The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - Grading and Discussion

[JD]

Was it? We never left Katniss's perspective in the book so it couldn't have been in that exact form. If it was mentioned by another character somewhere I must have missed it.

 

[DevilEyes]

Finally got a chance to see this and I loved it. It was a great adaptation of the book. I thought they did a great job of capturing the feel of the book, and bringing to life some of it's best moment.
The only thing that I was kinda of frustated by was the lack of the set up for D13 still being around, in the book it was big deal but here it was just mentioned once in the beginning and then the reveal at the end.
I was kind of confused by one addition though, why was Havensbee encouraging Snow to torture and kill if he is one of the rebels? Was he just doing it to try to manipulate Katniss into being upset enough the join the uprising?

We didn't know what Plutarch was doing in the book, or who came up with the Quarter Quell twist, because we were always in Katniss' POV and Plutarch was barely even "on screen" (or "on page"). But it makes perfect sense from what we know about Plutarch and his schemes, especially knowing what he does in Mockingjay (or probably does). And even in Catchng Fire, even in the book it's known that he came up with all the sadistic ways to physically and mentally torture the Victors in the Quarter Quell Arena; this seems aimed to both 1) convince Snow that Plutarch is the real deal, and 2) incite resentment and rage in the audience, together with the revolutionary spirit and hope in seeing the solidarity, determination and willingness to sacrifice themselves on the part of the Victors.

Something that was always suspicious in the book is that everything Snow did - from his crackdown on the districts, to reaping the beloved Victors, among them Katniss as the main target, for the Quarter Quell and sending them to die (which even angered the people in the Capitol, especially after the Victor interviews and Peeta's "baby bomb") blew up into his face and fueled the rebellion. That's why it makes sense that it was Plutarch who engineered all this and manipulated Snow into provoking the people into rebellion by making the situation unbearable, and allowing the Quarter Quell to become a story about solidarity and defiance of the Capitol. (The Victor interviews and the scene of them holding hands together was definitely a propaganda nightmare for Snow.) Plutarch is a propaganda specialist and master manipulator, if he lived in Westeros he'd give Varys and Littlefinger a run for their money.