#capitol academy

[sapphirecatgirl]

Mock up garment for my next cosplay: Clemensia Dovecote from The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The blue Line is wheee that textured contrast will go.

[moreespressoformydepresso]

Yes ma'am 🫡

This really isn'y much better lmao but!!! it doesn't burn your eyes to look at it so improvement

I tried (and probably failed) to stick with the core concept of the uniform instead of going from scratch. To me it gave Ancient Greek and Roman tunic vibes but made to cover more without the inconvenience of a floor-length skirt since that probably isn't very practical. I kept the emphasis on red, but tried to balance it out a little more and make it a little more interesting than "red suit with long ugly skirt", but idk if it went well lmao.

Oh also to make it clear this is a school uniform I put the Capitol Academy logo on the belt and the shoulders :)

okay fine i’ll say it. i HATE the academy outfits. someone redesign them to make them acceptable.

[mockingjaysnakes]

"finally, the star pupil".

[felixravinstills]

Felix Ravinstill in his Academy uniform

—The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)

Bonuses:

[things-stronger-than-fear]

can we talk about the katniss/lucy gray parallels (or lack thereof) for a sec?

they're superficially the same, because of the things we talk about all the time: they're both female victors from 12. there are things that come with that culture and background -- the mockingjay, the plants, the songs. those similarities aren't so much between them as people, as individuals -- they're born of coming from the same culture. the most significant thing they share is their resilience; their spirit of resistance and rebellion. their defiance.

but really, all those things they share, only serve to demonstrate just how different they are as individuals (because personality is different from upbringing or values).

we parallel their sarcastic bows, but they're so so different. lucy gray is a performer mockingly curtseying and saying "kiss my ass", where katniss is a hunter who doesn't have time for this society bullcrap.

they both sing the hanging tree, but as i've ranted about, their renditions show how different they are: lucy gray, again, a performer with a spirit unbroken, loud and charming and sassing right to the capitol's face, daring them to defy her, daring them to look away. katniss, again, a hunter, quiet but unyielding, sparking rebellion under the capitol's nose.

they both won their games, but in such different ways. lucy gray charmed the snakes (both literal and in the form of one coriolanus snow), while katniss threw down with weaponry.

lucy gray said look at me, care about me. katniss said fight for me, fight with me.

and so what we see is that they are not at all the same person, but that's what's so important. because it's not just one person or one type of person that puts their foot down and rebels. we don't need a specific kind of Chosen One to light the spark -- anyone can.

[tumblingghosts]

omg i love that so much!! :D

New school year starting at the Academy. Anyone got a spare pen?

[katnissandpeetamellark]

The way the Academy is one of those annoying schools that goes into the middle of the summer

That sucks man. I’d become an unbearable dbag too if I had to go to school till August

[lunar-years]

I am also very curious about when the switch happened from Capitol Academy students being mentors to former victors being mentors. Did they wait until every district had at least one Victor? Or was that something that didn't happen until Snow had gained sufficient influence to enact it, if not become President himself?

[thesweetnessofspring]

Once again the Hunger Games/TBOSAS marketing team doesn't seem to understand they are participating in what the book is criticizing.

[darthnell]

hey. Hey lionsgate. Capitol academy seems great and all.. but what about the fucking hunger games

[metropolitant]

DIM SUM DOLLIES: CELEBRATING 60 SEXY YEARS OF SINGAPOREAN HISTORY

[mockingjaysnakes]

📍THE FILMING LOCATIONS OF THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES (part one).

[felixravinstills]

I could be wrong, but a quick Command + F search of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes reveals that Sejanus seems to be the only one of Coriolanus' male classmates to call him "Coryo." Now, this could just be due to his interactions revolving around his female classmates being more prevalent/common in the book, but I still find it interesting.

Is there some form of like toxic masculinity culture that makes the Academy boys more averse to using a nickname? There are examples that this might not be the case such as Apollo "Pollo" Ring and Pliny "Pup" Harrington, although Pup is used to distinguish him from his father, Pliny Harrington. I suppose that the usage of Pollo for Apollo could be a deliberate in-and-out of universe mirroring between him and his twin sister, Diana or Didi, which makes its usage more natural for everyone.

Does this suggest that Coriolanus is more distant with most of his male peers than his female peers? I don't think this is necessarily true. He does call Festus Creed his best friend, but perhaps, this closeness is only in Snow's own mind.

Additionally, the use of the nickname could be a conscious or unconscious way for his female classmates to position themselves closer to a by-all-accounts good-looking classmate who comes from an excellent family. Just a guy that they could bring home to their parents.

Personally, I think some combination of the first and last option are most likely since I imagine that Coriolanus' disposition doesn't change too much between the classmates he's closer in his circle and those he's not.

The List of People Who Call Coriolanus "Coryo," including the first instance of their usage of the nickname from what I could find:

Tigris (of course) (Chapter 1)

Arachne Crane (Chapter 6)

Diana Ring (Chapter 6)

Clemensia Dovecote (Chapter 10)

Sejanus Plinth (Chapter 16)

Lysistrata Vickers (Chapter 17)

[nunyabznsbabes]

Katniss is like Lucy Gray this, Katniss is like Sejanus that, and yes fine that's all good and true and lovely but Katniss Everdeen is also a direct parallel to Coriolanus Snow and people NEED to start talking about this because it's driving me crazy.

Think about it: they both grew up poor and deeply vulnerable, losing parents at a very young age, with a matriarchal adult (Katniss' mother and Coriolanus' Grandma'am) who fails to provide for them emotionally and physically. They intimately understand the threat of starvation, even developing with stunted growth because of it, and their narrations in the books share a fixation on food. Throughout their childhoods, both experienced constant fear and suffered a fundamental lack of control over their circumstances. Because of this, they're inherently suspicious of the people around them. They resent feeling indebted to others, especially those who have saved their lives. They're motivated almost entirely by family and deeply connected to their communities. Both are used and manipulated by the Capitol, both are forced to perform to survive and despise every inch of it, both are thrown into the Arena and made to kill. Both have a self-sacrificial, genuinely sweet sister figure acting as their conscience. Peeta and Lucy Gray - performers and love interests with a fundamental kindness and sense of hope about them - fulfill markedly similar roles in their narrative. Both contribute to the development of the future Hunger Games, Snow throughout tbosas and Katniss towards the end of Mockingjay.

It's easy to ignore these similarities because, as mirrors of each other, they are exact opposites. Katniss is from District 12, viewed and treated as less than human; Snow is the cream of the Capitol crop, given the privilege of a name with social weight, an ancestral home, and the opportunity of the Academy despite having no more money than a miner from 12. Katniss has no agency over her life, and responds by being kind whenever she's able, while Snow justifies horrendous evils in order to continue his quest for complete control. Katniss does everything she can to protect her family; Snow does everything he can to protect his family's image as an extension of his own ego. Katniss loves her District and connects with its inhabitants on a meaningful level, but Snow is indifferent at best to his peers - the apparent "superior people" - and only engages with his community for personal gain. Katniss emerges from the Arena horrified at herself and the system, but Snow takes his trauma and turns it into an excuse to perpetuate the violence with himself at the top. Katniss cares for Prim until her death and then snaps at the loss of her little sister, while Snow survives on Tigris' blood, sweat, and tears and then torments and abandons her, presumably because she calls him out on his insanity. Snow actively adds to and popularizes the Hunger Games because of his vendetta against the Districts following his childhood wartime trauma - Katniss briefly agrees to a new Hunger Games in the pursuit of vengeance, but later stops them from happening by killing Coin and choosing a life of peace and privacy. Snow is obsessed with revenge, but Katniss empathizes with the Capitolites and does what she can to keep them from suffering. He exists in a cruel system and selfishly upholds it; she exists in a cruel system and works to dismantle it for the good of her family and community, at great personal cost. And Peeta and Lucy Gray are incredibly similar, but Katniss and Peeta forge a relationship of genuine love and understanding that shines in comparison to Coriolanus' obsessive projection onto Lucy Gray.

So, yeah, Katniss is Lucy Gray haunting Coriolanus. But I bet you anything that eighty-something year old President Snow looks at her, the girl on fire, bright and young and brilliant, emerging from a childhood of starvation with a relentless hunger for success, a talented and charming performer helping her win the Games, and he sees the ghost of his own past. And that's why he's so afraid of her! Because if he sees himself in her, then he's up against his own cunning, his own talent for manipulation, his own charisma, his own genius. He's up against the version of himself that he once wished to be, with the nightmare army of his childhood at her back and her star-crossed lover at her side, spewing Sejanus' truths in his own voice. This isn't to say that Katniss ever achieved the level of power and agency that Coriolanus did during her time with the rebellion, but it is to say that Snow was taken down by what truly terrified him - his own morality, come to finish the job.

[katnissandpeetamellark]

Students,

We are excited to announce the illustrious addition of Dr. Volumnia Gaul to this year's faculty.

Her innovative spirit and impassioned lectures inspired a student, much like yourselves, to develop what we have come to know today as the Hunger Games.

One could only guess who might rise under her tutelage this year.

Fondly,

Academy Administration

[fromevertonow]

Suzanne Collins is one of the few contemporary writers who realizes the importance of names in her stories and the significance they bear. They add so many layers to the story, additional meanings that otherwise would not have existed.

The original trilogy:

Katniss: named after a plant of which you can eat the roots. Her father taught her where to find it and told her that “as long as you can find yourself, you’ll survive” (quote may be a little bit off, but it’s from one of the early chapters in THG). Additionally, the leaves are in the shape of an arrowhead, referencing her skills with the bow which her father also taught her how to use.

Peeta: literally bread lmao. But bread is one of the basic nutritions humans need, a little bit goes a long way to keep you alive. Peeta’s presence in Katniss’s life also kept her alive, literally and figuratively—the burned bread he threw her in the flashback and their complicated relationship.

Primrose: a plant with medicinal purposes, even more significant in light of her work as a medic in Mockingjay.

Gale: literally means “strong wind” and considering that in every encounter with Katniss he’s caused some reaction, he pulls her into directions she maybe initially doesn’t want to go in. Additionally, his name also represents his determination and steadfastness in his beliefs.

TBOSAS

Lucy Gray: named after William Wordsworth’s poem “Lucy Gray” which is about the titular character of the poem who got lost during a blizzard. She literally got lost in snow. Rachel Zegler sang this poem in two parts on the original soundtrack of the movie. When Snow asked who the girl in the song is, Lucy answers that she’s a mystery, just like her.

Snow: aside from the obvious snow references, I think his name is most significant in relation to Lucy and the poem. The only one who knows what caused her disappearance is Snow. He is the reason that Lucy is gone. But her traces in the snow are still visible. He will always remember her because the memory of Lucy has manifested itself in every part of his life.

Coriolanus: named after the Roman general (and also the titular character of Shakespeare’s play), Coriolanus wanted to attack Rome and become its ruler. He was scorned and celebrated by the people, only to be later exiled from the city by them. In TBOSAS, Coriolanus is the star pupil at the Capitol’s academy but sent into exile to the districts after he won the Games with Lucy through cheating.

Volumnia: Coriolanus mother who played a part in his ascent to power. In TBOSAS, she almost serves like a mentor to Coriolanus, teaching him how to think in terms of power.

(Edit) Sejanus: a roman soldier who was betrayed by the roman emperor Tiberius, just like the future president betrayed him.

(Edit) Plinth: got this info from here, but it was too good not to include here. A plinth is a base for a statue or vase to stand on. After Sejanus’s death, all of the Plinth fortune was given to Snow for being such a good to friend him. It was this money that skyrocketed the Snow family from poverty to filthy rich. The Plinth money was the foundation upon which Snow built his power.

There are so many other names that have historical (mostly Roman and Greek) connotations—Plutarch, Seneca, Cinna—but also regular names like Trinket and Beetee bear meanings that represent the character beautifully.

Names are important. For any lover of literature or (aspiring) writers, please look closely at them. They can shape your story into something unique.

Feel free to correct me if I’ve said something wrong. I know there are many names missing, but I can only add so many examples ✊🏻😔