Awesome Adaptations (40) The Hunger Games

This meme celebrates an awesome adaptation related to a weekly category. Any format of adaptation (television series, film, web series, etc.) is acceptable as long as it is based in some form on a book. This meme is hosted by Alisa Selene at PictureMeReading. Check out her site and join in on the fun!

An Awesome Adaptation with a Tough Heroine

Title: The Hunger Games

Adapted from: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

While the idea of pitting children against each other in a deadly fight for the sake of entertainment and as a punishment must breed tough characters for the sake of survival in the game,  Katniss is unique in her combination of abilities.  She's talented with a bow and arrow, but not particularly strong and not bloodthirsty enough to make her an obvious contender.  But her strong family bonds, her practical, sensible nature, and especially her intelligence makes her a tough heroine.

Katniss deals with many things in the book/movie and Jennifer Lawrence captures her focus and her tightly controlled emotions extremely well.  While the movie is an awesome adaptation overall of the story, I felt like Jennifer Lawrence's portrayal of Katniss really carried the film.  It's so important to have an actress realistically capture the tough and determined Katniss and also make sure the audience knows that she is also very compassionate and very much afraid.  That moment when Katniss is being brought to the field and looks at Cinna, almost shaking with fear, is such a powerful moment to me because it's a revelatory chink in Katniss's armor, and brings home the absolutely awful situation all the kids are in.  Of course the kids dying later also brings that home pretty vividly too.

While there are many tough heroines who are faced with hard social situations, in The Hunger Games, we have a heroine who is faced with the basic need to survive while also putting on a social facade, and all because she wanted to keep her sister safe.  There are many layers to Katniss, and I found the movie to have showcased her well, while also being a perfect visual introduction to the story and of course, I am eagerly anticipating the potential film awesomeness of "Catching Fire"!