is all of this set up that shows the depth of her choice to take her sister's place in the Hunger Games. It is also the depth that the movie doesn't fully provide. They do their best, and there is depth here that the rest of the film comes off of, but when you read the book you feel like the people who haven't are really missing something. The fact that we don't get a running dialog from Katniss's head we miss out on so much.
The theme of togetherness was hardly played in the movie at all. When Haymitch, Katness, and Peeta are on the train and going to the capitol they start prove to Haymitch they are fighters and starts to help them come up with strategies. In order to do that he has to know if they want to train with him together or separate and they choose together. From that point on he tells them that they need to be a united from and a team. They need to work together and come into the games as a team. They wear the same outfits in the the opening ceremonies, they hold hands as well (not in a romantic way mind you), they train together at every station in the prep room for the games. They work together to develop skills, and that is something Katniss sees from the beginning. That ever other district how two tributes but they are not a team. They want to beat the other more than anything where Katniss and Peeta want to survive. That is why Katniss finds out that Peeta wants to train alone hurts so much because she was trusting him a little and she thinks that he just ditched her.
Peeta and her's relationship is really something to is so complicated in the book and it being played on screen lacked everything really. In the book there is this constant back and forth from Katniss of trying to act like she falls for her, trying to be "madly in love" and he is doing most of the heavy lifting cause we know that he is in love with her. She doesn't feel that way for him. Peeta does all of the work to make her desirable. Once Haymitch and Peeta know she can't act to literally save her life, Peeta does everything he can to make it real and desirable. In the film none of it is shown as it should have been. Like in the book during the interviews before the games all of the Tributes go out and are called up to do the interview and everyone sees everyone else facial reactions. They all share a stage. So, when Peeta comes out and says he is in love with Katniss she is shocked but also has to play it cool cause she is on camera. However, in the movie they didn't share a stage and she looses it after they are safe away from the public eye.
It's these complications that we don't know the depth of that a lot of small things were left out of the movie. Like when we find out Peeta is working with an alliance to find her and comes out of the tree and smirks like that was the plan all along. In the book she does this and thinks something to the effect of "let the Capitol figure out what that smile means". These loss of inner thoughts also loose to a few facts of "slower" days in the arena. Like she she finds out that Peeta has been severely injured. Or her thoughts on Rue and how much she cares for her. How much of a threat Cato is. Like that fact that he is hunting her down. How much the bow and arrow means to her cause she is "no longer prey". How Foxface got her nickname, cause Peeta says it once in the whole movie but Katniss had been thinking it through the whole book. There is a lot of those character development that are missed for that.
Then there are a some big plot points that not mention but I remember play roles later on! Peeta was really injure the hunger games and lost a leg! He was never the injured in the movie and never went to surgery. Actually, neither of them were hospitalized after the games. They came out, got dressed and went to the stage. Katniss was supposed to have totally lost her hearing in the left ear. While, she went momentarily deaf in both ears in the movie, she got her hearing back. From what I remember the second book that was a big deal! She was going to use that excuse a scapegoat to finding the edge of the arena I think (It's been a while since I have read the books remember). Also, in the end of the book it's reveled to Peeta that this was all act for her. He really is in love with her and she is not. He thought something really changed in the that time together and she realizes she might have the potential one day to love him (which is way more than what she thought she would ever have) but at this moment doesn't. Where in the movie you are not sure if he was ever really in love with her. It's like both of them are an act.
Then in the movie there is the thing that we see what is happening outside of the games at some points. Like when Haymitch tells the person in charge of the games to not outright kill Katniss but make the capitol believe in young love. He is the reason for the rule change during the games. However, in the book we don't know why that happens. Then when Katniss buries Rue in flowers and give the symbol to District 11 they riot. Where in the book we are not sure if they riot or not but they band together and send her bread. She took it knowing how much of a sacrifice that was for them. Also, seeing Gale during the cave scene while she was kissing Peeta gave the idea that was going to be a thing later when in the beginning of the movie there was nothing romantic at all. It was weird seeing what was going on while the games were happening. I know that it there to help set up things in the next movie but in the book we were oblivious to all of this. We were living int he moment with Katniss the whole time.
There are a few things that I like better in the movie than in the film. I love Haymitch! Ok, he was better written in the book but I love seeing Woody Harrelson really is all it is. When I was reading the book I remember who played him and that I all I could see in my head. The other thing that I like more in the movie was Peeta.
Peeta in both the book and movie come from homes that are not as happy as you would think. They both share the same skill set. They both do a really good job of winning the crowd over to like him and Katniss. However, in the book sets up to the plate when he needs to but is really not "take charge" other than when he is in front of the camera. After he is injured and brought back to health he is kinda throwing a pity party the whole time. She complains and wants to go back to the cave, he is easily pushed around. He got on my last nerve sometimes. In the movie. He know when to take charge and when to step back. He doens't throw a pity party ever chance he gets. He has one right after he is chosen to be Tribute and tells about what his mom saying about Katniss winning the hunger games. After that he is determined to find out everything he can to survive. He isn't easily offended and he doesn't seem to be living in la la love land so often. In fact we don't even know at the end of the movie is he loves her or if that was his plan all along.
The very first time I read the book and watched this movie I thought it was the best adaptation I have ever seen. Now, doing both again I see I was completely wrong. The lack of depth of Katniss's thoughts really left me wanting more. I am sure this is something that people who have never read the book would miss but I did. I think I will reread the other two books and watch the movie but I will have to do that later next year cause there will be no way I can before the end of the year. It will be interesting to rediscover all of these books and movies again.
