For some reason, people on this site seem to hate The Hunger Games for some reason and have not explained why they hate it. I do mean to use the word "hate" not "dislike" but it seems that it is absolute hatred towards the best selling book series by Suzanne Collins and was made into a major motion picture from Lionsgate that has made 405 million dollars at the U.S. box office (on an 80 million dollar budget and made 152 million its opening weekend).
Two of the most common things I have heard about the franchise are the comparisons to the teen romance blockbuster franchise Twilight (which I am not a fan of but it does make a bundle of money) and that it is a rip off of the Japanese novel/film Battle Royale. Comparisons to Twilight started when Entertainment Weekley had the first photo of star Jennifer Lawrence as the films main protaginist Katniss Everdeen on the cover in May 2011 and the article was titled "The Next Twilight" as well as being called that by Good Morning America in November 2011 when they showed the world premiere of the trailer.
When it was compared to Twilight I could imagine every guy who had not read the book or heard of the novel at all instantly say "Great, my wife or girlfriend will be dragging me again to another teen romance mumbo jumbo bull**** movie." I was about to think that until someone handed me the book but I did not have time to read it until a break in the NBA playoffs. I picked it up and actually finished the book the same day. I went out and bought the next two books Catching Fire & Mockingjay and read them over the course of 4 days. This is a 30 year old man (I was 30 at the time) reading something that was suppose to be a teen chick book, but was sorely mislabeled as one.
Twilight is a straight romance book that involves vampires & werewolves. Bella Swan is boy hungry and likes it that two guys are fighting over her, thats all it is about. Katniss Everdeen is not boy crazy, she is not looking for a relationship. I know she likes Gale Hawethorne (who to be honest is really a non factor till halfway through the final book) and if you read the book or saw the movie Peeta Melareek manipulated his romance for the audience to get sponsers for the Games. Basically Katniss is thrown into a love triangle that she was really unaware of and wants no part of it. Katniss is also a survivor and hunter, she knows how to kick some serious ass. She is very accurate with a bow & arrow that she could challenge Hawkeye to a contest.
One other thing Hunger Games has that Twilight does not is a serious plot and way more murder & mayhem. Teenagers die, in front of the whole nation, bloody & horrifying deaths. It also has corrpution as the Capitol shows their iron fist over Panem as Fidel Castro did in Cuba. The Capitol will do anything at any cost to prevent people from uprising at them. You speak out against them, you have one of two choices, Death or be turned into an Avox, which means you are a slave in the Capitol and your tongue is cut out so you can not speak anymore. People do compare Hunger Games to Twilight because the main character is a teenage girl. many people do not feel that a man will read a novel or watch a film with a female lead. How many guys out there played Tomb Raider or played as Chun Li in Street Fighter?
Speaking of the murder & mayhem with death amongst teens, for some reason, people want to compare it to the Japanese book that was made into a violent film called Battle Royale. I had never heard of this book or movie until after I read Hunger Games and the few fans of Battle Royale have just flooded every Hunger Games message board with the term "Rip-Off" to "Suzanne Collins must be sued for plagerism" (For the record, Collins NEVER had heard of Battle Royale till after the first book was published. She got her inspiration from the Greek myth of Theseus & the Minotaur, war, and reality tv). First off, Battle Royale is not the first that involves last man standing fight to the death (Running Man, Death Race, The Condemed anyone) or where kids have to kill each other (Lord of the Flies anyone) so saying that Battle Royale is original and is the end all of end alls last man standing is not true. Plus there are differences between the two. To name a few:
Hunger Games is on live tv for the nation of Panem to watch, and they have to by law. Battle Royale is not televised
The Tributes in Hunger Games are chosen by a lottery system (unless someone volunteers for that tribute, like what Katniss, Glimmer, Marvel, Cato & Clove did) Battle Royale they were secretley chosen
Hunger Games uses more skill weapons in the arena (bow & arrow, swords, knives, spears etc) Battle Royale the weapons of choices are firearms
Hunger Games has a build up similar to the Olympics with the Parade of Tributes to an American Idol type show (no singing) where you get to know the Tributes and also place bets on who wins. Battle Royale doesn't
No one knows who wins Battle Royale till the winner is shown on TV. Everyone watches who wins Hunger Games and that person is rich for life.
There are other differences as well but that is something I will not get into at this moment.
Hunger Games tributes do not know each other unless it is their fellow tribute from the same district, as travel is forbidden between districts. Battle Royale they do know each other, as in classmates, friends & siblings, which in my opinion would make it harder for me to kill someone I know or someone I love.
According to Boxofficemojo.com, 41 % of the audience that saw Hunger Games on the opening weekend were men, compare that to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 where it was 15 % men, it shows that Hunger Games has a wider range of an audience than the Twilight franchise. But one thing that has bothered me the most is why people say they HATE it so much? I have yet to get a straight answer from anyone on that? Some say it is girly (which I have debunked) or others say it is a rip off (which I clearly debunked) but others say it sucks, but will not say why?
It made 405 million in the U.S., has a great rating on RottenTomatoes.com (85 %) and had a great word of mouth that it was the top movie at the box office for 4 straight weeks and was the highest grossing movie in not just March, but in April as well. The film has a list of talented actors in it, from Oscar nominees to Golden Globe winners, and the cast played their parts perfectly for the most part. Jennifer Lawrence became an overnight star and household name from this film, and there are even talks that she could get an Oscar nomination for her role as Katniss Everdeen, which would be her SECOND nomination and she is only 21 years old. The cast for the sequel Catching Fire , which is due out in November of 2013 and looks to start shooting next month, is rounding out its cast with some good talent, including OSCAR winner Phillip Seymour Hoffman. So with all these accolaides, for some reason, people still think this movie deserves the "hate"?
I can understand why guys inparticular HATE Twilight even a lot of women hate it as well, it is in the same class as Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift where the media keeps shoving it in our face for some reason, but Hunger Games was not shoved in our face as much.
One final food for thought....If Hunger Games was a Battle Royale ripoff, explain to me how many comic book characters are similar? Batman & Iron Man? Aquaman & Namor? Hawkeye & Green Arrow? Even in Cartoons, say Donald Duck & Daffy Duck? Transformers & GoBots (GoBots came out BEFORE Transformers, but what is more popular) and even television shows as well, like every cop show & just about every reality show now? But I have never seen more hate & backlash of any franchise than saying that Hunger Games was ripped off cause some 10,000 people who knew of Battle Royale say so.
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