8 - Merrillville Community School

12 The Back Page
The ‘Hunger Games’ succeeds in filling
the void left by ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Twilight’
By Sam Gubitz
Editor-in-Chief
Movies based on extremely popular
books have a history of success in the movie
industry; big names like “Harry Potter” and
“Twilight” dominate the box offices.
However, with “Harry Potter” over and
with “Twilight” on its way out the door, a
new hit series needs to fill the void. “Hunger
Games” succeeds in this endeavor, although it
does stumble along the way.
For those who don’t know “The Hunger
Games” takes place in a post-apocalyptic world
in the country of Panem where the countries
of North America once existed. Sixteen-yearold
Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence),
who lives in one of the 12 “districts”, is sent
to the Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis
that holds absolute power over the rest of
the nation, in order to participate in the
“Hunger Games”.” The “Hunger Games” are
an annual event in which one boy and one girl
aged 12 to 18 from each of the 12 districts
surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery
to compete in a televised battle in which only
By Nadia Duke
Staff Reporter
There aren’t many female protagonists
on prime time television, so it would be
logical for the few shows with leading ladies
(especially in the genre of comedy) to be
something of substance
and quality. This logic
was thrown out the
window when it came
to the NBC comedy
“Whitney”. “Whitney”
follows unfunny comedian
Whitney Cummings
portraying her fictionalized
self. Whitney Cummings
irks me because 70 percent
of her stand-up comedy
seemed to have one theme: women and men
are different because women are weird and
crazy! This may come off a bit strong, but
I see Whitney’s comedy as the example of
feminism being set back another 20 years.
When I first heard about the show I
thought giving it a fair chance would open
my eyes to the hidden genius that is Whitney,
one person can survive.
This 142 minute long film has some
serious pacing issues. The first third of the
book is condensed into about 25 minutes of
actual film time. This condensing makes the
film seem like it is going by extremely quick.
This effect ends abruptly as soon as the actual
“games” start. This part is the largest majority
of the movie and is very well done, hitting the
major points of the book.
However, the film misses most of the
minor details prevalent in the novel. This is
mostly due to the fact that the film cannot
portray the first person narrative that the
book uses. While that fact is a weakness at
some points in the film, the new third person
narrative is a boon for the film, giving unique
insight into ideas and events not present in
the book.
This new insight allows minor characters
like game master Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley)
to be propelled to new heights. In fact, the
scenes of conversation between Crane and
Panem’s eloquent, yet malevolent, President
Snow (Donald Sutherland) are some of the
best in the film.
but seeing how “2 Broke Girls”, a CBS comedy
co-created by Cummings, employed rape jokes
(which everyone should know should not be
considered as joke material, ever) every other
episode, I wasn’t expecting anything good.
Believe it or not, “2 Broke Girls’” comedy is
actually better than the comedy style that
“Whitney” has. I will admit that “Whitney”
has amusing plots, but the writing is so
stale that it makes the storyline seem more
ridiculous than it actually is. The characters
try to come off as raunchy and wittily crafted,
but they’re basically one-dimensional. This
show isn’t a detrimental slight of society, but
NBC can do much better, and the best the
Lawrence’s performance was spot on for
the most part. She portrayed the strong, yet
always vulnerable, Katniss, extremely well.
The only hiccups in her performance were
during the movie’s first 20 minutes. Some of
the lines during this part just seem unnatural
and unlikely to be said by any real human.
In addition, every major performance was
very well done, creating near perfect avatars
for much loved characters from the book,
although some minor characters’ roles were
reduced or completely removed.
This movie may fill a special niche in the
film industry but through its production, the
film has evolved into something much more.
The book and movie work hand-in-hand
together to create a much more fulfilling
experience than either portrayal can do on
its own. The book gives unique details to the
reader that the movie goer will miss out on
due to the limitations of the medium while
the movie portrays events that are not present
in the book due to limitation of that medium.
The story that is crafted between these two
mediums is much more than merely the sum
of its parts; it is a piece of art.
Buffy should replace Whitney
company can do is taking Whitney off my
screen, forever.
On the flip side, as far as quality female
protagonists go, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”
will certainly fill the void if brought back.
“Buffy” and “Whitney” are not comparable
in the genre sense: Buffy is an action-drama
and Whitney is a sitcom.
Comparing how Buffy
and Whitney behave
in general would be
futile as Whitney does
not live her life killing
vampires; however,
Buffy as a lead female
character does better than
Whitney by miles. Buffy
was before movies and
shows like “Twilight”
and “Vampire Diaries” and was the perfect
of example of vampire shows done right.
“Buffy” was an exciting show mostly because
its episodes weren’t rooted in romantic plots,
just unadulterated butt kicking. Buffy kept
audiences on the edge of their seats, and
writer/creator Joss Whedon opened up the
gateway to multi-faceted female characters,
Jennifer Lawrence portrays Hunger Games
protagonist Katniss Everdeen with great
accuracy. (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)
‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s’ unadulterated butt kicking should remove ‘Whitney’s’ crude, unfunny humor
something that audiences had not seen before
in such a major way. TV should treat itself
and bring back the beloved vampire hunter.
Why not? They are quite content with putting
rubbish like “Whitney” on the air.
The Mirror
The Mirror is the student newspaper of Merrillville
High School, 276 E. 68th Pl., Merrillville, IN 46410. The
web edition is located at mhsmirror.com.
Publications at MHS are members of the Indiana
High School Press Association, National Scholastic Press
Association and Quill and Scroll.
Editor Sam Gubitz
Opinion Ana Adame, Brandon Neal
Features Alexandra Woodberry
Sports Nakel McClinton
Arts and Entertainment Cassie Govert, Nadia Duke
Reporters Ana Adame, Allisa Bryant,
Conrad Czosnyka, Josh Davis,
Michael Dicken, Nadia Duke, Sam Gubitz,
Jake Larson, Nakel McClinton,
Brandon Neal, Jalisa Mosley,
Joseph Patton, Alexandra Woodberry
Adviser Teresa Procter
We encourage students to write
letters to the editor. Letters must be at
least 200 words, signed by the student,
and delivered to room M108.