Suzanne Collins says that she was inspired to write her best-selling young adult novel “The Hunger Games” after channel-surfing one night. Footage from the Iraq war and scenes from a reality television show mingled in her mind. But it seems more likely — especially after watching the film adaptation of the book — that Collins stumbled upon yet another rerun of the film “The Running Man.”
Neither the novel nor the movie offers anything new; both are completely derivative. Collins has been open about some of her influences: stories about the Roman gladiator games and the Greek myth of Theseus. But besides the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie (itself loosely based on a Stephen King novel), there are more than mere echoes of “Battle Royale” (a Japanese novel also turned into a film) and even “Twilight.”
