saga The Hunger Games, became one of the highest-grossing films in cinema. But also one that combines the best aspects of the literary original and the action genre. And this is against the backdrop of very harsh social criticism, which analyzed the power and mass manipulation of an oppressive totalitarian state. The result is a story that spans from the birth of a leader in the midst of suffering to the outbreak of revolution. Something that allowed the four-film set to explore the unusual themes of franchises aimed at youth audiences.
Prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes follows the same trend as the feature films that preceded it. Therefore, the autocratic state of Panem is analyzed from its worst features and vices. But it also does something else: it delves into sinister games designed to maintain control over oppressed people from the very beginning. Moreover, through the prism of one of the central characters. Past President Snow (played as an adult by Donald Sutherland and as a youth by Tom Blyth) will become the center of the story. But also a moment that connects the previous series of films with the current one.
This is an opportunity to understand a particularly complex figure and, through her past, understand how Panem was built. A moment that is barely mentioned in either the books or the franchise, which ended in 2015. But this time it takes on a special emphasis and shows that the plot invented Suzanne Collins It is much more complex and extensive than one might imagine.
Expanding Universe
If the plot is throughout the franchise The Hunger Games Its prequel shows the fall of the totalitarian regime that ruled Panem. Book adaptation The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakespublished in 2020, the plot is based on the story of a young man. Coriolanus Snow. This which places it 64 years earlier than the stories which have already appeared on the big screen. By the time the prequel begins Snow is an eighteen-year-old boy who witnesses the birth of the brutal rivalry that gives the saga its name.
Moreover, it delves into how the game system was structured during its first decade of existence. While the previous franchise implied that this would be a result of punishment, competition is much more than that. In fact this is a way to avoid any possibility reconciliation between the districts, as well as their possible unification into a single stronghold.
In the book, Snow and his classmates become mentors to the Tenth. The Hunger Games annual. This allows history to be analyzed from the point of view of the authorities who experienced the first great rebellion, which created the districts, and how it became a tradition. What’s interesting about the prequel is that, unlike among other things, it adds important information to the chronology of previous feature films.
Another look at The Hunger Games
In particular, the plot focuses on his evolution from student, politician, peacemaker, and finally dictator. At the same time, corruption allowed the central government to become a totalitarian core for propaganda purposes. However, in Snow’s case Mentoring the tributes of District 12 allows us to understand the reason why it became the breeding ground for the future rebellion.
Also introduced is the character of Lucy Gray (Rachel Zegler), her influence and influence on the future of gaming. Being a competitor for the poorest and most troubled place in Panem, one can understand why measures that Snow would later take to suppress any heroes coming from the region.
In fact, a good portion of the story delves into the actions of the future president and explains his every action, even the most barbaric. Which allows both the book – and undoubtedly the film – to create a new chapter in a world that is particularly difficult to understand.
Chronology of the struggle for freedom
Thanks to the care that Suzanne Collins paid to the timelines in the original, the evolution of Panem as a whole can be seen. The plot begins at a milestone that has great significance for the rest of the story. The war still remains in the memory of everyone involved in it – both the organization of the games and the participants – so its symbolism is clear. The death of young people is a consequence, not a tragedy, of the conflict, and the districts even consider it necessary.
Either way, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is the source of a villain with a lot of nuance and a more human face than one might expect. Also an analysis of what made Panem society agree to the need for annual slaughter. A topic that is analyzed over the ten years that have passed since the war and this provides context for the half-century or so over which the narrative spans.
Source: Hiper Textual
