The newest movie in The Hunger Games franchise, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” starring Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler, premiered November 17 and is the film adaptation of the prequel by the same name. In the first ten days of its release, the movie made $100 million in domestic earnings, according to Variety. The newest installment has been long awaited, with the most recent Hunger Games movie coming out in 2015. “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” is about President Snow’s rise to power and his relationship with the victor of the 10th Hunger Games, Lucy Gray Baird.
This movie puts the viewer’s opinions of Snow into question. While the film doesn’t make his actions justified or even reasonable, it gives the needed insight to understand why Snow is the way he is. Instead of always being the powerful force that everyone knows him to be, we learn that after the “Dark Days” of the rebellion, Snow’s family is poor, and he is struggling to do well in school because of it. His humble beginnings and determination to appear wealthy to his peers show a little bit more humanity than what is expected from him. Even then, he has unsavory moments that always keep his wrongdoings in the back of the audience’s minds.
Throughout the movie, Snow fights so fiercely for his tribute, Lucy Gray, that it becomes easy to forget that he is doing it for his own selfish reasons. For the entirety of the games, Snow bends strict rules in order to have the games altered in Lucy Gray’s favor. His predetermined power craze is evident as he does whatever it takes for him to come out on top. Sacrificing his friends or family for his own personal gain becomes an easily noticeable pattern as the movie progresses. When his unlawful acts are found out, Snow is sent to the districts as punishment, however, he asks to be sent to District 12, specifically on the off-chance he can reunite with Lucy Gray. He is accompanied by his friend, Sejanus Plinth, who continues to have conflicting ideals about the Hunger Games and the capitol’s beliefs. Sejanus’ intentions for the future of Panem clash with Snow’s plans to rise through the ranks, making them not as close as they once were.
The unanswered question that remains at the end of the movie gives deep insight into Coriolanus Snow’s character in the original Hunger Games movies. The title of “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” is a nod to the main characters’ personalities. Lucy Gray is an obvious songbird with her musical nature and intelligence, while Coriolanus is proven to be a snake by his repeated deceitful actions. Throughout the movie, it is clear that Lucy Gray can control snakes, but it is very evident that Snow cannot control Mockingjays, no matter how hard he tries. The ending scenes leave no room for pity or uncertainty on the path that is to follow for a future President Snow.
