[LINK] Entertainment Weekly: How will they make ‘Mockingjay’ PG-13?
Great little article on EW about The Hunger Games, the MPAA, and our attitudes towards violence in books and violence on screen.
‘Mockingjay’ is full of just as much politics as it is heart-rending warfare, it’s just that instead of being forced into the Games by The Capitol, Katniss joins the Rebellion. It’s got a lot more rhetoric and thoughts on violence and war than the other two books, but it’s the finale to the series and Suzanne Collins is trying to make a point. War is hell. Yeah, not the most original point but something we always seem to need to be reminded of. War is hell and no one wins, they just survive.
It’s dark, yes. It’s bleak, yes. Some say she went too far with [all the spoilers] but you know what? Why sugar coat war? “Oh, it’s a book for young adults, why so much violence?” — um, who do you think is out there fighting your wars for you?
I wish they had not decided to split ‘Mockingjay’ into two films. It’s clearly just a grab for cash by the execs and has nothing to do with artistic choices. And it will hinder the pacing of the movies because they can’t be 100% faithful to the book without worrying about losing the “target demographic”. They need to make something as fast paced and compelling as ‘Catching Fire’ and, as much as I love this series, ‘Mockingjay’ is slow to start and depressing the WHOLE WAY THROUGH. So Part I will need to keep that pacing so that people will want to come back for Part II, which can go back to embracing the pain.
I’m not sure what to expect from ‘Mockingjay’ Part I and I know it’s kinda early to panic but ‘Catching Fire’ was just so good, I’m already fretting. I’m going to try to keep the faith that the writing team and directing team have a vision and a plan for where this is all going.
orangerful 
I’m with you, I’m not happy that it’s being split. I can’t imagine that it won’t kill the pacing and momentum. It feels like a money grab. However, the first two films exceeded my expectations, so I hope that the two-parter will work. I don’t want to be negative until I see them, but I’m worried!
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Yes, going to try to stay positive! Since it’s the same director and screenwriter plus Suzanne Collins will still be involved, there is hope. I’m guessing we will get a lot more scenes with Snow and the Capital and maybe even more of Gale and Prim – all the stuff we couldn’t see in the book. ***crosses fingers***
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I had similar concerns when I heard they were splitting the last installment into two. I don’t know how they’ll make it work without making significant changes, and they’ve been so true to the content so far. I have a sneaking suspicion that the film series has peaked with Catching Fire, as the handling of the change of pace in these next ones will be a challenge to deal with. I’ll hold out hope that I’ll be proven wrong though.
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Just checked and it’s the same director so that’s good. Also Danny Strong is doing the script (he did Game Change and The Butler but more importantly he was Johnathan in Buffy so hopefully some Joss Whedon skills have rubbed off on him lol). And Collins seems to be really involved so that should help with creating additional scenes that didn’t exist in the book. So there is hope!
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I actually had no idea of the Buffy connection there! Well that’s good news. Feel a bit more hopeful now.
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I hadn’t heard it would be split in two. I wondering where they will stop at? Maybe when they [spoiler] Peeta?
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That’s what I’m thinking, though how the heck do you spin it so anyone even wants to see the rest of the movie? I love that series but the last book is so bleak.
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