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Lionsgate, Summit
Katniss vs. Bella? No contest.
COMMENTARY
If it's "Team Twilight" vs. "Team Hunger Games," I admit it, I'm on the team that doesn't have sparkly vampires.
Sure, I can see the similarities. Both are enormously popular young adult book franchises in which a young woman must choose between two hunky guys. Each heroine's world resembles our own, but with some really weird differences. And when each set of books started to make the leap to the big screen, fans took a deep personal interest in the movie casting and filming, and hung on every leaked photo, poster, and trailer.
But if all movies based on books with young characters were the same, "Winnie the Pooh" would be indistinguishable from "Flowers in the Attic." And that would be a side of Tigger I really don't need to know about.
They're two completely different franchises. "Twilight" is a supernatural romance. Say what you will about Stephenie Meyer's writing, she created a full-fledged world where vampires and shape-shifting wolves have their own rules and customs. I'm not exactly a fan of the sparkliness, but I love the idea of the Volturi, the law-enforcing royalty of the vampire world. Yet it's the romance -- Team Edward vs. Team Jacob, with no one on wishy-washy Team Bella's side -- that rules the day.
But the "Hunger Games" books are first and foremost a well-sketched tale of survival, with the romance well in the background. In author Suzanne Collins' creepy apocalyptic world, each district in the fictional nation of Panem must send one boy and one girl, called tributes, to fight to the death. That chilling premise is backed up with all the elements we know too well from reality TV. The competing tributes even have stylists, and work to curry favor with those who watch the battles on TV in hopes that they'll be sent food, tools and medicine. It's delightfully disturbing, in part because the reality TV angle is so recognizable.
I've read all of the "Twilight" and "Hunger Games" books, and it seems pretty obvious that "Hunger Games" is being better received because of its heroine. Katniss Everdeen from "Hunger Games" has had to provide for her starving family since she was small. She bravely steps in as tribute rather than let her beloved younger sister Prim almost certainly die in the Games. She doesn't spend any time mooning around over whether she'll end up with childhood love Gale or fellow tribute Peeta. She considers it, sure, when it's part of the plot, but her mind is on survival, and somehow protecting her loved ones.
In "Twilight," Bella Swan spends a large part of an entire book pretty much sobbing on her bed because Edward left her. Sure, it's something young readers can identify with -- we've all done stupid things for love. Bella is a human in a world of vampires. She can't compete with their strength, so she gets smacked around and protected. She's the heroine we fear we really are -- klutzy and sheltered.
If a vampire tried to drag Katniss around a ballet studio, as one does with Bella in "Twilight," she'd somehow get the upper hand and shoot a flaming arrow through his skull before setting deadly traps for any other vamp who might be following him. She's the heroine we'd all like to be.
Team Katniss, or Team Bella? Or can the franchises happily co-exist? Tell us on Facebook.
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I think I have to still be Team Bella. Just did not enjoy or get into the Hunger Games books.
Vapid 'romance' with shirtless constructs, or clever allegory with a message and a true heroine?
Well put Pete. Oh... And Katniss would take down not just vacant eyed weepy Bella, she'd annihilate the whole cast of Tweenlight!!!
Clever? How about hamfisted and transparent? There's nothing subtle or clever about it.
Anyway, I'd much rather have my daughter read about a heroine who bravely fights to defend her family than a thinly-veiled (or not at all veiled, really) cautionary tale about premarital sex.
(Also, I'd rather my daughter have premarital sex than be a simpering weakling who sits around crying and helpless and waiting for her sparkly boyfriend to come save her, but I'm sure not everyone agrees with me there.)
Oops, I just realized I misunderstood you.
I thought you were giving those two options as ways of interpreting Twilight (calling Bella a "true heroine" and Twilight a clever allegory) rather than contrasting Twilight with Hunger Games. Sorry about that!
There is no premarital sex in the Twilight books, at least between Edward and Bella. They wait until their honeymoon. So, try again.
I liked both series'. Why should we have to choose? I'm a bit older than the target audience, and a woman, but I really didn't see Bella as a weak character. She has the two guys swooning over her and makes her own decisions. In the end, it is Bella whom saves the day with a power stronger than any of the other vampires and her inner strength is apparent. It's just popular to pick on the twilight series. If anything, Katniss seems the more wishy-washy in her love triangle.
Katniss, without a doubt. Bella couldn't tie her own shoelaces without Edward's input.
I'm trying not to be too optimistic about the upcoming Hunger Games movie because we all know what a disappointment the first Twilight was after so much hype. But, I definitely believe HG has been much better cast - so perhaps their acting can carry the story rather than relying solely on longing stares and a whole lot of teen angst music.
Even though this is blatant propaganda for Hunger Games; more of an advertisement than a news article - I'll admit that I'm looking forward to the movie. Katniss Everdeen kicks a$$.
My man! ^
*Ahem* Pete MT, my man!
This is kinda like comparing apples and oranges (and pointless - like the infernal, eternal debate about which is better - Star Trek or Star Wars). The main characters in these two series inhabit two entirely different worlds.
and Lisbeth Salander would kick both their a** !
OMG my thoughts exactly!
Swedish Lisbeth (Noomi Rapace) - not the E.T. looking American Lisbeth
No one in District 12 has a computer so she wouldn't be able to kick Katniss' a** because she wouldn't know anything about her.
I didn't read either set of books. When the first twilight trailer came out I thought it was the stupidest looking movie ever and I love vampire flicks (had no idea it was a beloved book when I saw the trailer). I ended up watching it after a couple years because it was so hyped up. I was very disappointed with how Bella is supposed to be and I promptly threw away any hope of the movie being remotely ok when I saw the sparkly vampire.
Hunger Games, on the other hand, actually has a great trailer, a very interesting, if disturbing, premise and Katniss is heads over heals more awesome than Bella. Even if Katniss mopes around for the rest of the movie (which i'm sure she doesn't)...what I saw in the trailer is enough to put her ahead of Bella.
hamster1
go back and read the books or, in an even weaker attempt to leave an informed post, watch all of the twilight movies.
i enjoyed twilight as a lover of vampire stories and from remembering the ridiculous notion that i was an all knowing and all seeing teenager. what an idiot i was, just like bella-but in all honesty she is my least favorite charter in meyer's vampire saga. much better to read it for what bella learns and sees than to delve into the immature folds in her brain and personality. read the twilight saga for fun.
the hunger games trilogy should be equated to literature more than the twilight series. look at books such as the handmaids tale, the giver, the lottery and more to compare hg rather than twilight. young and old adults alike can learn from hg and the post apocalyptic america katniss and her cohorts inhabit. these books may eventually be used in adolescent literature classes in school-that will NEVER happen with twilight.
Exactly my opinion .. I enjoyed the twilight series ..an easy, fluffy candy read..guilty pleasure with no expectation of substance. The Hunger Games story is literature..good and evil are not so well defined. Moral and ethical dilemmas are posed; and an underlying caution of the plausibility of the setting make it so much more meaty and powerful to experience.
Twilight creeps me out...not because of the vampires or the werewolves, but because Edward is really old, even though he looks young, and he fell in love with a high school girl? Kind of pervish if you ask me...but hey that is fiction. Katniss is cool because she shows women that they don't have to be helpless or rely on somebody else to meet their needs. Young girls really should have that kind of example so that they aren't walked on later in life.
I have read all Hunger Games books and they are very well written and interesting. They remind me of the Japanese movie Battle Royale. I can't wait to see the movie!
Was waiting for a Battle Royale post. :-)
Agree, Katniss would kick Bella's butt... HUMAN Bella's butt that is, not a chance against Bella the vampire. I've read each series and have enjoyed both in different ways. I'm looking forward to the Twilight series wrapping up in November and seeing The Hunger Games begin in just a few months.
AZLady Wolf is correct... it's like apples and oranges... you can't compare them, but we CAN enjoy both!
(BTW, Team Bella, lol)
OK...anyone that thinks Katniss could whip Bella hasnt read the last part of Breaking Dawn.....spoiler here....Bella becomes one of the most gifted vampires the Volturi have ever seen!! No way would Katniss's arrow ever touch her!
Go back to your room and cry tweener!!!! Or didn't you know? Brokeback Mountain wasn't as gay as Twilight!!!
*Spoiler*......Her gift is blocking other people's gifts that affect the mind. She was able to block the gifts of Jane, Alec and Aro because of the way they worked. She knew herself that if it had come to combat they would have all died which is why she arranged for Jacob to run away with her baby.
Hunger Games Katniss would kick (human) Bella's Butt, but her boyfriend would be a bitch to piss off.
I loved both series of books. I hope Hunger Games movies are better than the Twilight movies. Really, the first few Twilight movies were dreadful, this last one was more interesting.
Read both book series...loved both of them. However, "Hunger Games" wins in both books and (I hope) movies. If they can make a Hunger Games movie that is similar to the book, it's gonna be huge. And it's weird, but I pictured Katniss looking quite like Jennifer Lawrence, and I had never heard of Lawrence before.
Twilight is for tweens to teenagers; Hunger Games is for teenagers and adults. Mainly because of the more sophisticated plot in Hunger Games, and also because of the violence.
Have to agree, the actress they cast and the way they've made her appear do look pretty much like what I'd expected after reading the books. I'd only heard of her recently when she played Raven/Mystique in the X-Men prequel. Count me in, as a 40 year old male, as definitely interested in the upcoming movie.
"Hunger Games" is basically "Battle Royale" watered down and sanitized for young girls to masturbate to.
You obviously haven't read The Hunger Games because there is nothing anywhere in any of the books to "masturbate to". The romance is just barely there and the majority of any "romantic action" is a deliberate act on Katniss' part to stay alive. The only similarity that The Hunger Games has to Battle Royale is teens having to fight each other to the death which isn't a new theme to Battle Royale either.
Team Hunger Games vs. Team Twilight...and the winner is...
Team Harry Potter, because Hermione would whup 'em both. :)
I love Herminoe but I think you assessment is wrong. Hermione is very clever and smart but she would have hid in the woods till she was killed. She would not have been able to kill others to survive. Not a criticism just a character observation. Heck that's what I would probably do too.
I would NOT like to be the heroine who murders fellow children for some weird kind of government-sponsored sport. I dislike sparkly vampires too, but at least the "good" ones still recognize that killing human beings-- even for survival-- is wrong. What weird kind of hell did the Hunger Games concept spring from? Why do people think it's a good idea to have their young children read these books?
@Swirlscape -
If you read the Hunger Games, you would know that Katniss DOESN'T hunt or murder the other children. In fact - spoilers - she fiercely protects a smaller child (and it's implied that if they had both made it to the end, she probably would have done herself in to let the young girl live.) She also won't let her fellow tribute (the HG equivelent of Twilight's "Jacob" I would guess), kill himself so that she can live. The only killing she does is in the name of self defense when she's attacked, in the defense of that other child, and to eventually put someone out of their misery when that character is dying a slow and extremely painful death from an animal attack. Katniss is a true heroine that doesn't seek a fight but can certainly protect herself if one comes to her. She's a far better role model for young women: showing them that they need to rely on themselves rather than men to survive. No young adult female lead has been as strong since Buffy.
Part of the concept sprang from reality shows like Survivor, I think. And these books aren't for young children. I would say Hunger Games would be for 14 yrs. and up.
^ Ok, first of all Swirlscape, Katniss does not have a choice to kill her fellow tributes. She is forced into the arena to save her younger sister from doing it herself. She has provided and kept her family alive since her father died, and lets see, what has Bella done?? Exactly, nothing more than move around and get involved with vampires and werewolves.. Sorry, but that story does not compare in the slightest to the world of The Hunger Games. It is a message to our society today that reality TV has become such a large part of our lives, and we are so uncensored to many things like war and death. Sure, it is a gruesome concept, having children kill each other, but they have no say in the matter; they are under the control of an oppressive Capitol. What weird kind of hell did this come from, you ask? Well it comes from the extraordinary mind of Suzanne Collins whos warns us not to keep on our current path. Twilight has no message at all besides choosing between two nonhuman creatures and mope and whine all day. People should read these books to understand Collins' message, as well as go on the journey with Katniss, and other characters, from slave to rebel to.... well, lets not spoil it for those who actually want an amazing piece of literature. Have a nice day!
Loved the Hunger Games!! It was a great story of courage and sacrifice. Not a vampire fan. Watched one of the movies and couldn't get through the whole thing.
@Swirlscape
I love Hunger Games, but I certainly wouldn't let younger children read the books (or see the movie). I have a 10 year old who is a voracious reader, and pretty mature in handling tough subjects. But Hunger Games is just too violent. I offered her Suzanne Collins Overlander series instead. But that said, I would far rather her see Katniss as a role model than Bella. Katniss is a strong young woman and protects those she loves. She never forgets the value of a life. I am not so sure that Bella values lives quite so much. And I don't see her as a strong character in any sense.
As for "What weird kind of hell did the Hunger Games concept spring from?" . . . . . not so original in its most basic concept in my opinion. Reminds me of "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson or a bit of "The Ones that Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K LeGuinn.
LeGuinn? This place is cooler than I thought!
Oh the Lottery was an excellent story.