# Hunger Games - The "I saw it" thread (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 23, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunger-games-the-i-saw-it-thread-open-spoilers/616638 "2012-03-23T21:00:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunger-games-the-i-saw-it-thread-open-spoilers/616638/241 "2012-08-20T01:51:55Z")
Found it (in trash). Thanks, **Maserschmidt**! ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunger-games-the-i-saw-it-thread-open-spoilers/616638/242 "2012-08-20T04:23:04Z")
ok - not reading the whole thread - but are they in a holodeck type arena (I assume so with being able to program fire, animals and put video on the sky) or do they just have some way out tech that allows them to do this in the ‘real world’. if its a ‘holodeck’ - what the hell do they need peace keepers for - send a few of them damn cats out to patrol… sheesh - I realize those are stupid questions - but, we couldn’t decide if it was a high tech arena or something else alltogether. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunger-games-the-i-saw-it-thread-open-spoilers/616638/243 "2012-08-20T04:49:43Z")
In the film it isn’t explained. I don’t know if it is really explained in the book either. I think it was very high tech. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunger-games-the-i-saw-it-thread-open-spoilers/616638/244 "2012-08-20T15:11:55Z")
The arena is real but has a lot of high tech infrastructure built into it. Underground passges as seen before the tributes rise out of the ground, ton of cameras, ability to project images in the sky and make audible announcements to everyone at once, fires, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunger-games-the-i-saw-it-thread-open-spoilers/616638/245 "2012-08-21T20:22:37Z")
I finally saw this at the discount cinema. Overall, I enjoyed the movie. I have not read the books, only have a passing knowledge of the concept. I liked the story. I thought the actors and casting worked. I thought the costumes were a bit weird (like something out of _The Wizard of Oz_, or as someone mentioned, Burtons’ _Alice in Wonderland)_, but I can see what they were going for. I generally followed all the details eventually - they tended to give bits of exposition as flashbacks after they made reference to the item, so it took later knowledge to make earlier things make sense. However, I **HATED** the shaky cam. I’m not even one to normally complain about it, but in this movie it is just dreadful. The first 20 minutes or so (basically up until they get to the Capitol) is nearly unwatchable. No, it doesn’t help convey the shabbiness of District 12, it just makes the movie too jarring to follow. I mean, you have the main protagonist in the shot with her head partially cut off, for criminy’s sake. STOP IT! > [@Shawn1767](#): > > There was no emotional involvement in any of the characters because they seemed so glossed over. I think they should have cut some stuff and captured more of the feeling from the book than try to stuff as many events from the book as possible. I mean, I’m thinking "what? am I supposed to dislike these kids from lower districts? I see your point, I never really knew who most of the other tributes were, and couldn’t keep the identity of the two blond chicks straight (one had the bow, one had the knives - that was two different girls?). I generally followed who I was supposed to root for (Katniss, Rue, feeling unsure about Peeta) and why I was supposed to despise the others (because it’s a death match, and they’re a bit obnoxious about it). Finding the connection with Gale (Gael?) was a bit thin. At first I was piecing together Katniss’s distance from her mother, but that was finally explained. > [@](#): > > And what’s the connection with the black guy who helps her out that we only see for 2 seconds? Oh, he must be from District 11 too." When the tributes are introduced, he’s with Rue. When he intervenes, he’s yelling about the chick killing Rue. Um, yeah, that’s hard to connect. > [@](#): > > The book had Katniss all unlikeable and needing to be liked in order to get sponsors. Basically, the movie didn’t “show” that, it had a character say “Oh, you need to be likeable coz you aren’t.” It told me things when it should be showing me things. I understand how showing is better than telling. I followed this okay. Actually, the odd part was the character telling her she needs to be likeable was rather standoffish and obnoxious himself, so how is he able to judge how she comes off? She’s not likeable to him, because he’s acting like a dick. But yeah, she’s just cold and withdrawn, and he want’s her to play to the audience to draw in their sympathies. His attitude toward her changes when she uses the bow to shoot the apple, because she does something outrageous enough to make an impression. That’s what he wanted from her - get their attention. Show off. It probably could have been portrayed or emphasized a bit more, but I followed it okay. > [@PeskiPiksi](#): > > Question for those who’ve seen the movie but not read the book: Did the flashback scenes with Peeta and Katniss make any sense to you? (The one in the rain when he throws her the bread.) Did you get the significance of that scene? Or did it seem random? They ran the flashback three or four times. Each time, the scene gave a bit more information. Yeah, it became clear that Peeta had given her food at risk to himself. It was clear there was something wrong with the bread (it was blackened) so it was unsellable, so he was supposed to feed it to the hogs. It was clear his mother was angry and she slapped him. I figured the reason he was supposed to throw the bad bread to the hogs was not just it was wasting their own livelihood, but it would get him and his family in trouble with the authorities. If food is scarce and they buy extra rations with lottery slots, then sharing resources and giving away food is counter to the control the authorities exhibit. So while he threw the loaf to her in the rain rather than taking it to her, that was a huge move on his part where he could have been arrested or something. > [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > My biggest gripe about the movie (having previously read the books) is the characterization. I thought they did a terrible job with Katniss. The book goes into great detail showing you that she is both strong-willed and overwhelmingly hurt by everything happening, yet in the movie I only know she’s strong because I had to have literally three characters tell me this. I felt her strength through her actions in the District, through the way she took care of Prim, and through her crossing the fence to go hunting. Her attitude toward her mom suggested that she had been the one providing and her mom taking an interest was unusual. I could see her strength in the way she wore the burning dress, through her telling Peeta he needed to demonstrate his strength so the others would stop looking at him as a pushover. She clearly had a better understanding of that element of the game. Peeta was much better suited to the politicing, the playing to the crowd. He knew how to ingratiate himself to the others to keep himself alive. I could see the pain through her fears for Prim, through her looking through the channels and seeing the forest, and having to turn it off. All of this came through. > [@](#): > > They screwed Gale up like none other too. He has practically no point in the movie. I have to agree - I wondered what his point to the story was, other than being the boy back home that loved her and was therefore in conflict over the lovestory element. If he has more of a role in future stories, they will have to flesh that out there. > [@](#): > > Did anyone who didn’t read the books first honestly care about Katniss? I feel the movie didn’t get the audience emotionally involved enough in her, unless we read the books first and knew we had to. Yes, I emotionally connected to Katniss and her predicament. > [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > But in the second book, when she goes on tour as the winner, she realizes that some of the districts such as the agriculturally based 11, are MUCH larger than District 12 and she speculates about how they must have some sort of “pre-reaping” as she realizes that the crowd she sees in the videos of the reapings could not possibly be all the eligible children in District 11. This is a weakness. I agree, if there are only 12 districts, the population seemed low for everyone in District 12 to be in that one reaping. Yet we’re not given any indication of multiple stages. The mechanism of the reaping seems fairly antiquated and cumbersome for something the Capitol should be able to carry out. I suppose, from a power/control dynamic, there’s something to be gained from the public spectacle and the everyone show up in person experience. I chalk it up to the moving having trouble reflecting the true size they’d need to be. > [@robby](#): > > I actually liked the camera work at the beginning–it felt like seeing flashes of poverty in Appalachia. Hated it. Hated it, hated it, hated it. Instead of using shakey cam, they could have, you know, shown actual poverty. I thought the simplicity and wear of the clothing conveyed that better. They could have elaborated more on the scarecity of food, or explained the bit where they mentioned how many times Gale’s name was in the pool was based upon how many times he got extra food rations. Connected the name “Hunger Games” with something. But shakey cam didn’t contribute to any of that. > [@](#): > > My impression during the movie was that Katniss’s primary motivation was to get back home alive, and if this required faking a relationship with Peeta, then so be it. I never actually got the impression that she was actually in love with him or anything even close to that, but I did get the impression that she developed some affection for him in the course of their shared horrific experience. Agreed. > [@](#): > > I liked how many of the employees of the Games were not played up as evil caricatures, including the TV host and the Gamemaker. I liked the flash of humanity that Cata showed at the end. Well, they weren’t really played as evil per se, though the President was played as pretty viscious in his power. Mostly they were more just disconnected, vain and selfish and uncaring. > [@](#): > > The biggest thing that bothered me in the movie is that they never showed Katniss making any effort to retrieve her limited arrows. Yeah, that struck me. > [@Zebra](#): > > Do you remember the speech where the president explains why they have a winner at all? Why not just kill 24 children each year? > > Oh the beautiful high speed rail they used, remind you of anyone? Perhaps a sitting president who uses the word that is the answer to the first question? > > It’s not quite Red Dawn but it’s not fooling me for a minute. I really think you’re projecting here. “Hope” is a very common natural human concept, and literature from time memorial has drawn upon it as a theme. The concept is naturally a part of the structure of the story, where the empire of the Capitol controls the resources and the Districts through subjugation and intimidation. High speed trains are a symbol of technology and wealth, as opposed to a slow speed steam train or, worse, horse and buggy. > [@John\_Bredin](#): > > What bothered me, and what I imagined would bother the in-movie betting audience, was loosing the dogs on Katniss and Peeta. That smacked of picking winners and losers rather than just spicing up the “game”. In short, I can see the Capitol audience griping “Oh, come on! Bogus!” at the dogs but not the fire. 🙂 I get directing her back into the game by a general fire, but the fireballs flying straight at her struck me as a bit too much of interfering. Same thing with the hounds. It’s one thing to place them in the game, quite another to spring them up from nothingness directly on the trail. They’re supposed to be trying to force a final confrontation, right, not eliminating the players themselves. And I couldn’t quite tell if those animals were doggish or catish. They had a general build of a dog, but with elements and motion more cougarish. I guess in a world with Mockingjays (not a mockingbird, not a jaybird, but a combo), it isn’t quite so outlandish. > [@](#): > > Mind you, I got the impression – again, didn’t read the book – that finishing off Katniss and/or Peeta was not the Gamesmaker’s idea but President Snow’s. It wasn’t for (within the movie) dramatic purposes but political. The method was left to the Gamesmaker’s dramatic flourish, though. That actually makes some sense. The President has concerns about Katniss, the way she stirs up the populace. Her actions spawned a riot in District 11. I can see him deciding politically that something needs to be done, and using his influence to manipulate the ending. Having the hounds kill her solves his problem. Having Katniss and Peeta the last two, and then have to kill each other is also a creative way to take the sentiment she’s built and undermine it. It was a dastardly move on the gamemaker to pull that, because the love story they’ve built up and now they have to face each other as opponents. So either she dies (President happy), or she kills her lover, Peeta, in which case she’s just another victor, who was willing to do anything to survive, in which case her force as a face of rebellion is diminished. But she outgamed him, because by threatening to both suicide, they prevent there being a victor for the masses, and leave the folks in the Capitol angered, and the Districts see yet more disobedience as a model. So he had to declare two winners, to make the folks in the Capitol happy, which leaves the Districts some symbol of standing up. Thus his own personal predicament. > [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > I like shows where you don’t see everything and don’t have everything explained to you. I am hopefully smart enough to figure it out. Yes, they didn’t have to explicitly show the conversation to explain that what’s his name was talking up the sponsors to get items, the ones that then parachuted in. I think having magic healing cream show up is a pretty good demonstration of the importance of sponsors. > [@](#): > > Why manipulate the audience even though not many gifts? Because she has seen the show before. She knows how cruel the Game controlling people are…and she isn’t just fighting for her life, she is at war with them now after Rue. She sees what may happen…and she just happens to have the poison berries at the end? She knew exactly what was going to happen…the retraction of 2 winning. > > Why the threat of suicide at the end? Because she loved Peetra and couldn’t live without him? Again, I think the director made it clear that it was likely she wasn’t…but she didn’t do it for Peetra (not directly) but because she knew that the threat of suicide would force their hand. She WON not just the game but against the cruel system itself. It was an ultimate ‘fuck you’ because Peetra did offer her his life…but instead went for the complete win against the Game controllers themselves. I certainly anticipated them changing the rules again, so why shouldn’t she? There was that conversation about trying to do something to show the gamemakers they hadn’t corrupted them. Her natural reaction to the loss of Rue and her not complying with expectations was one part of that. Her determination not to kill others was a part of that. She killed the one guy directly trying to kill her and Rue, but didn’t set out to take out others she could have. She really only directly killed, at most, 2 people (the one that killed Rue, the girl by using the wasps). ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunger-games-the-i-saw-it-thread-open-spoilers/616638/246 "2012-08-21T21:02:37Z")
I read the first book back in January and finally saw the movie this past week. I thought the movie was a lot better than the book. The romance plot was much more bearable and believeable in the movie. Reading the book often had me doing the ol’:rolleyes: since one minute Katniss is playing the strong willed female role and the next she is all confused about silly boys like she’s 13. I found it nauseating and it’s kept me from reading the last two books. The movie handled it much better. I also liked that the movie showed things going on outside of Katniss’ immediate environment. We got to see her family and Gayle back home during the games. We got to see show producers, sponsers, state officials, Haymich, etc. during the games. None of that was in the book and was sorely needed IMHO. The movie also stayed on point, interesting, and kept moving while the book had some dragging sections (the cave). So while the movie has renewed my interest in finishing the book series I still would prefer to see the movie versions. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunger-games-the-i-saw-it-thread-open-spoilers/616638/247 "2012-08-21T23:39:44Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > I see your point, I never really knew who most of the other tributes were, and couldn’t keep the identity of the two blond chicks straight (one had the bow, one had the knives - that was two different girls?). In the time since I was last posting in this thread I’ve read the books (actually I’m not quite done with the third one), and I think the posters who were saying that the supporting characters weren’t as well developed in the movie as in the book are misremembering things. In the book, as in the movie, Katniss has little interaction with any of the tributes except Peeta and Rue. She doesn’t even know all of their names. The only thing I don’t remember being included in the movie was an explanation that the tributes Peeta teamed up with early on, the ones who seemed like the “bad guys” of the Games, were from districts that had a more privileged relationship with the Capital and usually won. The book didn’t go into a lot of detail on this, but in these districts promising young people would be trained for years in combat and survival skills and would then volunteer to go into the Games. They’re referred to as “Careers” since they’re basically professional Games competitors, not just regular kids with the bad luck to have their names chosen. As for Gale: > [@](#): > > I have to agree - I wondered what his point to the story was, other than being the boy back home that loved her and was therefore in conflict over the lovestory element. If that’s what you got out of the movie, then I’d say you got what there was to get. I don’t think there’s anything significant about Gale in the first book that wasn’t included in the movie. However… > [@](#): > > If he has more of a role in future stories, they will have to flesh that out there. He does play a more important role in the third book, and I’m wondering if people who read the books first might have been mixing up what was established about him when. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunger-games-the-i-saw-it-thread-open-spoilers/616638.md?page=12)