How is "Hunger Games" different from "Battle Royale"

[hal]

Has anyone seen both?

All I know about hunger games is that it's about a group of kids that are dropped on an island and they must kill all others in order to survive.

Sounds just like Battle Royale.

I'm surprised that, first, Hunger Games is seen as a natural next phase for all of the Potterholics. My niece grew up with Harry Potter and the last thing she wants to see is a bunch of kids killing each other...

SECOND - is that although I'm hearing about HG from every corner of the media, no one is comparing it to BR.

[dmann]

I don't know anything about Battle Royale, but the premise of the Hunger Games is that the GOVERNMENT makes these children battle to the death and there are HUGE socio-economic factors that greatly affect the outcome. It is "entertainment."

DM

Edited to add: I have only read the books. I have not seen the first movie yet.

[Chakravartin]

Hunger Games rips off dozens of books and movies. Not just the one.

If you're a movie aficionado, you probably won't enjoy it as much because you'll see it as a ripoff... which it is.

Big time.

And lots of reviewers have pointed out the many movies they've seen scraped for it.

But it's well done as ripoffs go. You might even enjoy it for how cleanly, unambiguously and unconsciensciously it's a ripoff. As the original book was. A total wholesale whorish ripoff.

But people like it. And they pay.

[Black]

Chakravartin wrote:
Hunger Games rips off dozens of books and movies. Not just the one.

If you're a movie aficionado, you probably won't enjoy it as much because you'll see it as a ripoff... which it is.

Big time.

And lots of reviewers have pointed out the many movies they've seen scraped for it.

But it's well done as ripoffs go. You might even enjoy it for how cleanly, unambiguously and unconsciensciously it's a ripoff. As the original book was. A total wholesale whorish ripoff.

But people like it. And they pay.

I can't wrap my brain around the phenomenon of moviegoers flocking to see this one in droves despite nobody I've heard from finding it particularly memorable.

I think the above commentary describes every mainstream American science fiction film. If you read at least a sampling of Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut, even just the short stories, in your youth, all of it seems like dumbed-down rehash.

[sekker]

HG is a good read.

Saying it's a rehash is like saying Harry Potter is a rehash of a fantasy novel.

I think HP has more precedent and is better than HG still.

The devils in the storytelling.

[Chakravartin]

Did someone claim that Harry Potter was original?

[Stephanie]

Excuse me, but what in entertainment IS original? Isn't everything just rehashed in some way?

I found a good deal on the HG books, so I'm reading them. So far, not bad. Not the best things I've ever read but still good.

[michaelb]

I just saw the hunger games movie and liked it. I also read all the books, and now my daughter is into them. I don't think I have seen BR. In any case, HG, the books and the movie, may not be that original a concept, but it is done well in a fairly grim way. But what makes the HG fairly unique is the lead character, Katnis, tough and cold and strong, and yet beautiful, and not really all that interested in the boys that revolve around her. So maybe not the best roll model for our daughters, but certainly better and different and interesting in that way.

[rjmacs]

I guess the biggest difference is that the Hunger Games is a blockbuster success.

[decay]

i say katniss IS a good role model for our daughters!!