It's the Hunger Games, not Twilight.
What I cannot stand is when people start to compare different book-to-film adaptations to one another because the only thing they really have in common with one another is: they were adapted from a popular book series.
Seriously.
First it was Harry Potter vs. Chronicles of Narnia.
Then Harry Potter vs. Twilight.
Now, Twilight vs. Hunger Games.
THEY HAVE NOTHING IN COMMON.
Let's start with the fully finished series shall we?
THE LEGEND THAT IS HARRY POTTER.
Now, I'm not a reader, nor did I watch the films but they were heavily publicized so you would have to be living under a rock to not know even the summary of it. Even so, if any part of HP that I describe below is inaccurate, please don't hate me because I really have had no contact with the books or the movie at all.
The movie was about this kid called Harry Potter (duh) who enrolled in this School for Wizards and he, with his best friends Ron and Hermione, have adventures together that lasts for like, 7 books. Ohyes, they have to fight the evil Voldemort.
I shouldn't continue lest I say something wrong. I already had to Wiki the name of Voldemort (I forgot) and find out how many books there were in total.
This movie broke records like you wouldn't believe. All those Harry Potter fans out there (muggles, you all are. See, I know my stuff), went crazy over this series. People cried when the last movie came out (has it? It has, hasn't it?)
I never read the books or watched the movies, but I agree: this series was spectacular.
I'm waiting til after my exams to enjoy the books and the movies. Maybe a HP marathon, just for the heck of it.
Next,
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA.
Now, this series, I'm familiar with.
4 children, sent to live in the country with unknown people to escape World War 2, discover a wardrobe that leads them to a whole different world. I remember my mother reading the books to me when I was a kid and how excited she was when the first movie came out. I remember her immediately bringing me to watch the movie and I remember loving the movie. I'm re-reading the whole series right now actually.
I cannot tell you how much I'm a fan of this series. I always imagine myself in Narnia and how wonderful it would be to be friends with trees, and giants, and fauns and learning how to yield a sword or a bow and arrow. I wasn't very pleased with the 3rd movie though. Maybe because Peter and Susan weren't there but this series hasn't ended yet so there's not much to say.
People began to compare this with Harry Potter though I'm not sure why.
Maybe the similarity of that they were set in a whole other world?
That children and Magic were involved?
The fact that they were British people?
I see absolutely no way to compare these 2 movies together in anyway.
One has a nose-less guy for the antagonist. The other, a tall white witch. IN WHAT WAY ARE THEY SIMILAR?!
Next movie: TWILIGHT.
Aaaah, Twilight. I was a fan back in 2008. It was after my PSLE and I was on my way to Australia. Afraid I would get bored on the plane, I bought the book. I enjoyed the first book and then bought the second one at the Melbourne airport. I didn't like the second one but kept my hopes up so when I went to a library in Melbourne, I read the third one (yes I finished it in the library) and then bought the last book when waiting for our rented car to arrive when we were in Tasmania. (Yes, my Twilight adventure took place in Australia)
Then I went to watch the movie. The movies spoilt the whole series for me. I'm sorry, but I'm not a fan of the movies and I have to say this: THE PEOPLE IN THE MOVIE CANNOT ACT.
I'm sorry if I offend any Twilight-ers out there but honestly, the movie just couldn't live up to the standards of the book. This was one book-to-film adaptation that made me so mad, I am willing to burn my books once and for all.
Let's get back to the topic at hand: the comparison.
Honestly, in what warped world does this compare with Harry Potter?
One deals with vampires, werewolves and weeping, helpless girls and 3 children who casts spells and helps save the world?
Whatever Edward did was always to save Bella and whatever Bella did was to get Edward to go back to be by her side again. Nothing they did ever endangered the world. Maybe the Vampire world but that isn't going to make the whole Earth crumble will it?
People who compare Harry Potter to Twilight: How do you compare them? Enlighten me, please!
NOW: THE HUNGER GAMES.
I learnt about the books first when my senior KN first talked about it last year but never really got down to reading it. Then, I heard the movie was coming out so I thought: I should read it. So I read it and never regretted it. This series was amazing.
Maybe because it's been a long time since I've read a whole series, maybe it's because I started this series only after I became a Literature student but this book got me thinking like crazy about so many things that if I wrote them out, I'll probably be taken to the government and get slapped in the face. So I went to watch the movie today, and after watching Twilight, I was adamant to not keep my hopes too high up for the movie because I knew I would get disappointed.
Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. They kept very closely to the book, and kept quite a number of key scenes in the movie. True, they cut short a lot of my favourite scenes and reduced the level of intimacy to a minimum but it was still an enjoyable movie. I encourage you to watch it. Even if you have read the books, you wouldn't be too mad about them changing or cutting some scenes because the camera work does make up for it. Suzanne Collins (the author) wrote the book in Katniss's (the protagonist) point of view. That made a lot of things in the book very limited and restricted. Also, a lot of words written were in Katniss's head. That makes it hard to show in film. The camera work helps show the different feelings of Katniss even without words. The movie added some scenes to help expand the view of the watcher and you see much more things happening in the movie than in the book.
I rate this 4/5.
Now, on to the comparison.
Harry Potter had 3 kids in a school.
Narnia had 4 kids on an adventure.
Twilight had a weakling for a heroine, a vampire for the hero, and a werewolf to show off his abs.
Hunger Games was about 24 kids, fighting for their lives so that they could go home and be with their families.
They compared Twilight with the Hunger Games. I am scoffing. Are you scoffing with me?
One, the heroine is strong, independent and can shoot an arrow straight through an apple. The other heroine relies on her vampire boyfriend to do everything and when he's gone, she mopes around and sinks into depression until he returns. Or, she goes to hang out with werewolf best friend.
Now, I don't hate Twilight, but even you can see how much difference there is right?
The Hunger Games is set in the bleak future, when things around North America (Panem) are controlled by the Capitol and these 12 districts are just fighting to live another day. It's about the government, the people, the wars, the relationships.
Twilight is set in the modern world where vampires and werewolves exist.
I don't see a connection.
These book-to-film adaptations are popular because they already have a relatively large fan base thanks to the books. These fans are eager to watch the books come to live on the big screen. I don't see the need to constantly compare all these movies to one another because each book has its own flavour, its own uniqueness and I personally feel that you're destroying that uniqueness of each story by comparing one movie to the other.
The books were all written by different authors, with different thoughts going through their heads as they penned the story down. For you to go there and compare those different stories is just absurd.
I say stop.
These books or films shouldn't be compared, and should just be enjoyed just the way it is.
I don't enjoy comparing books to the films because I know that not everything in the book can be shown on the big screen, and I don't enjoy comparing the films to one another. I just appreciate the film by itself, and the books by themselves.
These film makers in Hollywood are producing these movies because they know they will sell. So just get out there, help those film makers get filthy rich and enjoy those movies.
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