The Sage Informer

The empire of The Hunger Games movies was reborn November 17, 2023 in theaters with the prequel The Hunger Games: Ballad of the Songbirds and Snakes.  

The 10th annual Hunger Games, 64 years before the original movies were plotted, was held in The Hunger Games: Ballad of the Songbirds and Snakes. The very beginning goes back to show Coriolanus Snow and his cousin Tigris running from the war that created districts and the games. Years later, Coriolanus Snow was a student at the Academy of the Capital, anticipating to be a mentor for the 10th annual Hunger Games. All of the 12 districts held a reaping where 1 girl and 1 boy was reaped to fight to the death in the games for the Capital’s entertainment and television show. Snow’s reaped tribute was a beautiful, colorfully dressed, and talented singer: Lucy Gray Baird. Snow helped Lucy through her difficulties and successes of her time before she fought to the death. With a tad of cheating, which is strictly illegal, Lucy Gray wins over the Capitals people and the 10th Hunger Games. Snow is punished and sent to live a worker’s life in District 12 where he reconnects with Lucy Gray again. Snow gradually commits unapologetic crimes to save himself from his new life. Lucy Gray notices this uneasy change and disappears from her district. Snow then leaves his life behind and heads back to the capital, planning his way to become a powerful dictator.

The Hunger Games: Ballad of the Songbirds and Snakes, written by Suzanne Collins and directed by Francis Lawrence, created a new understanding for the Hunger Games world. With the use of this prequel with fantastic parallels between characters, scenes, and symbols, it helped the audience enjoy and engage in this new movie and comprehend aspects of the original 4 Hunger Games films. 

I have a very strong understanding of and excitement for movies, songs, and celebrities. This movie created a wide window for audiences like myself. The Hunger Games empire has been one of my favorite movie empires ever. This movie just validates this. My overall opinion of this movie involved the words intriguing,  connecting, and emotional. This film was so easy to stay engaged. The connection between the prequel and original movies was satisfying. Each tribute had a matching tribute to the other movies. For example, Reaper and Dill mirrored Thresh and Rue, Coral mirrored Cayto, Katniss mirrored Sejanus, and Lucy mirrored Peeta. Their actions, purposes, and demeanor all connect, which subjects to the overall point of even erased history can repeat itself. The most exciting parts about watching this film were the connections that were not only characters but hidden connections. Lucy Gray sang the song “The Hanging Tree” which was written by her and her band the Covey. Katniss Everdeen sings this song in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2. The theories on how Katniss knew of this song caused an impact. Lucy Gray’s detail to her dress of primrose flowers on it was a huge easter egg, connecting to Primrose Everdeen in the original movies. The greatest connection and form of realization for why Snow despises Katniss so much is because when Lucy Gray left Snow, she was “picking katniss”- the swamp potato. All of the connections and resemblance just made this movie so fun to watch. 

The soundtrack for this film consisted mostly of songs sung by Rachel Zegler, who plays Lucy Gray Baird. Her beautiful and theatrical voice was featured on over half of the soundtrack. Olivia Rodrigo featured in the lead single for the movie with “Can’t Catch Me Now.” This song was a huge hit for audiences, caused by the outstanding connection and storytelling through the lyrics to the movie. 

Kendall Eades, Staff Writer

eadke24@sages.us