The Hunger Games
"May the odds be ever in your favour"
"The Hunger Games" is a fictional story about a future society where the rich elite controls the poor and keeps them in misery. This may be an allegory to the way we, in our rich countries, try to keep our wealth to ourselves and prevent poor people from distant countries from “disturbing” us. “The Hunger Games” is also a love story, and a story about courage and friendship. The book was written by Suzanne Collins and published in 2008. It is a science fiction novel. This book is the first in the "Hunger Games" trilogy; it is followed by "Catching Fire" (2009) and "Mockingjay" (2012). 16-year old Katniss Everdeen is the main character in the book. The first book has been made into a movie, and the second one is soon to be released in the cinemas. The film adaption to the first book was directed by Gary Ross, co-written and co-produced by Suzanne Collins and released in 2012.
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_Games
"May the odds be ever in your favour"
"The Hunger Games" is a fictional story about a future society where the rich elite controls the poor and keeps them in misery. This may be an allegory to the way we, in our rich countries, try to keep our wealth to ourselves and prevent poor people from distant countries from “disturbing” us. “The Hunger Games” is also a love story, and a story about courage and friendship. The book was written by Suzanne Collins and published in 2008. It is a science fiction novel. This book is the first in the "Hunger Games" trilogy; it is followed by "Catching Fire" (2009) and "Mockingjay" (2012). 16-year old Katniss Everdeen is the main character in the book. The first book has been made into a movie, and the second one is soon to be released in the cinemas. The film adaption to the first book was directed by Gary Ross, co-written and co-produced by Suzanne Collins and released in 2012.
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_Games
16-year old Katniss Everdeen lives with her mom and sister in District 12, under very poor conditions. The district is under strict control by the "peacekeepers" who are there on behalf of the highly advanced and rich city, The Capitol. The citizens of District 12 are threatened into silence and obedience. The annual hunger games are the Capitol’s main way to display their power and suppress the people in the districts. The games are also an act of revenge for a past rebellion against the Capitol. The games involve picking out two “tributes” (or “gifts”), one girl and one boy, between the ages of 12 and 18 from each of the 12 districts. After the election the tributes are taken to the Capitol to prepare for the games. After about two weeks they are thrown into the arena to fight each other until only one victor remains alive. This is all broadcasted as a grand TV-show, entertaining the wealthy population of the Capitol and striking fear into the people in the districts.
At the public reaping for the annual 74th Hunger Games, Katniss volunteers in the place of her sister Primrose. Peeta Mellark is chosen as the other tribute, he is a former schoolmate of Katniss, and has secretly had a crush on her ever since the first school day. Effie Trinket is their mentor and takes them to the Capitol. Their drunken mentor Haymitch Abernathy teaches them about strategies, how to use their own strengths, and how to determine the strengths of the other tributes. Cinna, Katniss's stylist, is the only one who shows her some compassion and a degree of understanding. All the tributes are one by one publicly interviewed by the television host Cesar Flickerman, this is one of the few chances the tributes have to appeal to the public, in order to get "sponsors". The sponsors can be of critical importance, as they can help the tributes to survive in the arena by giving them medicine, food or other things they might need.
Already on the first day of the games about half the tributes are killed, most of them within the first few minutes as they are all released at the "Cornucopia", a short run away from a great pile of weapons and other resources. Peeta does not participate in the bloodbath, he dashes straight for the safety of the forest surrounding the Cornucopia. Katniss only gets close enough to grab a backpack, and then she too runs to the forest. She has good survival skills and hunting skills, and therefore manages to stay unharmed for the first couple of days in the arena. She is shocked to discover that Peeta has teamed up with Cato, and some of the other strong tributes. But when Peeta has the chance to kill Katniss he saves her instead, by helping her to get away from the others. Katniss forms an alliance with Rue, a little girl from district 11. Together they make a plan to destroy the resources that have been controlled by Cato's alliance. All the recourses are gathered in a great pile with landmines hidden underground all around it. Katniss manages to blow the whole pile into bits while Rue distracts Cato and the others. Rue gets caught in a net while Katniss is away. Just when Katniss finds her Rue gets killed by another tribute, who Katniss immediately kills. Katniss then sings for Rue until she dies, then spreads flowers around her body.
Midway in the competition the game-makers announce a rule change that allows two tributes from the same district to win the games as a couple. This rule change was made to settle the crowd after the unusual reaction to Rues death. The game master felt as the audience in the district was on the brink of getting out of control, and so he gave them something to root for; the "star-crossed lovers" of district 12. When Katniss hears about the rule change, she sets off to find Peeta. She locates him by the river, he is wounded and in hiding. She helps him to get well again, and puts on a show pretending to be falling in love with Peeta in order to get the medicine he needs from the sponsors.
When Peeta is well again, they go out of hiding to find food and to finally face their competitors. They are now the last couple left, and start to realize that their chances of survival are not that bad. At the end of the game they fight off Cato together, making them the last two tributes standing. The game-makers then reverse the rule to get their dramatic finale. This fails, as Peeta and Katniss answer them by intending to commit suicide. The game-makers rather want to have two winners than none, they stop them from killing themselves, and are then forced to announce both Peeta and Katniss the winners of the 74th annual Hunger Games.
When they get out of the arena, Haymitch warns Katniss that she is in trouble. Standing up to the Capitol like that makes her a political target. Haymitch advices Katniss to tell everyone she was so madly in love with Peeta that she could not be held responsible for her actions.
At the public reaping for the annual 74th Hunger Games, Katniss volunteers in the place of her sister Primrose. Peeta Mellark is chosen as the other tribute, he is a former schoolmate of Katniss, and has secretly had a crush on her ever since the first school day. Effie Trinket is their mentor and takes them to the Capitol. Their drunken mentor Haymitch Abernathy teaches them about strategies, how to use their own strengths, and how to determine the strengths of the other tributes. Cinna, Katniss's stylist, is the only one who shows her some compassion and a degree of understanding. All the tributes are one by one publicly interviewed by the television host Cesar Flickerman, this is one of the few chances the tributes have to appeal to the public, in order to get "sponsors". The sponsors can be of critical importance, as they can help the tributes to survive in the arena by giving them medicine, food or other things they might need.
Already on the first day of the games about half the tributes are killed, most of them within the first few minutes as they are all released at the "Cornucopia", a short run away from a great pile of weapons and other resources. Peeta does not participate in the bloodbath, he dashes straight for the safety of the forest surrounding the Cornucopia. Katniss only gets close enough to grab a backpack, and then she too runs to the forest. She has good survival skills and hunting skills, and therefore manages to stay unharmed for the first couple of days in the arena. She is shocked to discover that Peeta has teamed up with Cato, and some of the other strong tributes. But when Peeta has the chance to kill Katniss he saves her instead, by helping her to get away from the others. Katniss forms an alliance with Rue, a little girl from district 11. Together they make a plan to destroy the resources that have been controlled by Cato's alliance. All the recourses are gathered in a great pile with landmines hidden underground all around it. Katniss manages to blow the whole pile into bits while Rue distracts Cato and the others. Rue gets caught in a net while Katniss is away. Just when Katniss finds her Rue gets killed by another tribute, who Katniss immediately kills. Katniss then sings for Rue until she dies, then spreads flowers around her body.
Midway in the competition the game-makers announce a rule change that allows two tributes from the same district to win the games as a couple. This rule change was made to settle the crowd after the unusual reaction to Rues death. The game master felt as the audience in the district was on the brink of getting out of control, and so he gave them something to root for; the "star-crossed lovers" of district 12. When Katniss hears about the rule change, she sets off to find Peeta. She locates him by the river, he is wounded and in hiding. She helps him to get well again, and puts on a show pretending to be falling in love with Peeta in order to get the medicine he needs from the sponsors.
When Peeta is well again, they go out of hiding to find food and to finally face their competitors. They are now the last couple left, and start to realize that their chances of survival are not that bad. At the end of the game they fight off Cato together, making them the last two tributes standing. The game-makers then reverse the rule to get their dramatic finale. This fails, as Peeta and Katniss answer them by intending to commit suicide. The game-makers rather want to have two winners than none, they stop them from killing themselves, and are then forced to announce both Peeta and Katniss the winners of the 74th annual Hunger Games.
When they get out of the arena, Haymitch warns Katniss that she is in trouble. Standing up to the Capitol like that makes her a political target. Haymitch advices Katniss to tell everyone she was so madly in love with Peeta that she could not be held responsible for her actions.