Category Archives: Characters
Leaving It Until Mockingjay
There are a several things I both look forward to and dread where it comes to the up coming adaptations of Mockingjay. Some of them are completely innocuous things, like are they going to get Katniss’ ill fitting shoes right? And then there’s big things like, are they going to adhere to the first person narrative that the novel was told in, and therefore show us Katniss’ trauma addled mind, with its swirls, and utterly terrifying imagery. Personally, I hope they do, like– I really really hope they do. And then there’s my most favorite thing in the world, okay not most, but pretty high up there– the casting of the remaining cast. I’m most nervous, of course, about the casting of three particular characters though, and they are unsurprisingly President Alma Coin, Captain (No First Name) Boggs, and finally Annie Cresta. People have certain performers in mind, I know they do– and I have to be honest, many of the names that are thrown out by your average book reader, and movie fan– are not who I would want to be cast in those roles at all.
Let’s start with Boggs, shall we? I’ve written probably around ten fan-casting articles about Boggs over the last almost two years, and I think they went over pretty well. Several of the actors who I wrote about even approved and thanked me, yep– behold the power of Twitter. Others have sadly retired, I’m talking about Wentworth Miller, who I wrote about a long long time ago. He’s transitioned to being a full-time screenwriter, sort of like our dear Danny Strong. If you’re at all sad about Went leaving acting behind, don’t be– he’s got a BA from Princeton in English literature, therefore he’s finally using his degree, and I’ll bet you money that his academically minded parents are very proud he’s using it after all of these years. Enough about Went!
Here’s my real deal: I’ve tried very hard to be open-minded where it comes to casting of this franchise over all, and Boggs is likely to be a casting decision that the casting director will take artistic license with. Meaning, they’re likely to scrap any or all racial, or ethnic indicators that Collins wrote about him, i.e. his blue eyes. The thought of this kind of bothers me, because I fear that they will cast a stereotype that I keep seeing repeatedly in film, television, and in people’s fan-casting ideas for this role, and also for others. Okay, so what is it? It’s the racial/ ethnic stereotype that a career military person, like Boggs, should be portrayed by a black actor, or a Latino actor. I don’t know where this stereotype came from, but it’s here, and it’s not going anywhere thanks to wonderfully inept films like Avatar, and shows like The Unit. What’s puzzling to me is this though, statistically speaking the military in the US is over 70% white, and only 18% black or Other. So, who do I point fingers at? Hollywood? Ignorance? Do people just want to cast this role ethnic to change things up, what? Or are people okay with Boggs being “token cast”? Call me racist, I dare you, I’ll just laugh at you.
Annie Cresta: We have heard nothing about this role being cast. We only know that Sam Claflin is playing Finnick with Annie Cresta as part of his back-story in mind, as indicated by several interviews Sam has done since he was cast, and since he wrapped on The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. That is literally all we know about Annie Cresta. So, I think I can safely say that because there’s been little to no acknowledgement of this character so far, the fan-casting of this role has stagnated, or is in a really weird ass funk. After Sam was cast as Finnick the name I saw the most, disturbingly, was Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey. I know why this happened on an intellectual level, but on an emotional one– I just sat back and went “say what?” And I said what, because Bergès-Frisbey has one of the thickest Spanish accents I have ever heard, and I have friends who are from Spain. So, to those who are in love with this idea, because Sam and her shared screen time in another franchise– please start thinking outside the box. I’m even thinking outside the box for this one, because oddly enough out of the three characters I’m writing about today, Annie Cresta is the only one I’m 100% on board with them casting with an ethnic actress! And yep, I think some people would put Bergès-Frisbey on an ethnic actress list, but– don’t make me point out that I can’t understand what she’s saying! Too late. I have no ideal for Annie, I just want someone who’s got off the charts chemistry with Sam, and who warms the cockles of my cold dark heart.
President Alma Coin: Oh dear god, are you all still here? I know how fickle, and fleeting people’s attention is on the Internet, so if you’re still reading this, kudos. Alma Coin is a little bit of a hot button topic for me, much like Boggs, but in her case I’m a stickler for a multitude of things about her casting. In my head, or my head canon, which is backed up by Mockingjay I might add, I’ve always thought of Coin as a woman who physically is not how many people have been seeming to imagine her. Let’s go over a few things about District Thirteen: It’s population for over 70 years has been living under ground, this means little to no sun damage has befallen them, and to me this means a lot of them do not look their age. Sun damage increases the aging process for many people, and if you’ve lived your life in an underground complex for 50 years, your skin is probably that of someone 15 years younger who actually sees the sun on a regular basis. Thirteen is a very regimented society, people are scheduled to within an inch of their lives, all the way down to when they eat, what they eat, when they sleep, and where they’re allowed to go. I’d even posit that part of the regimentation for the population is strict exercise regimes for everyone. If you 
can also recall, District Thirteen experienced a devastating health epidemic several years before Katniss and co. showed up, it rendered some people scarred both inside and out, i.e. many people have pock scars on their faces, and are infertile because of the disease. In my head District Thirteen is like District Two without the blood lust. So with all of that in mind when I imagine Alma Coin, a woman in her early 50s, I picture a woman who’s in pique condition physically, she’s un-scarred by the epidemic, although she may have been laid barren because of it, and also because she never had children, she probably looks younger than she actually is. Then there’s the unfounded idea that she’s unattractive. I don’t see that, in fact I see the exact opposite, I see Alma Coin as someone who District Thirteen rallied behind because she’s a symbol of their ideal. Strong, intelligent, and yes– beautiful. Beauty and brains, basically Coin is the Evil Queen from Snow White, or Cinderella‘s step mother, beautiful, cunning– totally fucked in the head.
And nope, I don’t mean the Disney versions, I mean the Grimm’s.
Them There Eyes
Oh, That Catching Fire Poster…
We’ve got a special guest post from a fansite friend today! Specifically, Arowana Flounder from Panem Propaganda is hear to talk about the new Catching Fire poster and the references we all REALLY thought of when we saw it! Not everyone knows their art like Them There Eyes, but dammit, we know our Disney movies!
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Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon?
From the looks of the new Catching Fire Movie Poster, Katniss has. Look at her, she’s probably wondering why the grinning bobcat grinned too.
District 12… Is near a canyon?
I can’t say I wasn’t a little disappointed when the Catching Fire poster was revealed. I know a lot of people had been expecting stills or a second trailer or some sort of footage, but I was pretty excited to hear it was a movie poster. Great! Maybe we’ll see a bit of the arena, or some of the new characters!
Many of my friends see my obsession with the Hunger Games series as amusing (and, I think, a little psychotic) so I was looking forward to being able to show them a kickass poster. Instead I see Pocahontas pondering plunging into the waterfall…wait…those clouds…they kind of look like wings or something…It’s a Mockingjay! Katniss is the Mockingjay! I get it!
No one else will! Not if they haven’t read the book! It isn’t kickass like I wanted it to be so that I could show off to people who don’t know the series. It’s mellow and picturesque, and I’m afraid people are going to think it’s a Homeward Bound story where Katniss traverses Panem on foot to find her mother and Prim, who’ve gone on a vacation to San Francisco.
I saw a fan made poster that was absolutely amazing, and it’s probably the reason I’m so disappointed with the official one:
It’s just so atmospheric, and there are new characters holding weapons! That’s pretty exciting right? And two of the characters have their shirts off, something for the ladies *wink wink nudge nudge*. I mean the arena scenes are obviously the best bits of the second book, aren’t they?
Why would Lionsgate make a poster NOT using the most exciting bit of the story, but, instead, featuring the main character looking like Chief Powahatan’s daughter? It’s not like she’s a well-respected member of her society fighting against the oppression of a more technologically advanced (and rather dandy) culture… no, wait…
Ok, it’s not like she’s been trapped in an organised relationship with a guy that it seems to make so much sense for her to be with, but she has confusing feelings for another…oh no wait.
And she doesn’t have a best friend that seems to always get forgotten about in retellings of the st—wait… (Poor Madge).
I’ll admit that last one was pretty tenuous, (this is my first ever blog post and you should be nice!) but the first two strike a chord right? At least they did with me. Suddenly I DID get it. She’s the girl watching her home change. The trailer showed us the changes, all the excitement, now the poster shows us the girl that we saw go through some pretty tough stuff in the last movie, finally home like she wanted to be.
Now here she is, her arrow nocked in place, ready to struggle again, a new day dawning, a new fight ahead of her.
Actually, ok, it might be a little exciting! Who cares if she’ll never know how high the sycamore grows?!
I Bet Peeta Paints With The Colours Of The Wind,
Arowana Flounder
Victor’s Village’s Panem Vacation
After a certain point of vacation planning, you begin to measure everything in your live by how far away it is from your vacation like “Four more nights of sleep before vacation!” or “One more day of work before vacation!”
Today, my Victor’s Village declaration is “One more post until vacation!”
The closest we’ll ever be to “going to Panem”!
It’s not that I don’t love writing posts or interacting with you lovely people, just that I’m pretty damn excited to sit on a beach and sip mojitos (oh yeah, and attend my only sibling’s wedding)!
Of course, that got me thinking about vacations in Panem, where there’s really no option to travel to a faraway beaches to simply sit around and only drink things with those little umbrellas in there. Their beaches are crazy eroded versions of ours, used for practical purposes like fishing. District citizens along the coastline seem to do their share of swimming, but Katniss certainly doesn’t recognize it as something people do for fun. It’s a skill set! When you work on a boat, being a strong swimmer is preferable to dying in the midst of hard labor.
Plus, District citizens are too deprived for days off, let alone vacations! Those fancy schmancy things are reserved of the elite class of Capitol citizens!
There’s a really disturbing quote in the books in which Katniss explains that Capitol citizens really only have a few places to vacation: THE OLD ARENAS. Because those pampered little prisses sure as hell ain’t gonna make it in the districts! The Capitol citizens travel to the secure former arenas, where they go on tours, witness reenactments, and get to explore the life of a tribute… except with way less things that can kill them. Scarely, it’s not all that different from those “Live Like A Hunger Games Tribute” fan tours out there right now! It probably doesn’t hurt that most of the arenas are in charming, exotic locales that are breathtaking once you remove all the DEATH from the equation… and the food is scrumptious.
The way to vacation, right thurrrr!
Capitol citizens are narrow-minded and spoiled and not that bright, we know. But don’t they ever wonder what’s going on the the world outside those arenas?
There’s 12 districts! Probably with uncharted territory in between! All sorts of different people! No matter how much they love themselves and their way of life, were none of them curious about something that DIDN’T involve the games? Didn’t Finnick fangirls want to do to District 4 and kiss the ground he once walked? Or see the places where famous, glorious battles happened during The Uprising 75 years ago? Or not be in The Rockies because it’s not exactly known for the amazing weather?
Some vacations are panem et circenses, but others are much more than that. We see the sites. We try new things. We go to museums, for goodness sake! We get lost and eat too much and stay in questionable temporary living spaces! These Capitol types don’t know what they’re missing out on, but let’s hope they wonder.
Adios, Mi Amigos!
The Girl With The Pearl
The New Catching Fire Poster
Yesterday a new poster for Catching Fire was released to the public, and yeah– that happened. I could literally leave it at that, because right now I’m feeling like the saying “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all,” might be a good idea to employ, and also I’m a little bit exhausted from all the feelings, and– y’know, life? Believe it or not, us here at Victor’s Village do have lives, and a lot of our lives have nothing to do with The Hunger Games.
It’s taken me a long time to come to terms with this fact, but we don’t have to like everything released having to do with The Hunger Games franchise. However, I think we all kind of wish we did. Which brings me to this, I can respect the new poster, appreciate its artistic aesthetic, the supposed back story, the color scheme, whatever– but all I get when I look at it is, it looks like a book cover from the ’80s. This was my Honest-I’ve-Just-Woken-Up reaction to it in all its trademarked Instagram-ed filter-y glory. And there I sat in my Frank Lord Wright-esque desk chair, in desperate need of a coffee, and perhaps in need of some consolation, and commiseration, because as much as I know on an intellectual level that I don’t have to like everything designed, and released for this franchise– like I said above, I wish we did, or I wish I did. So, I felt like my feelings were wrong, that if didn’t like it there’s something wrong with me, maybe I’m not sensitive enough, I’m not open-minded enough, I didn’t know enough about 19th century oil paintings, I’m not a big enough fan to embrace everything and all things Hunger Games, and also, perhaps I’m a horrible human being? I didn’t go get that coffee, I sat in my chair, I emailed a friend, who thankfully got back to me within minutes– and it was a salve to my own disjointed, disillusioned thoughts, because they also didn’t like the poster, and they’re just as invested in the film franchise as I am. And then I started seeing other people’s reactions, reactions like this one.
I could have gone on an entirely different route with this article, I hope you know that. I could have waxed philosophic over the artistic merit of the poster, how it’s a beautiful, and beatific portrait of Katniss, like something that should be accompanied by Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, that she looks stately, warrior strong, that the clouds are ethereal, that the wings in the clouds are symbolic, and give me butterflies in my tummy, but, guys– they don’t. I can embrace the idea that this poster, and the Capitol portraits from a couple of months ago, are perhaps paintings done by Peeta Mellark, which is why their aesthetic, and their styling are similar, but what I keep thinking is– this isn’t going to grab people’s attention in the right way. However, does that really matter? The film is coming out in six months, this is one poster in probably a string of others to be released, we might even get more released at San Diego Comic Con in a couple of months. This poster is a blip, really– just a blip, and in a matter of weeks there will be something new we can painfully over analyze, intellectualize, and give back stories to, to make our selves feel better.
Until then my friends, until then.
Them There Eyes
The Enigma of Mrs. Everdeen
What makes a good mother?
There are plenty of elements, but there’s certainly not a specific recipe to being a successful, loving parent. It’s not easy for everyone and some people deserve the benefit of a doubt.
Does THIS look like she doesn’t care?
During the time we spent reading The Hunger Games trilogy and a long while after, we tried to figure out whether we loved or hated Mrs. Everdeen. She, the overworked but often considered saintly Hazelle Hawthorne, and the vicious Mrs. Mellark are the only living representations of motherhood we see throughout the story. Of the non-abusive two, Mrs. Everdeen is the “worse” mother, in the most basic sense, but it’s hard to tell whether or not she’s a bad mother…
We’ve heard the theory that after her husband died, Mrs. Everdeen stopped loving her children. Like “Oh, your dad is dead? BAM! Forget you then!” Or better yet, that she NEVER loved them, which the books don’t imply at all. We don’t buy it.
It could be the opposite, in fact– Mrs. Everdeen loves her family so very much that when the realities of poverty and death hit her in the wake of her husband’s passing, she’s crippled by it. She recognizes the state of the nation and the death of her husband and the inevitable death of her children, which would have been the case for both the Everdeen and Hawthorne families had one of their children not become hunters, no matter how many jobs each mother took on.
She saw the darkness in the world that would soon consume her family and because she loved her family so much, she couldn’t function at the very thought of it. When she realizes after months and months that they are not completely doomed, she begins to come out of her stupor. She recognizes that she has an emotional condition and, the book implies, begins to take medicines. However, we’re nawwwt talking psychiatrists and first-rate care. There’s still some demons in there that she can’t deal with all on her own, which is why she can’t always bring herself to actively participate in her children’s lives and ultimately decides to part from Katniss. It’s easy to assume that she did so for her own selfish reasons, but is it possible Mrs. Everdeen stayed away for Katniss’ sake, knowing she couldn’t be the support figure Katniss needed?
Expect Ghost!Mr. Everdeen ain’t much help here…
It’s hard that tell on what scale to rate a parent in Panem, because it’s not about things we know like cheering at sports events, taking us out for ice cream, and giving dating advice. You could say that supporting the family is the ultimate sign of love and by failing to do so, Mrs. Everdeen was a “bad” parent. But think of all the people who are out of work and/or dealing with mental illness today– Do they all not love their families? We think they still do.
There’s one thing we’ve learned from the plight of many literary mothers. We are super lucky to have moms who can only be described (obnoxiously) as DA BOMB!
Happy Mother’s Day To All the Moms Out There!
The Girl With The Pearl
So Dead
There’s this phrase that I’ve been hearing far too much for my liking lately, and the phrase is “this fandom is so dead.” Sometimes there are variations to the phrase, like “this fandom is dead…” but that’s not really that much of a change, because it’s just as impacting, just as negative, because the meaning is the same, as well as– um completely misused! I don’t know if any of you out there have ever experienced a fandom actually dying, but I have, and even when a fandom dies, it never really does, especially if it’s a community based around a television series.
Me, I’m a life long X-Phile, that’s a devout fan of The X-Files, which is a television series that premiered 20 years ago this year. It was ground breaking, it was innovative, it was smart, it was thought-provoking, it was scary, emotional, sexy, and hilarious, it was in many ways one of my best friends. Yes, I just called a television show a friend, but it’s true, it was there every Friday night on Fox, until of course it was moved to Sunday nights where it was the ending anchor piece to the night’s line-up of comedies like The Simpson’s, and I think for a time That ’70s Show. Sunday is where I hung out with it for
almost 9 years, Sunday night was a ritual of anticipating hanging out with my good friends Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Walter Skinner, Byers, Langly, Frohike (pronounced Fro-hickey), Alex Krykec, (Cry-check), Marita, The Cigarette Smoking Man, The Well Manicured Man, Mr. X. Deep Throat, and yes, even Agent Pendrell, who was sadly never given a first name. That’s until it ended in 2002, and that’s when the lull began, unless you count 2008 when a horrible film that I’m pretending didn’t actually happen, was made and released. However, even after that disastrous film that didn’t happen in my world, even though a friend gave me a copy of it, and I never watched it, because lalalala, stupid movie was stupid– the fandom hasn’t died. You know what it’s doing? It’s napping!
Which is what’s happening with The Hunger Games fandom! It’s napping, or dormant if you prefer. Dead to me means literally and figurativly unable to be revived, no one cares about it anymore, it’s buried, gathering dust, it’s just dead. By that definition The Hunger Games is not dead, because I don’t know if you’re aware of this or not, but we’ve got three 
forth coming films to look forward to, none of them are being put on a shelf, we’re not waiting around 5 years to hear if Katniss’ story will be completed– we know that we’re going to get those three films. So, next time I see someone say “this fandom is dead” I may not be able to control myself, because dead means lifeless, dead means we have absolutely nothing to look forward to, that we’re watching the stars of our favorite whatever do other projects, tuning into them doing interviews on late night talks shows, and hoping, and praying that they get asked a question about that project you wish they would revisit. That is not us! Seriously, it’s not, and while things may be quiet, and a little bit sleepy right now it was only last month that we got out first teaser trailer, which trended on Twitter for a while I recall, and now it’s been viewed 25,054,284 via Youtube. We also got a brand new site launched for our use, and our pleasure, that’s not dead like behavior, that’s very much so alive behavior.
So, if you have the urge to use the word dead to describe this fandom before, say 2016– do yourself the favor, and don’t.
The Hunger Games Don’ts of Etsy, Part 2
People think fans of The Hunger Games will buy ANYTHING. No, seriously! It’s not just the book publishers or film studios trying to do it these days! If you thought some of the products they’ve put out for production were a little over the mark, just spend a little time on Etsy and you’ll be running back to the comfort of NECA’s lanyards and pencil sharpeners.
We highlighted some of the outrageous things Etsy sellers have the cojones to sell to Hunger Games fans in an earlier post, but there’s just so much more out there that we had to write up Part 2!
The Hunger Games Movie Scene Print Art, Drawn Left Handed
Once upon a time, some dude took 5 minutes to draw and color the chariot scene with his non-dominant hand and the result was… somewhere between Beavis & Butthead and The Muppets. Put that on high quality paper and it’s totally worth $15, right? …Or just have some 8-year-old recreate the scene for you sometime.
BOOBS Real or Not Real Embroidery
The *cough* artist behind these babies claims it’s a Hunger Games item because it uses the book quote in a way that mocks the series by using the “real” meaning of the question “Real or Not Real?” Also, NOT REAL given how hideously uneven they are, even from a side view!
Sexy Hot Team Peeta Flame Sparkle Totebag
Step 1: Take a promotional still, photoshop on fake cuts and make Josh Hutcherson’s eyes look demonic. Add text that is EXTRA PIXELY.
Step 2: Print image, iron on to bag.
Step 3: Add rhinestones and MOAR FLAME, this time in a bow.
Step 4: List product under every word that might excite an 8-year-old girl!
Hunger Games Crazy Lady Novelty Pin
You mean you’ve NEVER wanted to show your fandom love with a pin in which some deranged looking character with coils for hair and beads for limbs is wearing a cut up Hunger Games poster as a dress?! That’s got a lot of charm and sentimental value, right there!
Katniss and Peeta Couple Earrings
For those of us who have decided it’s not enough to dangle Katniss and Peeta on either side of their face! We must frame them against bright red bows, like a tacky old Christmas portrait! That will show the world how much we love the series!
Jennifer Lawrence Devotional Candle
MOTHER OF GOD! Most of us like Jennifer Lawrence, but not this much! You can now praise her (or one of many other celebs photoshopped into a biblical scene) with this image on an 8-inch candle. We’re not sure if we should laugh or cry.
We’re Laughing and Probably Going To Hell,
The Girl With The Pearl
Many thanks to Savanna from Hunger Games Fireside Chat for finding a couple of these, including that last kicker!
They’ve Been Facebooked!
There’s a lot to be said about social media, “it’s a fad,” “it’s totally necessary,” “it’s a waste of time,” “no one cares what you had for breakfast, stop tweeting!” Yep, all of that and a few other choice phrases have probably been thrown out where it comes to that big bad thing called social media. Me though, I think it’s great, but today is not about me, nope not at all, today is about several people who just happen to be part of The Hunger Games family, who have either just joined a new aspect of the social media phenomena, or have stepped up and reaffirmed their apparent affection for it. First up, I cannot believe she finally caved, but it is our own Mockingjay her self, Jennifer Lawrence! That’s right, around the same time that HungerGamesExplorer officially launched, Jennifer launched an official Facebook page, and according to the page the lady’s been on Facebook since 2008. Not even kidding, scroll down on her page, and you’ll see it plain as the nose on my face, she’s
Oh yeah, she also made this little tiny list!
had a Facebook since 2008, just like the rest of us! I find this telling, especially since she’s said in interviews that she finds social media to be kind of ridiculous, which I can agree with on some level, and disagree with on an entirely different one. social media is simply something that cannot be ignored in this day and age, connectedness is just something we do now, and those who are in the public sphere who embrace this, let’s face it, not new development tend to be liked more by the public. Okay, unless you’re Chris Brown, or Kanye West. In Jennifer’s case though, she’s barely dipped her toes into the water, because her Facebook is kind of empty at this point, and in desperate need of some TLC where it comes to Inter-web-y interaction. Perhaps her team will pick up on this need in a few weeks, until this imagined revelation though expect it to remain pretty sparse.
Now, Ms. Lawrence isn’t the only top billing cast member who has embraced the social media draw, and succumbed to its power, because Josh Hutcherson even has a Facebook dedicated specifically to all things a fan of his needs to know! Or wants to know? I’m not exactly sure on this, but I think Josh might be the person in charge of this page, because all posts seems to be written from his P.O.V, which I think is awesome– because it gives it a more personal touch. Josh is clearly no stranger to the need for using social media, and he seems to have picked a favorite tool, which is Facebook. True, he has a Twitter, but he uses it sparingly, which I can respect, but still not so secretly wish he used it a tiny bit more– ’cause honing your Twitter skills is almost becoming an art form in and of its self.
Not surprising in the least, many other members of The Hunger Games family have Twitter accounts, and Facebook pages, most recently however two members of the Catching Fire cast launched official Facebook pages. Bruno Gunn launched his in the last 
week or so, and he’s planning to use it much like Josh Hutcherson uses his Facebook, in other words to post on current and up coming career projects, I’d also wholly expect some Catching Fire behind the scenes photos to pop up once the film is released. Bruno previously had an other Facebook page, and if you followed that one, you know he’s pretty deft with the social media interaction, sadly that account has been put to bed, and the new one will in time take its place in a more actively professional capacity. However, If you’re hankering for more social media Inter-web-y action from Bruno, he also launched a WhoSay account recently, and he’s been using it frequently lately, so go follow him there if you so will, and as always he’s an active Twitter and Instagram user. Last but not least Stephanie Leigh Schlund, AKA our volatile, and sexy Cashmere launched an official Facebook just this week as well.
Have at it y’all, it’s a veritable feast of social media goodness out there! And also, if you didn’t know it already, Victor’s Village has a Facebook page, a Twitter, a Pinterest, and of course a Tumblr.
Them There Eyes
The Cutting Room Floor
After seeing the first trailer for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, we’re all really excited at the confirmation that certain scenes made it into the movie: The District 11 man’s salute! The Katniss/Gale kiss! The whipping!
Potentially a 7 hour movie! ..We’d watch it.
Even though it’s just the tip of the Catching Fire iceberg (…Fire iceberg?! Whaaaaat?), the trailer also helped us come to terms with some things that were cut. When you see the man from District 11 being murdered, are Bonnie and Twill’s open-ended deaths in the woods still a huge deal? Is the brutality against Darius necessary to portray when you see the Peacekeepers being equally brutal with Gale or the rioters?
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: IT’S A MOVIE. Things will change… or more likely, they’ll be cut. We don’t always love it, but we accept it.
In that spirit, we’ve been thinking of some other things that can be cut from the movie without really hurting our feelings.
- The Storm of the Century - No, not the Stephen King book (though that has no place in Catching Fire, obviously). Remember in the beginning of Catching Fire when there’s a massive storm that snows in all the residents of District 12 for about two weeks, thus giving Katniss precious time to try (and fail) to glean some information about The Rebellion? Since nothing really comes of it, we could probably go without it.
- Broken Foot - WE KNOW. This is the “Always” moment! Of course we need that line. If that line doesn’t make it in there, we will hit a bitch. Perhaps only figuratively… we’ll see. But the line doesn’t have to come in the context of Katniss breaking her foot after the fences in District 12 are electrified. On screen, the scene in which Katniss returns home and tries to hide her injury while the Peacekeepers give her information she and the audiences already know followed by her recovery wouldn’t seem as dramatic and would take up precious time from more deserving scenes. Peeta and Katniss have ample opportunity to be adorable elsewhere!
- The Second Quarter Quell - We were once desperately hoping for this video or flashback, but now we’ve pretty much accepted that there won’t be a full-on breakaway to Haymitch’s brilliant bit of betrayal. New actors and new locations are probably way too much work for one scene not even featuring the main actors. Hopefully, we’ll get a quick, gritty recap for older Haymitch in there!
- “The Baby” - Some people love this moment, but we’re in love/hate with it. It’s complicated! What Peeta did was a brilliant move if Capitol audiences are stupid enough to really believe it. For some readers, it’s an eye-roll worthy first step off the Hunger Games bandwagon. A moment when you stop and go “REALLY? The majority of this society actually feel for that? C’MON.“ The alleged marriage should be enough to get Capitol interests in the film without running the risk of Peeta’s good intentions being too far out there.
Yup, those training outfits…
- Victors Training - We know there will be some of this, based on the still of Katniss and Finnick, but we could live without it being too involved. The politics of the Victors’ alliances don’t become clear until the arena, so it shouldn’t take too long to show that Katniss isn’t sure how to interact with these people when she still doesn’t know who to trust when the training session ends. The varying strengths and skill sets also become most apparent in the Arena, like Beetee introducing the crew to his specially designed wire, so we’re not missing much.
- The Spile - How many Victors does it take to get water from a tree? Four. Plus some serious thinking over the course of several hours. Or how about Mags already knows how to use a spile and we don’t watch giant tropical beaver-rats chew down the trees to drink as our protagonists dehydrate? Pretty please?!
Of course, this is an open floor! What Catching Fire book moments that weren’t already included in the trailer could you do without?
We’re Not Picky (Except We Totally Are),
The Girl With The Pearl
The Aftermath of Pods in The Capitol
“Pull it together, Four-Five-One,” he says firmly. But you can see him suppressing a smile as he’s double-checking the next pod. Positioning the Holo to find the best light in the smoky air. Still facing us as his left foot steps back onto the orange paving stone. Triggering the bomb that blows off his legs.”
In case you’re a little rusty, that right there was the death of Boggs on page 276 of Mockingjay.
We love you too.
We love to talk about how lucky we are, how good we have to compared to the dark worlds like Panem creeping in the depths of our imaginations. To a point, we’re right. We are lucky that we have basic civil liberties and no one’s sacrificing children’s lives for entertainment. But let’s get this out of the way now: Our world is still pretty fucked up.
There’s a reason why the Internet has so many articles citing ways that the world is slowly devolving into Panem or some other awful dystopia / fantasy universe. Mainly, those articles revolve around the fact that humanity is not particularly good to one another. We’re not all evil. There’s far more good than evil out there, but the evil is prevalent enough that you just can’t ignore it.
For me, what happened on Patriots Day in Boston is a scary example.
Let me just say really quickly that a lot of people in The Hunger Games community checked in with me after hearing about the bombs, remembering that I was from the Boston area. THANK YOU. I don’t actually live in the city itself and was nowhere near it when everything happened, but I’m really touched by the outreach.
I feel kind of callous connecting the death of a fictional character to the death of actual people, but I think I’m trying to make sense of things, because I’d like to think they don’t happen here. But they did. On a fairly unique day for Massachusetts residents, during an international, charitable event. I remember reading Mockingjay for the first time and totally freaking out over the above paragraph. Reading it, re-reading it with my mouth agape, then one more time for good measure, thinking “WHHHHHAAAAAAATT?! NO WAY did that just happen!” When it actually DID happen, I did nothing. I stared at a television in the back room at work and quietly assured my friend that her sister who was at the marathon, not far from from the explosions (and saw more than any person should ever have to) was fine, cell towers were just down. It’s not so rousing when it’s real.
As we think would be the case with any city affected like this, Boston banded together. We helped each other. We rose above the hate. We wish that solved all of humanity’s problems but– as evidenced by the mass shootout that killed one police officer near MIT followed by the massive manhunt going on right now– it doesn’t. All we can do is try to be better than the chaos around us. I know this city is filled with some amazing, unique, beautiful people, which is why it kills me when the worst of the world rears its ugly head here.
It seems silly considering all that’s going on, but we do hope that the Mockingjay films still shoot here. Besides having some prime locations, the city isn’t going to stop moving for anything short of good news. We geek out over movie productions here, but we’re also not crazy set stalker types. In a way, I think the city needs it. Something special, something to smile about. Plus, if you’re here, you’re one of us. And we protect our own.
The Funny Will Be Back This Weekend,
The Girl With The Pearl
