#the ballad of songbirds and snakes film

[potato-on-your-head]

hunger games ballad of songbirds and snakes was SO DELIGHTFULLY FUCKED UP FROM START TO FINISH. absolutely loved it. it was the exactly appropriate amount of horrifying. this is a movie about the villains and how truly fucked up their minds and motivations are and how that directly led to the Panem and hunger games we see by Katniss’s time. the few good people are quashed by the evil ones NOT BECAUSE OF INDIVIDUAL VILLAINY but because the SYSTEM is so horribly corrupt and oppressive and individually they can’t change those systems and it’ll take until the massive collective efforts in the second rebellion for that to happen. Snow is humanized without ever being redeemed; it shows he was not born evil but went from this traumatized little kid to a conniving calculating bastard man willing to cast off said humanity for the sake of his ambitions of power and control. CONTROL - the books hit this home, but a sense of control is what makes him feel powerful, as someone who grew up under the shadow of war watching people starve in the Capitol streets and he himself going hungry for most of his life. and then the movie takes all that into account and shows what he becomes and says “cool motive still murder.” it was so well done I’m losing my mind

[antlerjay]

tigris still loving coryo at the end of the book is SO important i can't believe francis lawrence did that

[odairfilm]

In the epilogue of Mockingjay, Katniss only refers to her children as 'the boy' and 'the girl'. We never learn their real names. Throughout her life, Katniss has never really been allowed privacy or the ability to make many of her own decisions. Whether this was caused by the living conditions of the Seam and having to constantly provide for Prim and their mother, or by the fact that she was forced into the scrutiny of the public eye when she was reaped/volunteered and became the face of the rebellion- The Mockingjay.

So then all of this passes, she and Peeta are living together in District 12 in the Victor's Village, and they are finally allowed to choose how they want to live. After 15 years, she decides that she's ready to have kids. They can be raised in a safe environment with no Games, no threats. So the one choice she makes at the end is to keep their names from us, the audience. The one thing that gives us our identity before anything else. The one thing that, essentially, makes us who we are (also Suzanne is so meticulous with picking names throughout the series, so it would be special to Katniss and Peeta). She decides that that's only for her and her family to know.

We, who have literally seen every inch of her life from the reaping up until now, are being told that no, we don't get to see parts of her life without her permission anymore. And it always makes me so emotional. Like yes! Take back your life! Rest. Live. Love. But on YOUR terms and no one elses.

(I posted this on my TikTok acc @narniachrons as well. It wasn't stolen, I swear!)

[libraryleopard]

rachel zegler and dominic sessa are proof that hollywood's got to stop with this nepo baby shit and just start plucking talented people out of high school drama clubs

[wandalives]

Do you think Coryo watched the Reapings suspiciously closely when District 12’s turn came up, for the next six years, or however long it took for the Maude Ivory or the next youngest of the Covey to age out of the Hunger Games? Do you think he continued to watch closely even after that, searching the faces of the crowd for one more familiar to him even than his own, searching, always searching, and always in vain? Do you think he started feigning disinterest after several years, figuring well, she couldn’t possibly have returned to the district after all this time, and when do you think the feigned indifference became real indifference? And do you think that indifference was shattered the moment he laid eyes on Katniss Everdeen, so many decades later?

[lucygraythemockingjay]

“Sejanus is like Katniss!” “he’s just like peeta!”

What if I said he was like Gale?

Their blind loyalty their districts. Their rash nature, fuelled by their anger at the injustice the people of their home face. Their strong sense of morality, their eagerness to save the people of their district. Their hatred for the games, and their trust in their friend counterparts.

I’ve seen posts comparing Katniss to Snow, and Peeta to Lucy. In this case, Gale representing Sejanus makes so much sense.

Gale is Katniss’ friend from home. Katniss partakes in the games, but Gale doesn’t get the chance to- like how Sejanus’ tribute Marcus died from default. Katniss feels as though she owes Gale her love, and the way Snow treated Sejanus was all from pity. Artificial love, although Snow and Katniss are set so far apart that Katniss still loved Gale, but as a brother.

Something sets all of the characters apart from their counter character. For Katniss, she was forced to become a hunter when Snow was one at heart. For Peeta, he was forced to put his true feelings forward to perform, when it was Lucy Gray’s passion.

For Gale and Sejanus, I think it’s their sense of morality. Gale is who Sejanus would’ve been if he had no room to act out, had no trust fund to protect his outbursts. Gale is Sejanus after years of oppression, the pride and protection for his home becoming almost toxic. Sejanus is Gale with a chance to change the things around him - a boy with hope, refusing to play by the Capitols games.

If Sejanus had lived, he could’ve become a version of Gale, who in war would risk the lives of hundreds of innocent people from the Capitol. Perhaps Sejanus is the version of Gale who would’ve run away with Katniss before her reaping. Hung and punished, before their urge to help people turned fatal for others. Still morally good.

[cherylblossom]

#Book!Lucy Gray singing 'Pure As The Driven Snow' AFTER Coriolanus kills Mayfair Lipp

“I know you killed Mayfair to protect me. Me and the rest of the Covey.” She rested her forehead on his chest. “I'll never be able to thank you for that.” He stroked her hair. “Well, she's gone for good now. You're safe.”

[filmtvtoday]

THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES dir. Francis Lawrence (2023)

[rainbowgifs]

RACHEL ZEGLER as LUCY GRAY BAIRD The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)

[costumegifs]

Donald Sutherland and Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow THE HUNGER GAMES SERIES (2012 - 2023) Costume Design by Judianna Makovsky, Trish Summerville, Kurt Swanson and Bart Mueller

[ladiesofcinema]

LUCY GRAY BAIRD The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)

[mockingjaysnakes]

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

[vqmpyrecult]

I have always found this shot to be one of my absolute favourites. Coriolanus has just had his first taste of blood, he comes back traumatised but can’t help but feel this overwhelming sensation of power. Power over another person, an innocent person. His father, Crassus Snow, a brutal man who fought against the rebels in honour of the capital, has begun to dig his claws into his son which is the beginning of Coriolanus questioning his morality…

I could truly talk about how many stunning shots in this film hold so much symbolic significance and value to Coriolanus’ story and the impact and importance it has on every other aspect of this film forever 😩😩🫶🫶

[quincywillows]

like i remember the vitriol that came out when the mere PREMISE for ballad of songbirds and snakes came out bc it was “about the villain” and wasn’t instead a novella of one of the many cute likeable faves of the masses. i remember how fast people were to tear down the book before it even came out (and still do now). and it’s like look, i get it, suzanne created so many interesting characters that it would be incredible to learn more about and get more content for. but her choosing to write about snow for a prequel isn’t like Romanticizing The Villain or whatever bullshit y’all are claiming as hot takes on twitter -- ballad fits right into the common themes and tone of the series in that its not a romanticization but a reflection on how snow became what we know him as in the original series. both in how he already had some less than charming or healthy traits (just like katniss does -- suzanne is always clear that people are not inherently good nor evil and parallels were drawn between how snow and katniss view the world and think strategically, etc, from the second book), but also in how society and the choices of the greater community in panem created snow. like ballad is a really interesting piece of lore and history and worldbuilding for an already rich and elaborate setting that suzanne created, allowing us to see how that world even came to be and the kind of toxic impact it had on the people surviving in it while still pointing out that those people are human and that everyone has humanity and yet can still cause unfathomable harm to one another based on circumstance and need to survive and pressures of all kinds and like i have lost the plot here now but suzanne is one of the best authors of our time who actually gives a shit about creating layered, nuanced characters and worlds rather than black and white good and evil and unfortunately the hyperpolarization of our hot takes social media culture nowadays just can’t handle her anymore. suzanne im so sorry we don’t deserve your storytelling. anyway i’ll be seated for this movie y’all can skip and keep giving lukewarm takes on twitter to make urself seem so smart for hating a book you probably didnt even actually read

[wandalives]

I didn’t want to have to haunt you, but what a ghostly scene.

[malinaa]

thinking about those two minuscule moments in the movie when lucy gray leans in for a kiss it's coriolanus that pulls away and when coriolanus leans in for a kiss it's lucy gray that pulls away. like in each other's homes they would never be comfortable with one another, not fully and instinctually their bodies know this. it just takes their minds to catch up