Upping Gale/Katniss? My (hopefully unfounded) fears for Catching Fire

[silverducks]

I have a lot of thoughts and feelings and fears for Catching Fire regarding them upping the Gale/Katniss scenes. They do contain spoilers for the rest of the books, so be warned.

Comments

[hawthornhedge]

Oh, I completely agree with this post. I might save my thoughts about the discussion about Katniss' rebelliousness for tumblr because I am still mulling that over, but I also share that worry! As you've discussed, one of possible upsides to watering down BOTH Katniss/Peeta and Katniss/Gale is that it streamlines the narrative because the movie viewer doesn't have the benefit of knowing how genuinely confused Katniss is about her feelings. But, to me, increasing the amount of K/G in Catching Fire unnecessarily muddies the waters given limited screen time, the fact that K & G are practically connected at the hip in MJ, and that we know what the endgame is!

Maybe I should try to be optimistic and interpret Nina Jacobson's quote re "you have to understand the pull Katniss feels to both Peeta and Gale" to also indicate that they need to establish Katniss' connection to PEETA in this movie. I know that I am terribly biased, but I think that Katniss' actual emotional connection to Peeta was NOT depicted well at the end of the first movie. Yes, they're emotionally estranged at the end of the first book, but Katniss still cares about him and she hadn't meant to hurt him at all! In the movie, it was like she was just done with Peeta now that they had survived and he had served his purpose.

I truly do think that the Katniss/Peeta relationship has to be solidified in Catching Fire not only because the Everlark road is a hard one to hoe for pretty much all of Mockingjay, but because it is one of the key relationships that are used against Katniss both by the Capitol AND by the rebels. I mean, the rebels were pretty much taking advantage of Katniss' naiveté regarding Peeta's torture and were content not to rescue Peeta until the day that Katniss realized exactly what was happening to him. Both the Capitol and the rebels use Katniss' relationships with people to manipulate her and to try to break her, culminating, of course, in Prim's death and Coin's assassination. If they can't establish Katniss/Peeta at least to the extent that a movie view would know that there is a deep, deep connection between them, whether romantic or not, I personally think that it can only adversely affect the emotional resonance of Mockingjay.

Also, I share that mood completely!

[silverducks]

I'm glad you agree with my fears. Though in a way, it makes me think they are more grounded!

I just don't understand why they would choose to have more Gale and Gale/Katniss at the expense of Peeta and Peeta/Katniss. So much rests on Peeta's character and Peeta/Katniss, that, as you say, their relationship does need to be set up in Catching Fire.

And the whole issue of rebel Katniss and how that will come across and affect a lot of the main themes of Mockingjay worries me A LOT!

I just fear that they will change bits in both CF and MJ and, in doing so, lose so much of what makes the books so amazing.

And I forgot about the way the rebels use Peeta against Katniss too! It's an interesting point and one I definitely agree with.

And I agree, they sort of watered down Katniss/Peeta too much at the end of the first film. It was going along great, then that scene on the train does make Katniss seem almost selfish in using Peeta. I just don't understand why they didn't just stick with the lines in the book, with the "it was all for the games" "not all of it" I mean, THAT wouldn't push too much for Katniss/Peeta, but it does set up that there is something more there which CF needs to build on ready for MJ!

IDK, I just worry that the whole chain of events in MJ, sparked by Katniss/Peeta, will either lose it's significance, or be changed altogether. And I love the books so much, I really want to love the films as well!

I'm now clinging to the hope that they're just playing/tricking us with all this Gale and Gale/Katniss stuff, and that they DO get the balance right!

I mean, from the trailers of the first film, I thought they would focus a lot more on Katniss/Gale than they actually did!

So fingers crossed it's all just a strange marketing ploy!!