The famous book The Hunger Games is often seen on the Must Read lists, as it should be. Katniss Everdeen was a survivor, a fighter, and a fierce girl who inspires so many of us, even today. But, we all know people who would much rather watch a movie than read a book. Sadly, these people won’t miss out on these books; however, they do end up missing a good part of the book, which makes the book better than these movie adaptations.
Though, as a reader, it’s good to see the wild imaginations of authors come to life on the big screens, sometimes these movies are so disappointing that it makes us want to crawl back into our books, where everything is so much better.
After watching the first movie, The Hunger Games, we couldn’t continue with the next movies because we had read the books. They had missed out on so many points that we couldn’t help but notice those changes that stuck out like a sore thumb. Overall it was good to see our imagination come to life: the arena, the Capitol, and all the “made-up” people, but in terms of characters and plot, the movie didn’t do the books any justice.
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Mockingjay Pin
Starting from the Mockingjay Pin that plays a huge part in the trilogy, in the books, it was way different and more important than it was in the movies. Katniss gets the pin from Madge, the Mayor’s daughter in the book. It surprises her because Katniss thought Madge didn’t like her. Also, the pin was a subtle dig at the Capitol. The Mockingjays, which were the result of a spying program, were used by the general public to fight against the government. However, in the movie, Katniss finds the pin at a sale, and there’s no explanation whatsoever of why the pin could be problematic.
Haymitch & Cinna
The next thing that the movie did differently was Haymitch’s entry. In the book, he was introduced as an alcoholic who couldn’t care about these kids. He is drunk at The Reaping and falls off the stage, but in the movie, the scene is not even included. Following this embarrassing introduction, Haymitch begins to help Katniss and Peeta and advises Katniss to do whatever the stylists say as they are the key to sponsors.
However, in the film, there is no such scene as we simply see Katniss going for the “grooming”. No context that she hates the make-over and grooming, which again was a big part of her personality, was given, which according to us, wasn’t so difficult to add.
In the book, Cinna, the stylist, shouts at Peeta and Katniss that they hold hands in the opening event, but in the movie, it is shown as Peeta’s idea. This irked us a lot because from the start, they were setting up Peeta as the love interest and a guy who was ‘all about Katniss. In reality, he had so much more going on for him apart from Katniss. Also, Cinna was the one who had blind faith in Katniss, and he did everything he could to keep her alive, but the absence of this scene didn’t work out for us.
Following their entry, Haymitch orders Katniss and Peeta to stay close to each other during the training session and tells them not to show off any special skills they might have. In the movie, there’s no such scene as they are thrown directly into training. It is an important part of the book because they both were training together. So when Peeta suddenly asks to train alone, it surprises Katniss. In the movie, their leaving this small detail impacted the way Peeta’s request was a huge deal for Katniss.
Katniss and Peeta
In the book, Katniss misses her chance to grab water because she gets distracted and struggles for a full day without water. But in the movie, there’s a whole pond for her to use easily.
A huge part of the whole movie was the relationship between Peeta and Katniss. Peeta was portrayed as the naïve love interest that had no clue that Katniss was faking it the whole time. And there were no solid scenes that clarified Katniss was actually faking it.
Even in the end, when Peeta learns that she was just pretending, he doesn’t seem much bothered or heartbroken. Unlike the movies, the books were more clear about where Katniss stood in her relationship with Peeta. The books also focused on her trust issues which weren’t visible in the movies.
Lastly, before Katniss and Peeta eat wild berries, in the end, there are a few things that happen in the book. When game makers announce that only one tribute will survive, she thinks Peeta will kill her, so she draws an arrow across her bow, which shines a light on her trust issues.
There are many things that have been changed in the movie that only a reader might notice. We did notice, and we did not like the changes at all. Nevertheless, it was an okay-ish experience for us, watching these characters on screens.
Also Read: How to Watch The Hunger Games in Order?
