Hunger Games

[cellio]

We went to see The Hunger Games this afternoon. I have read the first of the three books. I thought the movie was a good treatment of the book; they missed some opportunities but they added some nice bits too. (I don't think the rest of this post contains any spoilers that weren't in the trailer.)

The Rue plot in the book was very powerful, and I was disappointed that it was so highly abbreviated in the movie. I understand that a movie can't contain everything in the book and still be a civilized length, and they did a good job of trimming in general, but this one stood out as a misfire.

The book is written in the first person (first-person present tense, mostly, which is unconventional). This means that in the book you only see and know what the narrator knows. In the movie they showed some of what was going on "backstage" and I found those parts to be well-done, laying the groundwork for the political issues to come. They added rather than detracting -- not at all a safe bet when screenwriters decide to innovate.

Because of the POV, in the book the game-makers are largely invisible -- we see their work but don't see them. In the movie I thought the lead game-maker was particularly strong; seeing how what was going on in the arena affected him added a level of story not possible in the book. And oh, his final scene... nice touch.

A nit: I do wonder how Katniss was able to stay at full draw for so long, with a bow strong enough to kill a person, in that scene at the end. Especially given her state at that time. Just sayin'. (Also, what are the aerodynamic properties of silver arrows? The book referred to them as silver too, and it struck me as peculiar there too.)

The trailers I remember were:

• The Avengers: meh
• Spiderman: looked like it could be fun (but can wait for NetFlix)
• (something like) The House at the End of the Street: no (horror's not my thing)
• What to Expect When You're Expecting: looks very cheesy (that would be a no)
• some Twilight movie: no
• Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter: please make it stop!

Comments

[talvinamarich.livejournal.com]

I have not seen the movie yet, but I have read the book.

Silver Arrows: I took that to mean "Silver in Color, not Silver Metal." Bright, shiny silver-hued bow and arrows being lugged around in a combative forest setting would just fit what passes for a sense of humor among the GameMakers.

As for the time she spent at full draw, I offer no excuses. :)

I read an article about the challenges they faced making the movie, and some things that seemed easy enough in theory proved far more difficult in practice. Costuming was especially a challenge, and they had to aim for the spirit rather than the letter of the thing.

I wish I had not known how Cinna and Rue's characters were cast in the movie before I read the book. It seems obvious to me that the characters are, or at least could be, Black*. Knowing about the controversy before I read the book, my viewpoint was skewed: I wish I could have seen if I picked up on it without the Internet going nuts over it first. I am rather disgusted that people felt that the author didn't do enough to make it clear to them that they are Black. This is hundreds of years in the future. "African-American" no longer has meaning, to the extent that neither "Africa" nor "America" still exist as such!

* OK, to be fair: I think it was pretty clear that Rue was portrayed as Black in the book, though Hispanic or Indian (not Native American) could match the description as well. We see her through Katniss's eyes, and she has different cultural baggage than the readers do. I didn't get much of a sense of Cinna's physical characteristics at all: more time was spent on his personality.

[cellio]

I think the only way for the costuming to be completely faithful to the book would involve digital graphics. :-)

I do not tend to form physical images of people when I read. If the author tells me something I absorb it; if the author is silent on someone's appearance I don't tend to fill in my own. (It also took me most of the first chapter to determine that the POV character was female...) So with that caveat, and having read the book before knowing about casting: I had no impression of Cinna (clothing yes, person no), and I knew Rue wasn't white. I wasn't sure (and didn't spend time thinking about) whether she was black, Indian, or of mixed background. And I do not understand what the fuss is about; why exactly does this matter to anybody?

[talvinamarich.livejournal.com]

It's an oft-overlooked issue in Science-Fiction/Fantasy, sad to say. There is an unspoken assumption that all Sci-Fi/Fantasy characters are Caucasian unless the author takes time to explicitly show otherwise. When a popular character is later revealed (or portrayed) as Not-White, it is a shock that upsets some part of the fan-base.

From a conversation I had years ago in relation to the Dragonlance Saga:
"Why didn't they SAY Theros Ironfeld is African-American?"
"Uh, this is the World of Krynn. No Africa. No America. He is not culturally African-American, he is from Ergoth, and the people there have coal-dark skin. And their own culture. Read here."
"But-but-but!"

Why does this matter in the context of a work of fantasy or speculative fiction? Sadly, because it matters in reality. Why does it matter here? *wry look*

[alienor.livejournal.com]

And I do not understand what the fuss is about; why exactly does this matter to anybody?

Well, it shouldn't, and yet (because of how our society is structured) it does.

Here's an interesting quote I found recently:

one can only think of Christian symbols as non-specific if one thinks of Christianity as somehow normal, neutral, and for everyone. In the U.S., because Christianity is the dominant religion, many people simply see it as default. You’re Christian unless you’re something else. Something else that marks you as different and specific, Christianity does not.
This is one way that dominance works. It makes itself invisible.

Source: Is Christian a Religion (http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2012/04/26/christian-is-not-a-religion/)

For The Hunger Games, when white folks (dominant race) read it, they assumed that the characters were like them. Since the author doesn't hit us over the head with stereotyped ethnicity (in behavior), the one line of description doesn't make as much of an impression as the internal "of course the character is white".

When folks have to face that initial misconception, they can either go, "whoops, missed that bit of text" or become upset because their status as the dominant race is being challenged. Their heroes are no longer people like them!

As I'm not a PoC, I won't presume to speak for why it matters to them. I'll link Rue Won't Be WhiteWashed in the Hunger Games (http://www.racebending.com/v4/blog/rue-wont-be-whitewashed-in-the-hunger-games/), which says (among other things): [for context, the casting requested specifically caucausion actress for Katniss, despite her being described as "olive skinned"]

We’re less reassured by Ross’s assertion that “Suzanne didn’t see a particular ethnicity to Gale and Katniss when she wrote it.” This statement does not necessarily explain or justify why only one particular ethnicity was cast–or why only white actors were recruited in the audition breakdown. White ethnicity is often treated as a neutral, invisible, and universal cultural norm, and Ross’s argument masks concerns about systemic discrimination in Hollywood.

[cellio]

Thanks for the interesting links. I didn't know that the casting call had been that specific.

(I don't think of Gale as being one of the leads. Now I wonder what the credits said on that subject; I wasn't paying enough attention. I think Cinna, Haymitch, and whats-her-name the official mouthpiece all got more screen time than he did, though in the book he got more.)