The Hunger Games – Act I breakdown

                                    The Hunger Games – Act I breakdown

                                         Screenwriting Tricks for Authors

                                             by Alexandra Sokoloff

This month I’m posting a detailed breakdown of The Hunger Games (the movie) – today starting with SEQUENCE I, the SETUP, working through the story elements through SEQUENCE 2 up to the Act I CLIMAX.

The Hunger Games

• Based on the book by Suzanne Collins

• Directed by Gary Ross

• Adapted by Billy Ray

• Produced by Nina Jacobson

SEQUENCE ONE

The movie starts with a placard spelling out the history of the Hunger Games. Opening scrolls or placards give us the sense that this is an Important Story, maybe even epic. Think of these opening scrolls from classic movies:

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away

For nearly forty years this story has given faithful service to the Young at Heart, and Time has been powerless to put its kindly philosophy out of fashion

The placard also gives a sense that the story is history rather than fiction. And it’s the first of many tricks we’ll see the filmmakers use to set up the RULES OF THE STORY WORLD – a really important thing to emphasize in dystopian or paranormal stories.

One other note: the name of this fictional country, Panem, is a historical reference to the Roman Empire strategy of panem et circenses, ie. “bread and circuses.” Cynical politicians knew they could keep their populace from questioning the Emperor and the Empire’s corruption by distributing free food and staging violent spectacles like gladiator fights and chariot races. Hmm, sound familiar?

Then we have the OPENING IMAGE: on a TV screen, two flamboyantly dressed men chat on a talk show, a surreally magnified stage, discussing the upcoming Hunger Games, and again detailing the RULES OF THE WORLD. This is our introduction to two key characters: The Master of Ceremonies/Game host and the Gamemaker, both secondary opponents; and a running THEME of the story: reality TV used as a distraction from the authoritarian cruelty of the country.

In a small, dilapidated house, a young girl (Prim) awakes screaming from a nightmare. Her older sister Katniss races in to comfort her. This is a premonition, a classic suspense technique. Prim has dreamed that she was chosen as the female tribute from their district in the Reaping ceremony that will take place that day. Katniss soothes her by singing to her. (This is a PLANT – this song will come back at a key moment to heighten the emotion of and Katniss’s rage over the death of her ally Rue). 

Katniss goes out hunting, and as she moves through the village (ORDINARY WORLD) we see images of poverty and hunger (influenced by classic Depression photos by Dorothea Lange). Katniss shows she’s a rule-breaker by going through a fence into a forbidden district, the forest. The image of Katniss in her huntress attire and bow and arrow in this forest setting is an echo of the Artemis archetype, the ancient Greek wilderness goddess of the hunt who defends women and children. Linking a character to an archetype is one of the classic methods of creating a larger-than-life character. Also, in superhero/ine stories, the characters’ WEAPONS and COSTUMES are a key character device and TALISMAN, as well as a franchise opportunity for studios to sell versions of the characters’ weapons, clothing, and action figures.