The Hunger Games: 10 Biggest Changes From The Books
6. Gales Whipping
One of the biggest changes from the books to the film is the role Gale Hawthorne plays and more importantly, how he gets whipped in District 12. In the book, Gale is brutally whipped by the new Head Peacekeeper Romulus Thread after he is caught with a poached wild turkey. The fact that Gale is willing to outside the walls and risk such punishment is used as an indicator of how scarce food is in District 12, and how bad the overall situation is outside of the Capitol. In the film however, Gales whipping is much more dramatic. As soon as Thread arrives in District 12, he sets his cronies the task of terrorising the citizens by burning down the Hob, the districts black market. When Gale sees Thread attacking a citizen, he attacks the head peacekeeper who subsequently drags him to the square and has him publicly whipped. This is one of the better changes by the filmmakers for two reasons. Firstly, it makes Gale more of a hero in the film and helps to develop the wider overall role that he is given in the film. Secondly, it makes the whole scene much more visually dramatic and helps to emphasise the evil of the Capitol much stronger than the books does, although it does detract the focus away from the seriousness of the scarcity of supplies that is present in the districts.
