The Odds are Forever in It's Favor

There is a forest of teen fiction stories out there. There is your typical "teen enters supernatural world and life is forever changed" and there is the "teen discovers magical powers and saves the world." From Twilight to Percy Jackson, Magic Tree House to Maximum Ride, it becomes so boring that it almost drives someone to tears. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a mighty arrow that unleashes a firry inferno upon it's other competitors. The Hunger Games "volunteer as tribute" to risk life and death so that they might save readers from the oppressive boredom that can be easily found in other novels.

The underdog element begins as the same old mundane story. A young teenage girl named Katniss lives a miserable life in The Seam as she struggles to provide for her innocent sister Prim and her distant mother. Katniss is filled with a spite that runs incredibly deep throughout every fiber of her being. Her life is turned upside down when Prim is chosen to fight in the Hunger Games, a stunt pulled by the despicable Capitol as retribution for a rebellion. In a flurry of action, Katniss replaces her sister to guarantee her one more year of life. Where this firecracker begins to explode with creativity is with the entire story being set in a pathetic excuse of futuristic America called Panem. It is as if Collins has taken every terrible thing about our existence to ensure empathy for the tributes and complete hatred for the Capitol. Another difference is that there are both multiple heroes and villains. In the bubble of fiction, you have showdowns such as Harry vs. Voldemort and Bella & Edward vs. the Volturi. Collins puts the entire Capitol against Katniss, Peeta, and Rue.

Another arrow in the heart of what makes The Hunger Games such a hit are the unique characters. Our main heroine Katniss isn't the stereotypical girl who depends on a man to rescue her from an ivory tower. Peeta is the baker's son who "doesn't have a girl back home because she came here with him." After he gives a declaration of love, a strategy develops where the two play Romeo & Juliet in order to win sympathy in the Games. Rue is the tribute who appears for about 5 chapters and then dies a painful death. Rue is the only character from outside District 12 that the reader develops a loveable feeling for. Ellie, Haymitch, and the other tributes are completly despispicable because they seem to lack any sort of guilt over being the government's puppets and the fact that 23 people could end up dead because of their action seems to completly slip their peanut-sized brains. In the first two minutes of the Games, 11 tributes are dead in a horrible bloodbath at the Cornocopia. In addition to unusual characters, a evil dystopian background, a reader will also find some of the most controversial topics in our society sewen into every inch of the novel.

Government control, war, murder, how far you should be willing to go in order to survive, competition. Some of these words send up red flags in any mind, especially in those of parents whose young influencial teens are reading these novels. Sike! Let's be real here: not a lot of teens are going to ask their parents if it is okay for them to read a popular book that has got everyone talking. For those wierdos who might have some concern, there is not any real reason for concern. The war in this book is no different than the wars in Syria, Iran, and Egypt that we see every day! I just don't understand why everyone has so much concern! If you really want to keep someone informed about a worldwide concept, you might as well let them read it in a New York Times bestseller novel because otherwise all they have to do is open the Internet or turn on the news to find what they want. Suzanne Collins has been quoted saying "that she got the inspiration for The Hunger Games by watching a game show and then switching to a movie about a war." The bottom line is that the topics in The Hunger Games are just based around topics readers experience everyday. While they are controversial, they are topics that everyone needs to know about if they want to even have a chance of understanding the world around them.

After reading The Hunger Games, the score for this dystopian fiction novel is 4.5 mockingjays out of 5. The book does have a beginning slower than molasses but it does have importance because you meet the fearless heroine and you understand where the bitterness and utter defiance comes from. Any reader also understands the awkwardness between Katniss and Peeta. Before the novel is done, the reader is left with feelings of awe and respect for the victors of The Hunger Games, confusion over their relationship status, and a burning desire to destroy the cruel society that forces these games upon their youth.

Readicide: The Problem and The Solution

At some point in their high school career, everybody has had to read a book that they didn't like. Whether it's Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, or Of Mice and Men, some people are just not fans of the classics. Despite protest, kids are forced to read these classics for school and it dramatically lessens the love of reading. For me, my least favorite classic books were Brave New World, Catcher in the Rye, and The Great Gatsby. I was really getting sick of reading because I would have to read the novel through a specific point of view and I feel like I didn't get understand the whole story. I also feel like I didn't get the opportunity to make my own opinion of the novel because I was trying to satisfy an assignment. 


I feel like schools need to incorporate more genre fiction into the curriculum. I don't think that modern books can replace the classics because I think they still have lots of academic merit but there are places where more modern books can be worked in that will help maintain student's love of reading. An example is when students first learn how to write an essay. The students can pick any book that they want and then go through the process of building an essay using an enjoyable novel. We should want our children to be able to enjoy reading in school so that they will continue to read long after school is out. The classics are not for everyone but I think that schools can reach a happy medium to help maintain the love of reading. 

Book Trailer for The Help

Here is a trailer about the author of The Help, Kathryn Stockett.

Film Adaptation of The Help

In the mind of the reader, nothing is worse than a film adaption of their favorite book that is just terrible! Prime example for me: the 1960s version of Romeo and Juliet. Not pretty, but I digress. For anyone in the film industry, they know that this can be one of the greatest challenges they will ever face. They think this way for the exact same reason as a reader: If there are serious inconsistencies between the book and the movie, not as many people are going to see the movie and the movie probably won't get a very good response from their audience. It's not always a bad idea to turn a book into a movie. There are countless examples of fantastic film adaptations such as the Harry Potter series, the Hunger Games, The King's Speech, The Blind Side and The Help.


Today, I'll be focusing on the film adaptation of The Help by Kathryn Stockett.The movie stars Emma Stone as Skeeter, Viola Davis as Ailbileen, and Octavia Spencer as Minny. I think that the biggest challenge for the film maker was finding people who could imitate a traditional southren accent but not have the accent so strong that people couldn't understand what the actors are saying. The film maker made an excellent choice by selecting these three women as the main characters because you could easily imagine them really living in the south and being able to sass anyone in the world.


There are three specific scenes that I think needed to be included in the movie and I'm very happy to say they were. Those three scenes were:


1. Skeeter decides to write a book from the point of view of Jackson's housemaids. This sets up the main conflict in the book and it is when the story really begins. The whole point of The Help is to record the journey to accomplish this book. Although it is ironic to read a book called The Help where the story is about writing a book about black housemaids called Help, Kathryn Stockett's book is very easy to follow and this easiness translated into the film as well.


2. The second scene is when Minny confesses about the "Terrible Awful I done to Miss Hilly." The terrible awful is that after Minny is fired, she returns with a pie she made just for Miss Hilly. Miss Hilly has drafted something called The Home Health Safety Intiative which requires all white homes to have a separate bathroom for the colored help. Minny finds this insulting so when Miss Hilly is eating the pie, Minny tells her to "eat my s***." Miss Hilly is in shock and doesn't understand what's happened until she looks down at Minny's pie. I think we can all guess what happened from there... a long sprint to the bathroom! I enjoyed this part because it brought some comic relief into the novel and it helped develop Minny's character as the maid with an attitude. I would also highly recommend watching the video clip on YouTube. It will have you laughing so hard, tears will be coming out of your eyes.


3. The final scene is when people start to buy and read Skeeter's book. It justifies everything that Skeeter and the maids were working so hard for and it is one of the few truly happy, care-free moments in the book. It is a feel-good moment because Skeeter was told that the book will probably not sell and to see Skeeter's work finally come to life is very cool to see and read.


There is another side to making a movie. Film makers will often have to cut parts from books or otherwise the movie will last for 3 or 4 hours. The basic point of a movie is so someone can see an entire story in roughly two hours. There are two things that I am happy that were cut out the movie because I felt that they were unecessary to the basic story line and to the book.

1. The first part was Celia Foote's story. I don't know why they needed to go into how Celia can't have a baby and all of her family drama. I think they could have just left it at she is Minny's employer, she is kind of kooky and that she is on the outside of society.

2. The second part is the conflict between Skeeter and her mother. While I still think that the story about Constantine is important, all of the conflict about being a proper lady and looking like everybody else wasn't needed. Skeeter tells us in the beginning of the book that she's not like anyone else. Why not just leave it at that?

Overall, the film adaptation stayed true to the book and conveyed the story very well. It was a very well done film adaptation. In fact, you could say that the movie was down right magical.