It’s hard to believe it’s been 16 years since the book that inspired so many in the dystopian genre was released. The Hunger Games trilogy helped to introduce many to the wonderful world of literature, and four years later, with the release of the film, it reached so many more. Despite being an incredible adaptation, there are some things the films left out that still make us scratch our heads. Read on to find out!
Katniss Becomes Deaf
Near the end of The Hunger Games, Katniss shoots the Career’s supplies and loses her hearing in one ear during the explosion. The movie portrays Katniss having a ringing in her ear, but then it clears up and is never discussed again. In the book, the Capital fixes her hearing, but she still has problems with it through the next two books.
Peeta’s Leg
I’m sure we all remember the scene when Katniss and Peeta are holed up in that cave because of the sword wound he sustained from Cato, but that doesn’t cause him to lose his leg. At the end of the games, Peeta is bitten on the leg by a mutt, and Katniss is forced to make a tourniquet for his leg, causing him to lose the limb and survive his injuries. The Capital gives him a prosthetic leg, which is what causes him to fall on the ice at the very beginning of Catching Fire during their press tour. The films skip over a lot of the details of this injury.
Madge and the Mockingjay Pin
In the film, Katniss receives her Mockingjay pin, the symbol of the revolution, from a shopkeeper in her District. In the book, the reader learns a lot about the various hierarchies in District 12 through the character of Madge, the mayor’s daughter. She is pretty well-off and always has food to eat, so it’s not a surprise that she was able to have an item made of gold. Her friendship with Katniss shows the readers a softer side of her that the films don’t encompass.
Katniss’ Father
Katniss’ father died the same way in the book and film, but the importance of her father is left out of the movies. Her father taught her how to shoot a bow and hunt, and his journal of herbs and plants helps Katniss keep her and her family alive. At one point in the book, Peeta mentions how when her father used to sing, people would stop and listen and that he felt the same way for her when she would sing. It’s a very heartwarming moment for the reader to see this person that Katniss has looked up to her entire life was important to Peeta as well, and it was one of the many reasons he fell in love with her.
The Attack of the Mutts
This is a huge psychological issue that the film neglects to discuss. Each of the mutts has distinct features of the tributes that had died, and it is unclear to Katniss whether or not they mutilated the dead children to make these mutts. It is also traumatizing to see the people you had made connections with turned into a beast and to have to kill them again a second time. Even if they hadn’t made connections with some of the tributes, it is hard to have to kill someone twice. It was a deep wound that the Capital inflicted, and the film glossed right over it.
Peeta’s Family
After Peeta is rescued from the Capital in The Mockingjay, he learns that his entire family had died in the bombing of District 12. He had a mother, a father, and two older brothers. In the film, we see Peeta’s mother as being both verbally and physically abusive. She hits Peeta and yells at him when he burns the bread to give to Katniss. She also tells him that District 12 might finally have a victor, but she was referring to Katniss, not him.
In the books, while his mother was still cruel, his father played a larger role that seems to be forgotten. His father brought Katniss cookies, a luxury in District 12, before the games and promised to care for her sister and mother while she was away. When the viewer finds out about Peeta’s loss, it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal because of how his mother treated him, but the information we get from the book shows that his father was kind, just like him, and that would have been a hard loss for Peeta.
The Emphasis on Starvation
While being prevalent in the films, starvation is much more emphasized in the books. It’s clear while reading that hunger was at the forefront of every decision Katniss made. When Peeta tosses Katniss the burnt bread, she is 11 years old and about to die from starvation. That act of kindness motivates Katniss to bring the bread home to her family and to hunt for food and collect herbs. Peeta’s sacrifice keeps Katniss alive in the moment and later in the games because she has an in-depth knowledge of various plants and poisons.
Cato’s Death Scene
When the mutts attack, Cato is knocked to the ground while Katniss and Peeta remain safe on top of the Cornucopia; in the book, the mutts immediately attack Cato, and they tear him apart all through the night. The entire time, the gamekeepers don’t allow Katniss to get a good shot to kill Cato until the morning when the sun rises. Finally, Katniss delivers a mercy kill to Cato after he has been suffering all night. In the film, his anguish lasts seconds before Katniss decides to kill him. The moment in the book shows the connection between tributes despite them being pitted against each other. Even though Cato tries to kill Katniss and Peeta, they recognize that no one deserves the level of torment inflicted on Cato in that scene.
While we respect the screenwriter’s decision to leave these moments out, we still would have loved to see them portrayed on screen. What other moments do you wish the films hadn’t left out? Tell us on our socials!
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