In my first blog post about The Hunger Games’ film adaptation, we talked mainly about the film’s aesthetic aspects. Casting? Check. Set design? Check. Make-up, costumes, and hair? Check. Now it’s time for the most difficult part of bringing the novel to the big screen; the translation.
The bread scene is probably the most important Everlark event in the entire trilogy. It was the first real connection Katniss had with Peeta, it perfectly established Peeta’s character, and it was an arc event—that is to say, a part of the story that becomes more significant, symbolic, or meaningful each time it is mentioned again, or even repeated. It could have been expanded, and it could have been clearer. It showed Peeta’s side of the story well enough, but our narrator’s perspective wasn’t too clear. Oh, the irony. And weren’t Katniss and Peeta supposed to be, you know, younger? But I have to say, I’m at least glad that they didn’t take it out, contrary to rumors that floated around during production.
I’m glad they included a scene depicting the death of Mr. Everdeen. It’s also a nice touch to have made it a horrible nightmare in place of the Disney Acid Sequence hallucinations in the book. Due to the first-person POV of the novel, Suzanne Collins didn’t have much liberty with that, but thank you to Gary Ross for getting that one across. I wish they didn’t mess with the audio effects and made the dialogue clearer, though.
Rue didn’t have enough screen time or development. Sadly. The affection Katniss had for Rue was, as we all know, more than just an instinct to protect the young and innocent. Rue was her primary reminder of Prim in the arena, so besides needing a connection with Katniss, Rue needed the audience’s sympathy. They should have explained her background a bit more and given her more communication with Katniss. Since we’re talking about District 11’s tribute here, let me say that it’s clever how they set up Catching Fire in the scene following Rue’s death though. Some people might probably be thinking “Eleven? The first to rebel? No way!” But it’s actually good. District 11 is terribly easy to oppress, so the impact it could have on the flow wouldn’t be adverse. It’s okay. They were hurt, let them rage a bit.
Up next, the cave scene. I have heard complaints about the cave scene being too short, not having enough kisses, and all other sorts of things. I for one like the fact that they lessened the kisses. When Katniss described in the novel how she kept kissing Peeta, it started feeling a little “meh”. Less is more, so they say, and they had to keep the kiss the way it would have a greater impact. The rarer something is, the more valuable it gets. Catch my drift here?
The length of the cave scene didn’t bother me too much. At this point in the novel, Katniss strategizes a lot, so it’s really difficult to hand the screen time to her at this point. We can only cut back to Haymitch’s notes and Katniss’ moments of epiphany so many times. I felt that, for a book being turned into a film, those changes were not unnecessary. What they could have done, however, was make the scene feel cozier by recreating the dark and rainy atmosphere in the book. Perhaps they could have made more night shots than day shots, too.
The FINALE (because I like how Katniss called it so) could have cultivated more terror. The mutts were not as terrifying as they were in the book, but I blame the tributes’ screen time for this one. Since we didn’t spend much time with the tributes in the film, there wouldn’t be much impact if the mutts were kept the way they were supposed to be. I have mixed feelings about the fight with Cato. I liked Peeta’s intervention when Cato overpowered Katniss, but without Peeta’s injury, it didn’t feel suspenseful enough to me. Cato’s death? More screen time, please.
Finally, the aftermath of the Games. I wish Everlark had more “behind the scenes” interaction. Although it was clear to any THG fan and any savvy reader or moviegoer from the beginning that Peeta’s feelings were genuine, the ending made it seem as though he was acting alongside Katniss. In case I didn’t make sense, here’s my point: In the book, it’s clear that Peeta didn’t care about the cameras being there, he was just happy under the impression that Katniss was in love with him too. In the movie, it’s as if Peeta knew all along that Katniss wasn’t honest about her feelings, and that he was merely taking advantage of their projected angle. But I’ll be damned if that smile during their final interviews didn’t kill me! It was so sincere that I truly felt sorry for Peeta!
All in all, I am happy with the film adaptation of The Hunger Games. It was a fun, complementary experience for fans of the book. It brought out a different kind of magic that the book had, but which couldn’t be brought out by any other medium than the silver screen. Adapting a book to a movie is never a perfect process. Some were a bit disappointed by the outcome, but as far as page-to-screen adaptations go, it was well-crafted. I loved and enjoyed it. It left in enough events from the book to tell a cohesive story, but left out enough to not suck while inviting the moviegoers to actually read the book. Here’s to another more-than-a-year-long wait!