Josh and I went to see The Hunger Games on Friday. I had read the book, but he hadn't so he saw it with fresh eyes. I might have already formed an opinion by the time I went to the theater.
There were some things I liked about the movie. I liked the previews. I liked the music. I liked that Stanley Tucci was in it. I loved the reinterpretation of the Louis XVI look! That was great and entirely appropriate!
That was the good stuff, but man oh man there was so much bad stuff! I didn't like Katniss in the book, honestly. I know she was the heroine and all, but I just could not bring myself to care about her fate. I disliked her even more in the movie and even Peeta, who was okay in the book, was just unlikable in the movie. I felt like some of the points were super belabored and other stuff was totally left out. Josh and I talked a lot about the background stuff that he didn't know that made the movie not as seamless as it should have been. I didn't like that the book didn't create a world and an environment. It just plopped the reader down. The movie did help alleviate that a bit.
I think the big thing about the book and the movie is just how eerie it is. I took a psych class that required us to listen to the Milgram experiments and this whole thing reminded me of those. When the (stupid) girl who started that fire on the first night in the arena was screaming, it reminded me so much of the audio of that experiment. It disturbs me how close we as a society are to something like this happening. This is Survivor just kicked up a couple notches. With the economy the way it is, people are getting and will continue to get increasingly desperate. That combined with the corrupt government that we have and the increasing disparity between the classes could easily lead to a situation similar to this book/movie.
What did everyone else think? It seems like there are two sides, people either love it or hate it. I don't know if I'll read the other two, but I hate not to finish a series.
i really felt like they should have picked someone else to play peeta. he was handsomer in my head. i agree that they shoulda left out less, but you get that in any book to movie. they just can't add every detail. i liked the movie overall. i liked the perspective of the gamemakers that you didn't get in the book. bryant thinks that collins should go back and write a prequel about the first rebellion. and you should go ahead and finish the series! they're such quick reads, it's worth it.
ReplyDeleteand as for our society being close to this, isn't it great that we have security in Christ?! if they stuck me in the arena, i'd just run out to the cornucopia and let them kill me so i could go onto heaven! haha.