It’s happening! The arrival of SUNRISE ON THE REAPING (2026) has sparked a renewed interest in THE HUNGER GAMES series. Well, it’s more like the movie has whipped up an already animated fanbase. My wife is one of these fans, and has successfully converted me into one after we decided to read the original trilogy together (which, of course, immediately snowballed into completing the entire series).
I wanted to do something special for the release of SUNRISE ON THE REAPING, and so I’ve taken on one of my largest projects to date: I have read and watched every HUNGER GAMES novel and film in preparation for this latest installment, and I’m going to be presenting y’all with my favorite details between each novel and its respective movie adaptation along with plenty of commentary and comparison. I’m not a monster, so we’re going to keep this cute with only 12 points being made for each coupling (I am going to be covering the MOCKINGJAY movies as one and I’m as upset about that as you are).
I will be here for y’all every week in November to deliver my analysis of this iconic series. We’re going to hit the ground running with THE HUNGER GAMES (2012) and her literary sister! Thank you for reading my little spiel (if you can’t tell, I’m so excited).
THE HUNGER GAMES (2012) directed by Gary Ross and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
1. Book Katniss VS Movie Katniss
Let me be clear, I think Jennifer Lawrence’s performance as Katniss is stellar. However, I am a sucker for an unreliable narrator’s inner monologue. Do I think the movie would have been better if Katniss narrated parts of it? No, because it’s kinda hard to make narration not sound corny in a film, and we’re already talking about an adaptation of a children’s dystopian novel (no shade, I’m clearly a fan). Still, I like the experience of knowing exactly what this girl is thinking because she’s absurdly aloof while also being very sensitive and intuitive. There’s something so funny about how she’ll either read a situation completely wrong, or clock some bullshit from a mile away, and there’s no in-between.
2. How the Games are Introduced in the Movie
I think the explanation of the Games was wasted by the use of some plain jane text cards. It should have been narrated by Katniss, or maybe Haymitch (my wife thinks it should have been Gale, seeing as he’s the first character the audience meets who’s vocal about their hate for the Capitol). I just think it should have been said, like how Katniss explains the Games in the novel. It makes everything more poignant. I mean, damn, I would have taken Seneca or even Cesar Flickerman explaining the rules during some kind of TV interview or promo reel.
3. Madge and the Pin
Madge should have given Katniss the pin in the movies for reasons that didn’t actually exist until the creation of Sunrise on the Reaping. The relationship between Madge’s aunt, Katniss’s mom and how Haymitch’s games connect all the characters together is just too good to have left out. I’m not saying it would have been easy to fit Madge into what are already pretty dense movies, but there is no denying the significance of the pin has been sadly lost. However, I do love how cursed the pin is in the movie. Katniss gets it for Prim as a good luck charm, it doesn’t work, and then Prim gives it back to Katniss like some kind of cursed game of hot potato. Even though Madge’s character is dearly missed from the films, I’m not upset with how the movie adapted the pin’s significance.
4. The Movie’s Version of Snow is WACK!
Donald Sutherland played an incredible Snow, but I can’t stand how plain the character depicted in the movie is compared to his yassified book version. For anyone who’s only seen the movies (don’t worry, I’m not judging), book-Snow has had a lot of work done throughout the years, he looks a lot more like the average Capitol citizen than his movie counterpart. I understand having a ‘normal’ looking older guy makes him more sinister (like the grim reaper in the middle of a circus), but I like what his surgical enhancements represent in the novels. Maybe I’m being too picky, but I think Snow’s appearance makes more sense when it reflects the culture of the Capitol and its obsession with perfection. Snow is absolutely the kind of person who utilizes cosmetic surgery as a tool for fascism.
5. An Ode to (Movie) Haymitch
I hope by now it’s clear that I don’t have an overwhelming preference for either the book or movie. With that said, I am obsessed with both interpretations of Haymitch, but he’s such a mean bastard in the books. Him and Katniss fight a lot more, and he’s way less comforting than I think he should be. Woody Harrelson’s Haymitch warms up a lot quicker to Katniss and Peeta, and the truth is I am a total sucker for Katniss and everything she goes through. I have endless grace for a girl who’s doing her best not to succumb to apathy. Did she put Haymitch through it? Absolutely. But Haymitch returns the favor a couple of times over, so let’s just call it even (I guess). I mean, it’s not like Katniss is a teenager while Haymitch is a grown ass man who should know better… but I digress.
6. Everyone (but Haymitch) Should Have Been Meaner in the Film
I will say the way people treat Katniss in the novels makes way more sense (even though it’s more tragic). Jennifer Lawrence does such a good job of acting like a scared, irritated, and confused teenage girl, but other people’s reaction to how she acts is too nice to the point where it’s unrealistic. She’s supposed to be moody and aloof, I mean the girl’s being sacrificed for entertainment! As someone who was once a teenager, I can promise you that their bad attitudes are rarely met with grace or patience. The best example of the disconnect between how Katniss would realistically be treated versus how she actually is can be seen in her first interview with Cesar Flickerman. It goes terribly, she’s so incredibly awkward, yet Haymitch and Effie act like she killed it (no pun intended). If they had been more honest about how poorly she’d done, it would have emphasized how much of an asset someone’s personality can be in the Games. Raise the stakes a little, not that they need raising, but still… Does this slightly contradict my opinion about my preference for movie-Haymitch? Yes, but that’s the wonderful thing about comparing adaptations, contradictions are inevitable (and welcomed, if you’re cool).
7. Peeta’s Non-Existant Hand Injury in the Movie
One of my favorite scenes in both the book and movie is the fight Peeta and Katniss have after Peeta’s interview with Flickerman where he reveals his very obvious crush on her. The thing is, the movie deviates from the book by keeping their altercation (for the most part) verbal. In reality (book reality, that is) Katniss injures Peeta’s hands, leaving him at a disadvantage the night before the Games and leaving her feeling guilty as hell. There are some details that are hard to translate from text to visual media, but I have no idea why they decided to axe this scene from the film seeing as a major theme in both versions of THE HUNGER GAMES is Katniss’s inability to accept help from anyone and the constant frustration that comes with her feeling perpetually indebted to (mainly) Peeta.
8. The Film’s Brutalist Cornucopia
Fun fact: when I first saw THE HUNGER GAMES in theaters as a child-person, my least favorite thing about the movie was that nasty metal heap in the middle of the arena. I still think it’s butt-ugly, but as I got older I realized that it only made sense for the fascist government of Panem to design something so… bleh. Now, the metal cornucopia reminds me of ghoulish shit like anti-homeless architecture and cyber trucks, which I think it’s meant to do.
9. See No Haymitch, Hear No Haymitch, Speak No Haymitch
Guys, I know this is my second point about Haymitch (Mr. Abernathy if you’re nasty), but it’s not my fault he’s arguably the best character to have ever come out of the mind of Suzanne Collins. I so desperately wish they had kept the audience in the dark about how Haymitch planned on helping Katniss and Peeta in the movie. Not to be dramatic, but I don’t think we should have seen his perspective at all once the Games had begun. The audience misses out on all that good suspense and for the ability to really understand Katniss’s perspective and how, for her, she was completely left in the dark as to how to actually win the Games, even though all of the pressure was put on her by Haymitch.
I had watched the movies before ever reading a single book and I still found myself nervous when Katniss was second guessing herself trying to figure out how Haymitch wanted her to perform for the Capitol audience. What would replace these scenes in the movie? I personally would have preferred seeing more of the survival aspect, maybe switching between the different perspectives of the tributes. Seeing how people unfamiliar with the environment the Games is hosted in would have been interesting, a nice juxtaposition to Katniss quite literally in her element. Ooh, you know what would have been a fun addition to the movie that isn’t in the book? Getting to see Peeta’s POV while he’s pretending to be allies with the Careers. Ugh, such wasted potential.
10. Movie-Peeta was Playing Checkers, Book-Peeta was Playing Chess
We all loved seeing the Peeta and Katniss cave scenes on the big screen, but rewatching it made me realize how much the movie changed Peeta’s level of intentional involvement in developing a strategy for the Games. Book-Peeta is a much more engaged participant in the lovers gimmick that Katniss thinks is all Haymitch’s idea. I will say, I appreciate how well the movie showcases Peeta’s charisma and charm (he is the people’s princess). My boy knows ball, but I feel like the film focused more on the fact that he was genuinely interested in Katniss, which I’m not mad at! In all fairness, it may have been confusing for movie audiences to figure out which parts of Peeta’s behavior was an act versus earnest romantic feelings.
11. The Book’s Muttations are WAY Freakier
Anyone who’s read The Hunger Games would (hopefully) agree that the way Suzanne Collins wrote the muttations in the novel was far more poignant (and horrific) than the movie. Each of the mutts looking like the slain tributes is such an important detail for the story being told, I really can’t believe there wasn’t a greater effort to portray them that way in the film. That being said, THE HUNGER GAMES (2012) is very, very good at being scary. The fear that the film is able to evoke without even being a horror movie is impressive and one of the reasons why it’s in my top 3 favorite adaptations of the novel series. I’m only now realizing how many of my points seem to be trying to maximize the amount of agony Katniss experiences, and my only excuse is that she is supposed to be a pretty tragic character. While I’m here, I also think the recurring nightmares Book-Katniss has of the muttations are written phenomenally, and I do with the movies spent a little more time on Katniss's scary ass dreams.
12. Katniss’s Victor Crowning
I love how shady the crowning is in the film. The novel has the crown split into two so that Peeta and Katniss could share in the glory of winning the Games, but we all know Katniss is the real victor, which is why I think the movie made the (objectively) correct decision to have her be the sole person crowned. Singling out Katniss is also deliciously ironic because it makes her come across as calculated and good at strategizing, when in reality she was one of the least aware characters involved in the Games.
God, I love this series, and I can’t wait to get into the rest of them with y’all for the remainder of November. Until next week, may the odds be ever in your favor!
