Lionsgate announced today that Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth will play Peeta and Gale, respectively, in the film adaptation of The Hunger Games. Jennifer Lawrence, as revealed a few weeks ago, will play Katniss.
Now, I'm not a huge Hunger Games fan. I read all three books around Thanksgiving, enjoyed them for what they were, and have kept up to date on the movie news but have no real emotional stake in the series. Suzanne Collins is a better writer than Stephenie Meyer (not that that's much of an achievement), and her story is more compelling (because it's not filled with misogynistic drivel and actually has a plot), but her books aren't earth-shattering. I do applaud her for taking the route she did with Mockingjay, because if nothing else it showed incredible bravery on her part as an author. But overall, these are books I'd take or leave.
That being said, I am interested to know how the film will turn out. I was intrigued by the possibility of Hailee Steinfeld playing Katniss, but ever since I saw Jennifer Lawrence's Winter Bone clip at the Oscars, I had a sneaking suspicion she would get the part (and lo and behold, she did). After some hullabaloo about Jennifer being too white or something, The Hunger Games fandom (which I follow only for the lulz) gradually calmed down. Hunter Parrish was the fan favorite for Peeta (the first time I saw a picture of him, he fit the book description well enough, but I've since decided he's far too pretty to be convincing. He would probably make an excellent Finnick, though). Over the weekend, various news outlets reported that Hutcherson was the frontrunner for the role. Just glancing over a couple of fan communities told me that announcement day was going to be hilarious. And it has been.
For one thing, there seems to be a lot of overlap between the Twilight and Hunger Games fandoms, and since Twilight fangirls in general seem to be pretty shallow (I'm not being nice, and I know a lot of my friends rather inexplicably but very sincerely and seriously love Twilight, which I am willing to overlook, because everybody has their faults), so my read on the situation was basically that Peeta and Gale had to be played by the most attractive guys EVAR or else. Never mind that Peeta is stocky and Katniss had never really paid him much mind before they were thrown into the Games together (Gale, I will grant you, is supposed to be a headturner, although not even close to Finnick Odair caliber of beauty). Parrish is indeed very handsome, and of course the kinds of girls who actually enjoy reading all those "marble Adonis" descriptions of Edward Cullen would be actively campaigning for him to get the part. But a lot of Twilight fans are also entitled teenage girls, and when they don't get their way, oooh boy...
Cue about half of Hunger Games fandom whining about how their lives are ~ruined~ because Peeta isn't OMG super hawt (and I'm 20 and I saw Bridge to Terabithia in theatres, so it's kind of hard for me to think of Josh Hutcherson in those terms, but he certainly isn't ugly), and he's going to look like a baby next to Jennifer Lawrence, and he's not naturally blond and blue-eyed, and at least the Gale/Katniss promotional pictures will be something to look forward to because Jennifer and Liam are good-looking, and so on. Part of me is disgusted by the superficialness, but mostly I'm just laughing and laughing. It's possible that I just have an odd sense of humor, but there's something so incredibly amusing in reading, as the online community refers to it, fandom wank (crude but oh-so accurate). In the meantime, I'm actually very pleased with the casting. Hutcherson was quite good in Bridge to Terabithia, and I have no doubt he'll be a great Peeta (he really does give off an air of earnestness and good heart, which is essential for Peeta as a character).
And really, anyone who was reading these books for the romance is seriously missing the point. I love Peeta (he's my favorite character in the series, easily), and I enjoyed the Katniss/Peeta subplot, but Collins's primary objective seemed to be getting her anti-war message across. The Hunger Games is not Twilight 2.0 (and thank God for that). If the casting of the actors really changes your shipping preferences (i.e. people who were saying that because Hemsworth is more attractive than Hutcherson, they now prefer Gale/Katniss), then you are being both petty and superficial, and I seriously doubt your ability to read with maturity. I am, for example, a huge fan of the Ron/Hermione romance in the Harry Potter series, but I do not, first of all, see Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Ron and Hermione (because they're nothing at all like their book counterparts, sorry), and I don't let their onscreen chemistry (or lack thereof, because to be honest things are pretty hit and miss chemistry-wise with Grint and Watson) affect my enjoyment of their rapport in the books (which is infinitely more interesting to me).
Anyway. So I'm just going to go on deriving happiness from the misfortune of others for awhile. :) Incidentally, it was gorgeous outside today. Why can't you be like this all the time, Virginia?
