Book To Movie Monday (14)


For this weeks Book to Movie Monday I have decided to cover the movie The Hunger Games.

First Let's Discuss The Book, Below Is The Cover.

Now for a little back story in case some of you aren't familiar with the novel. The Hunger Games was written by the Author Suzanne Collins and was released September 14,2008 by Scholastic. The Hunger games became a New York Times bestseller in just over 2 months and remained on the list for over 100 consecutive weeks. The Hunger Games is also given the honor of being the best selling Kindle book of all time. The Hunger Games has at least 26 million copies in print and has been translated into over 26 languages.


Let's look at some of the characters in the book.

Main Protagonists

Katniss Everdeen- Katniss is a 16 year old girl living in District 12 along with her mother and sister Prim. When it comes time to draw names for the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss makes the ultimate sacrifice by taking the place of her sister whose nae was drawn. Katniss is an avid Hunter/Gatherer and this helps her when it comes to surviving in the arena. Katniss is very brave, strong willed,stubborn and smart all of which help and hinder her throughout the book.

Peeta Mallark- Peeta is the male tribute from District 12. He is described as very shy, but confident. Peeta openly admits to being in love with Katniss during a pre Hunger Games interview. Whether Peeta's feelings are genuine or carefully crafted to extend his life in the arena is left up to the reader to decide.

Other Noteworthy Characters

Haymitch- The Winner of the 50th Hunger Games, Haymitch becomes the advisor for both Peeta and Gale during the 74th Games. While Haymitch was the winner of his Hunger Games he has battled with the deaths of his family as a result (he used the force field surrounding the arena to kill the female tribute something the capital didn't like) and is held as an example of what happens if you defy the capital. With the strain of The Hunger Games to much on his memory, Haymitch resorts to drinking, only sobering up when he realizes his charges need him.

Gale- Gale is an 18 year old resident of District 12. He and Katniss were hunting partners before she left to participate in The Hunger Games. Gale is in love with Katniss and has her best interests at heart, though she does not know this.

Main Antagonist

President Snow- President Snow is the Autocratic ruler of The Capitol and Panem. Katniss describes him as smelling like a combination of Blood and Roses. She later finds out that his mouth is covered with sores from drinking poison and the strong scent of roses is used to mask the smell. While President Snow presents himself as having a laid back demeanor to the public in reality his a sadistic psychopath who has a strong bloodlust.


Major Difference Between The Book and The Movie

In the Book Gale is only shown before Katniss leaves for the Games, though she does think about him often.
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In the Movie Gale is shown what he is doing back in District 12 wile Katniss is away.

In the Book the tributes deaths happen over the course of the games, some taking longer than others.
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In the Movie the deaths happen quite quickly. Most likely because of the PG-13 rating.

In the Book Peeta's father bring Katniss cookies before the games establishing a connection between the families.
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In the Movie this scene is sadly skipped entirely.

In the Book Rue and Katniss form a great bond in the arena and this helps to fuel the loss Katniss feels at her death later in the book.
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In the Movie it's never really explained why Katniss feels the need to protect Rue, she's just kinda there.

In the Book we know that Seneca Crane is the games designer. When Katniss and Peeta win the 74th Games we never see what happens to Seneca for his failures.
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In the Movie Seneca plays a much larger role and when Katniss and Peeta emerge victorious we see that Senecas punishment is to be locked in a cell with only poison berries to eat (the same Katniss threatened suicide with).

In the Book Katniss is attacked by muttated (that's how it's described not a spelling error) dogs. She later realizes past tributes are used in the process of creating them.
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In the Movie Katniss is merely attacked by ferocious dogs, all traces of them being muttated tributes were removed.

In the Book the deaths are really gruesome.
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In the Movie they are still bloody but nowhere near how the book portrayed them.

In the Book while we see Katniss's POV before the games, we see very little of the planning process before the tributes are even chosen.
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In the Movie like that with Seneca mentioned above we also see quite a few scenes with President Snow going over details on how to keep the tributes together to put on an entertaining show.

In the Book Thresh's death comes at the hands of another tribute named Cato or at least it's heavily implied. This sets up the scene for the final battle amongst the tributes left.
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In the Movie Thresh's deaths comes at the hands of wild dogs instead.

In the Book gifts came from sponsors but it was left to the person to decide why each was given.
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In the Movie each gift has a note attached to it.

In the Book Rue points out tracker jackers in the tree above Katniss's head.
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In the Movie Rue tells Katniss to drop it on the people below.

In the Book Katniss meets an Avox girl while preparing for the games who is a servant with her tongue ripped out. It's later revealed that she tried to escape the Capital and this was her punishment. Katniss really wrestles with the guilt over this as she recognized the girl as someone she had once seen captured in her district years before.
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In the Movie Katniss does meet the girl but not much comes from their interaction.

In the Book Peeta loses his leg after suffering a severe wound in the arena.
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In the Movie Peeta still has both at the end.



One of the biggest differences in the book is Rue's death.

In the Book after Rue dies her district sends Katniss bread. This is the first sign showing seeds of rebellion and is a very emotional part of the book.
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In the Movie they remove the bread scene and instead show Rue's district openly rebelling against The Capital. While I understand they wanted to move the movies along, I really missed the bread scene.


The Clear Winner in this week's Book to Movie is definitely the Book. The details overlooked just make me sad, especially the bread scene. While I really liked how they translated certain things into Movie Form, if a person had no previous knowledge of the story and asked which they should choose, my vote would be definitely Book first, Movie second.

Well that about wraps up this weeks Book to Movie Monday. I'll post the movie trailer down below in case you want to check it out. Leave a Comment down below telling me which you liked better and why. Have a recommend for an upcoming Book to Movie let me know that as well.



Comments

  1. Wow I never noticed any of these differences. Maybe because it has been 3-4 years since I read it. This is my favorite book to movie!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The list could be longer but I try to keep them to the noticeable differences not small little changes that aren't easily discernible. :)

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  2. I think they did a great job with book to movie, just because it must be a really hard job to do...some get it better than others. I like seeing what's new and different in the film though, so the changes don't really bother me. :) Fun post though!! I love seeing what movies are actually books...even if I already knew this one. Some are pretty shocking!

    -Lauren

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