Hunger Games

The games | The books | The movies | What's with Archery ?

It's hard to find a film as good as the book it's based on. It's harder to find one that beats it! I know most people would disagree with me, but Hunger Games, the movie was far far better than Hunger Games, the book.

I'm not saying the book was not good. It had a plot. A plot that can gather momentum and put together a running story that runs all the way to the end. "Easy to read and full of masala". That's how a friend described it to me when I asked if I should read it. What I felt the book lacked for was description, imagination in words and the punch. It left a lot for the reader to imagine, not because it wants the reader to think but because it forgot to put it in words.
How the hell did they even give a girl 11 points when she shot at the judges ?
I almost missed the importance of not having a victor. Really? What's the big deal for the games if one year they did not have a victor. They had games in barren lands where once a lot of players died out of cold or lack of water. So now they have a year without a victor. At least the girl who challenges them dies. The next year they would not have District 11 or 12 victors and have only District 1 or 2 surviving till the end. Worse still, they can take their revenge on Katniss and get Prim the next year into the games and kill her. Really! If they didn't have a victor one games it would not have been much.
And why would you think Katniss the surviver take the berries? She might as well pretend to and not take them while she waits for the chubby boy to die and emerge a victor!
And so much more. The author could not explain clearer.

The movie took advantage of these gaps and filled them in with their ideas. The characters from Capitol were so well created. All those that lacked any character in the book were beautifully done up in the movie. There were some occasions where you would feel the movie changes the plot and does not do justice to the book but that's only because the book was written from the girl's perspective and if the movie was the same it would have lacked in telling the story so well told by the movie. In the ending where the Gamemaker is made to eat the berries that Katniss was about eat, that was a classic. Lots more masala and filminess but classic. The woman who acted as Katniss, Jennifer Lawrence was absolutely fabulous. The revolt in District 11 instead of the gift of bread was clarifying a story!
The movie surely outlives the book!

However, neither has anything to do with a bow and an arrow. And I have no idea why anyone would be inspired to take up archery as a hobby based on this plot! So yeah, that was the reason I read and watched. To get more inspired and continue with archery.
Doesn't matter. Self motivation is the strongest kind!