10 Katniss Mannerisms From The Hunger Games That The Movies Forget

The Hunger Games‘, Katniss Everdeen, is an iconic heroine in YA dystopian media, but there are parts of her character written into the book that the movies forget about. Jennifer Lawrence plays Katniss in all four of the original films. Lawrence has been commended for her ability to bring Katniss to life. The story encompasses her experience in the titular Hunger Games when she and a group of teenagers are chosen to fight to the death, and after this, her life is never the same.

The newest movie in the series, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes recently revived the massive amount of love and attention the franchise achieved through the first movies. In many ways, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes foreshadows Katniss’ future because it brings to life an equally compelling female character, Lucy Gray, who takes a vastly different approach to the Games than Katniss. Though Katniss’ story mirrors the chosen-one narrative, she’s ultimately an unlikely hero looking out for herself and her family.

10

Katniss Is Much Taller In The Movies

Changing her dynamic with the other characters and tributes

Differences in physical appearance between books and movies are rarely the main concern of audiences, as what truly matters is how the spirit and personality of the character are embodied. However, in the case of Katniss, choosing to make her taller and more physically imposing subtly impacts how she’s viewed in the world of The Hunger Games. Katniss is still at a disadvantage and viewed as a target by the other tributes, but she’s smaller in the books, which makes the tributes underestimate her even more.

This is yet another way that Katniss uses the odds that are stacked against her and turns them to work in her favor. Her stature allows her to be fast, and nimble, staying hidden in the forest, benefitting her in the Games. It’s not that she doesn’t have these skills in the movies, but her strength is elevated so that her conflicts with the larger tributes aren’t quite as scary. Despite this difference, Lawrence was still a great choice to take on the role of Katniss and communicated the balance between her innocence and determination well.

9

Katniss Is Made More Likable

She is more empathetic and has a better sense of humor

While Katniss has every right to be angry and unlikable, in the Hunger Games that won’t win over sponsors or help her win, Katniss must adapt and become a person to root for, which is no easy task. Katniss is a difficult person to like in the books and films, but in the books, she’s particularly abrasive, stubborn, rude, and refuses to cooperate even when people are trying to help her. While she has valid reasons for acting like this, it gets annoying and the audience gets frustrated with Katniss.

However, there’s nothing wrong with her failings since her issues make her a more complex and well-developed character. Her flaws are toned down in the movies to make her a protagonist everyone wants to root for, but she loses some of her reliability. Part of Katniss’ appeal is that she’s not a perfect hero, and is an unwilling protagonist who doesn’t want the weight of the world on her shoulders. This makes it all the more compelling when she has to step up to become a better person.

8

Katniss Had A Stronger Singing Voice In The Books

A trait that makes people more likely to see her as a hero

Though Lucy Gray’s Hunger Games is different from Katniss’ in many ways, the books make the two women more similar in one interesting way. Lucy Gray is a true performer who uses her singing abilities and showmanship to manipulate the media into doing what she wants and elevating her chances. Katniss doesn’t have these skills and must rely on her fierce competitiveness and survival instincts to get her through the Games. However, Katniss is shown to have a beautiful singing voice in the books, which encourages the Districts to flock behind her in the revolution.

Katniss struggles with being a figurehead throughout the books and movies, but it’s established that when she’s unscripted and being herself there is a spark inside her that can unite people. There is also a sensitivity that is communicated when she sings which stirs empathy and understanding in the people who hear it. Both toughness and emotion are required to lead a revolution, and it’s the hidden parts of Katniss that make her so successful in the end.

7

Katniss’ Connection With Her Father

His death set the entire story in motion

Katniss’ father is recalled in a brief flashback and mentioned in passing in the first movie and after that, he is never relevant in the narrative again. This is a major shift from the books, as Katniss is constantly thinking about her father, her life before he died, and what he taught her. She knows how to use a bow because of him, and when he died it forced Katniss to become the head of the family and take care of her mother and sister, teaching her survival skills and responsibility.

In the quiet moments when Katniss remembers him, it’s clear that they had a close and loving relationship, and that she idolized him above all others. The parts of Katniss that long for peace and keep her going even when she’s suffered so much can be traced back to the outlook she inherited from her father early in her life. It’s much harder to communicate an establishing relationship like this in a movie since her father never physically appears in the present. However, it could have been touched on more fully.

6

The Importance Of Katniss’ Relationship With Gale

He is made into a one-dimensional figure

Though Peeta and Katniss were always the endgame couple in The Hunger Games, the films attempted to dramatize their relationship by making Gale seem like a viable option for Katniss. However, even though the movies focus more on romances, Gale is an even more unlikeable character, and Katniss’ feelings for him are forced. Katniss is practically ambivalent romantically to both Peeta and Gale throughout the books because she’s thinking about the larger issues of the Games and the war. However, she has a deep love for Gale as a friend that isn’t well translated into the movies.

Their chemistry is unnatural, and since Katniss spends little time with him in the movies before she leaves for the Capitol, their longstanding reliance on each other isn’t made clear. Additionally, when Gale decides to enact the bomb strike that kills Katniss’ sister, Prim, it’s a horrific betrayal in the story. However, since their dynamic hasn’t been built up to the same level in the movies, it’s hardly addressed, and Gale simply fades out of the narrative, since he was never that important.

5

The Reality Of Katniss’ Life In District 12

Living in 12 made her the perfect person to win the Games and lead the revolution

Within the world of The Hunger Games, the Capitol is the pinnacle of society and where the upper class lives, with the surrounding districts diminishing in wealth and status the further they get from the Capitol. District 12 is the poorest and most devastated, and living there toughens Katniss, readying her for the Games. In the books, actual hunger plays an enormous role in Katniss’ motivations, as she’s always on the brink of starvation. The reason she became so clever and skilled is because she had no other choice.

The scene when Peeta throws Katniss bread in a flashback hints at this reality, but it’s framed as a reason for their budding relationship, instead of an act of charity that saves her life. Katniss’ desperation to survive and her situation in 12 is not made clear enough, so the audience doesn’t understand the mentality that Katniss has entering the Games. Her life isn’t made out to be easy in the films, but in the books, it’s a completely different experience.

4

Katniss’ Crisis In Mockingjay

In District 13, she becomes a shell of herself

The decision to break up the third book in the series, Mockingjay, into two movies was a bold choice for the producers of The Hunger Games. This is especially true because, in the first part of the book, Katniss has completely retreated into herself due to her loss of Peeta and District 12. Katniss and Peeta’s relationship in The Hunger Games is complex, but by the start of Mockingjay, it’s clear that she cares deeply for him and relies on him to navigate her trauma. Without him, and still reeling from the loss of 12, Katniss becomes a different person.

However, it’s difficult to propel a movie’s story forward if there’s no action and the protagonist cannot engage with the other characters. This is best illustrated in how hard it is to convince Katniss to become the Mockingjay and be the face of the revolution, but the film skims over one of the darkest parts of Katniss’ story. Her experience with the trauma of being in the Games is harrowing to witness, but her slow and arduous healing process is just as vital a part of her journey.

3

Katniss’ Anger At Being Manipulated By The Media

As well as the overarching commentary on propaganda

Inarguably, The Hunger Games films deal directly with propaganda and Katniss’ unwilling participation. However, they don’t delve as deeply into its insidious nature as the books do. The character Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci) is a great example of The Hunger Games showing how propaganda can become so normalized and how the Capitol treats the Districts. However, once the movies move into the actual Games they don’t focus on the coverage of them and the way they’re treated as a celebration and a spectacle and are mandatory viewing.

This makes sense, as the movies are most concerned with the action inside the Games, and the books don’t deviate from Katniss’ perspective, but in the books, the reader is always aware that Katniss knows she must play to the cameras. When she speaks to Caesar in the movies it’s with more annoyance than actual anger, and she quickly adapts to being a watchable player in the Games. Although Katniss eventually evolves to understand how the media works, she’s more obstinate in the books and resents this part of her life more.

2

Katniss’ Ruthlessness

She’s willing to do whatever it takes

Overall, The Hunger Games franchise chose to uplift the romantic dynamic between Katniss, Peeta, and Gale. This isn’t necessarily negative, but the books are more concerned with the Games and the war, and Katniss is too. She might not have the political and social savvy the other characters do, but she’s signed out because she’s a survivor above all. Though Katniss and Peets both win their first games, it’s ultimately because of Katniss, and the fact that once she has a goal she will do anything to achieve it.

This aspect of Katniss was somewhat lost in the attempt to make her more likable, but it goes much deeper than that. It’s not just her enemies that Katniss is willing to kill, but her allies as well. In the books, there are moments when she must end someone’s life out of mercy, or decide that they’re better left behind because she needs to keep moving. None of these are easy choices for Katniss, but her life in District 12 prepared her, and her first Games hardened her.

1

Katniss’ Intelligence & Agency

She has more control over her destiny than the films let on

Throughout The Hunger Games movies, Katniss struggles because she is forced into decisions and situations she doesn’t want to make. A major theme across the books and films is the effect of totalitarian governments on the liberties of individuals, and how even the people on her side are constantly trying to use Katniss and push her in a direction that suits their agendas. This weighs on her, and in the movies, she can lean toward being much more passive than she is in the books. The Katniss in the novels is aware that people are using her and keeping secrets.

However, she doesn’t always have the tools to fight back immediately. This is lost partly because the films don’t have Katniss’ first-person perspective as the books do, but it’s also because some of her curiosity is taken away. Katniss’ main priority is to survive and ensure the survival of her loved ones, so there are cases when she actively decides to set aside her suspicions, like in Catching Fire when she suspects Plutarch of something in the books but chooses to focus on the Games.