Book to Film - What was Worse? What was Better? [SPOILERS]

[DerMißingno]

Well as with anything, the book was obvs better than the film (duh). Of course the film was still good in its own ways. In this thread, we discussed the differences between the book and the film, what bothered us, and what we liked.

Here are some talking points:
-Katniss's size. The book said she was one of the smallest tributes and basically had no chance of overpowering anyone, and yet in the book she was taller than Peeta and overpowered by a much smaller girl than her. She's taller than Peeta for christ sake XD
-The Mockingjay Pin/Madge's absence
-Seneca Crane's death (I thought it was awesome what they did)
-Katniss not losing her hearing/Peeta not losing his leg

Plus a lot of other things.

 

[The Puppetmaster]

-Katniss's size. The book said she was one of the smallest tributes and basically had no chance of overpowering anyone, and yet in the book she was taller than Peeta and overpowered by a much smaller girl than her. She's taller than Peeta for christ sake XD

I overlooked this honestly because I thought Jennifer Lawrence did really well acting-wise. xD Yeah, it wasn't really true to the novel, but I don't think it made much of a difference.

-The Mockingjay Pin/Madge's absence

Yeah they didn't really explain the mockingjay in the film; it would have been nice if they signified its importance. And I don't really care about Madge tbh, but it's sad she wasn't mentioned because she was one of Katniss's only friends. :<

-Seneca Crane's death (I thought it was awesome what they did)

I agree, I liked what they did in the movie. Clever. xD

-Katniss not losing her hearing/Peeta not losing his leg

They sort of alluded to Katniss losing her hearing when they made the sound all wonky after the explosion, but beyond that, yeah they didn't really emphasize it. Peeta not losing his leg wasn't something I cared about really. xD

Honestly, even though there were lots of changes, I felt none of them impacted the overall storyline enough to detract from my viewing experience. I liked seeing the story told from a third person perspective as opposed to hearing everything viewed from Katniss's point - makes everything a bit more objective. Or I might just be a crazy fan who sees no wrong, but hey, I'm happy, and that's all that matters

 

[DerMißingno]

Yeah they didn't really explain the mockingjay in the film; it would have been nice if they signified its importance. And I don't really care about Madge tbh, but it's sad she wasn't mentioned because she was one of Katniss's only friends. :<

The only thing about that that bothers me is that Madge becomes a little bit more important in the second book. Therefore they will need to change even more things in the second film to make up for this, which gives them more opportunity to mess it up.

They sort of alluded to Katniss losing her hearing when they made the sound all wonky after the explosion, but beyond that, yeah they didn't really emphasize it. Peeta not losing his leg wasn't something I cared about really. xD

Yeah, her losing her hearing actually bothered me a lot in the book, because it was just like another unnecessary handicap thrown into a situation with enough adversity already. I found it kind of stressful. Luckily she wasn't really inhibited by it even in the book.

Honestly, even though there were lots of changes, I felt none of them impacted the overall storyline enough to detract from my viewing experience. I liked seeing the story told from a third person perspective as opposed to hearing everything viewed from Katniss's point - makes everything a bit more objective. Or I might just be a crazy fan who sees no wrong, but hey, I'm happy, and that's all that matters

I agree. They took out what they needed to for time, and they added what they needed to to make up for the fact that we now can't read Katniss's mind. It was well done overall.

 

[Proxima Centauri B]

I didnt really mind those little changes, in fact I forgot about a lot of those things.I was kind of bothered that Madge wasnt there, but not too much. I didnt wven notice the first time I saw the movie that Katniss was taller than Peeta. Thats not something I care about at all.

 

[Taro Tanaka]

I was a little bothered by how they didn't include Madge because of one of the reasons already stated above. Aside from that, none of the minor changes didn't bother/effect my viewing experience whatsoever.

 

[Green Zubat]

Honestly, I hated the film. Now, don't get me wrong, it was an alright film, possibly a seven. However, whilst it worked well enough as a stand alone movie it failed as an adaptation, IMO. The only reason the film was at all good was because the source material was good, and even then the film pales in comparison to its progenitor. Almost everything they changed in the film detracted from the quality of the end product, a prime example being the dialogue, which was truly awful. I think one of the more awful aspects, though, was (when the Games were underway) how they kept changing the POV, suddenly switching from Katniss to the Control Room or the presenters. There was really no reason for it and many a time the film's flow suffered because of it. Indeed, the condescending asides from the presenters I found particularly loathsome, especially as it highlighted one of the more serious problems of the film i.e. they spoon-feed you far too much (though, you could argue that the book very occasionally suffers that problem too).

Furthermore, I was irked to see that a lot of the budget was probably blown on injecting the film with special effects related to the Control Room.Presenter scenes. I mean, did they think if they dazzled us enough with special effects that weren't even necessary we wouldn't notice the movie's glaring faults? Truly pathetic. In a related vein, the film was riddled with inaccuracies regarding characterisation. For example:

*Haymitch's alcoholism was downplayed to an almost lovable level (which in turn downplays the seriousness of the Games, and their life-changing nature)

*Gale scared off a deer Katniss was about to get. A fucking deer. If the writers had at all read the book (as opposed to skimming the spark notes review as they clearly did) they would know that everyday of one's life in district 12 is a battle against starvation (there's a reason its called the Hunger Games, you know). To them, snagging a deer would mean at least a week's worth of ceasefire, for the both of their families. Gale would never, ever carelessly scare one off like that when Katniss almost had it.

**On a related note, I'd like to cite that trite rebellion they supposedly started in district 11 in the film after Rue died as a clear example of a fundamental lack of comprehension of the book on the film maker's part. Suzanne Collins explicitly states that part of what makes the Games such a cruel punishment is that every year now, for more almost a 3/4 of a century, not only are two dozen or so randomly selected children lined up to die in mostly gruesome, painful deaths, they're families are forced to watch it, without being able to so much as lift a finger. The way they so casually started that rebellion in 11 in the film, without being immediately gunned down at the first sign of dissent, why, its like the Games had never happened before!

*Book!Prim was an angel, and believably so. Film!Prim was a whiny bitch. All she did was mope around with that mardy face, cry her eyes out and insult her mother's ability to dress her daughter (despite the supposed unconditional love she's supposed to harbour for her mother). Yet not only do the other characters dote on her but Film!Katniss, a much more likeable character (though admittedly not by much) is literally falling over herself to save her. Oh, and on top of that she's the cleanest, prettiest, most perfectly Aryan one of them all.

...

Suuuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeee!

*Film!Katniss was a terrible actor, with respect to her relationship with Peter, and Haymitch was even worse at helping her along. A note saying "you call that a kiss?", really? In the real Games the audience would see that note, be automatically alerted to the deception and turn on Katniss quicker than the tributes themselves.

*Why was Katniss so subdued around Peeta in their victory interview? President Snow was furious at them for having been allowed to get away with such an act of rebellion, she should have been all over Peeta playing the star-crossed lovers.

*And last, but by no means least, how can we forget that marvellous race lift the film makers pulled on us. They just couldn't deal with an olive-skinned protagonist, could they. Nice.

Of course, the film wasn't all bad. The scenes shared between President Snow & Crane were a nice addition, and aesthetically the adaptation was a success, with special mention going to the portrayals of the Capitol and its residents (except for Caeser Flickerman. Really not how I imagined him, but I guess that's too subjective). Nevertheless, these small victories are deeply overshadowed by the film's chronic flaws. The worst of those isn't any of the above (though, those were serious faults that need to be addressed).

No, the worst part of the Hunger Games film was the way they tried to PG-ify it. They cut back on the gore massively, and tried to hide what they couldn't ignore or omit by shaking the camera so much I felt dizzy by the end. The Hunger Games is a franchise about murder as a cultural pastime, a state-sponsored sport, it is not a family friendly subject matter. Period. You spend so much time in the book covering the scope of Snow's reign of terror, on the horror of the Games, that trying to downplay it all in the film to (presumably) appeal to a wider audience nit only alienates the fans of the book but completely misses the point of it all, totally flying in the face of everything the series is talking about. Glamourising the Games in such a way, well, it almost as if the Capitol had made this film.