Great Emotion and correlation to reality

Rating: 9/10 (22 January 2020)

Do you remember the release of the first The Hunger Games movie? I sure do as an 11 year old in 2012. My friends and I were obsessed with the struggle, the female champion and the rising up over an evil society! The Hunger Games was originally a book series written by Suzanne Collins, eventually produced into movies by Lionsgate Entertainment. The original film seemed to take the world by storm as children and adults flocked to theaters. The first Hunger Games movie is a story of a collapsed world divided into 12 districts and one capital. Every year the capital holds a competition between several districts. Two tributes are chosen from each district and must fight to their death, while weighing in love until there is one person left. Once there is a "victor", they are gifted a posh life with enough money to live very comfortably. In this story the main character Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) balances love, family, friends and finds a way to make it through the story while bending the rules. This film uses various components throughout to effectively communicate what society cares about in this world, and the character's personality and feelings to the viewer.
Right off the bat, The Hunger Games uses a sad looking dystopian world to draw the viewer in and portray the original feeling of the film. The cinematography of a dark looking forest with barbed wire fences gave me an uneasy feeling. We then meet the characters Katniss, Prim (Willow Shields), Gale (Liam Hemsworth) and a few others. All of these characters look like they have a cloud over their heads, almost like they're talking to us through the screen saying they need help in this unfair world they live in. I also picked up on parts of their personalities from the dialogue used in this sad time, Katniss is obviously very stubborn, but loving.
Something portraying this absolute gloom, I noticed quickly, is their clothing. They wear dull colors with all of the other children and parents as they make their way to the Reaping. We now meet a bright and colorfully dressed woman named Effie (Elizabeth Banks), Effie is from the capital whose job it is to draw names at the Reaping. Anyone watching would pick up on Effie's over the top personality and relatively positive personality all from her hot pink outfit, elaborate hair and makeup. Effies personality does not change throughout the film as she is one of the chosen ones from the capital with nothing to lose. Her eccentric outfits seem to feed her ego. Next, when all the districts and the capital are introduced to the tributes competing on live television, you see a piece of their personality and life based on the customer they are dressed in. I found this very interesting to see how they portrayed their personalities through the costume they wore, especially showing Katniss's fire within herself with a dress literally on fire.
Throughout the entirety of the film the actors did an incredible job showing emotion and feeling through each scene. Jennifer Lawrence showed great spirit and drive, going against what the capital and what it represents wanted from her. I found myself feeling inspired by the end of the movie, it felt as though I had my own fire within me and society did not have the authority to control my actions. Gale was Katniss's best friend and "sort of" lover. Gale's feelings for Katniss and her family, even after she left for the games, made me root for him the entire film. The acting was impeccable between these two, Liam Hemsworth and Jennifer Lawrence allowed viewers, myself included, to identify with the characters.
A theme I found in this movie, although it may not have been the most prominent theme in the film, seemed to be the honesty many societies deal with. You see a future version of the world that is desperate, a society obsessed with reality television. You see a society that values money and wealth over others' quality of life. I appreciate this theme was included, in my opinion it is a good representation of how our world could completely fall apart. It is a wakeup call for society to open their eyes and quit being absolutely engrossed in social media, reality television, and things that are intangible for the majority of people.
The Hunger Games overall does a wonderful job throughout the film in every aspect of entertainment. Something I found could be improved upon, is an explanation to initially to help us understand and provide background as to how the world had come to this state. It is obvious it is disarray after some sort of collapse, but left me with many questions. Why is it divided into 12 districts? Why is there still a capital with lots of money if everything was destroyed? How did everyone get divided into the ranked districts and capital? In a movie like Netflix's Bird Box, you may not know why this thing people see makes everyone die or go crazy, but the backdrop and believability with society seems to fit. Providing further historical perspective as part of the Hunger Games would have been a good to include in order to understand the rest of the story. It makes for a few blank spots within the plot.
The Hunger Games is an interesting story that holds the viewer's attention throughout. The acting, dialogue, scenery, photography, costumes, makeup, and themes are only a few examples of how the film successfully conveyed society's views and the characters feelings and personality. The Hunger Games first film did a very effective job across the board connecting to today's culture through the film's society, able to pick up a character's feelings through costume and being relatable from the viewer to the characters feelings and acting. Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor.