The Hunger Games

When I was a child about a half-a-century ago, my parents, like many parents, would tell me bedtime stories, sometimes the same one.  Those crossovers were the best for me because the difference in how they made the same story live in my imagination (The Three Little Pigs for example) told me a lot about them, what they found important, what they didn't.

Had they been around to offer me The Hunger Games, one would have handed me the novel, the other, the movie.

Which do I prefer?  The novel of course, because my imagination is far better than the filmmaker's, at least to me.  That doesn't mean I didn't love the movie.  I did, just as I loved each of my parent’s versions of The Three Little Pigs.

I look for stories to make me laugh, make me cry, excite me, or make me think beyond the pieces of the story's puzzle.  Those that do any two I will enjoy.  Any three, I will love.  All four, I will adore.  Over the years, those accomplishing the latter come only once or twice a year.

The Hunger Games is one of those, the book and the movie.

Suzanne Collins', and Gary Ross's (with Suzanne Collins' contribution to the script).

Each parent's version.

The novel both benefits and suffers from the first person point of view.  We stay completely in Katniss's mind and heart throughout.  We know how she feels and thinks intimately.  And this a good thing for me as the reader, I think, because Katniss's actions don't always come off as sympathetic.  They couldn't in a novel like this and have her credibly come out a winner.

She needs a certain strength of purpose that doesn't include a romantic view of love.  She is practical to a fault, and I as a reader became so frustrated with her blindness to the tender emotions while believing completely in her blindness.

"Oh, Katniss," I would think, cringing.  "Why can't you see that Peeta really is in love with you?"

Call me Haymitch of the heart.

What we miss is the behind-the-scenes action that Katniss is not privy to.

In Susanne Collins' telling of this story, the behind-the-scenes isn't necessary, isn't important.

And, to be honest, reading the novel, I didn't miss it.  I just imagined what might be taking place.

The movie conversely benefits and suffers from its inability to always be in Katniss's mind and heart.  Then again, we gain a view of how the Gamemaker's operate, and a little more on President Snow and meet Seneca Crane.

I also loved the movie because the actual casting wasn't far off the images I had of the characters.  My only concern going in was with Woody Harrelson as Haymitch.  I've never been a big fan of his, but he did well in this role.  I was pleasantly surprised.

Jennifer Lawrence created an amazing Katniss.

If I had a wish regarding the movie, even with its need to stay within a PG-13 rating, it would be that I missed Katniss receiving the bread from District 11 after singing the lovely Rue into a peaceful death.

I liked that the most moving scene in the book for me (Rue's death) was also the most moving scene in the movie.  And how wonderful was Amandla Stenberg as Rue?  Delightful and moving for me.

I'm making two points, I suppose.  The first is that I'm one who can cheerfully love both a novel and movie version of the same story as long as the novel comes first.  I'm not a huge fan of novelizations of movies.  Few are written well.  My second point is that I dearly love The Hunger Games, both the book and the movie.

Had my mom and dad told me this story, my mother would have told me the novel version, and my father would have told me the movie version.

I prefer the novel, but will watch the movie anytime, anyplace.