The Hunger Games: A Perfect Adaptation
There have been many movie adaptations of books throughout the years but very few are as well done as The Hunger Games.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins took the world by storm in 2008 with the first book published in the trilogy simply called The Hunger Games. The book takes place in a dystopian world where 12 districts exist to serve the needs and wants of the Capital and every year the 12 districts must sacrifice one boy and girl from the ages of 12-18 to fight to the death for the Capital’s entertainment. Throughout book 1 of this trilogy the audience explores how the world of The Hunger Games works.
Now what made this book click for so many people? One reason this might be the case is the themes that Suzanne Collins conveyed in these books. One of the main ones is how she criticizes us with how we consume things without thinking about it while other people in the world starve. Basically she makes us the villains of the trilogy as we represent the Capital. Another main theme we examine throughout the trilogy is the horrors of war and how they can leave a lasting impact on survivors. Another reason this series might have clicked for so many people was that the book was published under the YA category in bookstores which would cause both younger and older audiences to read the series.
The sequels Catching Fire and Mockingjay were published in 2009 and 2010 to complete the trilogy. With the book series completed fans began to anticipate a movie adaptation, and Hollywood answered the call in 2012, but was the movie any good? The answer was yes, among both readers of the book and new fans. They did this by keeping the movie accurate to the book as much as possible but also adding some scenes that weren’t in the book to give more depth to characters other than Katniss as the books were all written in first person. Another thing that the movie did really well was the commentary on reality tv which the book included but it feels so much more real in the movie as the audience actually sees it. One of the main criticisms for the movie though was the use of shaky cam, which was valid but without it the movie more than likely would be rated R instead of the PG-13 rating it got, because of violence and gore, which allowed all fans of the book to watch the movie.
With the success of the first movie three more movies were released for the other two books in the trilogy as they split Mockingjay into two parts. The other movies were just as well-received as the first as they kept all the good things that were in the first movie and took out the things that didn’t work like the shaky cam. Overall both the movies and the books in The Hunger Games series are great.