“Hunger Games” movie gets a new trailer!
Monday, November 21, 2011 | By LMcCauley | 1 Comment
It’s been a good month to be a fan of YA Literature- especially the film adaptations of YA Literature! Along with the theatrical release for one of the final movies in The Twilight Saga and the DVD release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Lionsgate finished its first full preview of its upcoming adaptation of The Hunger Games. So far, it looks like their promotional campaign is working because we can barely keep this trilogy on our shelves before another eager reader picks them up!
If, by chance, you don’t know anything about the books and are wondering what all of the fuss is about, The Hunger Games is a trilogy set in a dystopian future where North America is divided into twelve districts and one Capitol in a world called Panem. Every year, the Capitol forces its districts to provide one boy and one girl “tribute.” All twenty-four children must then battle to the death in an event called “The Hunger Games.” The last one standing wins a lifetime of luxury. The book’s heroine, Katniss Everdeen, comes from one of the poorest districts in Panem and chooses to enter the Games after her little sister is randomly selected to be the girl tribute. And to make things even more complicated, the boy tribute of District 12 is a friend who saved her life when they were children.
You can watch the trailer here!
What I find especially interesting about this particular film adaptation is that the attempt to capture the spirit of Suzanne Collins’ novel shouldn’t end with the movie itself. It’s a thrilling, suspenseful book where almost every chapter ends with a cliffhanger. But one of the most important aspects of The Hunger Games is its commentary on our own nation’s desensitization to violence. At the Capitol, where nobody’s children are ever in danger of being selected to compete, the Games are treated like a weird mix between American Idol and the Super Bowl, an big event that’s fun to watch, even though what’s actually happening is horrific. With this in mind, an important question arises: how can Lionsgate promote this exciting story without undermining the tragedy behind it?
Fortunately, the studio seems to have successfully overcome this obstacle by focusing this preview on the characters, not the Games. Rather than show off the bloody, action-packed battles that will inevitably unfold, it shows Katniss’s terror as Prim gets chosen to compete and she volunteers to take her sister’s place. I’m glad they gave the trailer a grim tone because they could have easily taken it in the opposite direction- and that would have made the trailer eerily similar to the Capitol’s own treatment of the Games.
I loved the view of the Capitol — cooler than I imagined it myself. And the “little Appalachia” feel to District 12.