#Seneca crane

[emptyjunior]

Still in hunger games analysis mode, do you guys ever think about what Seneca did Wrong. About where he failed at the job he was given.

Because I think what his true fatal flaw was, was he believed it. He believed in the game and all of the propoganda surrounding it.

And this was something that was bound to happen in Snow's kingdom eventually! He made citizens that were clueless and lost in his little cloud nine. You can't make killers out of your arrogant, privileged sheep population!

Seneca Crane believed that the games were about the great show, about making stars and entertaining the masses.

The cold truth that you and I and Snow are aware of, is that the games are one part of the great oppression machine. They're a good political tool to be in control of, they can be used as a punishment to target whoever you need to, you can manipulate the big show on screen in a crude mockery of what's going on in real life! You can crush the spirit of certain districts, you can keep other ones loyal to you. And the victors are an extremely valuable Product that you are endlessly creating, idols and mouthpieces for your horrible propaganda machine.

So that's what the games do! A good tool for a dictator to have, and if you're aware of all the context, then being in charge of them gives you a lot of power.

But Seneca?? Seemed to genuinely believe he was there to put on a big fancy show😭 He was so excited about it, he chatted to sponsors, he did the interviews, he picked themes😭

Like of course he gave Katniss a 12 after her stunt, he wasn't worried about the fire outfits or her popularity at All. Because he thought it'd be good ratings, and it was! That's what he thought the goal was: Get the best, most entertaining story possible.

All those talks in the Rose garden?

This was not Seneca checkin in with the boss, that was the boss saying Hey what the Fuck are You Doing.

Because Seneca truly did not understand at all! How dangerous it would look for someone from district 12 to rise up that fast! (And Snow most definitely understood Very Quickly because he has been dunked on before by a black haired girl from district 12😭)

But even after that Very explicitly clear talk, Seneca kept allowing Katniss chances to tell the Mockingjay story. Because he is a fool, who thought he was there to make tv😭 And did not realise that the silly story they tell in the games, has very real effects on the districts.

Like the metaphor for it could be you hire someone to make you maybe pro-military, pro-war, propaganda films, and that goes great for years until they get a few generations in and the new guys are like "oh we're just making popular films here right?" And let your direct rebel enemy, star in a touching depiction of how great rebellion is😭 And then your movie guy goes "how was that boss? Lots of people watched!" ☠️

[agir1ukn0w]

sorry but snow is such a well written iconic villain and donald sutherland performs him so fucking good it's almost hilarious how i start practically foaming at the mouth every time the man opens his mouth to say something deplorable in those movies, like he's so utterly and despicably wrong about almost every crucial thing from katniss and peeta's relationship to human nature as a whole and yet the second he starts talking about how hope is the only thing stronger than fear and how you have to allow a little hope but control it so its spark doesn't grow into revolution and how it's the things we love the most that destroy us you bet your ass i am on the floor screaming crying throwing up because that is my psychotic mustache-twirling villain RIGHT THERE

[rhcenyra]

THE HUNGER GAMES (2012) | THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES (2023)

[tending-the-hearth]

thinking about tbosas/hg parallels:

how arachne crane and seneca crane both were killed because of their own hubris and the fact that they never viewed the tributes as anything more than animals/playthings

highbottom and haymitch both having reputations of being constantly drunk/drugged and getting laughed at for it but in reality they’re like that in order to deal with the trauma of leading so many innocent children to their deaths

sejanus and peeta showing mercy to a person in their district and that moment changing the course of their lives to the point where they both join a rebellion because they recognize the realities of what the capitol is doing

ALSO sejanus and peeta being pulled into a rebellion because of their desire to help a woman from disctric 12 be free

[brookesophelias]

a bulleted list of allusions in THG Trilogy or TBOSAS that paint a certain picture.

Tessarae is tile, but the Districts pay Tessarae to acquire extra grain & oil in exchange for putting extra entries in the Reaping bowl.

Mayor Lipp slapped Lucy Gray in public despite her selection as Tribute; Mayor Undersee purchased strawberries in private, & died.

Sejanus Plinth was originally from District 2, considered that his origin (even though his father allied with Panem) & Madge Undersee said, "you only go to the Capitol if you're invited," and wasn't (because she was best friends with Katniss).

Jessup Diggs and Lucy Gray Baird held hands during The Reaping

Coriolanus visited a zoo in his lifetime—Monkey House in particular—& by the 75th Games, monkeys are unheard of let alone a zoo population because animals had been eaten during war crises. Grandma'am told Coryo how Crassius Snow used to say "people only drank water because it didn't rain blood." Blood rain & monkeys were both in the Quarter Quell.

Arachne Crane was a mentor in the 10th Games & Seneca Crane became a Gamemaker. The same happens with Hilarious Heavensbee & Plutarch Heavensbee.

Seneca Crane had "sentimental streak," who let Everlark live, whereas Arachne tormented her tribute. Both of them were killed as a result.

Snow hates that Tigris may have to sell herself to afford things without money, yet Snow forces Finnick into the same prositution after his Games.

Sejanus covering the girl from D10 after her wound often reminds me of Katniss & Rue whereas Coriolanus & Arachne remind me of Peeta & the Female Morphling.

The question of cancelling The Games came up twice in history.

Both snakes & lizards are reptiles; both were used as mutts that hunted by scent.

Coriolanus made the observation that seeing Avoxes as half-animal mutts frightened him, as if Capitol kids were in The Games instead; Alma Coin suggested that a 76th Games be “with Capitol children, like Snow's grandchild."

"History," according to Professor Demigloss, "is about how to make the unwilling comply." (That seems like what Snow did to his prisoners in Mockingjay).

No vistors were permitted in The Zoo after someone was shot, like the Tributes in the 75th Games were no longer allowed goodbyes.

There are more, most likely, but these are ones that jumped out immediately

[maryonaccross]

Very random but I have this Hayffie headcanon where Effie falls pregnant with Haymitch’s daughter somewhere around the 61th hunger games (about two years after they started sleeping together) and freaks out because she wants to keep the baby but knows that it will be send to district 12 if people find out who the father is so she sorta breaks things off with Haymitch and marries Seneca Crane which works out great because the girl ends up looking like Effie and lives the first 14 years of her life as a capitol citizen ( I like the idea of her and Seneca being quite close and her being a daddy’s girl because I find the concept of a man who coordinates the murder of children for a living and then goes home to play with his daughter quite interesting from a psychological perspective).

She’s devastated when he’s killed after the 74th hunger game and only finds out who her real father is after the rebellion (she’s around fifteen by the time it ends).

And after that there’s the whole ‘Haymitch voting in favor of a capitol children hunger games’ thing which I know he only did because of Katniss and not because he genuinely supported the idea but I feel like him having a ‘capitol child’ himself would give that decision even more nuance and would be interesting to explore.

Idk I just remembered that one shot in the first movie where Haymitch is looking at the dressed up capitol children gathered to watch the games with something akin of disgust and that’s where the idea came from

[mockingjay-sings]

THE HUNGER GAMES (2012) dir. Gary Ross

[itsjuliak5]

I have several thoughts and ideas regarding "Sunrise on the Reaping" so allow me to share some:

I love the idea of dual or multiple POVs. Suzanne said this book would focus a lot more on the propaganda side of things and it could be interesting to see how different characters are affected by the propaganda. I won't complain though if it's just Haymitch's POV though, he's one of my favorites; Maysilee and Haymitch dual POVs would be the death of me I think.

What if it is told from the POV of the Career girl that Haymitch killed at the end of his games? The career districts are trained for the games and made to believe that volunteering for the games is an honorable thing to do because of propaganda. Also at the end of the first Hunger Games book, Cato essentially becomes disillusioned with the whole thing after Clove dies, and it would be interesting to see the perspective of a character as they process those emotions and realizations.

Based on the title, there's an emphasis being placed on the reaping ceremony (duh), so it could be told from the POV of a character like Effie Trinket who goes to the districts and calls out tributes names.

It could also be told from the POV of the Head Gamemaker for the Quarter Quell. We got to see the beginnings of it all with Dr. Gaul in "ABOSAS" and then how they have basically been forced to up the stakes every year, especially now for the Quarter Quell. There might be some fallout on them and their team for what happened at the end in a sense of "the faulty design" of the arena allowed for Haymitch to "cheat" and win. It could be a Seneca Crane situation.

This is probably a long shot, but I'm throwing it out there for the fun of it: Caesar Flickerman POV.

People have already said this multiple times but Kiefer Sutherland as (another) young President Snow would be such good casting for the movie.

[vee-nyx]

now that i’m reading the original latin of the pharsalia i don’t think i’ll ever be over suzanne collin’s genius when she wrote thg. there’s traces of lucan EVERYWHERE but my favorite by far is cato’s story, especially this quote:

“the gods favored the victor; cato the lost cause”

because, truly, the gods of the arena (i.e. seneca crane & co) favored katniss & peeta while cato favored the games, despite their dwindling popularity and hatred within the districts.

then there’s plutarch, the embellishing historian, telling true stories with extra spice to subtly influence his audience’s thoughts. seneca, the respected philosopher and friend of the emperor, forced to take his own life as punishment for conspiracy. coriolanus, the general who treated commoners and his tribunal so badly that they eventually threw him out of rome. enobarbus, the cynic who played both sides in the war between antony and caesar.

[arthdoesart]

Effie and Seneca (Hayffie Shenanigan)

I've always seen Effie (before getting together with Haymitch) hooking up with Seneca in most fics, but what if they spend most of the time talking about their big fat crush on Haymitch instead. Like those two grew up watching his games and I definitely see them easily having heart eyes when the underdog from 12 won the second quarter quell (makes sense as to why Seneca in the movie was lowkey rooting for Katniss/Peeta to win)

Haymitch feels a bit jealous thinking that Effie is on a "date" with Seneca oblivious to the fact that the two are giggling and kicking their feet talking about him being their childhood crush 😭

Effie "I-got-assigned-on-Twelve-and-I'm-working-with-him-it's-so-surreal" Trinket versus Seneca "Spill-the-tea-already-girl" Crane.

[lapushbaby]

random seneca because it seemed too fitting

[caesarflickermans]

Hannah Arendt On Violence,

This greatly outlines the significance of Seneca Crane's death. We know that his death had been a significant factor to rebel for Plutarch, but Arendt's text lays this out clearly.

Seneca Crane (the executioner) became today's victim. His death gave reason for other executioners to no longer belief in the justice of Panem.

As we know, Plutarch had been in the shadows plotting the overthrow for a decade at least, he might have known of similar such fates.

[punchablelunchable]

This may be controversial, but president snow locking Seneca Crane in a room with nightlock is so cunty of him

[thingsasbarcodes]

The Hunger Games (2012)

[witchesroad]

i realize that the film pretty explicitly stated that seneca thought katniss earned her tribute training score fair and square, but i’m still in favor of the interpretation that the gamemakers gave her an 11 as a way of putting a target on her back. the careers loathed her from the moment she diverted attention away from them at the tribute parade, but outscoring the entire pack truly marked her for death. no way they were going to let a girl from an outer district out-play them at their own game and live.

[briarlovesclara]

bro the Cranes cannot catch a break (besides being white rich and affluent)

arachne crane dies because she's callous and mocking and uncaring. oh okay, her sibling will raise their children and grandchildren to always be careful what enemies you make and to keep compassion alive. seneca crane dies because he had sympathy in a moment of panic. 2 for 2 good job guys!