SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

THE DESIGN SCHOOL

FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT

NAME: Lee Shze Hwa

STUDENT ID NO: 0320053

FILMS SELECTED: “Maze Runner” and “The Hunger Games”

WORD COUNT: 1199 words

ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY

LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA

SUBMISSION DATE: APRIL 3RD, 2015

Prewriting (Mind Map)

Contrast Essay between Movie “Maze Runner” and “The Hunger Games”

Storyline

Maze Runner

Thomas wake up in an ascending elevator and shocked when realized he surrounded by huge wall.

Thomas rushes into the maze to help Minho and injured Alby. Thomas and Minho use vines to suspend Alby’s body to keep him safe. They attracked by Griever. Thomas killed to Griever.

Next day, they found a device from the dead Griever. Thomas believes it will guide yhem to escape from the maze.

The galde attacked by Grievers. Thomas wanted to escape and only half of the glader wanted to

follow him. They attacked by Grievers on the way to escape. They successfully unlock the door and escape.

The Hunger Games

Every year two represented will be selected in a competition known as Hunger Games.

Katniss volunteers to take place of her sister, Prim. Peeta was selected as the represented of district 12.

They trained by Haymitch, a hard-drinking former Hunger Games champion. Katniss was expert in the weapon of bow and error.

Game start. Some competitor died because attacked by other competitor. Katniss killed a competitor because he tried to kill Rue, the young competitor.

Katniss saw a competitor died because of the poisonous berry. Cato is the only competitor left. Katniss and Peeter forced to go

to lake for water resources. Thay attacked by Cato. Katniss shots Cato and he died.Katniss and Peeta won the game

Main Actress Characteristic

The Hunger Games

Katniss is a person who care and protect her family, sympathies to weak, tough person.

Katniss volunteer to take place of her sister and become a represented of district 12.

Katniss shows her sympathies to Rue by covers her body in flowers when she died.

Katniss is tough enough to survive in the environment which is gravely lack of food

Maze Runner

Thomas is a brave and intelligent person. Thomas is the only one who brave to rush into the maze to help Minho

and injured Alby and he is the first person who killed a Griever. Thomas is intelligent to find out the way to escape from the maze. Thomas believes the device that found from the dead Griever can guide

them to escape.

Settings of the movie

The Hunger Games

North America. Nation was divided into 12 district. Katniss stay at District 12 which is the poorest district. Kitniss forced to hunt for her family.

Maze Runner

Surrounded by gaint walls. The door leads to open at morning and close at night. The maze was dangerous because the present of Grievers.

Theme

The Hunger Games

Theme is the class. Panem is a country built on extreme class divisions. Divided into 12 district and each district was forced into a particular

industry. Example: tesserae.

Maze Runner

Theme is the trust and harmony society. At first, the glader fight for the foods but slowly they learned to respect

and trust each other. The gladers learned how to live together peacefully.

Contrast Essay Between Movie “Maze Runner” and “The Hunger Games”

Among the numerous genre of the movie, science fiction movie is my most favorite genre movie. This is because science fiction film incorporates hypothetical and science-based themes into the story of the film. Besides, science fiction film also incorporates futuristic elements, theories of science and technologies to explore social, political and philosophical issues. An unexplored locations, fantastical quests and advanced technology are the distinguishing feature of science fiction films. I have chosen two popular science fiction movies which are “Maze Runner” and “The Hunger Games”. “Maze Runner” and “The Hunger Games” is the bestselling young-adult novel and were developed into films by the director Wes Ball and Gary Ross. However, there are many differences in these two movies such as the storyline, the main actress characteristic, the setting of the movie and themes.

First and foremost, the storyline of both movies are totally different. For “Maze Runner”, Thomas which is the main character wakes up in an ascending elevator and surrounded by a gaggle of young boys. Thomas was shocked when he realized that he was trapped in a small glade surrounded by huge walls. The leader of the gladers named Alby explained to Thomas that everyone here is same with him, everyone cannot remember about their pasts and the reason why they sent to the glade, but they will remember back their name soon. Runners will go through the maze every day when the door opens in the giant wall to find out the way to escape. One day, Thomas attacked by Ben who injured by Griever and luckily Thomas was safe by others gladers. Ben has what they call The Changing. A sting will apparently cause tremendous pain and make you prone to violence. Therefore, Ben was forced into the maze because there was no cure for it. Next day, Alby and Minho which is the leader of the runners went into the maze to retrace Ben’s path, but when the doors are about to close, Minho appeared with injured Alby. Thomas rushes into the maze and helps them and the door closes behind them. Thomas and Minho used vines to hang up Alby’s body and tried to keep him safe from the Grievers. Suddenly, a Griever came and attacked them. Thomas was successfully killed the Griever by lure the Griever between two walls that are colliding. They found a device from the Griever and they believe the device will guide them to the way to escape from the glade. One day, the glader was attacked by Grievers. Thomas wanted to escape from the maze and only half of the glader willing to follow him. They was attacked by Grievers on the way, finally, they were successes to unlock the door and escape. In contrast, for “The Hunger Games”, every year two representative will be selected from each of the districts to test their worth in a competition known as the Hunger Games, which are broadcast across the nation as entertainment. Katniss volunteers to take place of her sister and Peeta was selected as the representative of district 12. They were trained under Haymitch, a hard-drinking former Hunger Games champion to sharpen their killer instincts. Katniss who expert with the weapon of bow and arrow had helped her to prevent from others attack. All competitors needed to fight and kill each other to survive in the game. In the game, some the competitor killed by each other. Katniss killed others competitor who tried to attack her and Rue, the young girl from district 11 also dead because of others attack. Some of the competitor was dead after having poisonous berries. There was only Cato, Katniss and Peeta left. Eventually the streams and ponds dry up, they had to go to the lake for water resources. By the lake, Cato came suddenly and attacked them, but Katniss shots him and Cato died. At last, Katniss and Peeta won the game.

Furthermore, there have difference characteristic between the main actresses. Thomas is a brave and intelligent person. It can be prove on the scenes of when Thomas rushes into the maze to help Minho and injured Alby. When the doors are about to close, Thomas is the only one who brave to rush in and help them. Also, Thomas is the first person among the gladers who brave enough to kill the Griever. Besides, Thomas was intelligent to found out the way to escape with the device that found from the dead Grievers. On the other hand, Katniss is person who always cares and protects her family, sympathies to the weak and is a tough person. Katniss was tough enough to survive in the environment which is gravely lack of food. Moreover, Katniss sacrifice herself as a volunteer when her sister, Prim was selected as a represented of District 12. Katniss also shows her sympathies to Rue, when Rue died, Katniss covers her body in flowers.

In addition, the setting of the both movie is completely contrast. The setting of “Maze Runners” is at the glade surrounded by giant wall. The door leads to maze opens every morning and close every night. The maze was dangerous because Grievers are around the maze. While for “The Hunger Games”, the setting is at North America. In future North America is no more. In its place had risen Panem, the nation was divided into 12 districts. District 12 which was the district where Katniss stay at was the poorest district. Katniss was forced to scrounge and hunt for her family’s survival under the worse environment.

Lastly, the theme of both movies is different. The theme for “Maze Runner” is the trust and harmony society. The society in the glade is harmony. Alby had told Thomas that at first the gladers killed each other because of food, but they slowly learned how to respect and trust each other and learned how to live together. All glader had their own responsibility and no one tried to break the rules in the glade. This had made the society of the glade peaceful. For “The Hunger Games”, the theme is the class. Panem is a country built on extreme class divisions, the nation was divided into 12 district and each district was forced into a particular industry. The capital divided the districts because he wanted to keep its citizens distant from one another, so the citizens would not have the chances to rebel. The tesserae is an example of how class keeps the poor resentful of the rich. Conclusion, the storyline, the main actress characteristic, the settings and the themes in these two movies are totally different. In my opinion, I favor “Maze Runner” over “The Hunger Games” because the setting of the movie makes me more interested. The glade and the maze had make me more curious and attract me to watch that how the gladers escape from the maze. Although the gladers had successfully escape from the maze and they were rescue, but they do not know that it is just one of the experiment and there have many of challenge waiting for them when they enter the second experiment. This has made me more excited to the coming “Maze Runner 2”. (1199 words)

Reference1) Buffam, N. (2015). Genre: Science Fiction - The Script Lab. Thescriptlab.com. Retrieved 5 April

2015, from http://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/science-fiction#2) Gradesaver.com,. (2015). The Maze Runner Characters. Retrieved 5 April 2015, from

http://www.gradesaver.com/the-maze-runner/study-guide/character-list3) (2015). Retrieved 5 April 2015, from

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson927/SciFiDefinition.pdf4) Gradesaver.com,. (2015). The Hunger Games Themes. Retrieved 5 April 2015, from

http://www.gradesaver.com/the-hunger-games/study-guide/themes5) Lemire, C. (2014). The Maze Runner Movie Review & Film Summary (2014) | Roger Ebert.

Rogerebert.com. Retrieved 5 April 2015, from http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-maze-runner-2014