On November 17th, a long-awaited prequel movie to the Hunger Games series was released in theaters. The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes is a captivating villain origin story with powerful songs, an entertaining storyline, and a strong allegory for the inhumane actions of the power hungry, and an absolute must-watch for anyone who wants to watch Lucy Gray Baird sing Panem (the fictional nation where the Hunger Games takes place) to life.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was a book published in 2020, following the extremely popular hunger games trilogy written by New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Collins. This story is a prequel to The Hunger Games and dives into the backstory of the main antagonist of the series, President Snow, and the history of the dystopian society the books are set in. During the mid 2010s the popularity of The Hunger Games rose exponentially, especially within young adults, and the three books were produced as 4 part movie series. These movies were an absolute hit (earning almost 700 million dollars in total) and the prequel is no exception.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes follows the story of young Coriolanus Snow, future president of Panem, from the struggles he faced as a young boy during war time through his ascent to power. He is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird, a young female tribute with a beautiful voice. The story follows them as they both struggle to survive Panem’s many dangers.
The surge of YA Dystopian novels during the 2010’s resulted in popular movies such as The Maze Runner and Divergent being released. Similar to the other authors of these other novels, Suzanne Collins builds an immersive experience of the world and society of Panem throughout her three books. This world-building is vividly transferred to the screen during the movie series, and the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes adds to the setting of Panem by including details that audiences weren’t aware of from the original books, and provides the history of how Panem and the Hunger Games came to be. Thankfully, however, Suzanne Collins never followed the cliche of the “chosen one” trope, seen in most other dystopian novels, with her protagonists, Katniss in the trilogy and Lucy Gray in the prequel. In the prequel she never suggests that Lucy Gray or Coriolanus Snow are destined to become what they do in the end; rather, their choices and actions led them to where they got.
Although the book is able to convey the mentality of Snow that leads him to becoming the antagonist, this is somewhat lost during the movie because we are no longer able to see Snow’s inner thoughts. Snow’s inner monologue is crucial to his character because without it, it is easy for the audience to perceive him as more of a moral person than he actually is, making the ending seem rushed and baseless. On the other hand, the movie not only has a thought-provoking and insightful storyline, but also beautiful, folky ballads performed by talented actress/singer Rachel Zegler. These ballads set this movie apart from other dystopian movies by creating a female protagonist who is not only strong physically, but mentally and emotionally, while also adding an upbeat feature that contrasts the disparity of the setting.
Overall, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is an amazing movie and a must-watch, or should I say listen, for all dystopian fans.
