The Hunger Games (Mockingjay Part 1)

I'm going to say it straight up. I've only read the first two books of this series. Heck, I didn't even know what the Hunger Games was until only a few months ago. That being said this movie wasn't as cracked up as I thought.

Did anyone else get the feeling it was revolving around emotional character development more than anything? I wanted to see a little more about the revolution and a little less about Katniss sobbing and Peeta being tortured.

The best part of the movie for me was the creepy song The Hanging Tree. It flowed and showed a plot change in a way. What did you think?

I have to say that I wasn't really into Hunger Games and still not. But I read them due to constant nagging by some friends. I have to say that they were okay. And I have seen the first two movies. Haven't seen Mockingjay part 1 but I can say the reason for what you said was because all the actual action stuff happens at the end of the book. And yeah. Best part of the book was the hanging tree song.

I think it's the irony of the whole plot that gives the movie some interest. The heroine is practically useless; except maybe as a pseudo-figurehead that does short films to inspire the rest of Panem. Anyone notice how the revolution centers more on media manipulation than it does with actual fighting? It's almost always a publicity stunt in the books, nothing more than a facade. To quote a review that I agree with, "Subverting pop culture is a tool of the powerless". And to be honest, I wasn't even interested in the main protagonist's life as I was with the revolution itself.

Here's another quote from the review that I agree with:

"The most positive interpretation of Mockingjay is that it’s a daring postmodern step past simple satire of the reality TV-loving masses. Katniss was a hero of action in The Hunger Games, taking her sister’s place in the Games and manipulating the Capitol into changing the rules to save her. She was a hero of reaction in Catching Fire, unwittingly playing out her part in a larger scheme. Now, Mockingjay is creating its own version of David Foster Wallace’s hero of non-action in Infinite Jest : not a character "beyond calm, divorced from all stimulus" but one that genuinely has no existence or effect beyond her appearance on a screen within a screen. A character who, after years of manipulating her appearance, has actually started to become television."

That's actually an interesting way to put Katniss, Ian. And you're serious Rae? Her constant sobbing is in the last book? Not sure I entirely want to read the last book now. I'm going to wait for Mockingjay Part two to play out before I read it, so I don't read the book and then think the movie is completely terrible.

Yeah, Katniss is at her most emotional and useless state in the last book. She's practically hormonal.

Dude, only reason I read the trilogy was because I was threatened. Basically, I really dislike it and want to scrub the whole experience from my brain. I was rooting for Peeta in the last book -.- And bwhahahahahaha Ian! It's totally like that! Sorry, but she doesn't really have any character development until like the very end.

I amend my statements. I still don't like the series and really you actually need to read the books to get what they were doing. But, she did well with the whole media thing. About how the government is the one that sensors the media. That is what is happening now. We don't see ALL the real news, but only what our government has deemed as news and wants us to see. Everything it doesn't, it sensors, or whatever.