The Hunger Game: A Book and Movie Comparison
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Not SyncedIn my last video I took a look at Suzanne Collins' dynamic young protagonist Katniss Everdeen and
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Not Synceddeconstructed her character in relationship to gender, violence and feminism
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Not Syncedover the course of the first novel in the Hunger Games trilogy.
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Not SyncedIf you haven’t seen it yet, go ahead and check it out.
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Not SyncedThe Hunger Games movie adaptation directed by Gary Ross
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Not Syncedand starring Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, was released in March 2012.
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Not SyncedThe film broke records at the box office proving yet again, that women can lead successful blockbuster films.
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Not SyncedTake note Hollywood.
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Not SyncedI had two big concerns going into the movie.
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Not SyncedFirst, that the violence would be glamorized,
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Not Syncedespecially considering the medium of cinema tends to sensationalize explicit violence and gore.
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Not SyncedI was pleasantly surprised that the filmmakers strategically chose to limit the depictions of violence
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Not Syncedand largely avoided celebrating the bloodshed.
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Not SyncedMy second concern was that Katniss’ character would be sexualized on screen,
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Not Syncedthankfully the filmmakers very intentionally chose not to sexualize her at all,
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Not Syncedeven in a scene when she’s taking a bath.
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Not SyncedThis is a truly remarkable accomplishment given
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Not SyncedHollywood system that insists on sexualizing practically all their female leads on and off screen.
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Not SyncedObviously, whenever a novel is turned into a movie there
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Not Syncedwill be notable differences because of time constraints and other factors.
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Not SyncedLet’s take a look at just a few of those differences.
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Not SyncedIf you haven’t read the book or seen the movie yet (spoilers) fair warning.
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Not SyncedWhile reading the book we are inhabiting Katniss’ mind, via first person narrative.
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Not Syncedfollowing her inner dialogue so we know her fears, desires, and needs,
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Not Syncedin a much more intimate way then the film can deliver.
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Not SyncedThis isn’t necessarily a flaw in the movie but I did feel like the horror of the Hunger Games themselves,
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Not Syncedand the debilitating fear and anxiety that the tributes would feel didn’t come across quite as well.
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Not SyncedHowever, on screen we are given some hints and clues into the complex feelings of Katniss
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Not Syncedvia Jennifer Lawrence’s incredible acting
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Not Syncedand because the camera was allowed to linger long enough for her non verbal expressions to come through.
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Not SyncedA lesser actor wouldn’t have been able to pull this off.
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Not SyncedAlthough I did really enjoy the movie there are a few major shortcomings worth mentioning in the film adaptation.
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Not SyncedWhile I was impressed with the overall look and feel of the wealthy Capitol city,
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Not Syncedit was disturbing that the art directors chose to have effeminate and apparently queer men
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Not Syncedexist only as part of the decadent, superficial and rather sociopathic ruling class society.
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Not SyncedThe decision to portray genderbending as somehow exclusively
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Not Syncedthe product of uber high fashion elitism is deeply problematic.
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Not SyncedIn the first novel, it is made clear that Katniss (and presumably the other tributes) are
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Not Syncedhyper aware that their every move and action is being watched and scrutinized by the arena audience,
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Not Syncedmuch like the reality TV shows of today.
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Not SyncedSo in addition to trying to survive, the tributes are performing and acting
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Not Syncedas a way to gain sympathy and gifts from sponsors.
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Not SyncedStrangely, this performative layer to the story is not emphasized or prioritized in the movie,
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Not Syncedat least while they are inside the arena.
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Not SyncedSo for instance, in the book it’s made clear that Katniss is faking her affection for Peeta
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Not Syncedin order to solicit medical supplies while, in the movie
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Not Syncedits more ambiguous and we are lead to believe that she may be genuine in her feelings for him.
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Not SyncedLater, what’s interesting about the novel is that Katniss has difficulty separating the performative aspects
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Not Syncedof her relationship with Peeta for any genuine affections they might feel for one another,
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Not Syncedunderneath all the pretense.
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Not SyncedSecondly, when I watched this film in a packed theater on opening night,
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Not SyncedI experienced this horrible moment of cognitive dissonance in the scene where Thresh brutally murders Clove,
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Not Syncedthe young, female tribute from district 2.
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Not SyncedHere is the problem,
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Not Syncedwe as the audience in the real world are watching a story in which, a fictional capitol audience in turn
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Not Syncedis watching and deriving pleasure from the murder of children.
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Not SyncedSo understandably, you and I are supposed to be horrified by the whole media spectacle of the Hunger Games.
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Not SyncedBut when Clove’s head is bashed in and her lifeless body is thrown to the ground,
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Not Syncedthe real life audience in the theater I was in actually cheered and gained satisfaction from her death.
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Not SyncedIronically, we are encouraged by the filmmakers,
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Not Syncedthrough the construction of this scene to behave in the same way that the Capitol audience does.
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Not SyncedDisturbingly, the filmmakers intend us to enjoy Clove’s murder
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Not Syncedand see it as justified because they have set her up as a dehumanized and ruthless figure.
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Not SyncedThis is an utter failure on the part of the filmmakers to be consistent about portraying the horror of the death of children.
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Not SyncedIf the filmmakers are trying to make any statement at all about the reprehensible nature of the hunger games,
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Not Syncedthey need to be consistent about all deaths as being just as horrific.
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Not SyncedThe fact that Clove’s death wasn’t portrayed as appalling, was a major failing.
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Not SyncedInterestingly, even when Cato, the main villain in the arena is killed,
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Not Syncedwe weren’t meant to celebrate his death, and I’ll go into that in just a second.
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Not SyncedAlthough, Jennifer Lawrence does a phenomenal job in the role of Katniss,
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Not Syncedwe should take a moment to talk about race and casting in the film.
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Not SyncedIn the book Collins clearly describes Katniss as having olive skinned and straight black hair,
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Not Syncedso you’d think that the casting call would reflect that,
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Not Syncedasking for actors with olive skin and straight black hair.
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Not SyncedBut, in fact, the casting call specified that only Caucasian actors
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Not Syncedwould be allowed to audition for the role of Katniss.
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Not SyncedUnfortunately, this is not just an issue with just one film or one casting department in one studio,
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Not Syncedthis is a problem across the board, everywhere in Hollywood.
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Not SyncedAnd one of the major consequences of this type of systemic whitewashing is that the stories of women of color
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Not Syncedrarely make it on to the big screen and actors of color aren’t even allowed to audition for most leading roles.
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Not SyncedFor more information on challenging white washing in Hollywood check out the Racebending website.
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Not SyncedI do want to point out a couple things that I think the movie did better than the original novel.
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Not SyncedFirst, the film’s format allows us to see multiple events happening simultaneously in different locations.
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Not SyncedSo when Katniss shows compassion for the fallen Rue and then signal’s her solidarity with Rue’s District 11,
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Not Syncedwe are shown a cutaway of the spontaneous uprising in that district.
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Not SyncedThis is missing from the book but ends up being one of the most powerful and effective moments in the movie.
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Not SyncedWhile I think one of the major failings of the book and the movie was that there was no attempt,
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Not Syncednot even a little bit, to humanize the career tributes including Cato, Clove, Glimmer and Marvel.
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Not SyncedIn the movie especially, they are portrayed as completely sadistic,
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Not Syncedinhuman monsters who take pleasure in killing to an exaggerated and unbelievable degree.
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Not SyncedHowever, the film version treats Cato slightly differently towards the end.
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Not SyncedIn the scene where the three remaining players are trapped on top of the cornucopia,
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Not Syncedan emotionally distraught Cato, laments the fact that all he knows about life is killing.
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Not SyncedHe realizes that he isn’t going to emerge victorious and we see his carefully constructed,
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Not Syncedentitled reality fall to pieces. We are given a glimpse of the human being underneath the learned savagery.
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Not SyncedDuring this interaction, Cato turns towards the sky taunting the game makers and the capitol,
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Not Syncedsaying are we giving you a good show in a desperate and unhinged voice.
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Not SyncedThis is a critical humanizing moment that illustrates
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Not Syncedthe twisted brutality of the games and its emotional impact on even the most ruthless players.
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Not SyncedThis stands in stark contrast to the novel where Cato is completely dehumanized from beginning to end.
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Not SyncedI’m really glad the film made this change, but I wish they had also humanized
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Not Syncedthe other career tributes, at least a little bit.
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Not SyncedSo in conclusion, I still highly recommend reading the first book and highly recommend going to see the film.
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Not SyncedI think overall, and in comparison to the rest of what Hollywood has to offer, Katniss
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Not Syncedis one of the best young female characters I’ve seen on screen in a long time.
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Not SyncedDisappointingly, over the course of the next two books, Catching Fire and Mockingjay,
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Not SyncedKatniss’ character growth not only stops but actually regresses in many ways.
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Not SyncedI’ll go into details about the failings of Books 2 and 3 in a future video,
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Not Syncedbut for now I’ll just say, if you haven’t read the two books already, I wouldn’t bother.
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Not SyncedIf you liked this video and want to see more in depth analysis of female characters in pop culture,
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Not Syncedplease support me and my work by donating today.
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Not SyncedYou can visit feministfrequency.com/donate
- Title:
- The Hunger Game: A Book and Movie Comparison
- Description:
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Warning: SPOILERS for the first Hunger Games novel and movie
The Hunger Game is one of the most popular young adult novel series rivaling Harry Potter and Twilight. As the first of its film adaptations was just released in March 2012, readers and audiences have been pleasantly surprised at this fresh, dynamic, young female protagonist. In the second of my two part series on The Hunger Games, I'll compare the book to the movie and talk about some of the shortcomings of the adaptation and a few things that the film actually did better then the book.
Also check out Part One, where I discuss the character of Katniss within the first book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8428XSejp0
To Donation to FemFreq please visit: http://www.feministfrequency.com/donate
For more information, links and a full transcript visit http://www.FeministFrequency.com
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- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- Feminist Frequency
- Duration:
- 07:36
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