The Hunger Games: Movie vs. Book

I started reading The Hunger Games at the spry age of 10 years old. When I read the first book, it was on my own, mostly in my fifth grade class. I still remember walking home from school with the book open in my arms crying over the first lovable character’s death. I loved the book, I was so attached to them that I wouldn’t be able to release my eyes from the pages for hours at a time. The book was so enthralling that when I read of one of the characters getting stabbed in the back, and of course, I couldn’t sleep on my stomach for a couple of months.

The Hunger Games was one of the first books that I read, that I was able to watch the process of creating the film come to life. I remember the casting coming out, reading pre-film books that explained the cast. I remember the first time cast photos came out. One of the first castings announced was Jennifer Lawrence, and I was overjoyed. I knew she would be perfect, same with Josh Hutcherson. The casting of those two seemed as if they were out of a fan casting, or some sort of fanfiction.

At the bright age of 12, I finally got to see the movie with my friends. We were accompanied by my friend’s mom (because we weren’t 13 yet of course). Right away, little twelve year old Abigail was pissed by some of the inaccuracies, especially the fact that they left out the origin story of the pin.

I loved the first movie, but compared to the three that followed, it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. The film was filled with mistakes and left out major details, so though I will always treasure the first book, and the film based upon it, I know it’s far from perfect.

The first film is what will always bring me back to the series. It was that book where I first saw a relationship between sisters, similar to that of my own. Along with the introduction of the most fantastic heroine ever created.

Reading these books inspired me to be stronger and braver than I ever had before. The movie didn’t have quite the same vibe. It was still inspiring, and had an entire generation of women wearing their hair in braids. But I was overly intense and gory in spots where the book had glazed over. This made twelve year old me cover my face with a napkin for the majority of the film. All of this sent the overwhelming message that the directors didn’t really understand who they were directing the film for. Their target audience was far from met.

I truly believe that this was due to poor directing. Gary Ross was replaced after the first film. And, after that point the movies got a lot more accurate and better fit the audience. But some of the mistakes made in the first were inexcusable and couldn’t be fixed in the subsequent films.

So in this case, I have to say the book took the cake in this match of book vs. movie!