Three Major Changes in the First Hunger Games Movie

The Hunger games is one of the most well known and acclaimed dystopian series. Based on the books written by Suzanne Collins, the first four movies grossed $3 billion collectively worldwide: an exceptional box office achievement. The books already had a pretty strong following prior to the movies, which led fans to beg the question: How accurate are the Hunger Games movies to the books? Most movies based on books will have at least a couple of changes; it’s rare for a movie adapted from a book to be exactly the same as its predecessor. Compared to other dystopian franchises I’ve read, the Hunger Games movies don’t stray too far from the world Collins’ has crafted.

I decided to see how accurate the first Hunger Games movie is to the book. (based on my humble opinion). After rereading the first book and rewatching the first movie I took note of three changes I thought were the most significant.

The Mockingjay Pin

Katniss was given the pin by her friend Madge, the mayor's daughter, right after she volunteered for Prim at the reaping. In the movie, Katniss finds the pin at a rummage sale and actually gives the pin to Prim before the reaping. I think having Katniss find the pin and give it to Prim has the opposite effect of Madge giving it to Katniss. When receiving the pin from Madge, Katniss was given hope and the idea that people were going to be rooting for her back in District 12. Having Katniss give the pin to Prim tied the object to a feeling of comfort and protection rather than hope for Prim. But I do think that Prim giving the pin back to Katniss before she left for the games was a nice moment to watch between the sisters.

The Mutts

In the book, the dogs who come back during the final moments of the games are described as having the eyes of the other tributes who died in the arena. The dogs are present in the movie but their eyes and connection to the fallen tributes is not mentioned.

The gamemakers turning the late tributes into mutts which are programmed to attack the three remaining tributes, Katniss, Peeta, and Cato, is one the most haunting parts of the Hunger Games. This also comes back to haunt Katniss throughout the rest of the books, impacting a lot of her decisions when it came to dealing with Capital mutts.

The Avoxes

In the book, Katniss recognizes and avox who is serving her at the Capital. In the movie this scene doesn’t exist. In the book, this reveals a whole backstory in which Katniss witnessed the girl who is now an Avox get kidnapped by the Capital after escaping. This lets the readers know Katniss already has an understanding of the horrific ways of the Capital. This also introduces avoxes to readers for the first time. In the movies the viewers don’t get that part of Katniss’ story nor do they get introduced to avoxes. Avoxes aren’t formally introduced for a while in the movies.

Honorable Mention

In the book Peeta loses his leg from injuries he suffered in the first games. When he got out, it was amputated and he was given a prosthetic leg. In the movies, the injuries Peeta suffered are shown, but at the end of the games his leg was fine. This didn’t change the plot at all, but it was just a detail that was erased from the movie.

There are other changes that were made in the movie but these were some of the three most major changes, in my opinion, when comparing the book and the movie.