#hunger in appalachia

[vergess]

ppl who were not a starving brown child living in a hostile appalachian mill/mine town simply cannot understand why Katniss Hungergames makes me go so insane

[an-old-lady]

I redid the cover of my favorite folk album as The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. This is the kind of Old Time style that I imagined Lucy Gray's music as when I read the book. The Bowling Green album contains several traditional murder ballads, and I think the cover represents the genre as a whole rather than one song in particular. But when I read that scene in TBOSAS, this cover art popped into my head the same time I realized that "The Ballad" was a murder ballad. Chills.

[gothicfairytopia]

Like the music in the new Hunger Games movie but not really know anything about folk/bluegrass/country? Here are some quick recs to get you started!

(This is not comprehensive and the genres here are a little whack, these are just songs I listen to as someone raised on good Appalachian vibes. Not necessarily from just Appalachian artists, particularly in the second section. Just think it’s nice that people are getting more exposure to folk + bluegrass!)

Protest Songs / Coal Criticism

(Hazel Dickens I would give you smooches.. also these are just the ones living in my playlists rn)

“You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive,” Patty Loveless

“The L and N Don’t Stop Here Anymore,” Jean Ritchie

“Coal Tattoo,” and I’m exercising my free will and linking the Hazel Dickens version

“The Yablonski Murder,” Hazel Dickens

“Coal,” Tyler Childers

“Trip to Hyden,” Tom T. Hall

“Coal Miner’s Daughter,” Loretta Lynn

“Devil Put the Coal in the Ground,” Steve Earle

Assorted Personal Favorites

(where my love for Sierra Ferrell is really on display)

“West Virginia Waltz,” Sierra Ferrell

“Across the Great Divide,” Nanci Griffith

“Blue Ridge Mountain,” Hurray for the Riff Raff

“Iowa (Traveling, Pt. 3),” Dar Williams

“Rhododendron,” Bella White

“Boulder to Birmingham,” Emmylou Harris

“Silver Dollar,” Sierra Ferrell

“Hands of Time,” Margo Price

“Lilacs,” Waxahatchee

“Way of the Triune God,” Tyler Childers

“The Dreaded Spoon,” Ricky Skaggs + Bruce Hornsby

“Preacher in the Ring, Pt. 1,” Bruce Hornsby

“The Green Rolling Hills of West Virginia,” Hazel Dickens

“Rocky Top,” The Osborne Brothers

“Do You Think About Me At All,” Bella White

“In Dreams,” Sierra Ferrell

[starrrbakerrr]

is anyone else so excited for the book, but really dreading the movie?

olive-skinned haymitch/seam isn’t a want, it’s a need at this point, but as they are expanding the visual universe and continuing casting white people in every district, it’s making it less canon that katniss, gale, haymitch and the seam are brown and that the divide between seam and merchant is apparent and noticeable. because to them (casting agents, director, etc), besides jessup and a couple extras, BIPOC people only exist in D11, not even in D10 which is located where Central America is today.

and this is no hate to suzanne because i really love the series and i will always support it, i just hate the concept of writing the book and lionsgate making a shit ton of money capitalizing off the world and lessons suzanne is trying to warn audiences. because for some reason the general public spent a good two months thirsting over a dictator and excusing his actions and abuse. and now it’s trendy for people to call zendaya and law roach “katniss and cinna” like katniss’s fashionable moments weren’t occurring under tragic circumstances. these people are the capitol citizens and should be gatekept from them.

there is so much potential for the book though and im still very excited!

[personal-blog243]

Forgive me for sounding incredibly basic and cringey but I do think that “ballad of songbirds and snakes” deserves a bit of credit for positively portraying Appalachian culture and acknowledging the struggle of those people.

I know Rachel Zegler is not Appalachian, but she pulled of a bluegrass/country sound in a way that at LEAST seemed more authentic than modern commercialized stadium bro country. (With some help from auto tune possibly)

Her accent in some of her lines could use a little work, but even my fellow southerners sound TERRIBLY unnatural when we try to mimic our own accents so what do I know 🤷🏼‍♀️

I’m from a middle class suburb of Nashville though so might not be the best judge lol ���.

What are your thoughts if you are an Appalachian or southern person who has seen the hunger games??? Is it’s portrayal of district 12 good or bad?

Apparently Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson were both born in Kentucky even though their accents are more “neutral”.

[persephoneprice]

maybe this is silly but — do you have any thoughts on lucy grays specifically appalachian identity? I often think abt how the films erased the cultural / geographical specificities of district 12 even though it’s literally so so important to the books (it’s mentioned on page 2 of the hunger games) and idk I think it’s very interesting/ kinda funny and iconic that in response to that erasure suzanne collins literally made a character whose cultural identity cannot be erased without significantly altering her narrative function. On a meta textual level it’s also an interesting echo to the Capitol erasing lucy gray and then her being restored by the author - kinda? Idk I’m a huge appalachian folk nerd (it’s why I read tbosas lol) so I. Think abt it a lot

omg no this is not silly at all and i am so excited that someone wants to talk about Appalachian culture in the hunger games!! usually i feel like i’m just yelling my appalachian nonsense into the void. ps i love that you’re an appalachian folk nerd- are you also appalachian??

also let me apologize in advance- i started a new anxiety medicine and have felt awful and have had a lot of brain fog so it’s very possible that none of this makes sense or is even what you’re asking.

i ended up rambling a lot so i will put my actual answer under the cut:

the erasure of all the really appalachian things- especially the accents- in the trilogy will always devastate me. which i why i will go to my death defending rachel zegler against anyone who criticizes her accent in tbosas.

i love lucy gray and the covey because you absolutely can see so much appalachian and bluegrass influence in them and their lives- but the book makes it clear that they aren’t really district 12, therefore, not really appalachian.

i think in a lot of ways lucy gray really embodies an appalachian girl. she’s fun and strong and willing to do whatever it takes to survive. she’s not afraid of the woods or the creatures in it- she makes friends with the snakes. she loves music (my girl needs a banjo i will die on that hill) and brings that to her people. their performances are one of the few times that people in 12 really get to be carefree and have fun and it brings everyone together. music is such an important thing in appalachian culture and is something that always brings people together.

she as a double name and it’s important to address her using both- which is also a fairly common thing in appalachian culture, it’s rude to only refer to them by one of the names. (which is why if someone only calls her lucy i do not take their opinion on her character seriously at all.)

you can also see it in the way the covey are a family without all being really related and the way the older members take care of the younger ones. in the way they spend time at the lake fishing and swimming and collecting food from around the area to eat. in the clothes they wear. in their music (nothing you can take from me boot stomping version my beloved).

but i think the distraction that they aren’t really from district 12 and not really appalachian is important. you can see that in the way lucy gray describes the covey as outsiders in district 12. i think this is another way that you really see the influence of appalachian culture in district 12. it doesn’t matter how many similar traits that they have or how long they have lived there- they’re still outsiders to the people who have lived there their whole lives. they still aren’t fully trusted by the wider community because they’re different and not from around here.

i’ll stop rambling now because i think my brain fog is causing this to not make any sense but anyway thank you so much for sending this!!! i love talking about this!!! i would love to hear your thoughts as well

[penny-lane-posts]

Everybody freaking out about Lucy Grays song and I just have to say

If you want to hear THE SAME FREAKING THING go to ANY bar in Appalachia. I’m in rural NC and I heard some old lady belting some bluegrass during music night at Hardee’s and let me tell you it was the same damn genre.

And then watching people realize it’s Appalachia It’s like people are realizing district twelve actually 😨EXISTS??😨 and it’s called the poverty stricken folk music havin’ under educated population of the Appalachian region 😨😨😨

district twelve is not just some fantasy dystopian place that doesn’t exist, it’s the neglected people whose government has abandoned them in the most confusing and deadly mountain ranges in America, the populations of people who sacrifice their lives in old mining towns, the schools who are so underfunded that the windows are boarded up with wood because they can’t afford to replace all of them, It’s the kids who slowly drop out of high school and middle school because their families are having trouble staying afloat and daddys business ain’t doing so well. And it’s the old lady’s belting bluegrass about hating the government in an old Hardee’s

[knowei]

I just wanna say, as a society, I am so glad we have all hive-minded together and agreed that Katniss is native

[chaoticgoblinwife]

Please God I am begging you to call Lucy Gray by her actual first name and not just saying Lucy. Gray is not her middle name, its the second half of her first, y'all are out here calling this girl the equivalent of Lee instead of Lee Anne or Jo instead of Jo-Nell. Her FULL FIRST NAME AS PER COMMON APPALACHIAN NAMING CONVENTION IS TWO (2) FULL WORDS THAT GO TOGETHER. WE DON"T GET HER MIDDLE NAME. WE DON'T KNOW IF THEY'RE EVEN A THING IN PANEM.

[pyromaniac4198]

Just started rereading The Hunger Games after years and got to the part where katniss is like "this used to be Appalachia"

Now I'm imagining a world where the capitol invaded district 12 instead of bombing it.

Just so many soldiers disappearing because sweet, innocent Primrose told them that if they see a deer with unusually vibrant coloration they should pet it because it gives good luck and therefore getting eaten by a Not-Deer

Forget the tactical advantage 12 has because only miners can navigate the mines, the capitol will lose the war off of the natural threats of the mountains

[cricket-moth]

you can kiss my ass!

and keep on walkin’

okay I can ramble about symbolism and appalachia here!! pictured with Lucy Grey is a red wolf and an appalachian cottontail, two species found in the southeastern us states, especially in the foothills and mountains of appalachia, however I am not against the wolf being read as a coyote here either!

coyote are not native to the southeast, they’ve invaded in the last 40-50 years and have made their place very evident, especially since red wolves have all but been eradicated from the wild. I think both of these species are so incredible! However, now every time man tries to reintroduce the red wolf, they crossbreed with coyotes. If you want to learn more about this, I suggest John Lane’s ‘Coyote Settles the South’.

Furthermore, I wanted to dichotomy of predator and prey. They’re not endangered or near to it, but they are found *very* specifically in the appalachian mountains, which I find super cool!

anyways stan lucy grey baird and don’t forget that if you make that into initials it’s LGB (this is hilarious to me)

[whocanbelieve]

FIFTH HUNGER GAMES BOOK

FIFTH HUNGER GAMES BOOK

FIFTH HUNGER GAMES BOOK

FIFTH HUNGER GAMES BOOK

FIFTH HUNGER GAMES BOOK

[gothicfairytopia]

not really a hot take but lucy is the songbird AND the snake.

district 12 is appalachia. appalachia has a long history of snake handling, particularly within the pentecostal faith. snake handling is a sign of power, of communion with god. if you watch the way that she handles the snakes in the arena, it bears some resemblance to old photos and films of snake handlers back when it was a more popular practice.

(plus, snake handling was an often illegal act done in defiance of governments afraid of atypical religious practices, which is just a fun note.)

sure, lucy gray might not be originally from district 12, but i think that it’s hard to look at her with her bluegrass music and her with her snakes and not think of snake handlers and the bluegrass/folk hymnals of a pentecostal service.

to think of snakes as “evil” is just too lacking in nuance. snakes were docile and gentle to those who deserved it. when they struck out, it was an act of god. she handles snakes, coriolanus does not. she handles them as a sign of power, as a sign of transgression, as a sign of righteousness.

anyway, i just think the snake handling angle is a lil overlooked by a lot of the fandom, which makes sense since it’s a regional thing, but honestly watching lucy gray handle snakes like that in the arena made me cry because i’m a desperate whore for appalachian stories in popular media

[okay-letsdothisonelasttime]

Okay okay.... but like has anyone made a one-shot or short novela of kitniss & Appalachian mythology on ao3?

Cause like dirstic 12 is out in Appalachia, and she spends so much time out in the woods...

Surely someone has done an ao3 fic of her hearing the 'hey' that's so common in the mythological tales of that region.

Or the mimicry thats so prevalent in the areas mythology? Or her dad telling her to 'see the tree, but not look between them.'

I would just love a young katniss horror story that had absolutely nothing to do with the games, and everything to do with her father's/native teachings.

Just a thought, and please correct me if this is appropriative or problematic in any way.

[persephoneprice]

and if i said the lack of elderly people in district 12 is detrimental to appalachian culture and folklore surviving then what

[lakesouperior]

living my life trying not to think about the fact that katniss, peeta, lucy gray, and the rest of district 12 canonically sound like this that is so triggering