ohrohin asked: so I finally decided to read the original 'hunger games' book and man, peeta is a real jerk in the beginning of the book compared to the movie! Also, they didn't do the Katniss-Gale frielationship any justice in the movie either. DISCUSS.
Oh my beloved Hunger Games (genuflection). Peeta is perfection at all times. I shall not hear otherwise. And I wouldn’t say he is a jerk. He is a young man trying to mask the truth of his feelings which manifests as jerkiness. That said, Peeta, forever, always.
I love the movie for reasons that are not rational but when I consider the movie with the cool distance of a critic, there are indeed many places where the movie falls short. Hunger Games seems like it would be an easy movie to film but given the ratings system, attention spans of the target audience, and the like, it is a Herculean task to try and translate what goes on in the books into something cinematic.
The movies focused primarily on the Games and Peeta and Katniss without getting into any of the intense back story between them or the depth of her friendship with Gale save for that brief hunting scene at the beginning of the movie.
We get far too little of the complex relationship Katniss has with her mother. The father is barely mentioned.
There’s also the lack of grittiness in the movie. Everything is a bit muted while in the book, the suffering is palpable.
My biggest concern as I’ve watched the movie (more times than I will admit), is how emotionally hollow the movie is. As I read all three books, I experienced ALL THE EMOTIONS ALL THE TIME. It was a fucking Greek tragedy with me. In the movie, I was happy to be watching because I am such a superfan but until the pivotal scene with Rue nothing had moved me in any remarkable way. Alas.
The one thing we can all agree on though is that Katniss’s leather jacket at the beginning of the movie is superb.
