the new hunger games prequel is genius and here's why 🐍 ballad of songbirds and snakes review

I wish the movie could’ve included Ma Plinth. She was also a huge example of human kindness to Snow and he completely just takes advantage of her kindness and almost looks at her as stupid for it. He basically kills her son and then takes his place in his family, having them believe he was their son’s only true friend like… if that’s not evil I don’t know what is!

What I love is they set up Reaper to be this killer, this wild animal and brute and yet when he is “unleashed” in the arena he displays a kindness, empathy, and gentleness that Snow could never even hope to have.

I love how unreliable Snow's narration is, in that everything is from his perspective so we have no idea what Lucy Gray's motivations and feelings truly were because it is all filtered through Snow's own desires.

I don’t think Lucy has any more connection to Panem anymore. I think she got away. She and whatever family she made are free while Snow remains haunted by the one thing he couldn’t control.

I found it so telling that, in the book, Snow thinks Reaper has gone insane because he lays the bodies next to each other and covers them up. I would think any halfway compassionate person would immediately understand why Reaper is doing what he's doing and that he is far from insane lol

Reaper's honoring of the dead in the arena is, to me, the best example of what humanity really is like. Even in the worst situations, people can be kind

I think another beautiful element to this story is how much Lucy Gray’s disappearance further influences Snow. He shoots at her in the woods, and finds an earring and footprints. but the silhouette he shoots at, is Lucy Gray in her reaping day dress. He’s paranoid, that he saw what he wanted to. and the not knowing if she survived or not, further drives his paranoia. We see in the original trilogy district twelve is fenced in. the woods are separated from the district by electrical fences - to possibly prevent Lucy Gray from returning, and also to prevent someone escaping Snow like she did. His paranoia is also evidenced by how strongly he despises Katniss, a girl from 12 who shares similarities with Lucy Gray. Katniss did not make any effort to start a rebellion. however, Snow’s deep mistrust and his efforts to squash any hope Katniss had, only further encouraged the rebellion that ended up being his undoing. Suzanne Collin’s is a genius.

What’s so funny is that Dr. Gaul theory on humanity is disproved so many times but she and snow refused to see it. Even when they are forced into these barbaric games, there is still characters who choose to do good. Reaper for example, arranging the bodies and placing the flag on top- pretty much defeats Gaul’s entire theory that we are inherently monsters. Katniss singing Rue the meadow song, another moment of humanity triumphing in the most dire circumstances. Tigress as well, maintaining her sweetness and gentleness even when she had to do everything to survive during the dark days. As a scientist, Dr. Gaul is looking for specific evidence that only fit her theory, rather than seeing what the evidence actually point to- which is ironically the biggest folly in the science community

Ugh. I just love Sejanus. Not enough people talk about how truly awful his story ends.....he literally never learns what Snow did to him or that Snow never actually saw them as friends. Ever. It's more clear in the book. After Sejanus's parents die....he will be completely forgotten. Just like Lucy and the other tributes of the 10th Games. Even when Snow dies 60years later, no one will remember Sejanus and how he only wanted to help. I'm sick. He really was an angel.

Love love how clearly it shows the projection of his motives he lays on Lucy. Like he assumes she betrayed him because if he was Lucy he would betray him. Its soooo clearly and well portrayed.

I think a lot hof the nature vs nurture debate is shown through Tigris, who saw the same things Coriolanus did, lived through the war in the same way and also did things she’s not proud of to have her family survive. She keeps being genuinely kind, but her cousin gets more and more twisted as time goes on. Her kindness is the only one Snow doesn’t twist to self-serving actions in his mind, but he’s so used to it he can’t see it as the lovely bit of humanity that it is. She’s also a big sounding board for him, and when he loses that he flies off the rails much more quickly.

I feel that Snow chose to ignore all of the kindness and focus on human cruelry because his fear was stronger than his hope for a better future

I think this analysis just further proves how great of a character Katniss is because she is sort of the anti-Snow not just because she's rebel but her mindset. Katniss also went through trauma at a young age that made her distrust the world and often misinterpreted the kindness of others. Throughout the book she struggles between self-preservation and doing the right thing. But through her actions we see that deep down she is a compassionate person. I know Katniss is kind of the ghost of Lucy Gray, but I also have fun comparing a protagonist to the antagonist.

I believe Lucy didn't die. I interpreted the book's title in a way, that it is Snow who is the snake. And we learned times and times again that snakes can't hurt Lucy, they won't kill her. So I actually do believe she survived the shooting. In the film we see her running in the woods, but in the books we never find out if the noises Snow heard were Lucy or if it was all just his delusion. So maybe he didn't even point the gun at her? Maybe she hid herself somewhere, just as she did on the arena?

I love the edit of Lucy bowing and Katniss bowing in the same way to Snow. It really drives in the point of Katniss being the "ghost" (of Lucy) come back to haunt him.

I'm just starting to watch, but I really believe the theory Snow didn"t kill Lucy. He is going delusional. Lucy is able to escape him.

Not to be too cliché but I think what sums up Snow's refusal to acknowledge kindness as ""humanity at its true nature" is the fact that snow can only thrive in cold environment... thus love, compassion and care are only seen as obstacles to the cold, harsh "truth" he believes in.

He definitely did not kill her he shot at her and found her earring but she got away and the whole thing is that it’s a mystery what happened to her. Earlier snow asks what happens to Lucy gray in the song and Lucy gray says that it’s a mystery

looking back on it, snow's death is ironic, iconic and completely fitting. he was killed by a mob, his own people. it feels sort of like his death only served to complete his thinking full circle ig? like he believes people are savage and evil, and the moment they don't have "Power" to control them, they fall to "Warre", at least in his mind. i can only imagine the monologue and thoughts he had while being killed

I just love how Tigris is what truly shows us that it’s not just the society and circumstances that turn us evil, but the things we chose to see and not see and the conscious choices we make. As Snow’s cousin, she has experiences that are most similar to his. She too saw the horrors of war that Snow witnessed, she grew up in a similar environment, and yet she’s kind, she is compassionate, and she treats tributes with a lot of humanity. She shows Snow nothing but kindness, and yet in the book, from the very first chapter, we see that Snow sees her kindness and gentleness as weakness and in his head he is extremely hostile towards her. Tigris and Snow, for me, are the most evident example that who we turn out to be is built on the choices we make. “You can step across that line into evil, or not.”