The Hunger Games - Blog Posts

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Ahhh I cried so many times in sotr but never as much as I did right at the very end in the prologue. Cause wdym Katniss and peeta were the first people he let in and he had to see them almost die a hundred different times and watch peeta get turned into the thing he opposed the most.

Side note that fact that he did all that work to defy the capotal and none of it was shown

And the call back of both Lou Lou’s and Louella’s deaths being humanised by haymitch like rues was by Katniss.

And the miscarriage of the twins so he never had sisters to the fact that Mayslie ask to be her sister just before she died.

And Wyatt being the son of a booker boy and his dad feeling so much guilt that he took his own life

And Ampert and beetee and the pearly white bones and the line “somewhere beetees heart breaks into fragments so small it can never be repaired”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again but Susanne Colin’s is an awesome writer. Her use of themes and coralations throughout the entire series is amazing

I’m about to tweak out about the hunger games

Sotr spoilers

HEFFIE NEVER COULD’VE BEEN A THING BECAUSE HAMISH‘S HEART ALREADY BELONGED TO LENORE DOVE AND WE WERE ALL SITTING UP FAUNING OVER THEM AND ALMOST AS MUCH AS WE ARGUED ABOUT PETER OR GAIL (EVEN THOUGH EVERYONE KNOWS THE RIGHT ANSWER IS PETER BECAUSE NOBODY LIKES THE PRIM REAPER.) I SWEAR SUZANNE IS THE MOST AMAZING WRITER BUT SHE MAKES US LOOK LIKE IDIOTS OVER AND OVER AGAIN BECAUSE WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE ALREADY HAD A LOVE? I SWEAR THERE WERE 100 PEOPLE WRITING HAYMITCH AND EFFIE FANFICTION AND YOU’RE TELLING ME THAT NEVER COULD’VE HAPPENED. HIS HEART BELONGED TO LENORE DOVE. AND LET ME ADD ANOTHER THING THE MOVIE OF THE FIRST THREE BOOKS COMPLETELY STRIPPED THE REASONING OF THE HUNGER GAMES AROUND BENEATH HIS FEET BECAUSE THE IDEA THAT THE HUNGER GAMES HIGHLIGHTS THE CAPITALISTIC SOCIETY OF OUR CURRENT WORLD AND THE FACT THAT THEY ARE JUST KIDS IN THE ARENA ISN’T SHOWN PROPERLY. I HOPE THEY DO BETTER WITH THIS ONE BECAUSE I AM LOOKING SO MUCH FORWARD TO IT. I HAVE ALREADY READ THE NEW BOOK 5 TIMES. I would also like to add that they’re announcing the casting as they do the reaping to at a time and girls first. 

what if i'm standing in your closet trying to talk to you? and what if i kept the hand-me-downs you won't grow into? and what if i really thought some miracle would see us through? what if the miracle was even getting one moment with you?

Olivia Rodrigos’s song for the new Hunger Game’s movie shows exactly how I imagined Lucy’s POV and legacy after what Snow did to her.

i have often imagined what snow would be thinking during the forcefield scene in catching fire where katniss finally convinces him of her love for peeta. thinking about how snow eventually uses peeta as a weapon against katniss, i always thought that snow looked at the scene and was already thinking of strategies to use katniss's love against her. 

but, the more i think about it, that doesn't make sense. at the time, snow did not know anything about plans to rescue the victors. so, why would there be any need to use katniss's love as a weapon? there wouldn't be. as far as he was concerned, he had full control of katniss's fate and her death was a matter of when, not if.

so, i think that snow, wherever he was, was having one of his classic coryo moral crises. because the task that he gave katniss– to prove that she was actually in love with the person that she used for survival– was supposed to be impossible. of course, it would be impossible. right? because lucy gray never loved him and only used him, right? of course, coryo… 

so, i think that seeing that katniss was actually in love with peeta freaked snow out more than anything and sent him into full crisis mode as he works to find another way to justify his victimhood.

but this crisis would not fully be resolved until he finally had the boy who somehow miraculously won the heart of a survivor trapped in his control. and now that snow had him, he would do anything in his power to prove that katniss, when it came down to it, would betray peeta for her own survival. and so, he turned the boy she loves into a mutt set on killing her. 

and i like to think snow's last glimpse before the mob of citizens rushed him at the end of mockingjay was of peeta, a boy who was programmed to kill his love, running to prevent katniss from dying. and snow finally understood that, after everything, katniss could never really kill peeta. because they truly loved each other.

and i like to think that his last thought was of lucy gray and sejenus, finally coming to the irrefutable, horrifying (to him) conclusion that relationships based on survival weren't destined to fall apart. that they could be real, interwoven with pure love. that he was not the victim of nature, but rather the gamemaker of his own hell.

and then i start cackling.

mags flanagan was the victor of the 11th hunger games. she is probably one of the last people we know of canonically in the games who directly, vividly, remembers lucy gray baird.

she remembers the girl from district 12, who dropped a snake down someone's dress, who sang a song the day of her reaping as a fuck you to the capitol. the girl who charmed an entire country and won the games using sheer ingenuity.

she probably remembers reports of the capitol boy who served as her mentor, remembers the blond boy who broke the rules and stayed in that zoo enclosure with her. probably remembers the reports of him doing everything he can to save this girl. coriolanus snow. she remembers that name, tucks it away, connecting it with decency and integrity.

she probably, as a young girl, thought that maybe there was some good left in this world. if a capitol boy would put his neck and life on the line for a lowly girl from district 12, who would defy every social rule for her, then maybe there was some hope.

she probably remembers the rumours that floated around after those games, remembers how they said that blond boy ran away to be with her. remembers how no one heard from or about lucy gray baird ever again, and then next year she goes on to compete and win the games.

and then when the victors are made to be mentors, she looks for that girl, lucy gray baird, wonders if she could ask her questions about her games, about her life now, about coriolanus snow, the blond boy who changed the games themselves for her. but she is nowhere to be found. lucy gray baird is now a legend, passed down in hushed tones amongst the ones who still remember her. the girl who charmed an entire arena of snakes, the girl with the guitar, the girl who said nothing they could take from her was worth keeping.

and then she returns year after year, and a decade or so passes until she hears a familiar name. a name she expected died away in district 12 in obscurity, because there is no way the capitol would let his impunity pass unpunished, would they?

but here he is, president coriolanus snow.

she wonders how he's still here, and how he betrayed her memory, betrayed what lucy gray baird stood for, what he once stood for. but there he stands, impassive, cursorily shaking her hand before she stops herself from asking about the girl with the rainbow skirt.

then comes another victor from district 12, and she turns the games on their head, much like her predecessor. mags watches her, wonders if president coriolanus snow is thinking the same thing she is. when the quarter quell rolls around and finnick tells her about the burgeoning spark of a rebellion and how the girl on fire might be the one who fully set it ablaze, she agrees wholeheartedly to return to that arena.

she thinks about telling him about lucy gray baird and her story, but doesn't think he would believe her if she did. when she sees snow again, knowing certain death lies ahead, she finally asks him the question that's rested on her lips for half a century.

she asks him about the girl in the rainbow skirt.

I do think that Coryo fell in love with Lucy Gray, but i also fully believe that such love would never have been possible had he not be given the near-total control over her fate in the games, and by extension, her fate in the Capitol.

Listen. Here is a boy who has nothing but his last name, posing around pretending like he owned everything while scrambling for a scrap of something. Here is a boy who had to share everything he had ever owned, who was never fully in control of anything except for his words.  Here is a boy, who, due to the lie he's been controlling, can never let anyone in -- not even his pseudo-older sister and not even his most affectionate classmate -- for it poses the risk of being perceived, and potentially punished for his lack of ownership.

And then suddenly this boy -- who's so desperate to own something -- is granted the ownership of another person  a full-pass to control everything about her; her words, her image, her story. And sure, she wasn't his first pick, but the thought of having something gave him a sense of relief and dignity his lies could never give him, and that dignity, that slight restoration of confidence, gave way for that first crack on his chest after being guarded for so long.

And then the person he "owned" showed up, and she was the most interesting person of the pick. She gave the people a show and she made a song on top of it, turning his confidence to pride. I truly believe that had he been assigned to another person, he would not have showed up to the train station, simply due the fact that they were not interesting enough to warrant his  visit -- or his grandma'am's roses. Him showing up to the train wasn't just done in goodwill; it was also a stake of ownership -- it was him, acknowledging to himself that this was something worth owning, and like other things worth owning, it could be taken away from him if he lets his guard slips.

And that becomes the initial foundation to their interaction; the talking, the bringing up food... sure, Lucy Gray was interesting, but he was detached of her charm in those first meeting, seeing her in the lens of how others might measure her and her worth. his main focus was "taking care of her"; making sure his precious thing survived, making sure his ownership of her -- and thus his pride -- will not dissipate.

And then the tributes started plotting to kill him, only to be stopped by Lucy Gray. Sure, for her, he might seem as if he was doing something a kind -- even if useless -- meeting her in this run-down train station, and that perhaps was part of the reason why she defended him, and part of the reason why she stood by him in that Zoo cage. But for Coryo, his visit was calculated, his rose a chip of bargain, his zoo visit a byproduct of refusing to be caught slipping. For him, Lucy Gray stepping up for him was uncalled for, a surprising kindness.

He tried to rationalize it best as he could, but he was stumped. And I think this was when he started to really listen to Lucy Gray, to stop being detached from her. He was his father's son, and he believed in knowing the things he owned in order to properly maintain it. And it was this desire to know that melted his walls, that made him vulnerable, because to understand her fully he opened himself up to be understood, which had never happened before.

I think Coryo did love Lucy Gray, however tainted and terrible that love was. I think it was the first time of him making the effort to perceive someone and be reciprocated back -- fully, thoroughly, and wholeheartedly. It helped (or didn't help?) That Lucy Gray was a poet, that she fed him with pretty words; the only things that -- up until she showed up -- he'd ever truly owned for himself. For him, that connection -- added over the fact that he had "owned her", as everyone else kept saying -- must have felt like a drug. It must have felt intoxicating, to own something so lovely, something that adored him. It must have been a new, exhilarating feeling for Coryo, who never owned anything but worthless scraps and his pretty, pretty words. And yes, that was such a terrible way to put it, but love is many things; it can be terrible too.

I think Coryo loved Lucy Gray, and had they stayed in Capitol, he would have been able to continue to "love her". Billy Taupe was just some name, the Covey some story. What for Lucy Gray was history, was only pretty words for him. For all he chose to believe in, they could be the same pretty words he said; mostly lie, some exaggeration. In the Capitol, she is his, fully. And Coryo can love only what he owns.

But they didn't stay at Capitol, they moved to twelve. Suddenly, all her pretty words were honest and real, something he couldn't ignore, much less control. Suddenly, there was the Covey, and Billy Taupe, and Mayor Lipp, and even if her eyes were for him only he still had to share the rest of her -- her voice, her charm, her poise -- with other people. Twelve highlighted that he'd never truly owned her, we all know that. But here's another thing that twelve highlighted; it was him who chose to be the soldier in a rundown district, him who chose to follow her. If there was any ownership to be had here, it was her that owned him.

And Coryo? He doesn't share, yes, but worse than anything, he despises being owned.

This is where TBOSAS shone its brilliance; president Snow is the way he was not because he is an unfeeling sadist the was Volumnia Gaul is. He was the way he was because of love. Because of the vulnerability that comes with that love, and the refusal to surrender to it. President Snow would not be as ruthless and despicable had he been desensitized, and it was his feelings, his capability to love, that led him to employ some of the most gruesome tactics to win the games.

Here's the heartbreaking thing; once upon a time, Coryo loves Lucy Gray, and that love was true. Here's another heartbreaking thing; that love was built on poison, and its toxic vines ruined him so completely, decimated him so thoroughly, he was reborn anew evil; president Snow would not have happened without Lucy Gray, without Coryo's time in Twelve.

President Snow said, "it's the thing we love most that destroys us," and he said this as a warning to Katniss, yes, but he also said it to Coryo's shadow, standing behind her, who was looking at the back of the Girl on Fire, thinking the wavy black hair and the whispered songs were that of someone else's.

It's just so poetic that after everything, it was a kind boy and a mockingjay singer girl that brought Snow down, that's destiny

something that kills me about the hunger games is that they’re supposed to show that the capitol is necessary, that they keep people civilised because humans are inherently violent creatures and then the kids get to the arena and they care for each other. lamina mercy kills marcus, reaper gathers and covers their bodies, lucy gray stays with jessup as he dies, haymitch holds maysilee’s hand, katniss sings to rue and covers her in flowers, thresh lets katniss live, cato begs clove to come back to him, and katniss nurses peeta back to health. because these kids don’t want to kill each other. and it flies directly in the face of exactly what the hunger games stand for and still they do it. because people are good, there are just some who choose to do bad.

I’m sure someone has talked about this before but one thing I absolutely love about tbosas is how Snow’s descent into villainy is never once presented as something that was inevitable

So many villain origin stories portray this idea of a person who tries incredibly hard to be a good person, who takes every opportunity to be kind and to better themselves, but are ultimately doomed to fail by the narrative. Their environment and their circumstances make it impossible for them to be a good person, and while this is effective from a storytelling point of view it’s not exactly accurate to real life

In real life there is always a point where a bad person makes the decision to do something bad, they make the decision to prioritise themselves, their own power, money or desires over someone else. That’s how real life dictators are made, they are presented with every opportunity to be good, and they purposefully choose to not take it

This makes Snow’s storyline so effective because he is given so many opportunities to do the right thing and yet, at every single turn, he chooses to serve himself instead, exactly like how real dictators are made

Snow, unlike most people we see in the capitol, is in a unique position where he could genuinely have the chance to understand and relate to the people from the districts. He, unlike his classmates, is poor and spends most nights going hungry, he witnessed firsthand the cruelty of the capitol when Clemensia was bitten by the snakes for nothing more than lying about doing her homework, when his sister was forced to sell herself on the streets in order to feed the both of them

Throughout his book, the three people he is closest to are Tigris (who dislikes the hunger games, is a rebel, and a victim of the capitol forced to turn to prostitution), Sejanus (who is originally from district 2, dislikes the capitol and knows he will never be accepted there, and also a rebel) and Lucy Gray (who is a victim of the hunger games, from district 12, and is also treated horribly by the capitol). These are all people who gave him an opportunity to realise the cruelty of the system he was in, a chance to directly confront his prejudices and see that people from the districts are just the same as him, and yet he still refuses to take the chance to change

He is given every opportunity, he’s sent away from the capitol to be a peacekeeper in the districts, he forms personal connections with people from the districts, he helps Sejanus perform funeral rites, and yet at every moral crossroads he comes to he makes the wrong decision. He didn’t have to become a villain, and yet he made the choice to do so anyway, despite every chance he was given

I think it’s a really effective portrayal of Snow as a character, and it’s a very effective villain origin story for the type of villain that Snow is. It never once excuses him from his actions because it highlights just how accountable he was for his actions

THE HUNGER GAMES (2012) dir. Gary Ross THE HUNGER GAMES (2008) by Suzanne Collins (pg. 298) THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (2013) dir. Francis Lawrence CATCHING FIRE (2009) by Suzanne Collins (pg. 352) THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY — PART 2 (2015) dir. Francis Lawrence MOCKINGJAY (2010) by Suzanne Collins (pg. 388)

watching the movie has really brought to my attention that what katniss did with rue was not new.

like watching reaper make a mass grave of the children, covering them with the symbol of a government whose job it was to protect them. or lamina giving a mercy blow to marcus, putting him out of his misery.

and then thinking about haymitch and maysilee. the way he ran when he heard her screaming. and stayed with her until she died.

memorializing the other children in the games might have been less common, but it was not new. because, as it turns out, children do not like to see their friends, their peers die in front of them.

and so, it makes me feel a little more dubious when people say that katniss's memorialization of rue in the first book was *the* catalyst for the revolution. and that is not to say that it was not part of the reason, but it just wasn't the most revolutionary thing that happened.

because while the movie directly connects that incident with the first protest in district eleven, that is not what we get in the book. in the book, all we get is a little gift of gratitude from district eleven to the girl who protected a child.

so, what was so revolutionary?

i think it all revolves around katniss's actions that put aside her will to survive to protect the people she loves. because when push comes to shove, she will not become the monster that is set solely on self-preservation. one that is only focused on her survival.

and for some reason, in my head, katniss's actions with peeta are a little more important than her volunteering for prim.

because while she did volunteer to enter an arena that almost guaranteed her death, it was for her sister. a perfectly healthy girl with a future ahead of her.

but when peeta was dying, it was a little different. she didn't need to do anything and she would be guaranteed safety. he would just die and she would be crowned victor.

even if she could save him, who knows if he would even survive when the capitol picked him up. (i mean... he almost didn't). so, it literally does not make any practical sense why she would sacrifice her life for a dying boy.

but she couldn't let him die. so if that meant that if she had to gamble her life to possibly get him to safety, she would do it. because she had no choice. because she loved him, she gambled her life to call the capitol's bluff.

and that was revolutionary.

coriolanus saying "is this real" to lucy gray about their feelings for each other because he needs to know that he's doing this for something and won't be wasting his time aka doing it for selfish reasons to make sure he's benefitting vs. peeta saying "real or not real" to katniss about their feelings because they're both equally traumatized and need the reassurance but their love isn't transactional and he's not asking for himself he's asking for both of them, so that they're both grounded in each other

The survivors of District 12 singing and dancing at Finnick and Annie's wedding hits so different after reading/watching tbosas. Can you imagine Snow's reaction to that propo? No matter how hard he tried to erase Lucy Gray and to obliterate District 12, she lived on in her music, music which is kept alive by the people of the place she once called home.

Yeah Katniss Is Lucy Gray’s greatest revenge on snow

But Peeta is how she haunts him. 

Katniss is Lucy’s anger. She’s the retribution. 

Katniss is fire. Katniss used her songs as a warcry. As a call to arms. 

Katniss is the fight. 

Katniss is the revenge. 

Peeta is Lucy’s kindness.  He’s the reminder. 

A boy in love with a songbird. A boy obsessed with with a victor from twelve. 

Peeta is the good that Lucy was. Peeta believes in that fundamental kindness Lucy gray did. Peeta is her memory. The reminder that Snow crossed that line into evil. 

Even after being high jacked, peeta warns people. He tells them to flee the danger. Run like Lucy did. 

Peeta knows how to hide. He can disappear in the woods. 

Just like Lucy did. 

Peeta is charismatic, someone the capitol fell in love with, like they did with Lucy. 

Peeta is the memory. 

Katniss was there to end Snow, to stop him to make sure everything he built was burned. 

Peeta was there to torment him. Be the ghost of Lucy. Make sure Snow was in pain over the woman he lost. 

if i think about the hunger games in peeta's perspective i WILL start sobbing

Annie and Finnick wearing Katniss and Peeta's outfits for their wedding 🥺, Peeta making their wedding cake 🥺, Katniss saying their wedding is one of the few things she doesn't have to pretend to be happy about 🥺

When Haymitch informs Katniss and Finnick that Gale and the others have returned from the rescue operation in Mockingjay, Finnick is unable to walk and Katniss has to take his hand and lead him out ‘like a small child.’ due to how terrified her was to learn of Annie’s fate. He loved Annie so much 🥺💔

In Mockingjay Part 2 when Peeta has lost his mind and is dropped off with Katniss and the rebel party who are about to kill Snow. The others treat Peeta as a threat, but Finnick steps in when they raise their weapons against Peeta and is shown the entire time as being patient with him and has Peeta repeat phrases that help his mind and that he would need to repeat to Panem, and he also advises him to just ask when Peeta tells Katniss he doesn’t know the difference between what’s real or not real.

Finnick is the only one in the party that has the patience for Peeta (outside of Katniss’s love for Peeta that is) when his mind is shattered because he's used to helping and being so patient over the years with Annie that he immediately does it with Peeta.

the way coral said "I killed them all for nothing" just before whe was bitten by a snake hit so hard. because for the whole games you saw her as a villian, as a bad person. But, just like everyone in that arena, she wanted to see her family and friends again, she was just a kid that wanted to live. And her last thought was about the innocent souls she had to kill for that.

THE HUNGER GAMES APPRECIATION WEEK day 02: favourite quotes/lyrics

THE HUNGER GAMES (2012) dir Gary Ross THE HUNGER GAMES (2008) written by Suzanne Collins Lawrence (pg. 297) THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (2013) dir. Francis CATCHING FIRE (2009) written by Suzanne Collins (pg. 352)

Panem's Guide to Troubled Birds (insp.)

Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark The Hunger Games Series (2012-2015) Costume Designers: Judianna Makovsky, Trish Summerville, Kurt Swanson and Bart Mueller

"Last night the commander told me not to sing 'The Hanging Tree' anymore. Too dark, he said. Too rebellious, more like it. I promised he'd never hear it from my lips again."

—The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 30

@usergif new year, new fonts: day 5 — favorite fonts [fonts used: finches & moon (befonts)]

Katniss… remember who the real enemy is.

THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (2013)

But what if the dream doesn't go away when you wake up? And what if you lose the ability to tell the difference?

— Neal Shusterman, Challenger Deep (2015)