What were the demographic like at your viewings? We were in Ann Arbor, so it was a lot of (white, female) undergrads.

Oh, the noises they made during the Titanic preview. The four of us, who saw it the first time round, were exceedingly eye-rolly.

The film made exceptionally good use of the change in POV to omniscient, which allowed for a lot more set-up of the political stuff that's coming. I am going to come down on the side of disliking the change in the origin of the pin. My fix for it would be for it to have been something that Katniss's mother pawned back in the day.

My viewing was mostly high school kids. For a long time I was one of only two adults in the theater, that changed as it got closer to the start of the movie, but it was still mostly teenagers.

The Titanic preview got basically no response until Celine started singing. These kids weren't around when the movie was first released, but man, that song.

Debet, I agree with you about the pin .

Debet, I also agree! That's, what, three of us, so clearly we are CORRECT.

The casting worked really well, better than I'd anticipated, especially Peeta, because the actor really sold the basic sweetness and decency of the kid, as well as the fact that he's a romantic yet also kind of a pragmatic fatalist. And man, thinking of the future now KILLS ME.

I get with all the world building and character introductions, somethings had to be sacrificed, and I'm ok with most of the tradeoffs, but the pin being so random instead of a specific gift . The view of District 12 didn't include much of the have's to compare against the have nots. I'll be interested to see how that is handled along with the victors village in the next movie. I'm assuming that is already greenlighted, right?

All the whitefont! It is keeeeeling me!!! I don't see it until Sunday. ::staples hand to forehead::

I agree about the pin! It was so random. It was a symbol because it was a symbol. But I did like the bit with Snow at the end. I don't remember if that was from the book, but it went a long way toward giving the pin its significance.

Plei, I also agree about Peeta. Especially during the pre-Games interview! So charming!

That's, what, three of us, so clearly we are CORRECT

I like this system. Let us apply it more broadly.

Plei, I agree on Peeta. I was underwhelmed with Gale, though. He was more fresh-faced than I think he should have been.

Suzi, I was just thinking this morning that, apart from a few people directly involved in the Games, we don't have any particular complicated political reality. Capital: Powerful and bad (or clueless) Districts: Good, and subjugated (except 1 and 2)

I was merely whelmed by Gale, but I have Gale issues, so I was expecting that, no matter who played him. It would have taken a very talented actor to make me sympathetic to Gale.

I do agree that we didn't see the complexity of the politics yet, but I LOVED the District 11 uprising, how it was done. Jesus. And Kato's last scene was also good.

Maybe if in the book the mayor's daughter had ended up having any significance I would agree about the pin, but she (and the pin) always stuck out as completely random to me, so I'm glad they changed it to Katniss being attracted to it and then giving it to Prim instead of introducing another character.

But she and it are significant in the trilogy, when the pin's origins are revealed.