A new tumblr blog – which is being written in-canon for the upcoming Hunger Games adaptation – went live this week.
In an interesting twist, it takes the form of a fashion magazine, complete with adverts for products from the story-world.
The Hunger Games is the story of Katniss “the girl on fire” Everdeen, who is chosen to represent her district in the annual ‘Hunger Games’ in a dystopian future North American society called Panem.
Each year, ‘tributes’ are chosen by lottery, one teenager of each gender from each of the 12 remaining districts of the empire, as a reminder of their servitude, and as punishment for an atempted uprising over fifty years earlier.
Those 24 teens are all put into an arena together, and forced to fight to the death until only one remains. Katniss volunteers to be a tribute in place of her younger sister who was chosen in the lottery.
The Capitol Couture blog is written as if by Capitol stylists, who use the games, the biggest social, political, and commercial event each year, as an opportunity to show off their abilities, dressing the tributes for parades and public appearances, reflecting and setting the style for the people of the Capitol District. The blog specifically mentions Effie Trinket, the first citizen of the Capitol District whom appears in the book, being the fashion-forward celebrity in charge of choosing and managing the tributes from District 12, where Katniss comes from.
When reading the book, I pictured Effie, who was described mostly in terms of her crazy fashion, as an older woman, putting on ridiculous airs and crazy fashion as a way to force youth. Director Gary Ross saw something differnt, and cast Elizabeth Banks as a young, hot version of the character, whose fashion actually looks kind of fun. I imagine this strategy was adopted with the rest of the crazy fashion in the book as well. Still crazy, but not in the way way it was described in the book – which made the Capitol residents seem completely insane by our standards.
Other articles on the blog also directly reference events from the story, so there are some minor spoilers, but nothing that won’t be obvious once the film begins.
Lionsgate has been putting a lot of effort in promoting The Hunger Games film. The studio likely see it as having the potential of Harry Potter or Twilight, being based on a series of young adult fantasy adventure novels. A couple months back they ran a ‘search the Internet’ game, where fans were asked to look through coverage of the film across the web to find pieces of the latest poster, and just recently, a Facebook page was opened for each of the 12 districts, inviting fans to choose a district and compete to be mayor of each, while a department of commerce style informational page explained how each district fits in the world.
Luckily the film also looks like it’s going to be good. Maybe not quite on the level with Harry Potter, but much more interesting than Twilight.
The official synopsis of the film is thus:
Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the evil Capitol of the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games. A twisted punishment for a past uprising and an ongoing government intimidation tactic, The Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which “Tributes” must fight with one another until one survivor remains.
Pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives, Katniss is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy. If she’s ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
Also, here’s the latest trailer, for reference.
The Hunger Games, which stars Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, and Josh Hucherson, hits theaters March 23, 2012.
