cherrios

Yeah they play it so much bigger in the movies and the media surrounding the movies instead of in the actual books.

fly me to the moon

Yeah, agree w/ you guys plus the movies def show the triangle more than in the book since in the book, it def show both sides of the relationships than in the movie.. Also, in both movie, there are lot of missed opportunities that they can able to use some details from the books in THG/CF..

NYPoster

I do think the last movie made it clear in CF that she fell in love with Peeta. Some of my non reader folks thought she fell in love with Peeta. Also I don't see being withe Peeta as easier especially after the events of Mockingjay

I also want them to show just how Katniss and Gale drift apart during MJ

The_Jazziest

Here HERE!!! Well Said!

And aside from that wondrous comment, I also totally agree with everything everyone else is saying triangle-wise.

It wasn't until reading the books for the second time and REALLY paying attention to her relationship with Peeta and her relationship with Gale that I realized just how much she and Gale were shown as being nothing more than friends-from Katniss's perspective-and how she was slowly and surely falling in love with Peeta. Cuz when Katniss is with Gale, they hunt and vent and are quiet together and have their "silent understandings" and he's her "hunting partner".

On the other hand, look at her time with Peeta in The Hunger Games-which isn't even that good of a representation based on the whole fighting for their lives thing-but still their relationship is shown as more. Peeta makes her laugh, he makes her angry, he makes her feel, he makes her cry, he even makes her think differently. She thinks about Peeta's statement about showing them "they don't own me" and she decides to do something differently about Rue. Then of course she and Peeta taking care of one another and sleeping together. Not to mention the ending when she is screaming like a banshee and banging on the glass when they're taking him away to the point that she has to be sedated. And let's not even get started on her reaction when she sees him again on the reunion show.

Then of course their relationship is very much developed in Catching Fire during the time when Peeta's carrying her downstairs everyday and she's watching him paint. And they are just shown as growing closer and closer. And when they're "sleeping" together in the training center on the last night before the Quell? One of my favorite scenes because that's one the moments when I really knew how much Peeta meant to Katniss.

Meanwhile she and Gale are shown as growing farther and farther apart. Gale grows angrier as it goes on and seems to be becoming more mean-spirited-i.e. "I don't want anything they made in the Capitol."-as time goes on, leading up to the events in Mockingjay. And I just now noticed that every single thing I mentioned, minus a few watered down Everlark scenes, wasn't even in the movies! So, I DO hope that they do a good job of showcasing Katniss's relationship with Peeta-Love-and Gale-Friendship-in a way that stays truer to the books, this time.

One of my favorite parts in the CF movie was when they showed Finnick realizing that Katniss was in love with Peeta-same as in the book-and showed Prez Snow's granddaughter saying "Some day I want to love someone that much." because it was, in my mind, their way of effectively "letting" any confused viewers know who Katniss was really in love with. Even if she doesn't realize it yet...

cherrios

The thing that always bother me about the movies is how big they made the triangle when it's not like that in the books. And considering what's happening in the story, that the triangle is what they are focusing on? The Capital is starving and over working it's people. Making them sacrifice their children to a brutal death for entertainment and as a revenge for rebelling against injustice. And this young girl whose had to grow up so fast to care for her family and accidentally became a spark of a revolution. That they are fighting a war. And people seem to be more interested in who she's romantically interested in. Ugh.

The_Jazziest Your right about it being clear that Peeta is the one in her heart. Gale is her hunting partner and they understand each other. They have gone through hardships together and they have each others back. There is a trust there and they are important to each other. But he becomes such an angry young man. Who can't understand how she feels about things and people from the Capital.

But with Peeta she smiles, she laughs, she lets herself be vulnerable. She feels safe with him. They have moments of calmness where life is almost normal and there isn't a chaos building around them. She lets him under the shell that she made so many years ago. And she doesn't even realize how important he has become to her. Until she almost looses him. She doesn't understand how Snow is using Peeta as a weapon against her until she breaks not being able to go on while Peeta is being held captive.

I think Katniss wanted to distant herself so much from the Games and what they did to her. That she avoided Peeta and returned to the life she knew before hand with hunting with Gale and caring for her love ones. And then she went on the tour and in the darkness when she couldn't hide from her nightmares, that it was Peeta who was there to drive all that always and help her process it. He was her rock through out the tour. He is willing to give all for her in the arena because he knows that she is needed by her love ones and by the people.

I think she came to love Peeta in their first games. But she didn't understand what it meant back then and she had so many other things on her plate. But I do think she fell in love with him when they went on the tour together. And her love was really cemented when they went into the area the second time. The feeling of hunger for more when she's kissing him on the beach. The terror she feels when he almost dies by hitting the force field. How she attacks Haymitch with rage at the news that Peeta has been captured.

~betty's garden~

i agree and to be fair i think it was over for gale as soon as they had their moment in the cave

rpmaluki

^^^Yes I agree. She started having feelings for Peeta in the cave.

~betty's garden~

yeah sometimes i forget about gale to be honest haha

OUATKatya

As someone who was exclusively a movie viewer until after CF, my impression was that, initially, her relationship with Gale was real while the one with Peeta was not. I wanted to watch CF because I really liked Peeta in THG and I held out hope that he would be able to find happiness. He surprised me in the first movie because I was expecting that they would both fake the relationship. Once it because apparent that it was real for him... oh, my little shipper heart.

Also as a movie viewer, it seemed to me that Katniss fell in love with him in CF (they had great moments in THG, but it was much more noticeable to me in CF). My favorite scene in the movie is at the end when she tears into Haymitch. This is the moment it truly becomes clear that it's not a show for her anymore. It's real. She really loves Peeta. And in the last moment when her eyes finally open and we see her resolve, there's no doubt what she's thinking. She's ready to do whatever necessary to get him back. Gale is now the "not real" relationship. Even if what she and Gale had was real in the movie-verse, that relationship is clearly over in her mind. Peeta is the one she really wants.

So while there was stuff left out from the books and new stuff added in, I do think the movies have caught up and are on the right track now.

rpmaluki

I was also a movie viewer of both THG and CF before reading the books. I never liked THG. I had never heard of it before watching it at the cinema. I found that opening slaughter sequence so disturbing I swore never to watch the sequels I knew they were planning on making at the time. However, I loved Peeta from the very start, Josh Hutcherson won me over and he had so little to do in that movie.

I never thought Gale was her boyfriend at all, they were friends from what I saw. I did notice he seemed to like her more when he saw her and Peeta in the cave, it appeared as if he was jealous, she was kissing and cuddling another guy. I didn't think she liked Peeta all that much in THG until I actually read the books. My favourite scene is after they are hoisted onto the hover craft and she gets separated from Peeta by the doctors trying to save Peeta's life. It was similar to the last scene in CF where she's raging against Haymitch about Peeta being in the Capitol. It was so powerful for me, I was more than convinced she liked Peeta.

In CF (movie) I could now tell she liked him but didn't want to/couldn't admit it to herself from their first scene in Haymitch's kitchen when Peeta offers her bread and she looks at him expectantly but he's so closed off and doesn't say anymore to her because he's still hurting from when she told him all that stuff in the THG was not real, and they hadn't been on speaking terms since. He's all politeness and cordiality and it didn't seem like it was enough for her. That, plus their first kiss in the snow, again, she seemed expectant. as if waiting for Peeta to be his jovial, kind, loving self after the cameras stopped rolling but he isn't. Like in the THG book at the end, she never really wanted to let him go but because of the Capitol and the star-crossed lovers from D12 schpiel, not only did she let go, she inadvertantly pushed him away. All she did was rob herself of being with the person she really wanted. And by the time she finally catches up to her own feelings and acknowledges them, it's too late. At this stage her own feelings are too raw, confused and uncoordinated so even if Peeta did start spouting sonnets right there in the snow she wouldn't react positively but she would have liked it and treasured it like every other moment of sweetness between the two of them.

Tragically in the movies Gale always seemed like he was more to her but after I read the books, I knew he wasn't. He seemed more like other people's ideal for her because they were hunting partners and had been friends for so long. He was their expectation, just like these movie critics. He fit some bill of the perfect boyfriend and disregarded what Katniss herself felt.

There's such a contrast in her first introduction of Gale and Peeta that I won't ever forget. When I watched the THG, I had hoped it would be Peeta she chose (I had very low expectations), I was led to think it was Gale (he was typical best friend movie trope) but after reading "not him" when Effie called out Peeta's name, I KNEW it was Peeta she would end up with.

I went back to watch THG and now can say I hate it for completely different reasons than what I started with, their treatment of Peeta's character in relation to this mythical triangle being shoved down our throats.

It's a shame because I really love all three books but I can't say I love all the movies done thus far. Thank goodness CF corrected many of the atrocious errors of the first film and here's hoping MJ will do even better.

fly me to the moon

Yeah, same here plus in the first movie, I don't think Katniss actually have feeling for him since they didn't show lot of things from the book that they able to use plus they didn't focus on Peeta too, so honestly, I tho that she prob go w/ Gale bec of the ending when she saw him, she smiles at him.. But in CF, it starts to noticeable between Katniss/Peeta, but not too deep, but at least it start in this movie..

For the books, CF def my fav book out of all three bec there are so many things between Katniss/Peeta.. Ugh, I can read that book again and again.. W/ the movies, I don't have fav, but there are too many missed opportunities that they able to use, but they didn't which that was suck..

cherrios

I had seen HG before reading the books, I thought there was something between Katniss and Gale but it was unsaid. They were friends who had both been through something horrible together and could count on each other. They both never went there and perhaps it was more on his side than hers. And her main concern was keeping her family safe and fed while she was sent off to die in the games. I notice his jealously when she was with Peeta in the caves. It was clear that both boys had feelings for her and that they were both genuine feelings. But there was something about Peeta's sweetness, kindness, and strength that won me over. That and Gale is the obvious cliche Hollywood choice.

I was disappointed with all that was left out of the movie that was in the book. I so badly wanted the scene where they are eating with their hands in the cave and they wave hello to Effie. I wanted more of the arena, that part just felt rush to me. I did think there was a tiny spark between Katniss and Peeta, but it was lost with everything else going on with the Capital, their families, staying alive, etc.

I just hope that with the next two, things will be more fleshed out that needs to be fleshed out. And not a bunch of Hollywood mumbo jumbo being thrown at us to work some angle.

I want to see a proper goodbye with Gale and Katniss. And an actual build up to Katniss and Peeta coming back together.

rpmaluki

^^^^I thought that scene in the cave was so funny. I'm sure Effie gasped with shock at what they did.

cherrios

It was one of my favorite scenes from the book. It was funny and sweet, showing them enjoying the little things while they are fighting for their lives. I would have loved to see Effie's reaction. Like how she freaked when Peeta threw away the cards she gave him in District 11.

R&Tislove

I mean…need I say more?