The Midnight Premiere of The Hunger Games is officially only 23 hours away, and just like any other person who has read The Hunger Games I am dying to see the movie...so why am I going to wait?
Right now I am currently in the middle of the second book Catching Fire. This book is amazing and I envision all of the scenes as if I were there. I have images in my head for Katniss, Gale, Peeta, Haymitch, President Snow, the Capitol, District 12, Katniss' home, the rebellions...all of it! I am enjoying this book so much that I actually don't want it to end! However, I won't let myself see the movie until I am finished with the complete trilogy.
I love keeping the images I have in my head of everything Hunger Games related. When reading the books, I like to have my own vision of this atmosphere, which is not yet affected by any third-party visions of the same story. Therefore, I have been trying to steer clear of all Hunger Games related publicity including all trailers, magazine articles, and news-related stories. Trust me...this task has been very difficult. It really seems as if The Hunger Games talk is permeating and ever-present; discussion of this movie comes up on TV, on Facebook, on websites, and in conversations with my friends. However, no matter how difficult it may be, I am on a mission to avoid all images of this movie until I am absolutely finished with The Hunger Games trilogy. This may be a daunting challenge, but I won't let anything get in the way of my vision of Katniss and her world.
So while everyone is off seeing The Hunger Games, I will be off somewhere playing my own game...avoiding this movie at all costs!
What do you all think about this task? Do you like completing a book before you see a movie to keep your own personal visions of the story? Or instead do you not mind having the images of the movie mix with your own imaginations of the same story?
I am with you! I finished the second book but I refuse to even see the trailer. Its a little sad because I know who plays who in the movie but it has been so hard to ignore all the media. I have so many ideas about what should be in the movie, so I hope it doesn't dissapoint me. Also, I love Liam Hemsworth so its so hard for me to separate my interests for him and my feelings towards the characters. Cannot wait till I go watch it.
ReplyDeleteFrankie
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ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are deciding to wait to watch the movies until after reading the trilogy. I actually rushed to read all three books before the movie came out, and I'm glad I read all three. I've made the mistake in the past when seeing a movie before reading the book, and I have even been in the middle of a book and then went and saw the movie. It ruined the rest of the book for me. My mom bought me the book "The Help," and before I read the book I saw the movie, which was incredible, but I heard the book was even better. Now that I already saw the movie I have no motivation to even read the book. So I fully support your choice in finishing the books first.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a good choice, for movies tend to take creative liberties in telling the story. These liberties might conflict with your readings and cause some crazy confusion.
ReplyDeleteCasting in movies also forces the mind to keep imagining the celebrity rather than the descriptions of characters in the book, which I feel ruins the flow and magic of reading. The trilogy was amazing and I especially liked Catching Fire the most of them for some reason. I have seen the movie and it's definitely a great watch! I won't spoil anything for ya though.
My favorite example of this is the relationship between the Harry Potter books and games. I have to admit, I am a Harry Potter fanatic. I've been to the Universal Studios theme park, have read each book an estimated 8-10 times, and am a frequent visitor of www.mugglenet.com (check it out, you'll see why I'm such a nerd!). However, the one thing I can't wrap my head around are the movies. I clearly have watched them all, but none of them compare to reading the books. I would much rather imagine the world of Harry Potter in my head than see a made-for-money Hollywood movie. So, my suggestion to you is to definitely wait until after reading the books to watch the movies. Based on my experience, if you love the book(s), you are bound to be at least slightly disappointed from the movie!
ReplyDeleteI also agree that waiting to see the movie after reading all of the books is a great decision. I read all three books for both the class and in anticipation of the movie and I was not disappointed in either. I was pleasantly surprised as to how close the book stayed to the movie.
ReplyDeleteAnother reason I think that it is important to read the book before is it adds another degree of understanding to the characters. After seeing the movie I was talking with one of my friends who had not read the book and he was talking about how he did not understand some of the relationships in the movie. It was at this point that I realized how much the reading of the book enriched my movie-going experience. So in retrospect The Hunger Games might have just been a decent movie, but in fact an excellent film adaptation
I absolutely think you should finish the book first! In fact, finish the entire trilogy before you go see the movie. There could be spoilers that they put in the movies or hints to the next books.
ReplyDeleteWhen you finish the books, you will definitely be happy that you waited! I was pleasantly surprised, though; most of the characters in the movie were relatively good representations of what I had pictured in my head. I admire that you weren't the person in the theatre with 50 pages left to read, rushing to finish during the previews. There was a lot of that going on last Thursday night!!
Unfortunately, I have to disagree with this. Movies that have books always do two things for me: 1. bring the characters to life (duh) and 2. make me appreciate the book more. While I have only read the first hunger games, I still plan on seeing the movie before I finish the trilogy. First off, I know no matter how good the movie is (which I hear it is)- I'll still think the book is better- thus making me appreciate it more. Secondly, I always like the first book or first movie out of any series more than the second- because I feel like I get to truly meet the characters in the first book and by the second book- you know the characters whether you want to or not. I also have a slight problem with the amount of "series" type books/movies that have come out in the past 10 years such as Harry Potter, Twilight, etc. - and feel like it's getting old to read more than 1 book on the same characters with similar plot lines. While there's always multiple "twists" in the second, and third, and all the other movies( or books)- the excitement of the first one is always the best. So why not go see the movie when it's out in theaters where you can go eat popcorn and candy, be social, and appreciate the fact that you read the book (knowing that the book will surely be better)?
ReplyDeleteI feel like movies always end up ruining the books for me. When I read all of the Twilight books before seeing the movies and had an image of all of the characters, their houses, etc. in my mind. Then, when the movies came out, the visuals were so much different than I had imagined. I felt like my imagination had gone to waste because the characters were not how I had envisioned them. I will admit that I did end up loving the movies just as much as the books and seeing them all on opening night! But it definitely was a let down when I saw the first movie and the setting and characters were now how I had pictured them in my head. However, I did see the Hunger Games movie before finishing the 2nd and 3rd books. While, like you, I wanted to wait to finish the trilogy before seeing the movie, I could not wait. Everyone was talking about how amazing it was and I had to see it. Although it was not how I had imagined, I think that I will have a new perspective when reading the 2nd and 3rd book. Since I have a clear image of the characters and the setting, I can focus on the plot itself, not creating an image of Panem, Katniss, Peeta, Gale and all of the other characters.
ReplyDeleteI applaud your effort in trying to steer clear of all types of publicity for the Hunger Games until you finish the trilogy. As an avid reader, I found trilogies that I read much more fascinating when I used my own imagination to construct and convey the scenes laid out for me. For the most part, I also find that movies can ruin your positive experience with the book. I have found myself completely disappointed when leaving the theater, because I felt like the film did not convey the scene up to its potential. Hopefully you will not have this experience when you finally go see the film. Good Luck!!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to disagree with your way of thinking of this movie; although, I am also totally obsessed with this trilogy. My major way of tackling books-to-movies is to finish the first book and then see the movie. I believe that this never changes how I see the characters and many times when I finish a series the movie is no longer in theaters or I have forgotten important parts of the book that has been made into a movie. I'm the kind of person that likes to enjoy each book and movie for what it is and not know too much into the future. Especially with this series (since I am now finished with the 3rd novel in this trilogy) I am glad I did not wait and I was able to enjoy this one movie without looking too much into the "future." I do give you a lot of credit for staying away from all trailers, clips etc, because it is on television and in the media so much!
ReplyDeleteI only read hunger games, because 'we had to' for our book quest, but after reading only the first chapter of the first book I was hooked and hungry for more. I was so into the story that I had to finish the book at all cost (other homework....) and when I was finally at the end I found out I just couldn't only read the first book. Normally at the end you have your 'happily ever after' but with the hunger games trilogy all you get is unanswered questions that made me have to read the second and third book as well.
ReplyDeleteSince it think it was impossible to avoid the ads (at least the one with Katniss on them) the picture in my head of her, was the one on the posters. As for the guys, I had a good idea of what they should look like as well. So after waiting for two weeks for the movie, my expectations where so high that I was afraid that I would be disappointed, but I wasn’t!
The story line of the movie is almost the same (In my opinion some important things are left out, and some non-important things are made up (I won’t go in further detail in case you haven’t seen the movie yet) but the characters are casted perfectly! I think they match the descriptions in the book really well and they definitely came close to the way I imagined them in my head. So if you still haven’t seen the movie because you want to wait to read the third book, and you’re getting tired of avoiding adds: GO TO THE MOVIE! I’ll promise you won’t get disappointed.
I've always been into reading books that have later been turned into movies. The Harry Potter series were always my favorite, and (hate to say it, but so guilty...) I was a Twilight fan some time ago. While reading, I always had images in my head, like you stated, about how each character in the story looked and dressed. When the movies came out, fortunately, I was never really taken back or surprised by the casting and the characters' appearances on the big screen, until I saw this movie. I'm pretty sure that almost every character I had read about in this series was completely miscast in the movies- or maybe I had just bigger expectations.
ReplyDeleteUnlike you, I had completed the trilogy (obsessively) before the first movie came out. I made myself complete the series so I'd be sure that the movie wouldn't affect the way I read the books, or change the way I pictured the setting. Luckily I did so, and I am EXTREMELY happy I did this because I'm 100% sure the movie would have killed the rest of the books for me and I would have stopped continuing to read. Like I said, I thought that almost every character was miscast, and also the themes and the importances of the book were either exaggerated or overlooked. Over all, the movie was a poor revision of what had potential to be an excellent film.
Comparing this to other movies of books I had previously read, I really had never had any complaints. For example, although I am completely ashamed to admit- I was a huge Twilight fan. Although I was aware of the stupidity and ridiculousness of the books, I can't say that the movies didn't adapt correctly. But in The Hunger Games, I have to say the complete opposite.
With that being said, I am advising you to continue what you are doing, and complete the rest of the series (you will LOVE them) without letting the propaganda and advertisements of the new movie affect you. Do not let that get in your way, I wouldn't want the characters to be ruined for you like they were for me. Also- good job staying avoiding all the craze, I can't imagine how difficult that must be!
Amanda Schmerin