In a genre notorious for its unpredictability, The Hunger Games movie trilogy continues to be one of the best Young Adult adaptations. The film series effectively conveys many of the author’s worries on consumerism, militarism, exploitation, and media circuses. It is a mostly faithful adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ trilogy. The decision to play up the love triangle had a negative impact on the series’ plot, characters, and reception, and the marketing for the show frequently went against its own critique of the media. Notably, Collins never even proposed the love triangle because she felt under pressure to include Gale as a love interest in order to cash in on the fad. By positioning Peeta and Gale as thematic opposites that the book’ protagonist, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), must carefully come to terms with, Collins, nevertheless, manages to defy the typical paradigm seen in YA literature. While Katniss was mainly correctly adapted and became one of history’s most famous heroines, her co-lead, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), stands out as a glaring oversight in an otherwise great trilogy.
Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) was given a more positive adaption, whereas Peeta Mellark’s character and his forming a bond with Katniss were either misrepresented or completely left out. The audience never really comprehends Katniss’ unwavering desire to protect Peeta, despite the fact that their love and care for him are central to her aims throughout the entire series, which harms her own characterisation. Their relationship frequently appears forced in the movies, which lack the underlying meaning found in the books. Collins’ Peeta is not just Katniss’ co-lead and love interest; he also represents her polar opposite. Peeta is a talented and cunning actor who, above all, symbolised peace and forward-thinking change, in contrast to Katniss, who is a fiery, action-driven heroine with a predilection for destruction. Despite the brutality of her society, Katniss saw optimism and a desire to improve in Peeta.
As soon as the audience realises that Peeta and Katniss had already met, the relationship between the two was needlessly changed from the books. In the first movie, Peeta simply throws burning pieces of bread at Katniss as she sits helplessly in the rain, providing little background for the incident. The movie even implies that Katniss might dislike Peeta for not personally delivering the meal to her, saying that he didn’t do enough. This scene truly ranks among the most significant in the books for the series and greatly influences Katniss’ subsequent romance with Peeta. Since Katniss recently lost her father and her mother’s melancholy prevents her from supporting her family, the two are actually supposed to be eleven-year-olds. Since Katniss is unable to hunt or work, her family is currently on the verge of hunger, and there is little chance that they will survive the upcoming days. Despite the expected thrashing from his mother, Peeta specifically burns the bread as in the movie and throws it at Katniss. The two cross paths at school the following day as Katniss notices a dandelion that comes to represent the kindness and optimism that Peeta gave her. The whole meaning of the deed, which basically gave Katniss the strength to continue hunting and support her family, isn’t effectively communicated by changing the two people’s ages and omitting the wider context. As a result, it is never made clear to the audience why Katniss would go to such lengths to defend someone who didn’t even initially seem to be helping her.
The first movie repeatedly leaves off some of Peeta’s most significant deeds, but it does spare Gale some screen time to give her a long ing gaze. Peeta assists in bathing the inebriated Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) when he passes out in his own vomit following their initial encounter. Katniss initially thinks that this is a premeditated attempt to get closer to their mentor, but she eventually realises that it’s just Peeta being kind again. His generosity continues when, when the Career Pack abandons the District 8 female tribute to die an agonising death, he chooses to mercy-kill her. He uses deceit to steer the Career Pack away from Katniss’ path throughout the entire time he remains with them. Peeta’s actions with the Career Pack are left unclear in the movies because it is never made clear if he joined them to defend Katniss or just to survive. As a result, Peeta’s kindness—his distinguishing quality—and the reason Katniss loves him so much are never fully revealed, devaluing both of their personas.
The majority of Peeta’s significant scenes following the Victory Tour and prior to the Quarter Quell are completely skipped over in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which follows the same plot as the previous movie. Even if there isn’t enough time for a full adaptation of the novel in the movie, the choice to dramatise and prolong Gale’s exchange with the new Head Peacekeeper elevates the character and positions him as a potential love interest. The sequence is somewhat shorter in the books since Gale is beaten for being discovered illegally hunting rather than trying to instigate a revolt. As a result, the slower-paced, character-driven scenes between Katniss and Peeta are cut from the movie due to time constraints. While the two come to know each other better during Catching Fire, it is strongly hinted that Katniss fell in love with Peeta while they were working on a botanical encyclopaedia, which is lampooned as the one thing they’ve done that is “normal.” By the time the Quarter Quell is revealed, Katniss is ready to sacrifice her life to ensure Peeta’s safe return as recompense for all the times he has saved and comforted her since she was a child. Katniss’ desire to see Peeta survive the film would be meaningless without the development of their friendship. If anything, Katniss’ choice seems to be less a representation of her true sentiments and more an attempt to play the suicide martyr.
By the time the Mockingjay film series got to the point when the Districts and the Capitol were fighting each other, the audience was being distracted by Katniss’ almost neurotic worry for Peeta. Without Peeta’s pivotal moments, both he and his relationship with Katniss are rendered completely ineffective. The introduction of Peeta seems to be solely for the purpose of a love triangle that was never even intended for the novels. The spectator is never able to comprehend how the two basically counterbalance each other’s defects and inadequacies because the two’s parallel characterizations are removed. With a contemplation on this contrast, Katniss closes the book series by saying, “That what I need to survive is not Gale’s fire, lit with fury and hatred. I’ve got enough of fire of my own. The dandelion in the spring is what I need. The vivid yellow, which denotes renewal as opposed to annihilation. the assurance that life can go on despite how severe our losses may be. a possibility for improvement. I can only get that from Peeta. That Peeta Mellark eventually stands for the hope for a better future was never able to be shown in the movies.
