I love, love, love the Hunger Games Trilogy,1 but I’m not planning on seeing the movie.
While I'm pleased that the movie (and surrounding media hype) has helped many to discover the books, I'm avoiding it like the plague. I have decidedly mixed feelings about film adaptations (some I love, some I loathe), but because I love the series so much I’m resisting Hollywood’s need to show me how they think characters, places, scenes should look. And, of course there are some bits that are horrifying enough in my head that I really really don’t need to see them played out on the big screen.
The movie buzz has been irritatingly pervasive: tv, print media, the blogosphere, merchandise...
by the way I highly recommend SyFy's FaceOff, a Project Runway-like reality show focusing on special effects makeup, despite the fact that they felt the need to beat into viewers heads trumpet the judges' involvement with the HG movie.
In case any of you are wondering, I'm not going to be getting nail polish. I understand that a HG nail polish collection can be viewed as tongue-in-cheek, but I can't get past how out of line it is with the overarching theme of the series.
- Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay.
If I hadn't of seen the film straight away I probably would have been put off seeing it. I can understand the hype getting annoying but it's not been too bad from where I've been sitting until this weekend. The film is no where near as graphic as the books but it has been loyal to the plot and characters if you were tempted to see it after the hysteria has died down.
ReplyDeleteI'll likely cave when it starts getting shown on TV, but I haven't paid to see a movie in the theatres for about nine years so I definitely won't be seeing it on the big screen.
ReplyDeleteI thought they did a very good job of adapting the book. I will certainly watch it again when it comes to TV or DVD.
ReplyDeleteGood to know.
ReplyDeleteOn the mind/movie distinction, I thought this article was interesting: http://jezebel.com/5896408/racist-hunger-games-fans-dont-care-how-much-money-the-movie-made . It is probably inevitable that people would ignore direct statements by the author of what a character looks like, either because they skimmed it in the first place, simply forgot it later, or read it in line with preconceptions. I'm sure I do it, too. But I wonder if the cinematic representations of characters, scenes, etc., might not sometimes be *more* authentic, because the filmmakers really have to pay attention to those details, whereas the rest of us can often gloss over them.
ReplyDeleteInteresting article, Charlie. My sister told me that envisioned Cinna as a vaguely chubby redhead, which makes no sense.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I'm still irritated about Fred and George being tall and lanky rather than with rugby-player physiques.