History Film / TheHungerGames

The feature film adaption of [[Literature/TheHungerGames the book of the same name]], released in March 2012.

** Foxface wasn't really a villain in the book, mostly just being a parasite on the Careers, stealing their food and generally being sneaky. In the movie, we have a scene between her and Katniss where they bump into each other while running from the slaughter at the Cornucopia, look at each other in terror for a second, then silently run off in separate directions. This makes her [[NotSoDifferent seem a bit more like Katniss herself]]. Katniss even seems glum when finding out that Foxface is dead, and from a rather random death too.

* DeclarationOfProtection: Katniss's BigSisterInstinct for Prim is what leads her to volunteer to begin with. She later takes on herself to protect Rue later. [[RuleOfThree Finally to Peeta]].

!!''The Hunger Games'' contains examples of:

** In the books, Haymitch is described as having dark hair, typical of the Seam. In the film version, he is blonde. (A possible explanation: Film!Haymitch could have been born into the Merchant Class, like Peeta and Mrs. Everdeen.)

* BeeAfraid: Or wasps, rather. Genetically engineered wasps with hallucinogenic venom that can potentially be fatal, if the entire hive doesn't ZergRush you into oblivion first.

* JerkJock: Careers, the Tributes from Districts 1 and 2, come off this way due to their district's practice of training children specifically to volunteer for the Hunger Games. As a result, they are far more likely to win than Tributes from other districts. Although, their arrogance is a flaw that can be used against them.

* JitterCam: Used quite a lot. Probably to [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar be as violent as they can without an R rating]], as it's hard to see anything gruesome with the camera moving around so quickly. The camera becomes "[[Film/{{Cloverfield}} queasy cam]]" outside of the Capitol or during the games, and "normal cam" within the Capitol or when the focus is on it. A nice touch to show how formal the Capitol appears to be to the general population.

** WebVideo/CinemaSins [[LampshadeHanging Lampshades]] this scene in their video on the film, stating "wanted to simply kill her a minute ago, now wants to monologue."

* MonsterSobStory: [[spoiler:Cato]] gets one in before his death. [[spoiler:His District puts a lot of pride into their tributes, even treating the Reaping as a ''celebration'' rather than a death sentence. He's fully aware that by losing the games, he'll be considered a horrible failure who couldn't do his District proud.]]

* ManInWhite: Caesar Flickerman doesn't usually wear this suit, except when his image shows up in Katniss' deluded flight to remind everyone of the '''powerful''' hallucinations caused by Tracker Jacker venom...

* {{Foreshadowing}}: When Peeta remarks that he doesn't want the Capitol to change who he is, nor be a pawn in their games. [[spoilers:Two films later, the Capitol has successfully brainwashed him into thinking Katniss and the rebels are enemies, so well that he becomes violent just at the sight of Katniss.]]

* AdaptationalCurves: When Jennifer Lawrence was chosen to play the lead, enraged fans almost immediately complained that she was too voluptuous to play Katniss Everdeen, for whom being perpetually underfed was a defining trait. Lawrence responded that she felt that "she shouldn't need to starve her body for her art" when young girls were watching the film, which quieted many of the critics.

** Buttercup the cat, named for the color of his coat, is for some reason black and white in the movie. Cue fan outrage, leading to him being [[TheOtherDarrin recast in the second movie]][[invoked]].

** [[spoiler: The original concept art for individual Muttations was in fact [[http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/nailbiter111/news/?a=57771 based on facial features of the actors playing dead tributes]]. This was dropped for various reasons.]]

* TheAlcoholic: Haymitch.
* AllThereInTheManual: Some people's names are never mentioned, but you can tell who they are supposed to be. Simultaneously {{inverted}}, with some characters in this film being called by names that weren't revealed until the second book.

* ChekhovsGun: The mockingjay pin and [[spoiler:nightlock berries.]]

** Peeta's camouflage skills and strength.
** Rue stealing a knife from one of the competitors and hiding in the rafters while they fight during training comes back later in the game.

* DeadlyGame: The Hunger Games themselves.

* DeathOfAChild:
** The entire premise hinges on twelve to eighteen year old kids brutally killing one another.
** ''Film/TheHungerGamesMockingjayPart1'' with the bombing of District 12, which claimed thousands of lives, including children.
** ''Film/TheHungerGamesMockingjayPart2''. Dozens of capitol children are blown up onscreen. The ones that might have survived fall victim to the fire bombs.

* DeclarationOfProtection: Katniss to Prim. Then, to Rue. [[RuleOfThree Finally to Peeta]]. [[spoiler: Two out of three ain't bad...]]

* TheDitz: Glimmer - for a Career, anyway.

* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: The film has its share of this. The tracker jackers are probably the worst.

* FloralThemeNaming: See MeaningfulName below.
* FollowTheLeader: Early advertising emphasized the rather minor Peeta-Katniss-Gale love triangle and strongly resembled posters for ''{{Literature/Twilight}}'', probably to exploit the huge overlap between the two fandoms. However, those involved with the films as well as hardcore fans generally reject this view. Questions of "Team Gale or Team Peeta?" are often answered with "Team Katniss."

* {{Foreshadowing}}: When Peeta remarks that he doesn't want the Capitol to change who he is, nor be a pawn in their games. Two films later...

* IntergenerationalFriendship: Katniss, Peeta and Haymitch.

* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler: Poor Rue.]]
* KnifeNut: Clove.

** [[spoiler: He does.]]

* MakeUpIsEvil: The residents of the capital tend toward heavy make-up.

* MeaningfulName: "Panem" means "bread," which is a reference to the Roman phrase "BreadAndCircuses," which are the ways that a tyranny can keep its population under control. People from the capital have Roman names, another reference to the trope. Peeta the baker's name sounds like "pita," a type of bread. You could predict Seneca Crane's fate if you know anything about his namesake, the Roman Seneca the Younger. He was also forced [[spoiler:to commit suicide]] by his superior, Emperor Nero.
** FloralThemeNaming: Katniss is named after a plant that is also called "arrowhead," referring to her weapon of choice. "Primrose" means "eternal love". "Rue" means "regret," referring to [[spoiler:Kat's regret over her death]].
*** Clove is a spice, a nod the character's brash nature.
* {{Mentor}}: Haymitch Abernathy.

* MonsterSobStory: [[spoiler:Cato]] gets one in before their death.

* MushroomSamba: When Katniss is stung by the poisonous Tracker Jackers. This is admittedly LighterAndSofter than the book's presentation of the events.
* NeckSnap: Cato does this to the boy from District 3.

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: In the books, people from the Capitol nearly universally exhibit their own unique speech affectations, which are mocked by Katniss and Gale, and mentioned in regards to several characters exhibiting them. In this film and the three following it, however, only Effie exhibits an accent (which is interpreted as similar to the mid-Atlantic voice of 1930s cinema). This

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Just like the novel, you never really get to see Thresh in action. Pretty weird too, considering he was hyped as one of the stronger competitors. [[spoiler:Onscreen, however, he kills Clove in just one move, and she's ''absolutely terrified'' of him.]]
* OhCrap: When Prim is chosen, there's a brief shot of the horrified Katniss making a face that can only be described as '''D:'''

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Elizabeth Banks has some noticeable slips as Effie. It's harder to tell, but Liam Hemsworth's Australian also comes out.
** Josh Hutcherson and Jennifer Lawrence also slip into their Kentucky drawls at times, particularly in the "I want to die as myself" scene. Interestingly this could actually be considered an inversion of this trope since, while the District 12 accent is never fully described in the book, it does have notably Appalachian features (Haymitch's use of "Sweetheart" for example) and WildMassGuessing actually favours Kentucky as District 12's location. Woody Harrelson slips a lot of his Texas drawl in there as well, but then, he's one of those actors who's [[NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent known for not really having any accent other than their own]]
*** No need to guess about where District 12 is; in Chapter 3, just after Katniss and Peeta get on the tribute train, it specifies: "In school, they tell us the Capitol was built in a place once called the Rockies. District 12 was in a region known as Appalachia." Its main product is coal, as the case in Kentucky and West Virginia, both smack in the middle of Appalachia. So a Kentucky/West Virginia accent is right on the money (and might be a deliberate part of the filmmakers' casting choice).
*** Worth considering is the movie was filmed in North Carolina, which is part of the south. It probably didn't help the actors when off stage everyone outside was talking with the southern accents the actors shared already.

* PresidentEvil: [[BigBad Guess who]].
* RaceLift: The people of The Seam are implied to be people of color, with black hair and olive-toned skin. (This would make Katniss and Prim multiracial, with Prim passing as white due to looking like her mother). Gale, Katniss, and Haymitch are all played by white people.

* SacrificialLamb/[[SacrificialLion Lion]]: Several tributes are seen being threatened/killed both on-screen and off, such as the curly-haired teenager who hides in the Cornucopia before getting sliced by Cato when he tries to escape. [[spoiler:Rue and Foxface]] could also be a case of this.
* TheScream: Katniss, [[spoiler:after she fails to protect Rue.]]
* SequelHook: Even if you didn't know the book had sequels, the end of the film makes it perfectly clear that there's more to come.
* [[HeHadAName She Had A Name]]: [[spoiler:Thresh forces Clove to say Rue's name moments before killing her, presumably to reinforce Katniss' earlier humanization of her.]]
* ShiningCity: The Capitol. This is, however, a case of LightIsNotGood (see above).
* ShipTease: Glimmer and Cato are seen cuddling while they sleep.

* ShowWithinAShow: The Hunger Games themselves.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: Peeta's leg remains intact at the end of the film.

* TitleDrop

** [[spoiler:While this is true for the book, an early shot during the training sequence indicates that Foxface actually had a higher knowledge of the flora in the area than the other tributes. In fact, the addition of this shot carries the implication that she committed suicide rather than dying at the hands of, or killing, the other tributes. The fact that the Nightlock berries were out in the open had to have set off some warning bells as well, if she were clever enough to avoid the other tributes without being detected after all this time.]]

* TrainingMontage

* VillainousBreakdown: A minor one from the heavily-wounded [[spoiler:Cato]], who snaps at the Capitol audience for seeing his impending death as entertainment and lapses into the realization that all he knows how to do is kill people. Then he snaps out of it and decides he can [[TakingYouWithMe take]] [[spoiler:Peeta]] [[TakingYouWithMe with him.]]

* WaistcoatOfStyle: Seneca Crane.

* OpeningMonologue: "From the Treaty of the Treason: In penance for their uprising, each district shall offer up a male and female between the ages of 12 and 18 at a public "Reaping". These Tributes shall be delivered to the custody of The Capitol. And then transferred to a public arena where they will Fight to the Death, until a lone victor remains. Henceforth and forevermore this pageant shall be known as Film/TheHungerGames."

* InescapableNet: Rue is inescapably trapped under a net tied to tree trunks. A [[http://www.leavemethewhite.com/caps/displayimage.php?album=254&pos=718 freeze frame]] reveals the trap's poor set up which Rue should have had no problem escaping from.

* HeroicBSOD: Katniss [[spoiler:after Rue's death.]]

* HopeSpot: Invoked by Haymitch, convincing Seneca to change the Game's rules. "Give them something to root for: young love." [[spoiler:This backfires ''horribly'' for Seneca.]]

** Buttercup the cat, named for the color of his coat, is for some reason black and white in the movie. Cue fan outrage, leading to him being [[TheOtherDarrin recast in the second movie]].

** Also, [[spoiler:after Rue dies, the film depicts District 11 going into a riot in reaction to Katniss' impromptu funeral for Rue and salute to them.]] This is also some {{Foreshadowing}} for [[spoiler:the revolts which begin in ''Catching Fire''.]]

* BodyHorror: See NightmareFace below.

* BodyHorror: Once the tracker jackers are done with Glimmer, her grotesquely bloated and nigh-unrecognizable face is ''[[NightmareFuel horrific]]'' to look at.

* FiveBadBand: The Career Tributes' group
** BigBad: Cato
** TheDragon: Clove
** TheEvilGenius: The unnamed male tribute from District 3
** TheBrute: Marvel
** TheDarkChick: Glimmer
** SixthRangerTraitor: Peeta

** Also, Clove, just before [[spoiler:[[ScaryBlackMan Thresh]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome grabs her and brutally kills her with his bare hands]]]].

* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem[=/=]MovingTheGoalPosts: [[spoiler:The Gamemasters announce that two people can live if they're from the same district, then revoke it at the end when two actually manage to fill that condition. Katniss showed them up by threatening suicide with Peeta, forcing them to make good on the original promise so they'd have someone to crown a victor instead of a martyr.]]

** CinemaSins [[LampshadeHanging Lampshades]] this scene in their video on the film, stating "wanted to simply kill her a minute ago, now wants to monologue."

** FoxFace and Sae are also implied to be East Asian. "Fox face" or "kitsune gao" is a Japanese term refering to women who have a narrow face with high cheekbones, close-set eyes, and thin eyebrows. Red hair is also a rare East Asian trait. Sae is a Japanese name.

* WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief: In the book, Katniss gets clobbered by a much older and larger Clove when called to the Feast. In the film, supposedly 16 year old Katniss is played by an early-20s Jennifer Lawrence, and Clove has been aged down to 15, and ''on top of that'', she's played by then-14 Creator/IsabelleFuhrman, who was ''tiny'' for her age. The film version of this fight is not so believable when Clove is clearly half Katniss's size. The film [[HandWave handwaves]] the discrepancy as Clove simply being much more trained than Katniss, but even then, to expect that Katniss would one-sidedly lose to the much smaller Clove is a stretch. CinemaSins notes "age differences at this point in child development matter: Katniss should easily dominate this other girl."