Thoughts on the Hunger Games Franchise

With the midnight premiere of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 tonight and the end of an era slowly approaching, it only seems right to share my thoughts on this franchise that I love to death (pun intended).

The Hunger Games first came into my life in 7^th grade. I have my 7^th grade LA teacher to thank for my obsession with this franchise. It baffles me to think that without having read the first book in class, I might have never read it at all. Around this time, the first installment of the movie adaptations was released. When seeing this the first time, I thought it was an amazing adaptation. Looking back, I see how flawed the first film is. Gary Ross is heavily to blame for this. With his directing style, I feel we lost major characters, plot points, and even some character quirks. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy the first film. The casting was absolutely fantastic and really upheld the wonder that Suzanne Collins had written. I love how they took what she wrote and added their own spins to their characters, like Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket.

Catching Fire is my favorite film of the franchise thus far. I thought it was a very faithful adaptation and really stood out to me through every aspect. There are just too many great scenes! I think Catching Fire was such a success due to the switch in the director’s chair. The franchise benefitted greatly due to the switch from Gary Ross to Francis Lawrence. It may seem a little out there to say, but I think his vision and direction for this film resulted in a perfect adaptation. I am so glad he went on to direct the rest of the films. This is my favorite cast from the 4 movies, hands down. Once again, perfect casting. I really love that over the course of two movies, they started to build a subtle relationship between Haymitch and Effie. I usually don’t like when things are heavily changed, but this one works so well. I really have no complaints about this movie. The arena is spectacular, the CGI looks very believable, and everything just meshes together so perfectly.

Elizabeth making fans scream.

Katniss or Jennifer?

Same, Effie, same. 

Of course, Finnick. 

Last, but not least, we end with the 2-part finale of this wonderful franchise that I have grown up with. Though Mockingjay Part 1 is not my favorite, and Mockingjay was my least favorite book in the franchise, the movie was still so amazing. The fact that they were able to make an entire movie that doesn’t end in 24 tributes stuck in an arena and have almost the entire thing take place in an underground bunker without losing the attention of the audience is simply amazing. It just proves how very interesting and compelling this story is. I can’t wait for Part 2!

There’s one last thing I’d like to touch on. The subtle symbolism in this franchise just fills me with joy. There are 2 specific examples of symbolism that stand out the most to me. The first being the TEAM motif that is spread throughout each book and movie. The way Suzanne Collins was able to engineer character names to display this is amazing to me and also very innovative. 

Trinket, Everdeen, Abernathy, Mellark 

The second being the relationship between Katniss and President Snow. We’ve always known Katniss as the Girl on Fire who always finds a way to foil the plans of President Snow, and eventually is there for his downfall. So, how is this symbolic? Fire always melts Snow. 

Enough said, right?