The Hunger Games

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Have you read the books? Plan to see the movie?

I just read all three books last week, and my 11-year-old daughter has read the first two.

I think we'll go to the movie this weekend.

I searched for whether it was being discussed here and found a thread by Boomer that was specifically about maps of Panem, she suggested I start a new one about all things Hunger Games.

Note -- there will be spoilers! If you haven't read all three books you might want to look away.

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@sozobe,

Lots of things to talk about (the books themselves, the casting of the movie, whether we think the movie will be good, and later whether the movie IS good), but one thing that I've been thinking about came from a discussion sozlet had and relayed to me.

They were talking about Effie Trinket. Several people thought that she was a product of her upbringing -- she wasn't evil exactly, and even shows some compassion at points, but she's thoroughly a product of the Capitol.

The question was asked -- when do we become Effie Trinket?

There are people living in District-12-level poverty all over the place.

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@sozobe,

i actually listened to the audio books as they were released, i'd have to go back and brush up to have any in depth discussion

i did enjoy the books, though i'm male and well outside the demographic

i'm not a movie going guy, i'll wait for the DVD, but i hope the franchise is a success and the three books all get films

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@djjd62,

I hope so too...

Starting to find reviews, this from Peter Travers is promising:

Quote:

Relax, you legions of Hunger Gamers. We have a winner. Hollywood didn't screw up the film version of Suzanne Collins' young-adult bestseller about a survival-of-the-fittest reality show that sends home all its teen contestants, save the victor, in body bags. The screen Hunger Games radiates a hot, jumpy energy that's irresistible. It has epic spectacle, yearning romance, suspense that won't quit and a shining star in Jennifer Lawrence, who gives us a female warrior worth cheering.

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/the-hunger-games-20120321#ixzz1pm0rEbGS

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@sozobe,

I wanted to ask you if maybe the movie is too violent for pre-teens. Like your daughter, my daughter has read the first two books and wants me to take her to the movie.

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@sozobe,

sozobe wrote:

The question was asked -- when do we become Effie Trinket?

Good question. I also read the books as a trilogy (that is, all at once) and it's been a while. I do remember thinking, at one point, that a whole generation had passed between the first 'game' and the game in which Katniss was forced to participate. Something like 70+ years?

And, like dj, I'll definitely wait for the DVD.

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@Irishk,

The first book is the 74th Hunger Games.

Wandel, it's PG-13, and sounds like it keeps the intrinsic tragedy (kids killing other kids) while not being too gory.

I read one account that something like 7 seconds had to be removed from the version shown in England to get a lower rating (our PG-13 equivalent), and that was about blood on a knife. So if that's the worst of it, I think it will be OK.

Sozlet has a vivid imagination so once I made the decision to let her read the books (which I only did recently), the movies kind of followed IMO. She doesn't seem to be struck significantly more by movies than by books. That's probably individual though.

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@wandeljw,

I'm a bit worried about the violence. I was worried about it in the book -- that's why Mo and I read it together. It's pretty brutal and I wanted to be able to temper it.

I understand that most of the violence takes place off screen, showing the reactions of the people who witness it. But I'm worried that you won't get Katniss' inner monologue like you do in the book -- where she explains her thinking and actions. In the book she's kind of a jerk, I'm worried she'll be too heroic in the movie. Those things would make the amount of violence much less tolerable.

Mo and I spent much, much more time discussing why she's doing what she's doing that what she is actually doing.

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@sozobe,

Quote:

The question was asked -- when do we become Effie Trinket?

You mean a bureaucrat who chirps about how we should look on the bright side and does deplorable things in order to keep her job?

I don't think you have to look very far to come up with examples. I thought of Effie when I heard Santorum suggest women look on the bright side when birthing their rape babies.

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@boomerang,

Right, I've had similar thoughts.

From reviews so far, Jennifer Laurence has real acting chops and manages to convey a lot of that without the explicit interior monologue.

But I'm going to keep an eye on reviews as they come in. I haven't promised sozlet that we're going.

It's brutal for sure. I read the first book before I'd let sozlet read it, and talked to her about it a lot (in general, no plot points) and then left it up to her. She read it as I read the third book. The third book is a whole 'nother level and I still haven't decided if I'm going to let her read it yet. Probably.

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@boomerang,

Oh for sure. But I mean actual us, you, me.

I'm living in a nice house and have enough to eat. I'm saving up money for a vacation this summer. Should I be giving that money to an organization that will help starving kids in the Congo? Why or why not?

At what point do I become Effie?

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@sozobe,

I read one review by someone who had not read the books and they were asking why in the world any decent parent would allow their kid to see this movie. They had some good points. I'll see if I can find it.....

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Here:

Quote:

I feel I need to say this out front about The Hunger Games, since I'd never read the young adult book and wasn't quite sure what I was in for: This movie has a lot of on-screen child murders. Now, maybe on the page, this was less jarring, with the whole inherent textual not-having-to-look-in-the-cold-dead-eyes-of-a-slain-child advantage. But on the massive screen, I gotta say, it takes a lot out of a viewer to see a 13-year-old girl impaled by a trident. Maybe I'm too sensitive? Maybe child murder is all the rage these days? (Apparently, since all this child murdering only earns a PG-13 rating.) It is one thing to read about a competition in the Not Too Distant Future in which young adults have to kill each other to survive. It is another altogether to watch the life slowly drain out of a cute kid's face. The Hunger Games wants to be a mass entertainment that ties in everything from romance to female empowerment to vague warnings about totalitarianism to reality-show satire to a dissertation on the ceiling for Stanley Tucci Wig Dadaism. But I can't get past those dead kids. Either this movie needs to be a lot darker than it is, or I'm getting a lot older than I had realized. Maybe these are not mutually exclusive.

More: http://deadspin.com/5894729/watch-teens-get-snuffed-in-a-sick-dystopia-where-people-like-watching-teens-get-snuffed-the-hunger-games-reviewed

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@boomerang,

Cool, I'm interested.

This one takes a pro-movie view, but she hasn't actually seen the movie yet. (I don't think the movie is much worse than the books... but again, still waiting on more info there.)

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/03/hunger-games-and-counterinsurgency.html

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@boomerang,

Interesting. I kind of get it, and kind of think that the review means that the movie hasn't done a good job of getting across the important parts of the book.

The murders are deeply horrible and the basis of a complete societal upheaval, within the arc of all the books. They're not "blithe" at all.

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@sozobe,

Quote:

Oh for sure. But I mean actual us, you, me.

It could be that the simple act of going to see the movie makes us Effie Trinket since we're going to be entertained by the "Hunger Games" which are showing us the Hunger Games....

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@boomerang,

I don't think so... I certainly wouldn't be watching it if the kids were actually dying.

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My daughter told me the details of the first 2 books. I told her that the author is probably describing a possible future and that we should be aware and not let games like that develop in our society.

I didn't actually read the books. Is that a fair guess at the author's intent?

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@sozobe,

I guess I will stay away. My 13 year old wants to read the books now. We have it on reserve at the library. She wants to read prior to seeing the movie. I did talk to her about the book - she isn't one that likes scary movies/books but she is intrigued by the storyline. I figure I'd let her read the book and decide for herself whether she is ready to see such a movie.

At her age this is exactly the type of book and movie I would love. She, on the other hand, really gets scared at things although this is slightly changing. I won't read further though as I need to read the book first.

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Jennifer Laurence was on GMA this morning. There were tons of screaming little girls (she was autographing their 'Team Katniss' posters lol). It was cute.

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The Hunger Games

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