Assumptions about Oz and Hunger Games

To be honest, I know I have more assumptions about Hunger Games than the Wizard of Oz.

Before this class I was familiar with both of these series having researched but not read ether of them. Though I knew that the movie and book for Wizard of Oz were different from one another I thought the book would still have components that would be reflected in the film. In ways I was right at wrong in those assumptions. The movie gives you at most a looking glass view of Oz changing many characters just a bit to fit the slightly different plot. I didn't know of the threats that the Witch sent after Dorothy or some of the other small details left out in the movie.

I still have a bunch assumptions about Hunger Games and I really do not plan on fixing any of them. I assume I will not like the series due to several of its key components during the plot aka its child killing and using this for the amusement of others. I did not like this in the movie Battle Royal and I like it even less now. I'm sure there are some points that I would like but I just do not care. The movie over all is a better way for me to watch the series but that still means I have to watch the killing's instead of just reading about them.

I love reading. I read when ever I get the chance and when I get a good book. The Wizard of Oz is everything I like it a book; Characters that I can grow to love, a fantasy like setting and a villain that makes my skin crawl. Hunger Games on the other hand is mostly what I don't. As I have said here and in the previous journal, I do not like when children killing one another is made in to a sport for speculators to get their kicks and giggles out of. It makes me sick despite the facts I've heard other very good things about the series. For that reason I just can't get into it. The movies I might be willing to give more of a chance as I've heard that they are even better than the books but still that means I have to put the effort into going to see even the movie and I could care less to do even that.

Week One: Hunger Games ≈ Wizard of Oz

Are the two series similar? Hard to believe that the possibility even exists that the two have anything in common. Both have different plots, one focusing on a girl trying to get home to Kansas and the other about a young lady trying not to be killed in a competition.

To be honest, I do not like Hunger Games, the book or the series. While I find the movie actually decent, I couldn’t get through the book. My main issue is the killing of children for the entertainment of others. I don’t like it and can’t really stand to read it.

Despite my aggravation towards the series, I have to admit the hints of similarities between the two exist. It came as a surprise to me to find them at all. Its just not something you would normally compare.

The very first is the sudden thrust into a completely different world that they are unfamiliar with. A world seemingly much better than the one they have known all their life. Both Dorothy and Katniss grew up in areas of poverty, without the comfort of most of the luxuries we have today. It was very dark and bleak visually shown in both movies. Even in the book the Wizard of Oz the color beyond grays is mentioned when Dorothy arrives in Oz. then suddenly they have gain access to the new place filled with color and wonder. And in both cases the wonder hides dark intentions.

As you might have guessed, both girls are trying to survive in this new world they have arrived in. It is unfamiliar to them, strange and mysterious and danger lurks around every corner. They don’t know if a step in the wrong direction will cost or help them. Despite the level of the actual danger differs between both movies, from a single person with an army to a group of individuals, the ladies move through the story surviving against the odds to reach their goal. They have to gain allies and with their help ultimately defeat the enemy. They ability to adapt to the situation ensures their eventual survival.

While these similarities are in the broadest of subjects both play such a key importance that it’s interesting to think of what these two very different characters have in common. If similarities can be found between these two, I wonder what other movies could be compared to one another.