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We have all seen those great Hunger Games TV spots, whether it be live while watching television, or here on Hypable. But I pose this question to you: Is it possible that with a title like “The Hunger Games,” viewers might be a bit confused with as to what the central story is about?
I know how excited we all are about the fact that the trailers and TV spots have not been portraying The Hunger Games as the next Twilight in terms of the “who will she choose?” romance angle. But upon re-watching the latest TV spot (the one featuring ‘Safe and Sound’ by Taylor Swift and the Civil Wars) a thought crossed my mind. The marketing campaign has veered away from showing us too much footage of what goes on within the arena, and let me tell you, I am more thrilled by this than anyone. Particularly for someone like me, I am glad that they are not showing too much of the Hunger Games themselves because as someone who does not have too much will power when it comes to avoiding watching released clips and such, I have not had a hard time trying to avoid spoiling myself.
To continue, with the latest TV spot emphasizing the hardships of living in the impoverished District 12 (women carrying heavy buckets, the miners on their way to the coal mines, frightened children peering out of worn-down wooden structures), and showing Katniss hunting in the woods with Gale, I am beginning to wonder whether or not the premise of the movie is clear to viewers who are not familiar with the original source material. With a name like “The Hunger Games,” and footage that centers primarily on people living in fear and struggling to survive, in addition to Katniss hunting in the forest, I wonder if those Panem-ignorant viewers might think that the movie is about a girl surviving in a run-down village in post-apocalyptic America. Some might say that this is not a bad thing since that is largely what the beginning of the novel entails, but I still wonder if it might be a little misleading. Granted they do show the Reaping, but we do not know what these children are being selected for, or why Katniss’s volunteering is such a great sacrifice.
I am overall still very pleased with the marketing strategy of “The Hunger Games” and the anticipation for seeing this film is killing me, but I still wonder if the approach Lionsgate has taken might deter more viewers from venturing out to see the film if they do not have a proper understanding of what the story is truly about.
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