'The Hunger Games' Got Everything Right Except Gale

The Big Picture

• Gale's character in The Hunger Games films lacked the depth and backstory he had in the books, leading to important character moments being overlooked.
• Gale's role as a Capitol puppet, pretending to be Katniss' cousin, was cut from the films to focus more on the love triangle dynamic between the characters.
• The emotional impact of Gale's experiences and his role in the destruction of District Twelve was not fully developed, resulting in a weaker portrayal of his character in the final films.

The Hunger Games is a revered YA book and film series and regarded as one of the best adaptations ever. There are a few things that didn't make the cut, but the four films adapted the books almost perfectly. Unfortunately, one character did suffer from cuts, and his rocky presentation threw a lot of important character moments off. This character is Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth), Katniss Everdeen's (Jennifer Lawrence) best friend back in District Twelve. Gale is of massive importance to the story of The Hunger Games. Not only is he one-third of the love triangle that was sold in the films, but he serves as a mirror to Katniss's character and the different paths they end up on.

The Hunger Games

Katniss Everdeen voluntarily takes her younger sister's place in the Hunger Games: a televised competition in which two teenagers from each of the twelve Districts of Panem are chosen at random to fight to the death.

Gale's History Parallels Katniss

Gale starts exactly where Katniss starts, a lot more closely to her than movie-only fans would think. While the film doesn't exactly spend a lot of time even on Katniss' past, we are led to understand that her father was killed in a mine explosion in her nightmare fueled by the tracker jacker stings in the first movie. It's just brief glimpses into her past, her father (Philip Troy Linger) among a group of miners, even eventually changing to every miner having his face. They go down the elevator and are followed by an explosion that sends a plume of smoke. It blows up what is seemingly her house, her father's picture on the mantle, though this is just a visual metaphor for her home life being disrupted by his death, and her having to step up to take care of her sister, Prim (Willow Shields), when her mother (Paula Malcomson) shuts down in grief.

Gale is given little to no backstory in the film; his introduction is a familiar exchange with Katniss out in the woods. The films never tells us the reason Katniss and Gale hunt in the woods together: his father was killed in the same mine explosion as her. This sent both of them searching for food for their families. Gale has siblings in the books, and that is why he has signed up for the tesserae 42 times as it gives them more provisions, meaning he has a higher and higher chance of getting pulled for The Hunger Games each year. Both of them went to the only place they could go, past the fence around District Twelve and into the woods to hunt. At first, Katniss is very apprehensive of him, but they grow closer over the years, and Gale becomes her closest friend. Cutting this from the films outright removed a lot of the nuance for Gale's character in the final entries of the series.

Gale Became a Capitol Puppet

There is a sad trend of Gale's more interesting dynamics getting cut, and one of them is that to keep up the facade that Katniss and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) are star-crossed lovers, Gale is said to be Katniss' cousin by the Capitol. Katniss, throughout the books, already mentions that Gale looks as if he could be her brother, and that causes a bit of a weird space for the "love triangle." It's understandable why, in the long run, this was cut. It doesn't add much more than a little drama, and Catching Fire is already the longest film in the original franchise. It would also have slightly interfered with the movie's interpretation of the love triangle, which is much more present than in the books. Katniss in the books is just trying to survive. But it would have given Gale at least a bit more to do than simply sulk about for the first two films, and instead show that Gale is also being controlled by the Capitol, not just Katniss and Peeta. Liam Hemsworth certainly proves he has the acting chops to do it.

Gale Witnesses the Brutality of the Capitol, but It Doesn't Land Emotionally

Just like Katniss, Gale is no stranger to the horrors of the Capitol, but his experiences are very different from Katniss' and that shapes the path Gale goes down. Unfortunately, Gale does not have the same emotional connection he does in the books. One of the more brutal experiences they share in the books is during one of their hunts. Katniss and Gale find themselves hiding in the wilderness as they witness what Katniss believes to be two Capitol runaways being pursued by a hovercraft. They watch as they capture the girl, and send a spear through the boy's body with her. It is later revealed that the girl is Lavinia, an avox Katniss recognizes in the Capitol.

His other trauma from the Capitol is largely off-screen, and probably the part that is best adapted for Gale's character: the destruction of District Twelve. After Katniss destroys the Quarter Quell arena in Catching Fire, President Snow retaliates by destroying her home. We don't see the destruction until Mockingjay Part 1, but when we do, we see the devastation. The familiar places of District 12 are gone, reduced to rubble, and hundreds of charred corpses line the streets. Gale recounts hearing the Peacekeepers leave and knowing what that meant, and in his escape, only being able to convince 915 people to leave out of the 10,000 residents of his District. There is a larger problem of the films not spending much time in District Twelve, but Gale should have been a larger anchor to it to land the emotional punch that was needed here. It is saved by Hemsworth's performance in this scene, and the film as a whole. Mockingjay is finally where we get to see Gale step up.

Gale's Indoctrination in 'Mockingjay' Is Unearned

One of the more heartbreaking parts of The Hunger Games is Gale's position in the death of Katniss's sister Prim, whom he was tasked to keep safe when Katniss was in the games. He has seen the system exploit their fathers, resulting in their death due to the poor conditions in the mines. He has his family's mouths to feed, he's the only earner in his family to do so. His best friend (who he is in love with) is shipped off to the games twice. Now he has two more people to feed. His home is firebombed, and all his friends are dead because of the attack. Gale is justifiably angry by the time he makes it to District 13 with the few people he was able to save.

Only, we don't get to see any of that on screen. It results in an odd characterization for Gale in the final two films, especially in the penultimate film. When we see Gale again, he is within the ranks of District 13 already. Someone who is still a boy, now a soldier because of the circumstances he was raised in. This is all preyed on by President Coin's (Julianne Moore) ideals. Gale quickly flips from defending Peeta, who is seen on Capitol television, by offering that he was probably forced to say the things he is saying. A few scenes later, in a very similar situation, he calls Peeta a coward and says that he'd rather die than say that. Though it's rocky, it does set up Gale for Mockingjay Part 2.

Katniss follows Gale to District 2, where the rebellion is there to disable the Capitol's prime arsenal: The Nut. Gale is the mastermind behind the operation, planning to trigger avalanches around the base and bury them alive. Katniss watches in horror at this. At the mention that there are civilians in the base and that they should be given a chance to surrender, Gale simply says "That's a luxury we weren't given when they firebombed twelve." A scene later, as the both of them watch the bombing, Gale's characterization is doubled down. "It’s war Katniss, sometimes killing isn't personal. I figured if anyone knew that it was you" he says, only for her to respond "I of all people, know that it's always personal." It perfectly captures their worldviews from what they've experienced. Katniss has had one-on-one interactions with President Snow. She is coached to try her best to still the rumblings of an uprising. Gale has been on the outside of it all. Always being affected, but not singled out. Exploited, whipped, bombed, and ending up homeless. Collins wrote both ends of them perfectly, and it is perfectly understandable why they both ended up on opposite sides of morality. The movies just failed to do anything with Gale to set this up. Instead, it's a weak progression that feels a little too sudden for Gale in the films.

The Hunger Games are regarded as one of the best film adaptations, but they are films, and they are limited in their time. Unfortunately, Gale was one of the bigger casualties of the cuts for time, which all adaptations have to do. His under-characterization threw off more than just his arc, but also the love triangle between the three leads. While it shouldn't have been at the forefront as much as it was, Gale in the films never felt like a serious love interest because we just didn't spend enough time with him, and the time spent with him never seemed to make much of an impression. Rest assured, Gale in the books is much more nuanced. But this stumble in the films is not as big of a problem as many other adaptations have. Despite this, The Hunger Games will still go down in history as one of the best YA adaptations.

The entire Hunger Games franchise is available to stream on Peacock

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