We’re so back. For anyone who needs further context, I’m currently going through the entire HUNGER GAMES series (movies and books) and giving my unsolicited opinion to you, my dear reader. I am comparing the two, but there’s no “winner” in the sense that I genuinely love the movies and novels equally, and this is more of an exercise in finding my favorite bits and bops of both. Enough jabbering, let’s give our attention to CATCHING FIRE (2013).
1. Asterid Everdeen, the Hostess with the Mostess
One of the first significant moments we get post-Games in the movie (aside from Gale and Katniss smooching in an alley) is Snow’s impromptu visit to Katniss’s new home in the Victor’s Village. This scene is pensive enough on its own, but the novel includes some of the most uncanny interactions between Snow and Asterid Everdeen of all people. In the novel, Asterid assumes the role of doting host and Snow eats it right up… kind of. When I read it, I got the idea that both of them knew the other was full of shit, but neither were in the position to call either’s bluff. I already knew there was more to Snow’s character than just being The Evil One when I was reading Catching Fire for the first time because Songbirds and Snakes had already been released (I know, I’m very late to the Hunger Games party), and seeing this glimpse of Snow being “polite” was fascinating. Up until then, I thought he was a stone cold bastard, which is all you really get to see in the original movie trilogy.
2. More Lines, Please!
Since you’re here already, you wouldn’t be upset with me if I mused about Asterid for a moment, would you? I’m going to be so brave right now and say definitively that the movie-watchers of this series missed out on the complicated and beautiful mess that is Asterid Everdeen; this won’t be true after seeing SUNRISE ON THE REAPING (2026), but I digress. I feel like those in the movie-watchers camp missed out on seeing who Asterid is beyond the silence and dejection. In reality, the woman is more perceptive than anyone gives her credit for.
3. Peeta and the Case of the Missing Leg
Guys I fear this entire list is going to be me complaining about the movie, but anyone who’s read the book knows how significant it is for Peeta to have gotten his leg amputated after the first Games. This is one of my biggest gripes with the movie adaptation of Catching Fire and one of the few times you’ll hear me say that the book is objectively better in this case. I understand that they didn’t have the time to address Peeta coming to terms with being disabled and adjusting to his new leg on-screen (hell, he barely even had time to do all that in the book) but that’s not a reason to just ignore it, especially considering that he was injured in the exact same way in both the novel and movie. I don’t even think it would have been necessary to insert an additional scene, in fact, I would have been content if Movie Peeta simply showed up with his new leg, no context for the audience, the perfect scenario for evoking the first commandment of storytelling: show, don’t tell.
4. They Probably had Flock Cameras on the Capitol Train
I hate that they have the “Snow is watching us” debrief in the open goddamn train cabin in the movie. He literally instructs Katniss to convince him that her fake relationship with Peeta is genuine.
I don’t like how much I’m complaining, so let me pivot real quick and try to conjure up an excuse for this lack of forethought… okay, got it; what if they just didn’t care to hide it? I know Katniss is caught up in her self-prescribed life debt to Peeta, not to mention she’s the only one being explicitly targeted by Snow, and Lord knows that girl does not give a damn about trying to save her own ass. Haymitch certainly doesn’t care because he’s preoccupied with the secret mission to get Katniss to District 13, and Peeta… Well, I think Peeta (my sweet summer child) is laser-focused on keeping Katniss alive during the Quarter Quell, so playing pretend for Snow is very much on the back burner in his mind.
5. Heavensbee and Everdeen
Let’s take a brief reprieve to show a little more love to the movies because I could feel y’all getting sick of my whining. Katniss and Plutarch’s first meeting with each other is done so well, from him dropping massive hints about his true intentions while Katniss is totally oblivious, to the fact that she’s not even attempting to pretend to like him (Maysilee would have been so proud, IYKYK). Whenever I’m re-watching CATCHING FIRE, I like to imagine that Plutarch assumes Katniss is picking up on all of his “subtle” cues and walks away thinking she has an idea of what’s to come, the tiniest drop of humor in a sea of tragedy.
6. Heavensbee, You Rat Bastard… I Love You
The most defining characteristic about Plutarch isn’t his desire to liberate the districts but the fact that he is a phenomenal liar (and I mean that in a good way). Lying is done best when you’re actually telling the truth in a way that’s devoid of proper context for what you really mean, like when Plutarch has to comfort Snow in the movie after watching clips of District unrest, “I agree she should die. But in the right way. At the right time.” Incredible line, it really shows how everyone is a means to an end for him, which interestingly aligns him more with Coin than anyone else in the series. Maybe that’s just interesting to me, but I distinctly remember watching the movie for the first time and thinking that Plutarch was like a straight edge Haymitch (I was very wrong, clearly). It really makes you think about the kind of person he was at the beginning of his rebel arc, whether he became jaded over time or if he was always this utilitarian in his approach.
7. You Can’t Ration Pain
The aftermath of Gale’s whipping is equally as emotionally guttural in both the movie and novel, but I will say the book wins out for me because of the inclusion of Katniss’s outburst directed towards her mom after Asterid limits the amount of pain relief she gives the poor boy. It reinforces the idea that everyone is just doing what they think is best in the moment, which is one of my favorite recurring themes in the series. I also appreciate getting a glimpse into the emotional fallout of Asterid’s years-long dissociative state and the subsequent estranged relationship she has with (of course) her eldest daughter. I’ve always wished we could have seen more from these two and their contentious little dynamic.
8. It’s Electric!
I would sell a kidney to see the fence scene play out on the big screen. I’ve already mentioned how good The Hunger Games is at being scary and I know for a fact that the people in the theater would have been on the edge of their overpriced seats watching Katniss have to hide her limp after falling out of a tree to avoid getting electrocuted. All consumers of the series know about the new Peacekeepers brought in to disrupt 12 after the failure of the press tour, but in the novel they try to kill Katniss by trapping her in the woods (you could argue they were just trying to arrest her, but the end result either way would have been her death, I digress). But of course my girl can’t be stopped, so she hobbles back home where two Peacekeepers were waiting for her to (not) return and she proceeds to completely play in their faces in a way that I’ll never get tired of reading. It’s one of those “I know you know I know” scenarios and it’s written so well I simply must give Mrs. Collins her 10s. It also would have been a great scene that showed Katniss starting to intentionally rebel. God, if any of these movies deserve a directors cut it would be this one (and BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES (2023), but that’s for another list).
9. The Quarter Quell and the Power of Propaganda
Text-based storytelling has once again won out against her visual counterpart. Book-Katniss clocking that the envelopes announcing the theme for the Quarter Quell were made to look much older than they were was such a gag, I had to put the book down to pick my jaw up from off the floor. Let me be clear, I’m not dogging on the movie (this time), I actually love how both versions present the production and dissemination of propaganda (and how the Capitol’s propaganda is different from District 13’s) in a way that fits with their medium.
10. Katniss and the Neverending Life Debt
I remember hearing the cries of people in the theater when Mags walked into the poisonous fog. The book, per usual, presents its audience with an even more depressing version of the same scene. Mags is carried by Katniss in the novel because Finnick actually has to hold Peeta since the fog is rolling in too fast for him to run on his prosthetic. Book Katniss collapses after being unable to support Mags’s weight as she sprints through the dense jungle, which is what ultimately prompts Mags’s decision to sacrifice herself. Y’all already know what I’m going to say: why the hell did they keep Peeta’s leg in the movie! Katniss is supposed to get hit with the triple whammy: guilt over Mags dying for her, guilt over Finnick losing his main ally after saving Peeta, and guilt over not being strong enough to carry Mags through the fog. The scene in the movie is still sad, sure, but it’s just not as devastating as it should have been!
11. The Best Scene in Catching Fire, and it’s Not Even Close
The most heartbreaking sequence in both versions of Catching Fire are the last moments Peeta spends with the morphling woman after she throws herself on the muttation that was going to rip the boy to shreds. Truly one of the best examples of Peeta’s character and how much he enjoys taking care of people, especially when they’re hurting. Ugh, I could cry right now just thinking about it…
12. We’re All in this Together
I thought it was really touching that Haymitch and Finnick both tell Katniss to “remember who the enemy is” in the movie compared to it just being Haymitch in the novel. It feels more unifying, not to mention it’s a nice little nod and wink toward their plan to break the arena. I’d also like to give some attention to the recurring theme of uncertainty in collaboration and how all of the characters in this series have had to cross their fingers and hope like hell they can trust one another. My anxiety could never.
It feels like time is just flying by! One more list before we’re all done with the trilogy. I’m a little nervous to talk about The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and its movie adaptation because a lot of people can’t stand Snow as a main character (and I really can’t blame them). But first, we must tackle the monster that is the MOCKINGJAY movies. Until then, may the odds be ever in your favor.
