A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes leaves to question, “Is life one big arena?”

Published 3:35 pm Thursday, November 30, 2023

Growing up, I was a huge fan of The Hunger Games. I read the trilogy and was one of those quirky fans who got the movie poster of Katniss Everdeen and hung it in my room, much to the dismay of my parents. To add to my fandom, I dressed up as Katniss, while my other friends dressed as Rue, Effie and Cinna to go to the midnight premiere at my hometown theater. Saying I was excited to see the prequel, A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was an understatement.

I will preface this column by saying, I did not read A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, but fully plan to after now seeing the movie.

I wanted to see the movie on opening weekend, but my sister backed out. So, I had planned to see it with her during Thanksgiving weekend. I didn’t know she was planning to go with her boyfriend’s family to Alabama, so I convinced my parents to go see the movie with me.

My parents have never seen or read a single Hunger Games. My mom kept asking me if this was one of those movies that had dragons in it. I told her “No” countless times, but it took her actually seeing the movie to believe me.

After seeing the movie, I have so many thoughts that I want to share with fellow fans.

Early in the movie, we meet a young Coriolanus Snow, aka Coryo.

We quickly learn Coryo’s father, one of the inventors of the Hunger Games, has passed and it is Coryo’s duty to provide for his grandmam and cousin Tigris.

Coryo plans to win a prestigious award at school in order to continue to provide for his family. By winning the award, he would also be able to gain a post-secondary education and work his way up in the ranks.

However, Coryo is thrown for a loop when it’s revealed that studies and grades won’t determine the prize winner. They have added a new duty for the students, as they will now become mentors to the individuals reaped to partake in the annual Hunger Games.

• As any fan knows, the higher the district, the worse chance you have of winning. Coryo is gutted when he learns he is stuck mentoring District 12 tribute, Lucy Gray Baird, who is a singer and tells the Capitol to kiss her Aon national tv.

He feels he has no chance, but takes advice from his cousin on ways to win over Lucy Gray and gain her trust.

As Lucy Gray and Coryo begin their mentor/mentee relationship, they quickly learn those in the district and those in the capitol aren’t all that different. They are both orphans, whose parents were killed in the rebellion.

As Lucy Gray begins to fight for her life in the arena, Coryo realizes it wasn’t just a mentor/mentee relationship and begins to fall for her, doing anything and everything to help her make it out alive.

While trying to help Lucy Gray and his friends at school, Coryo kills off one of the tributes. This creates a turning point in the movie, as it is his first kill ever.

When the games first start, all the students are asked “What is the point of the Hunger Games?”

Naturally, students and many readers are led to believe it is to keep the districts in line and remind them of the consequences of rebelling. But, Coryo’s first kill changes his answer in the end.

As the story progresses, Coryo’s killing begins to take a toll on him and he’s forced to reckon with the fact the game is more than about teaching the districts a lesson. The game is designed to teach people about humanity, and what a person is willing to do when the time comes.

I understand the movie was meant to be Snow’s villain origin story, but by the end of the movie; I still didn’t hate him. I didn’t understand how he became who he is. He certainly made mistakes in A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes; he killed, but at the end, he killed because he needed to stay alive to save Lucy Gray and provide for his family, right? There’s no justification in killing, but just like the games teach about humanity, doesn’t life as well? Wouldn’t we do the same for the ones we love if the time came? Is life one big arena? Maybe that’s what the movie is meant to teach us and have us ask ourselves. Overall, I give it a 10/10.