I'm not reading the whitefont. TCG just decided to read the first book. So now I have to wait for him to finish reading it before we can go see the movie.

Plei, it was so great to see the District 11 uprising!! I do wish we had seen more of the other districts, though. In contrast to megan, I actually wanted MORE of the reality TV aspect. There should have been more scenes of people watching the Games and enjoying them.

I don't think she's significant at all. The origin story doesn't really need to be attached to her specifically.

Quoted from Plei: And Kato's last scene was also good.

Was that in the book? I didn't remember the monologue, which made it all the more resonant.

Re Plei's second point: It really is the moments of grace that make the whole thing work, and Rue's flowers were my one crypoint for the film, because of the profound "This is not okay, at all." So the only sane response, really, IS to go to a revolutionary "burn the fucker down" place. The peacekeepers coming in looked like Star Wars Stormtroopers dropped into a 1930s period film.

Throughout, there were moments when I wanted to ask the kids sitting around me, "Do you people get that that's us? In the real world, Katniss is not the analogue for basically any of us in this room."

There is a part of me that would love to see the 3-fingers gesture adopted, as that's not something that we really have a good way to convey.

Megan, I almost agree, except that the Mockingjay is (in the book, and, I hope, the movies) a politically-loaded symbol before Katniss volunteers, which strains credulity in a randomly-chosen pin. (no, not any more than my headcanon fix, but I'm more willing to accept interpersonal coincidence than political coincidence.)

Megan, I think that the pin being given by someone, anyone, with purpose holds more meaning than it being a random find in the Hob.

The more I think about the movie there are things I wish they had included. But that is cause I want everything. I think they laid groundwork to explain some things that didn't really get called out, such as the Avvoxs .

I loved the movie and I'm glad it is drawing such popularity. I just feel for anyone who hasn't read the books or even a summary and walks in cold, just knowing it is a popular flick. They are in for a world of hurt.

Ha, seriously. I do think that someone who hasn't read the books will be able to follow and appreciate the movie, though, which I felt wasn't true of some of the later Harry Potter movies (I have no idea how anyone could understand OOTP without having read the book).

I'm assuming that the next film will be much more about how The Capitol will fuck your life up on a personal, vendetta level, rather than an impersonal, systemic level. Which makes sense, that we wouldn't get that until we actually see someone stand up to the extent that they need to be mown down.

Perhaps that will include the Avoces (fuck you, English: I will plural Latin words like Latin)

Suzi, they really are. Those will be the really interesting reactions to hear/read

But, in the book, Katniss doesn't even realize it's a mockingjay until later. So I wouldn't say it's a particularly common symbol before she chooses to wear it. To me, the randomness of her buying it in the Hob just fits more with Katniss becoming an unintended symbol herself.

I do think that someone who hasn't read the books will be able to follow and appreciate the movie.

This is where I disagree. Follow, yes. Appreciate, I don't know. At least based on the critics I saw it with (most of whom hadn't read the books). I don't think it moved much beyond the basic premise for them.

I suppose it's hard to separate my emotional reactions from my knowledge of the books. But I think it sells the basic premise in such a way as to make its point.