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The Student News Site of Walt Whitman High School

The Black and White

The Student News Site of Walt Whitman High School

The Black and White

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March 21, 2024

‘The Hunger Games’ is satisfying depiction of popular novel

As the lights dimmed in the movie theater, the crowd of fans in homemade T-shirts fell silent. The screen brightened to a scene of a young girl waking up from a nightmare where she had been picked to participate in a fight to the death.

“The Hunger Games,” directed by Gary Ross, debuted March 23 to the delight of fans everywhere. The movie, based on Suzanne Collins’ novel of the same name, sold out over 3,500 showings for the premiere and made $19.7 million in midnight premieres alone.

Seniors Claire Bartholomew and Elizabeth Puglisi attend the midnight premiere of "The Hunger Games" at the Regal Bethesda theater. The movie is a faithful adaptation but ultimately lacks the raw power of the original book. Photo by Julia Berard.

In Panem, the dystopian futuristic world of the books, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) struggles to feed her family after her father’s death, surviving by hunting with her best friend, Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth). But she must leave home to participate in the Hunger Games with her fellow tribute from district 12, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), after she volunteered to replace her young sister. Out of the 24 tributes, only one is supposed to survive.

Lawrence was stunning in a role that played to her strengths as a quietly powerful actress. In comparison, Hutcherson as Peeta came off as weak, while Hemsworth as Gale was underused in the movie. The supporting actors, including Elizabeth Banks and Woody Harrelson, stood out as well.

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Naturally, there is a love triangle between Katniss, Peeta and Gale, but the movie ultimately isn’t a romance. Instead, it focuses on Katniss’ struggle and perseverance to win the Games for her sister. Katniss, as in the books, relies on her own resilience and strength, not on any one else, to survive. While the movie distilled some of the cynicism and violence present in the book, the dark aspects of the franchise will become more prominent in the next two installments of the series.

The movie followed the book closely, though a few changes simplified the plot due to time constraints. Overall though, the changes didn’t detract from the movie, junior Raelyn Carr said.

Carr said she was excited to attend the midnight premiere because of her love for the “Hunger Games” series.

“I loved the book and I wanted to see if the movie was going to be what I imagined,” Carr said. “The premiere is part of the whole experience, and I don’t think I could’ve waited until Friday night to see it all come full circle.”

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  • C

    CM PunkMar 26, 2012 at 7:12 pm

    I find it more thought provoking that Harry Potter, even as much as I like HP (and I really like HP). It is a far more adult YA book than many are used to. The characters in HP are more fleshed out but Hunger Games talks more about things that are happening out in the world today. We’re becoming consumed by our desire for “reality” TV, we have MMA as a current popular sport. We are violent and some of us are not very nice when the chips are down. Harry Potter was also ,in my mind, a pretty bad main character, I feel like Ron would of been a better one, Harry is egotistical, selfish, angsty (maybe exagerating). I think people can like whatever they like unless they push their beliefs in my face.

  • H

    Hermione Jean GrangerMar 26, 2012 at 1:01 pm

    Hunger Games has a plot that Is not very appealing. I dislike it greatly.

  • K

    Katniss Everdeen "the girl on fire"Mar 24, 2012 at 12:17 pm

    I LOVED THIS MOVIE!! midnite showing was the way to go!