SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

THE DESIGN SCHOOL

FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT

NAME : FARAH HANISAH BINTI ZAINOL

STUDENT ID NO : 0323433

FILMS SELECTED : THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING & THE HUNGER GAMES

WORD COUNT: 645

ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY

LECTURER: GOPIGHANTAN MYLVAGANAM

SUBMISSION DATE: DECEMBER 4TH 2015

The Theory Of Everything And The Hunger Games

The film industry has been a form of entertainment for all of us since the early 1900. One of the earliest motion pictures was only five to eight minutes long as it was only one reel of the film. The film industry then began to truly flourish and now we could create more stunning special effects using the current technology which creates a highly realistic movie like CGI animation. The Theory Of Everything was directed by James Marsh and it is a biopic that explores the amazing life of the famous Stephen Hawking and how he met the love of his life, Jane Hawking during his university life. The Hunger Games which was directed by Gary Ross on the other hand is a movie about a girl named Katniss Everdeen who volunteered to replace her younger sister, Prim Everdeen in a horrible game their government created called the Hunger Game. The differences between The Theory Of Everything and The Hunger Games are quite conspicuous, despite having few similarities.

The Theory Of Everything focuses more on Stephen Hawking trying to explore and finding the truth about our universe like the black hole and solving problems about our galaxy. Studying in the University of Cambridge, England, Hawking was established as one of the honoured students there. In terms of the movie settings, this movie took place mostly in Cambridge, England in the 1960s. Since Stephen Hawking is British, the accent used in the movie was the British accent. The main character of this movie fell in love with a woman who later became his own wife and they built a decent loving family.

Felicity Jones who acted as Hawking’s wife, Jane portrayed a kind and patient wife in the movie. She loved Hawking with all her heart and took good care of him even though he needed proper care since he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. Jane took care of her family and maintain her studies as well. The people during the era valued family relationships, religion and education. This movie has a conflict where Hawking fell in love with Elaine Mason who was paid to nurse him. At the same time, Jane do not feel like a wife to Hawking anymore and started to have feelings for her choir’s tutor, Jonathan.

On the contrary, The Hunger Games which was written originally by Suzanne Collins tells more about the citizens of Panem fighting against their government for equal rights. In terms of the movie settings, The Hunger Games took place in North America thus the accent they used was American. The year however is unknown but it has surely showed the future. Katniss Everdeen, the main character of the movie, had a special friend back in her hometown but has met someone who has been in love with her ever since the incident of the burnt bread. Katniss slowly grew feelings towards Peeta Mellark during the Hunger Games.

The people of Panem values similar things like the people in the movie The Theory Of Everything. However the upper class who lives in Panem praises money and wealthiness as their God and live in luxury. The conflict of the movie started when Katniss were together with Peeta Mellark during the game. Gale Hawthorne, Katniss’ special friend got jealous with their action and started to get suspicious on Katniss’ love towards him.

In conclusion, the major differences between these two movies can be seen through the settings of the movies. The Theory of Everything shows the past which is in the 1960s while The Hunger Game shows the future known as the Dark Days. The technology used in The Hunger Games are more advanced and modernised compared to The Theory Of Everything, considering it was in the 1960s where our technology was developing and people were still discovering new machineries.

References

Creativeengland.co.uk, (2014). What Filming Locations Were Used in The Theory of Everything? | Creative England. Retrieved at 28 November 2015 from : http://www.creativeengland.co.uk/story/what-filming-locations-were-used-in-the-theory-of-everything-

Faculty.washington.edu, (2015). The history of motion pictures. Retrieved at 29 November 2015 from : http://faculty.washington.edu/baldasty/JAN13.htm

Langan, J. (2000). College writing skills. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Shmoop, (2015). The Thirteen Districts in The Hunger Games. Retrieved at 29 November 2015 from : http://www.shmoop.com/hunger-games/thirteen-districts-symbol.html

Writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu, (2015). How to Write a Comparative Analysis. Retrieved at 28 November 2015 from : http://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/how-write-comparative-analysis