With the premiere of the movie rendition of “The Hunger Games,” which was first a book by Suzanne Collins, quickly approaching, it’s interesting for me to see the chaos that has ensued on MSU’s campus. It seems as though everyone is rushing to clear their schedules, freshen up on the book or even read the entire series before the eve of the film’s March 23 release. I have seen my fellow students madly flipping the pages of the novel in the study lounges, in the cafeteria and even in one of my classes.
I’ll admit it — I haven’t read the series. I haven’t even so much as picked up the book and read the back to see what it’s all about. So after being surrounded by all the fuss about the novels, it makes me wonder what all the commotion is about. What is so great about these books that is making people lose their minds over them? Why is everyone in such high anticipation of the movie?
To me, it seems as though when a book is turned into a movie, it becomes the latest obsession everywhere, and MSU is no exception. Once word spreads about a movie version, that novel somehow ends up on the nightstand of nearly every young person in America. Novels such as those in the “Twilight” saga, “The Help” and of course in the “Harry Potter” series all have been the face of America’s book-turned-movie craze, and this example of fandom of Beatlemania-like proportions always has puzzled me.
It generally has been my experience that the book tells a better story than the movie. Simply put, directors cannot hope to capture the imagination of every reader within one camera lens, and for the most part, movies based on books just ruin the experience for me. Like any other reader, I imagine each character and scene a certain way. Films cannot possibly satisfy each reader’s individual interpretation and still have a production considered successful in the eye of the public.
Besides the film side, I simply am not going to pick up a book and give it a read because it’s the most popular at the moment. I’m naturally a bit skeptical of media subjects that reach great popularity, and I have no desire to be just another person obsessed with the latest book.
If I am going to devote my time to reading something, it will be on my own terms. If I rush through a book just in time for the movie, I’m not getting the most out of the reading experience. And I bet many of those who recently have read “The Hunger Games” wish they would have said the same.
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