WARNING: Contains Spoilers.
Went with Mom to see Hunger Games last night. I’d already seen it and enjoyed how the book was interpreted for the screen. I thought they made certain assumption about the level of familiarity with the content from the books and felt it could lead to confusion for the unaware. I was right. Mom hated it. She didn’t have enough of the back story to really appreciate the subtlety of the story. So, all she saw was the barbaric Hunger Games, the result of 74 years of oppression in the districts as to offer up their children and the excess of the shallow, insipid Capitol. She did not see what I saw.
I loved the characters and the story. I loved the complexity of the crossed plots and the maneuvering. Even in the first book, you could tell there was a LOT more at stake than just the Hunger Games. But more than anything else, I love Katniss.
Katniss’ nearly fatal flaw is her overblown sense of responsibility for everybody. This is something with which I can closely identify.
She sacrificed her own safety to hunt outside the fences for her family. She volunteered as Tribute to protect her little sister. Yes, she had to kill but it was always in defence. She was NOTHING like the District 1 & 2 tributes who were predatory. She looked after Rue. If she were a heartless murderer, she would have taken her out as easy prey. Same thing with Peeta. He was already wounded – why not just let him die or, out of mercy, kill him quickly. But she didn’t do that. Instead, she played up the whole romance thing in order to get sponsors to send what she needed to save Peeta. It would have been faster to the finish line if that’s all she really cared about.
She didn’t love Peeta. She didn’t really want to go along with the star-crossed lovers scenario. The book does a much more thorough job explaining the inner conflict she had with the idea. And the book didn’t make such a meal out of Peeta’s infatuation; the movie over-dramatised that part so she looks much more deceptive. Peeta knew all along she had a thing for Gale and he accepted their actions as a ruse for the cameras. But, because you hadn’t read the book, you didn’t know all that.
She made a number of very calculated risks to survive and protect the people for whom she felt responsible. A very high-stakes game of poker. She paid a very high personal price; as do all guardians. It would have been easier to refuse to fight and be killed right off but she felt like she should at least try and survive in order to get back home to her little sister and Gale. Then she picked up Rue and then Peeta she felt compelled to protect. In the end, she survived. But it’s not until subsequent books do you get the full picture of what her victory would mean for the 12 districts.
Where are your pants? 