*THE HUNGER GAMES* had me EMOTIONAL! | First Time Watching | (reaction/commentary/review)

15:21 one of the only people to realize it was because she’s never used such a high quality bow. Thank youuuuu!!

You hit the nail on the head for this series. It is just the beginning. We viscerally watched 22 kids die, but hundreds or thousands are starving and oppressed by the systems in place all the time.

In defence of Haymitch, he had to survive his own hunger games, the 50th anniversary so that year they doubled the tributes to 48. So he not only had to survive while 47 other people died, for the 24 years afterwards he had to train two tributes from district 12, all of whom died. So he’s crass, and rude, and self medicates with alcohol to dull the pain and trauma.

I love rewatching this through your eyes. You are the first reactor I've seen who realizes why Haymitch is drinking and not engaging with them. The horror of how many years he's been forced to usher two children to their deaths ever single year is overwhelming. I don't think I could have done it. So when that spark of hope hits him from Katniss it is so impactful to me but nobody else ever seems to notice. I appreciate how you see and react so empathetically, I can't wait to see your reaction to the next one!!

37:11 in the book she describes this specific kiss, and I quote: “This is the first kiss where I actually feel a stirring inside my chest. Warm and curious. This is the first kiss that makes me want another.”

Any time you hear the word mutt, it's referring to anything genetically altered from it's natural form

Love these films, excited to see your reaction! About the "angry" stare Katniss gives Peeta at the beginning of the movie, it's because she knows she owes him her life and the lives of her family (as he saved them from starvation by giving them the bread) and she hates owing someone. Plus, she sees that he is genuinely sweet and caring, and hates the fact that she might have to kill him in order to return home to her family. As I see it, it's more so the stare of resolve, determination, and getting ready to do what it takes to survive regardless of how you may feel about it.

Oh, some extra points: Notice how Haymitch arranged for Katniss to be sent medicine after she was burned but Peeta was left badly hurt for days? Haymitch had to make a decision about who of them he was trying to save with the limited funds he had. Him and Peeta really tried/plotted to keep her alive and they continue to do so in the following movies.
District 11 (another very poor district) all pitched in to send Katniss a bit of bread in gratitude after Rue's death. They revolted not because she had died but because Katniss reminded them that the districts are all alike and the capitol is the enemy. Katniss chose to go out of her way in the middle of the games to give Rue a funeral, to be respectful and compassionate and to mourn. When most watchers and tributes are accustomed to them being pieces in a game, easily discarded of

You’re right at the end. Peeta wasn’t lying in the interview. He’s had a huge crush on Katniss since they were kids. Thats why he gave her the bread. Everything he said and did in the arena was genuine. Katniss didn’t have feelings for him before the games. She was faking. But as the games went on and she got to know him she starts to develop some feelings. They aren’t nearly as strong as Peeta’s yet. But she does care for him by the end of the games. Also gale and her aren’t a couple. He just also has a crush on her and is jealous. But he’s a known player in district 12 so Katniss never realized before the games. He was always messing around with other girls.

And the youngest to win was 14. So never has a 12 or 13 year old won the games, almost an guaranteed death sentence.

You are such a gift. I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating: the depth of compassion, empathy, care, concern, and understanding is beyond admirable. It’s a joy to watch you connect with stories and still somehow provide light and laughs. I think you’ll get so much from this series!
After you’re done with it, Amanda Todhunter here on YT has some fun videos on the hunger games and catching fire from Peeta’s perspective that I think you’ll enjoy!
Also, if you haven’t added Avatar the Last Airbender and Haunting of Hill House to your list, please do!

We have an Effie lover from the get go, I love it. Some reactors immediately hates on her.

The three fingers salute is uniquely from district 12, a gesture of admiration, gratitude and saying goodbye to someone you love. They gave that salute to a tribute for The Hunger Games for the first time too because they all knew Katniss for her games that sustains their black market with meat as well as her bravery for being the first to ever volunteer.

“It’s Mr. Bennet! From Pride and Prejudice.” I’m putting a pin on this. 😅

Good catch on Haymitch not asking for a drink and paying attention before the individual evaluation then of their team toasting for Katniss and not for Peeta.

About the climbing trees thing: being able to climb isn’t a common skill in the districts (except for 7), but Katniss is able to climb and survive so well because her father and her would sneak into the forest together. He taught her how to hunt, climb, swim, and differentiate between different plants. That’s why at the end of the movie they can’t just climb a tree because Peeta probably doesn’t know how or at least not effectively.

The salute that people keep giving is one meant as a sign of respect usually reserved for funerals. In District 12 it’s an important traditional in funerals for workers killed in the mines.

As much as Rues death is hard to watch I kinda feel for Cato. He was just playing the game he was born for. And it’s hard to face in your final moments that all that training and all those people you killed were for nothing.

In the book, there’s more sympathy given to the career tributes, for example when Clove dies (Thresh bashes her head in with a rock but she dies fairly similarly to how she did in the film), Cato actually finds her and he starts begging for her not to die. Also Cato’s death is downright horrifying in the book: the mutts take hours to eat him alive and in the end he pretty much asks Katniss to kill him.

This is, unfortunately, one of those movies where you really need to read the book. Suzanne Collins's worldbuilding is FANTASTIC, but the story never drags or feels like she's info-dumping. The book is divided up into 3 different 3-act plays structurally, and all from Katniss's first-person POV. I highly recommend this one. (Normally I recommend the audiobook versions because they are great for listening to while you clean house, drive somewhere, sit at home and edit, whatever. I don't in this case because the narrator [it isn't narrated by the author] is definitely older than 16, but the way she voices Katniss's thoughts and insights is way too plaintive and a little bit on the whiny side.)
No Spoilers: The country where Katniss lives used to be America, but has now become Panem. The name Panem derives from the Latin phrase Panem et circenses, which literally translates into 'bread and circuses'. The phrase itself is used to describe entertainment used to distract public attention from more important matters they should notice. Furthermore, by the government providing ample food, entertainment and protection, the citizens would give up their political rights. They are literally holding Gladiator Games, just like the ancient Romans used to.

For presumably the majority of its existence, Panem's central government operated as a totalitarian dictatorship and police state with society, particularly in the Capitol, modeled heavily on ancient Rome (which is why they have Roman names like Coriolanus [the president], Cinna, Ceasar, and hell, even Effie's name is actually Euphemia). The outlying Districts were subservient to the Capitol, expected to provide significant economic and material services in exchange for protection provided by the Capitol's armies of Peacekeepers, largely at the heavy expense and detriment to the districts' populace. This uneven and unequal relationship was brutally enforced on the districts for several years, culminating in the outbreak of a civil war known as the First Rebellion, led by District 13, center of Panem's military-industrial complex. After three years of conflict, the rebellion collapsed with the destruction of District 13, bringing about the Dark Days. And then, to distract the population from fixating on the inequalities and possibly creating empathy in the Capitol for the Districts--and creating ever more resentment in the Districts and a possible new rebellion--the Capitol created the Hunger Games, where 24 tributes would be sacrificed for the entertainment of the crowd. Because all through human history, there has been this sense that watching fights to the death is "cool."

I'm sure all the citizens thought it was revolting at first, but after 74 years of the Capitol forcing people to watch (you do not have control over your own TV in this dystopia) and filling their heads with propaganda like the interview portion of the show where the tributes gush about the Capitol and they get to wear pretty clothes and be charming so you will root for them and hope they make it through...well, over time it just seeps into your brain. That's why Haymitch got so choked up, watching that family with the two little kids, and the boy gets a new toy sword and is so excited he immediately pretends to stab his little sister with it. The Games mean nothing to these privileged people aside from entertainment and money from betting. They don't know the hardship of living in the Districts, and their kids are never going to be chosen at random to fight each other to death.

Katniss was EXTREMELY lucky that the setting for this games was a forest. They can create whatever environment they want; she says in the book that one year it was a desert, but that was the most unpopular year of the Games for the audience, because so many of the kids died of thirst right away. Katniss's father taught her how to hunt, although it is illegal for them to do so and how to forage for roots and berries and other plants in the forest. In any other setting, she might not have won, Tributes are not allowed to train before the Games except for the Career Tributes in Districts 1 and 2. As you get further out, you have people with less martial skills, but maybe with more survival skills related to their work.

They do send food to the districts but the people in the districts have to pay for them (all of the districts are kept in abject poverty, not just District 12). Specifically each time you ask them for food your name is put in for the drawing for tributes. The more times you ask for food, the more times your name is put in. Ask too much and your name is in the pot a lot and you are more likely to be chosen at the next Reaping. That's why it's called "The Hunger Games." You have your name in just once and you starve or you get fed and have your name in more often. How long can you go hungry for?

You posed a good/interesting question about what would some of their actual survival skills be outside their own specific skill set. Bc you know someone like Katniss has had to learn basic survival and how to be resourceful as well bc of where she is from. On top of having a sense of compassion for others bc she knows what loss and grief feels like. Also, Cinna is the absolute GOAT. Love his character!

"Why's there all this nice stuff, when they're starving in this District?" Yeah, thank goodness nothing like that happens here in the real world.... 😅😅😭😭😭😭

Fantastic reaction, as always! So excited to see you experience the rest of this story.