Are You Looking Forward to The Hunger Games?

Have you ever read a great book then watched a movie based on that book?

I know. Quite a let down.

However, the more time goes by (this is a kinder way of saying the older I become) the better Hollywood gets at transforming books to the big screen. Look at Tolkiens "Ring" for example. That was a set of movies I waited and waited to the very last to see in theatres, so afraid was I that it would destroy the real thing. Peter Jackson obviously loved Tolkien as much as the rest of
us because the Trilogy is everything it should be!

On the other hand, another great movie, Gone With the Wind, does not do the book justice and was a tremendous let down. I know this is a terrible thing for anyone with an ounce of the rebel in them to say but true nonetheless.

I could go on for a while but these two great movies are fair examples of what can and what should not be done as far as portraying a book on the big screen. However, this is not about what should or should not be done; it is quite simply a way to give three Hoo-rahs for a movie about one of my
favorite book series. The Hunger Games is a young adult series but its message
is older than I am and an ageless one as well.

 
It must have been the early 1970’s that I first read Shirley Jackson’s short story called “The Lottery” but there are many story’s along that line and Suzanne Collins’ book takes it a big step further.

The lottery in Panem does not kill people right away, instead it pits young people against one another in an arena where their every move is recorded and videotaped for the entire world to see. The only way to escape is to be the last person alive. Katniss is the main character and she is
in the games only because she took her little sisters place. The plot revolves around Katniss and the moral dilemma of her own survival at the cost of her peers lives. The game is set up in such a way that if you happen to be from a richer district you will receive assistance from your mentor. That assistance comes in the form of food or weapons but in the case of Katniss and Peeta, a boy from
the same district, their mentor is Haymitch.  Haymitch is a survivor of the games himself, but keeps to himself and his bottle. Whether Haymitch will come through with aid or hide away with his medicine of choice is also part of the plot.

Waiting for March 23, 2012 is difficult enough but not having a trailer to watch is worse. The first snippet of what is to come is a piece showing Jennifer Lawrence as “Katniss” using her bow and arrow, with flames and the logo of the circle and mockingbird.

Not enough to keep us sitting at the computer, replaying it repeatedly until spring arrives, but no matter, replay it we will!