you know what? im high and watching hunger games and annoyed enough to make a vent post. i hate that cato’s care for clove was entirely erased in the film. and not for some lovey dovey ship nonsense (but i did ship clato as a teen and assumed they were collins’s sneaky way of saying ‘hey while u were focusing on that fake star crossed lovers tragedy, you missed the actual romance over here because it wasnt sparkly enough you for to even notice let alone care about at all) NO my issue with it was the fact that it was one of the SMALLEST glimpses into the realization that “hey, these blood thirsty careers are just kids too. theyre just like peeta and i. if our positions were reversed and i screamed for peeta he would come for me like cato for clove. he would cry for me like that, hed beg me to stay. this kid is a human after all. just like me.” and it STINGS! its SHOCKING! because before this moment katniss hated and feared cato and clove and the rest of the careers. they were not scared children like the rest of the tributes, they were vicious they were frightening and eager to kill. they were not worthy of pity. she sure didnt feel any pity for glimmer or the district four girl when they died via tracker jackers or whatever the district boys name was when she killed him. she was shaken to have killed or to have witnessed their deaths, but overall she didnt feel bad for them. they were evil, they’re from districts that allegedly support the games and pledge allegiance capitol, they train career tributes to slaughter the poorer district children, they make peace keepers, theyre richer, they’re not human.
but here. clove is a frightened little girl screaming for not her partner, but her friend. shes crying and begging and its ugly and its scary to watch and something in katniss clicks. this girl who was pinning her down a second ago and taunting about killing her and rue and peeta. who seemed to be enjoying her time in the games. shes screaming out for help. its jarring to see such a sudden transition, katniss doesn’t know what to make of it.
and then comes cato, running, screaming back for her! he could leave her for dead, there was only ever meant to be one victor anyway right? whats the point in saving her? even if the game makers changed the rules, does cato really care enough about his district partner he was planning on killing anyway? is he really wasting effort trying to save her? why would a career do that, how could he be so human? sure she and peeta were trying to stay alive so they could both go home, but neither of them planned to kill each other. neither of them wanted to kill or trained to kill. they were here by accident, they didn’t choose it.
except… katniss had, hadnt she? she volunteered just like careers do. she volunteered to save her family, who knows why the careers volunteer? she always assumed it was for the glory and the chance to participate in the games right? but who can say? what makes it unique for her to save her sister and mother, when these tributes could be doing the same fucking thing? these career kids could just be scared daughters and sons and children of scared fathers and mothers and parents who just want their kids to have the best chance of fighting in case they do get pulled. and maybe the kids that volunteer have siblings theyre trying to protect and families theyre trying to feed. they have a good shot at winning with that training, if they lose their familys removed from the tribute bowl forever, if they win they get money and shelter and safety for the rest of their family to live with.
and right there as catos crying over the body of his district partner, of someone he couldve grown up with and loved just like peeta and katniss and every other tribute in the game, katniss understands. katniss gets it. its why she mercy kills him at the end, its why she has nightmares of cloves death and not just rues. its because theyre just like her. the district borders dont fucking matter. they are human, they are just trying to get each other home. they care for each other, they dont want the other to die. these career districts arent any better or worse than katniss just because theyre in a higher social class with a bullshit allegiance to the capitol that enslaves them and kills their children every year just as much as districts 5-12. catos human. cloves human. katniss only registers this after the scene where she listens to cato crying as cloves canon booms in the background. suzanne collins put that scene in there for a REASON. to humanize EVERYONE! (like she humanizes the average, working class capitol citizens) cato isnt just an antagonist because hes evil, hes no villain. he and katniss are not enemies. theyre the same. the districts are the same. the capitol citizens are the same. everyone is just… the same.
by cutting this out of the film it diminishes the truth of war like the original novel is saying. that soldier youre fighting is not the enemy. the enemy are the people at the head of the state, seated at soft chairs in billion dollar offices set in mansions moving around armies of thousands like chess pieces on a board. this war is not between you and that soldier. this war is using you like pawn while the real enemies fight with you as their weapons. youre expendable. that soldier is expendable. you are both human, neither of you want to kill each other or watch your comrades die.
THIS is the theme of the hunger games. that war is tragic and unethical and abhorrent. war is fought between those in power and use their citizens as carelessly as bait for fishing. these borders, these stereotypes types, this propaganda you are force fed by the elite is all made up to keep you from banding together. they breed hate within you on arbitrary measures and keep you divided because together you’re strong, but individuals are weak. so they draw up these lines in the sand to make you hate each other because you’re from another district, because you’re from another country, another social class, another bracket, another nothing.
its all made up. its all fake.
cato cries when clove dies. cinna apologizes to katniss for being put into the games. plutarch joins haymatch and other tributes to end the games. ALL the victors join hands at the quarter quell. they are all human. they all care for each other. they join together and overtake the tyrants.
THATS why catos scene over clove is important and why its meaningful that he doesnt go after katniss when it happens even though he could because hes too overwhelmed by his grief. its not something the movie just gets to erase because “its such a short scene, it doesnt matter, we can save time by cutting it even though we literally keep clove shouting for cato in the film and it wouldve taken two more seconds just to show him running to her and crying when her canon goes off.”
the film makes him seem heartless. he doesnt care about anyone, his breakdown at the cornucopia is because he’s gone mad over his instinct to survive and his rationality telling him he’s dead no matter what. thats true in both the film and the book, and while the film has him finally realize hes a pawn, it still strips him of his empathy and humanity and capacity for compassion and love. it revokes katniss’s understanding for ALL the districts, something she doesn’t get until the second film. UGH. its been a decade and im still mad over this.
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