The movie version of the Hunger Games, based on the popular novel by Suzanne Collins, is scheduled to open Friday, March 23. I loved the novel and am looking forward to this movie. I noticed a number of people on HT have also read the novel, so I thought this might be a good thread.
One thing that struck me as I read the novel was that it was categorized as a young adult book. Considering the theme (teens being forced to kill other teens), that surprised me. On a related note, as I read the novel, I felt it was strikingly similar to Battle Royale, the controversial cult classic film directed by Kinji Fukasaku, which came out in Japan in 2000. For those unfamiliar with Battle Royale, it tells the story of a government in the near future that, in an effort to maintain control and power over the population, forces a class of high school students to fight to the death until only one survivor is left, all the while being televised for live television entertainment. The movie was condemned by the Japanese parliament for its subject matter. It also came out about the same time as the Columbine massacre, so just about everyone, myself included, didn’t think it would be released in the US. So imagine my surprise when, in 2006, I found a DVD copy of Battle Royale at Diamond Head Video (when it was on Kapahulu). I rented it, watched it, and it was surprisingly good. Despite all the controversy, it gets universally high marks by critics. In fact, Quentin Tarrantino was quoted as saying: “If there’s any movie that’s been made since I’ve been making movies that I wish I had made, it’s that one.”
My discovery of the DVD was a lucky find. For while the movie was indeed released in the US, no official distribution rights existed. The DVD was available, but difficult to find, and expensive, and perhaps not authentic. There were many bootleg copies floating around. However, now the OFFICIAL release is schedule for March 20, three days before The Hunger Games. Is it a coincidence that it’s being released just before The Hunger Games? I think not. It’s being advertised as the movie that inspired The Hunger Games.
If you google The Hunger Games and Battle Royale you’ll see there’s quite a bit of comments and discussion going on, a mini-controversy in its own right. Collins claims she has never seen or read Battle Royale. The details between the two works may be different, but the central concepts and key elements are strikingly similar. However, I think there’s enough of a difference that it’s highly possible the two works were created independent of one another.
In any case, the good thing now is that there might be two good films easily available to us.
One thing that struck me as I read the novel was that it was categorized as a young adult book. Considering the theme (teens being forced to kill other teens), that surprised me. On a related note, as I read the novel, I felt it was strikingly similar to Battle Royale, the controversial cult classic film directed by Kinji Fukasaku, which came out in Japan in 2000. For those unfamiliar with Battle Royale, it tells the story of a government in the near future that, in an effort to maintain control and power over the population, forces a class of high school students to fight to the death until only one survivor is left, all the while being televised for live television entertainment. The movie was condemned by the Japanese parliament for its subject matter. It also came out about the same time as the Columbine massacre, so just about everyone, myself included, didn’t think it would be released in the US. So imagine my surprise when, in 2006, I found a DVD copy of Battle Royale at Diamond Head Video (when it was on Kapahulu). I rented it, watched it, and it was surprisingly good. Despite all the controversy, it gets universally high marks by critics. In fact, Quentin Tarrantino was quoted as saying: “If there’s any movie that’s been made since I’ve been making movies that I wish I had made, it’s that one.”
My discovery of the DVD was a lucky find. For while the movie was indeed released in the US, no official distribution rights existed. The DVD was available, but difficult to find, and expensive, and perhaps not authentic. There were many bootleg copies floating around. However, now the OFFICIAL release is schedule for March 20, three days before The Hunger Games. Is it a coincidence that it’s being released just before The Hunger Games? I think not. It’s being advertised as the movie that inspired The Hunger Games.
If you google The Hunger Games and Battle Royale you’ll see there’s quite a bit of comments and discussion going on, a mini-controversy in its own right. Collins claims she has never seen or read Battle Royale. The details between the two works may be different, but the central concepts and key elements are strikingly similar. However, I think there’s enough of a difference that it’s highly possible the two works were created independent of one another.
In any case, the good thing now is that there might be two good films easily available to us.
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