INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVANCED RESEARCH IN ARTS & SCIENCE

Transcription

1 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVANCED RESEARCH IN ARTS & SCIENCE Vol.4 Issue 1 COMPARATIVE STUDY OF HUNGER GAMES: NOVEL VERSUS MOVIE Mrs. Sujatha Suresh Assistant Professor, Department of English, Shift I Alpha Arts and Science College Chennai Abstract It is commonly seen when a book is turned into a movie, to have significant changes and alterations. Some add up to the overall thrill movie-makers want to create for their audience, some fail to depict the writer s thoughts when writing the book. The novel Hunger Games is among those books that have been incarnated in the movie theaters all over the globe. However, Suzanne Collis, writer of The Hunger Games, would most certainly question several parts of her trilogy s adaptation, as the movie has some inevitable alterations that differ from the original writing. Some parts of the book have been erased, while some characters have also been removed. What saves the movie from completely deviating from the original is that Collins herself has been the co-writer of the screenplay; therefore the core story is successfully depicted in the movie, regardless of the differences that are found on screen, when compared to the book. The purpose of this paper is to define the differences among the two and evaluate whether the original message that the writer wanted to pass on to her audience is faded. Hunger Games is about a young teenager, Katniss that is a tough hunter and brings food to the table, after her father s death. She lives in District 12 in a city called Panem. 175

2 COMPARATIVE STUDY OF HUNGER GAMES: NOVEL VERSUS MOVIE Introduction The novel Hunger Games is among those books that have been incarnated in the movie theaters all over the globe The Hunger Games is a movie that has arrived in theaters in recent days. Starring Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, the movie is an adaptation of the first in a trilogy of books written by Suzanne Collins. In adapting the book into a motion picture, it was inevitable to make changes that would be made: characters would be removed, dialogue would be edited out and certain scenes would be deleted. Fortunately, Collins who has publicly praised the film wrote the screenplay alongside director Gary Ross and writer Billy Ray (State of Play). With that in mind, The Hunger Games film captures much of the main story but there are still numerous differences between the book and the movie, and we ve come up with a list of 10 big differences between the two. If we re missing any major differences, please let us know in the comments section, and as always, may the odds be ever in your favor. In the book, Gale Hawthorne is Katniss Everdeen s best friend in District 12, the coal mining district on the outskirts of the country. The two hunt together and divide up the game that they catch. Although there s no overt romance in the relationship, Katniss continually evaluates her feelings for him. But when she is sent to compete in the games where she faces off against 23 intense competitors Gale is left behind. While Katniss thinks about him during the games, the story never shows him after the games begin. In the film, however, the first-person narrative is changed to a third-person narrative so viewers will see what Gale (Liam Hemsworth) is doing as his friend competes in the games. We watch as he desperately longs for Katniss and notices that she s developing an onscreen relationship with fellow tribute, Peeta Mellark. As the story progresses, many youngsters inevitably die in the Hunger Games. In the book, some of these deaths are prolonged, showing the perseverance some of these characters have in their final moments. For instance, in an early scene, Katniss makes camp near a young woman who starts a campfire. After the young woman is discovered, she is 176

3 attacked and nearly killed by some of her fellow tributes. But when they discover that she s alive after the attack, Peeta is sent to finish the job. In the conclusion of the book, Cato facing off against a group of mutant mutts survives for several hours before Katniss puts him out of his misery. In the movie, however, these deaths are done quickly. It s possible that the deaths are abbreviated in order for the film to earn its PG-13 rating. But regardless, the film finds the bonfire girl dying quickly after she s attacked and Cato only suffering a few moments before Katniss ends his life. Before she is sent to the Capitol to fight in the games, Katniss is visited by several of her loved ones. Gale, her mother and her younger sister come say good-bye to her. But, surprisingly, Peeta s father comes to visit as well and offers Katniss cookies. Although the local baker doesn t know Katniss well, he has always been kind to both her and her younger sibling, and this visit helps establish the connection between Peeta s family and Katniss. Later on in a spout of possible paranoia Katniss throws away the cookies. The film doesn t include these scenes at all. Most readers might not care about this exclusion but it stood out to me because these short sequences show a connection between Peeta s family and Katniss. Although the two don t know each other well, Peeta s father supported both Katniss and her younger sister by buying fresh meat and food from them. Plus, Peeta s parents have spoken to Peeta about Katniss as Peeta notes in the story even though Peeta and Katniss were never close. Rue is the youngest person in the hunger games. As a tribute from District 11, she is forced to compete with older teenagers that are much stronger than her. During the training sessions, she developes an appreciation for Katniss and the two form an unlikely alliance in the games themselves. Katniss is particularly interested in protecting Rue because the young competitor reminds her of her younger sister. When Katniss sister Primrose was chosen to compete, Katniss stood up to take her place, but no one volunteered to take Rue s place so Katniss feels a certain solidarity with her. In the movie, the connection between Rue and Katniss sister is largely glossed over. The two still form an alliance, of course, but Katniss empathy for her is never fully discussed in the film. Because the book is told in first-person and the movie is a third-person narrative, readers didn t get to meet some of the characters featured 177

4 more prominently in the movie. For instance, the game maker who plays a very limited role in the book gets a lot of screen time. Wes Bentley (American Beauty) plays Seneca Crane as an overconfident genius who takes pleasure in setting up the games themselves. His game, however, falls apart in both the book and the movie, leading to a conclusion that has two tributes emerging from the battlefield, not one. Very little is made of this in the (first) book, but in the film, the game maker faces a great punishment for his failures. It isn t until the sequel book, Catching Fire, that the fate of the game maker is revealed but in the movie, he is left in a room with only poison berries to eat. In the same way that he set death traps for others to fall into, he himself is sent into his own trap and forced to die for his failures. In what was presumably an effort to keep the film within the PG-13 rating range, a lot of The Hunger Games horror (gruesome deaths, etc) either occurs off-screen or in a whirlwind of blurry camera work. However, one of the biggest differences between film and book is the finale which featured mutated versions of deceased tributes reborn as monstrous and blood-thirsty dog-like animals. In the book, Katniss recognizes that the Capitol has spliced parts of the former tributes into mutant beasts; however, in the film version, the dogs are presented as nothing more than oversized (and vicious) wild beasts chosen by Seneca Crane to galvanize the remaining contestants into a final altercation. No mention is made of where the creatures come from, or what exactly they are, leaving non-fans out of the loop in regards to one of the most horrific aspects of The Hunger Games. This gene-splicing mutant makeover also becomes important in the sequel books, so it ll be interesting to see how the sequel films handle it In the book, we read as Katniss fights her way through the Hunger Games. We watch as she volunteers for the games themselves and as she prepares for them, with the help of Haymitch and her stylist Cinna (Lenny Kravitz). Once she is in the games, however, the focus is on her survival. But in the movie, many of the backstage machinations are revealed. Viewers watch as the producers of the game invent ways to keep the tributes close to each other. In this regard, 178

5 President Snow (Donald Sutherland) plays a much bigger role in the film, where he appears in several scenes discussing the games with Seneca. The film shows in some detail how much work is involved backstage in getting the games to play out in an entertaining and engaging fashion. If there is a villian in the actual games, it is Cato. The cocky muscular tribute is an unrelenting killer willing to snap the neck of an ally if a plan falls apart. Towards the end of the film, the stage is set for a showdown between him and the Katniss/Peeta alliance. As the numbers in the game narrow, a District 11 tribute named Thresh saves Katniss life when he realizes how much she did to protect Rue throughout the games. After he saves Katniss, though, Thresh is ultimately murdered. In the book, the assumption is that Cato has killed him. But in the movie, the suggestion is that Thresh has died at the hands of a group of dogs that the game makers have called into battle to help kill some of the remaining tributes. This difference which may seem small is actually quite important because Cato s murder of Thresh in the book helped set the stage for a more intense final showdown between the surviving tributes. One of the most important differences between the book and the movie is the absence of a minor character, who has an important backstory with Katniss. My friend Kate Hicks, in discussing the film with me, actually had to point out this subtle but important difference. In the book, as Katniss is preparing for the games, she meets several individuals from the Capitol who serve her meals and drinks. One of those girls is an Avox (a mutilated servant) that Katniss remembers from earlier. Katniss remembers the girl as someone who was trying to escape from the Capitol, but who was subsequently captured by the government. Labeled a traitor, her tongue was eventually removed. In the book, we learn the back story of this girl and how Katniss regrets not trying to save her when she had the chance. But in the movie, this relationship is never fully realized and Katniss connection to this girl is never revealed. Hands down, the biggest change between the book and the movie is the reaction to Rue s death. In the book, Katniss only know that she receives a token of District 11 s appreciation for her 179

6 kindness in the form of a gift dropped into the arena. In the movie, the complete reaction of District 11 is brought into greater focus. After watching their young tribute die at the hands of a vicious killer, the people of District 11 begin to revolt against the Capitol officers who watch over them. They fight against the government that has taken one of their own and sent her into a battlefield to die for their viewing pleasure. In the books (and the movies) this fight against the Capitol is explored in greater depth during the sequels, where Rue becomes something of an iconic figure. Of course, there are many other differences between The Hunger Games book and the film. Although it didn t make my top 10 list, another difference between the film and the book concerns the mockingjay pin that Katniss wears throughout the games. In the book, a minor character from District 12 (the mayor s daughter) gives Katniss the pin, but in the movie, Katniss acquires it through different means. This may be significant going forward, but this minor change didn t seem important in and of itself. However as the list shows, there are some major changes between the book and the film. Many readers will likely be pleased by this adaptation because it follows the story rather closely, but others might be disappointed that the filmmakers made these and other changes to a story that they have so much affection for. It is commonly seen when a book is turned into a movie, to have significant changes and alterations. Some add up to the overall thrill movie-makers want to create for their audience, some fail to depict the writer s thoughts when writing the book. The novel Hunger Games is among those books that have been incarnated in the movie theaters all over the globe. However, Suzanne Collis, writer of The Hunger Games, would most certainly question several parts of her trilogy s adaptation, as the movie has some inevitable alterations that differ from the original writing. Some parts of the book have been erased, while some characters have also been removed. What saves the movie from completely deviating from the original is that Collins herself has been the co-writer of the screenplay; therefore the core story is successfully depicted in the movie, regardless of the differences that are found on screen, when compared to the book. The purpose of this paper is to define the differences among the two and evaluate whether the 180

7 original message that the writer wanted to pass on to her audience is faded. Hunger Games is about a young teenager, Katniss that is a tough hunter and brings food to the table, after her father s death. She lives in District 12 in a city called Panem. Every year the Capitol of the city hosts an event called Hunger Games, where 2 civilians, called tributes, of opposite sexes are selected from each district to fight to the death in an arena. When Katniss sister was selected, Katniss offers herself to replace her sister in the arena. As a quick summary, I would say one of the discrepancies between the movie and the book are the way they treat the relationship of Katniss and Rue, Katniss protégé in the game, and then the death of Rue, including the reaction of Rue s district to her death. A second major discrepancy is the fact that in the book the Mocking Jay pin is given to Katniss by the mayor s daughter and in the film it is given to her by an unknown old woman. In the movie there is also a third person account of what is occurring outside of the games, including the game-maker and what he is doing and what is going on with Gale back in the district. This does not occur in the book. The last major discrepancy is the mutts that are used by the game-maker toward the end of the games. They are toned down quite a bit in the movie and look mostly like vicious dogs. In the book they have the eyes of the dead Tributes and are quite twisted. In the end, the film does distort the novel to some degree, but in many ways complements it as well. Going over the discrepancies of the movie versus the book more thoroughly, one can tell from the start that the reaction towards Rue s death is clearly changed. In particular, in the book Katniss is the sole person aware of the dropped into the arena token that she was given by District 11 as a sign of appreciation for her noble acts, while in the movie there is a far greater fuss going on over the reaction of the District 11. In fact, Rue becomes more of an iconic figure throughout the sequels of the movie, with the latest been released on November 22, Such is evident after Rue dies from a villain killer and people of District 11 start to form a revolution, opposing to Capitol patrol officers. Of course, this fight between the District 11 and the government is shown in a greater extend in the movie, probably for viewing pleasure. Another major difference is that there is no Avox girl, as one can read in the book. Although one might say that it is a minor character that could as well be omitted from the movie, the Avox girl has an important back story with Katniss. While reading the novel, at the time when Katniss is 181

8 getting ready for the Games, there are some Capitol people that she meets with and serve drinks and food to her. One of the Capitol servants is an Avox girl that has a distinctive place in Katniss memories. That particular Avox servant is remembered by Katniss as a girl that was desperately trying to escape from the Capitol, but was eventually under arrest by the government and had her tongue removed after being charged with treachery. Katniss appears with feelings of remorse for not having attempted to save that Avox girl, which is a back-story never portrayed at full on screen. Another diversified illustration of a death forms the next difference and involves Thresh. In the book, Thresh is implied to have been murdered by Cato, who is the wicked person that everybody accepts as a vicious cold-hearted man that has no problem breaking his ally s neck if he needs to. On the other hand, Thresh is assumed to have been killed by some dogs that have been released in the arena, in order to kill some tributes that still remain alive. That difference has affected the remaining tributes final showdown intensity. In the novel, Katniss volunteers and prepares herself for the Hunger Games, with Haymitch and Cinna helping her. Once entering the games, her only focus is on making them through. However, this is not the case when watching the movie, as there are a lot of backstage information passed on to the audience. For that reason President Snow and Seneca appear with largely bigger roles in the film. People also see how the producers of the Games try to manipulate the tributes to keep them closer to one another and what a tremendous amount of effort is needed to get the Hunger Games going and make them appealing to the world of entertainment. Deriving from the pre-mentioned fact that some minor characters in the book have a more extended role on screen, the Game Maker gets his own big time in the movie, while he is barely showcased in the book. His games, however, bear the same confounded outcome in both the written and visual world and although the book does not give much extend to the fate of the Game Maker until the Catching Fire sequel, in the movie the Maker is faced with a one-way option: to kill himself by eating poisonous berries. Just like he had set death traps for other people to fall into, he had in fact fallen onto his own trap, and death was the only choice he could make, facing the consequences of his own wrongdoings. 182

9 Katniss best friend is Gale (Hawthorne), based on the story as given in the book. The both spend much time together, hunting and having fun and Katniss appears on a constant evaluation of the feelings she nurtures for Gale. However, when she enters the Games, Gale seems like a forgotten character that lives in Katniss mind. I the movie, though, Gale is shown to have active role even after the Games begin, as he is shown to closely monitor Katniss movements in the Games and her developed relationship with another tribute. Rue s relationship with Katniss is also demonstrated on a dubious way. In the book they share a strong empathy and appreciation for each other and form a kind of an alliance in the Hunger Games. Rue becomes Katniss protégée, because the former reminds the latter s younger sister. That particular solidarity stays unrevealed on screen. Last, but not least, Katniss gets several people she cherished and loved visiting her before she sets off to the Games fights. Some of them are Gale alongside her sister and mother and Peeta s father, who comes with his hands full. In particular, he offers Katniss cookies that are later on thrown away by Katniss. Those scenes are excluded from the film and the connection between Katniss and Peeta s family is suppressed. Of course, many will claim that all those changes were inevitable. However, in the altar of enhanced and multiple viewing, which in turns means additional income, movie-makers loose essential aspects of the writer s viewpoint. Fortunately, in Hunger Games, this is kept in low levels and deviations are not that serious, unlike other book-to-movie makings Works Citied Book vs. Film: The Hunger Games LitReactor The Hunger Games (film series) - Wikipedia what are the differences between The Hunger Games movie and the.. 183