Adaptations

This post is about something that I’ve been thinking about lately. When books are adapted into movies, there is always a fear that changes will take place. This certainly happened with The Hunger Games movie adaptations.

Throughout reading the books, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark were my favorite characters. This mentality stayed with me as I went into the first movie. They have remained, throughout the four movies, characters that I absolutely love, but I don’t think I’d consider them my favorite characters anymore. That spot now belongs to Haymitch Abernathy and Effie Trinket. Why? How can a mentality change so drastically like that? It’s solely due to the changes that took place from book to movie.

I read the books during 7^th and 8^th grade, so of course I gravitated towards the female protagonist who was close to my age. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I don’t love Katniss anymore. I love her so much and she is still one of my favorite female characters ever. I just have a greater appreciation for Effie now. Talk about character development! In the books, Effie really never became humanized. She was always just a product of the Capitol who just happened to be connected to the one girl who challenged everything she ever knew. I never really thought of anything more of her than that. That all changed after I saw the movies, all thanks to Elizabeth Banks.

This mentality change for me is all because of the incredible depth that Elizabeth Banks and Woody Harrelson have brought to these characters. I can’t imagine what these films would be like had they not been cast in these roles. I usually don’t like huge changes when things get adapted, but Effie’s inclusion and her relationship with Haymitch were fantastic strays from the source material that actually made sense. Had the writers stayed completely faithful and basically cut Effie from the last two movies all together, it would’ve been a huge disservice to the audience. Elizabeth had been able to get inside of the head of this nutty character and strip her down to someone who is both likeable and human who feels real emotion. Book Effie is a Capitol Barbie, unrealistic and fake. Movie Effie is so real and you root for her. The thing that really makes these two my favorites is their screen-only relationship. Never in the books did those two ever flirt with each other because they were always bickering. When you really pay attention, they flirt so much in the movies. It all leads up to the kiss in the 4^th installment that leaves fans like me wanting more. The fact that the kiss was improvised, mostly by Woody, proves that these actors care about these characters and are ambitious enough to explore things that the audience never saw coming. For a couple that was never even meant to be a couple, they have become one of my favorite couples of all time. It’s just fascinating to me how influential visual representation can be.