History Film / TheHungerGamesTheBalladOfSongbirdsAndSnakes

* MeaningfulEcho: In confidence with Coriolanus, Dr. Gaul refers to her colorful snake muttations as a "rainbow of destruction" she wants to set upon her enemies. Gaul saying on television that a "rainbow of destruction" will be set upon the arena during the Games as punishment for rebels killing the president's son clues Coriolanus in immediately to the fact that the snakes are headed to the arena, giving him time to slip an article with Lucy Gray's scent into the tank so they won't attack her. This is a change from the book, where no such dialogue was spoken, the snakes going into the arena wasn't retaliatory, and Coriolanus learned the snakes were going in as a typical Games shakeup while they were in transit and acted on the spot.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In-universe, the 10th Hunger Games operates differently compared to the 74th and 75th iterations:

** Far from enjoying luxury amenities like gourmet food, five-star accommodations, and expensive clothes, the tributes are dumped in a zoo upon arriving at the Capitol, where they remain until the Games begin. They must figure out how to get food since it's not provided; Lucy Gray persuades Coriolanus to get the mentors to share food with them. The tributes start the Games wearing whatever they were wearing when they were Reaped.
** Related to the tributes not being seen as celebrities, the Hunger Games in general don't seem to be a very popular entertainment among Capitolites compared to the spectacle of later ones. Nobody notices that Sejanus is sneaking into the Arena to pay respects to Marcus, or when the Capitol cuts the feed for one hour so Coriolanus can get him out. Perhaps a blatant example is that nobody objects when [[spoiler:Dr. Gaul announces on live television that, thanks to the death of President Ravinstill's son, the 10th Hunger Games has been considered a failure and ''all surviving tributes will be executed''. The entire Games would have become a pointless endeavor had Coriolanus not rigged to let Lucy Gray survive long enough to gain sympathy from the Capitol Academy students, forcing Gaul to declare her a winner.]]
** Tributes are mentored not by the previous Games' Victors, but by the top students of Capitol Academy. Judging by Dean Highbottom's graduation speech at the start, this is the first time the tributes get mentors at all, meaning the previous Games didn't feature them.

** Speaking of sponsors, the whole idea is suggested by Coriolanus, who opines that tributes are more inclined to win had they received motivation to do so. The Gifts are sent not by parachutes, but by drones, which are prone to errors, resulting in the Gifts going to waste.

** For rigging the Games by helping Lucy Gray win, Coriolanus is sent to work as a Peacekeeper in District 12.

--->'''Snow''': …it's the things we love most that destroy us.

** However sympathetic any of the various academy students are in the book, none of them go as far as to[[spoiler:shout out for Gaul to spare Lucy during the attempt to end the games with no Victor.]]

* AdaptationalVillainy:
** Somehow, Dr. Gaul manages to be even worse in the film than in the book, declaring there would be no victor of the 10th Hunger Games due to the death of the president's son in the arena bombing, sending snakes to kill all remaining tributes—when in the book, it was only just another obstacle to liven things up instead. That she also announces President Ravinstill's son's death shortly after Reaper draping the Capitol flag over his makeshift morgue in the arena only further aggravates her desire to save face and punish them all for the humiliation caused instead of actually do so for the supposed retribution angle. It's [[PragmaticVillainy only at the insistence of the students that Lucy Gray is declared Victor]] as well.

-->'''Snow''': …it's the things we love most that destroy us.

** While AdaptationalJerkass is in place for Clemensia, her fate being far more ambiguous here also serves to make Gaul having her attacked with the snake worse too. The book at least made it clear that while a grueling process with clear aftereffects—and Gaul of course figuring she'd be changed Ada result too, Clemensia survived the attack. Here because it's not shown, the attack Gaul caused could result in Clemensia's "sudden flu" resulting in her being bedridden; comatose or just outright dead instead.

* AdaptationalVillainy: Somehow, Dr. Gaul manages to be even worse in the film than in the book, declaring there would be no victor of the 10th Hunger Games due to the death of the president's son in the arena bombing, sending snakes to kill all remaining tributes—when in the book, it was only just another obstacle to liven things up instead. That she also announces President Ravinstill's son's death shortly after Reaper draping the Capitol flag over his makeshift morgue in the arena only further aggravates her desire to save face and punish them all for the humiliation caused instead of actually do so for the supposed retribution angle. It's [[PragmaticVillainy only at the insistence of the students that Lucy Gray is declared Victor]] as well.

*** His relationship with Lucy Gray is also more sympathetic than in the book. His thoughts suggest that he views her more as an object to control rather than as a person and considers himself superior because he's from the Capitol and she's from the Districts, though he justifies it to himself that she just got trapped in District 12 during the war. The book also implies he likes her more than she likes him and that she's leading him on to a certain extent to win but their relationship is more mutual in the movie.

* AdaptationalVillainy: Somehow, Dr. Gaul manages to be even worse in the film than in the book, declaring there would be no victor of the 10th Hunger Games due to the death of the president's son in the arena bombing, sending snakes to kill all remaining tributes—when in the book, it was only just another obstacle to liven things up instead. That she also announce the President's son's death shortly after Reaper draping the Capitol flag over his makeshift morgue in the arena only further aggravates her desire to save face and punish them all for the humiliation caused instead of actually do so for the supposed retribution angle. It's only at the insistence of the students that Lucy Gray is declared Victor as well.

* ArcWords: ** “Snow lands on top!”
“What are The Hunger Games for?”

*** His relationship with his family both here and the book also helps better inform his actions in the films too, in that while he hopes to elevate his family's status and not just his own. He also knows that to have to treat their defiance with the same kind of brutal viciousness he would anyone's becomes a bit more apparent—and helps that context be more palpable as a result. Tigris being his cousin and only being cast out later rather than executed would also apply to this, though it could also be at a time when he thought family wasn't so expendable either—and didn't submit himself to that until decades of him committing all the atrocities he has made those kinds of decisions way easier to make.

** Coriolanus comes off as a much more conflicted person here than in the book due to the loss of his internal dialogue. While shown as ruthless and ambitious, the fact that he is a greedy and arrogant young man with a superiority complex the size of Jupiter isn't quite as clear because we don't hear his thoughts. In the book, he can barely stand anyone around him but hides behind niceties because it suits him with only Highbottom knowing what's lurking below the surface. While still manipulative, him being a FalseFriend to Sejanus doesn't become clear until much later in the movie than it does in the book. His relationship with Lucy Gray is also more sympathetic than in the book. His thoughts suggest that he views her more as an object to control rather than as a person and considers himself superior because he's from the Capitol and she's from the Districts, though he justifies it to himself that she just got trapped in District 12 during the war. The book also implies he likes her more than she likes him and that she's leading him on to a certain extent to win but their relationship is more mutual in the movie.

* AdaptationalVillainy: Somehow, Dr. Gaul manages to be even worse in the film than in the book, declaring there would be no victor of the 10th Hunger Games due to the death of the president's son in the arena bombing, sending snakes to kill all remaining tributes. It's only at the insistence of the students that Lucy Gray is declared victor.

->'''Dean Highbottom:''' It’s a mystery and mysteries have a way of driving people mad.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:After coming to terms with his betrayal of Sejanus and break-up with Lucy Gray, Coriolanus decides to believe that the Capitol's subjugation over the Districts is right, returning to the Capitol so he can study under Dr. Gaul. He also poisons Highbottom so no one can stop his rise to power. Essentially, by the end of the film, [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain Coryo has fully transformed into President Snow]]. The only ray of hope is that Snow doesn't know what happened to Lucy Gray; she might have died from being hit by one of his bullets, or she might have gone into hiding in District 12, or she might have escaped the district only to die on her way north, or she might even have survived and been able to reach District 13 or flee Panem altogether. As implied by Music/OliviaRodrigo's song "Can't Catch Me Now" which plays as soon as the film's credits begin, this agony of never being certain, and the memory of Lucy Gray herself, will haunt Snow for the rest of his life...right up until another young woman from District 12 rises to defy him, and uses Lucy Gray's song to rally the Districts to her cause.]]

* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Dill, who is rarely talking, but coughing in any scene she is in. Justified by her having tuberculosis.

** [[spoiler:Billy Taupe cheating on Lucy Gray with Mayfair Lipp, which then leads Mayfair to set up her romantic rival to be Reaped. This dual act of infidelity and petty spite sets off a chain of events that not only ironically gets Billy Taupe and Mayfair both killed, but which will eventually lead to the Hunger Games evolving into what they'll become by Katniss' era -- and as part of that evolution, concurrently unleashing a monster (i.e. Snow) upon Panem.]]

** Reaping is done by mayors, instead of escorts sent by the Capitol. Naturally, rigging happens often; Lucy Gray speculates that Mayfair likely persuaded her father, Mayor Lipp, to select her for the Games, since she hates her.
*** That's probably why reaping is done by escorts in the future - to ensure there ''won't'' be any rigging.
** Far from enjoying luxury amenities like gourmet food, five-star accommodations, and expensive clothes, the tributes are dumped to the zoo upon arriving at the Capitol, where they remain until the Games begin. They must figure out how to get food since it's not provided; Lucy Gray persuades Coriolanus to get the mentors to share food with them. The tributes start the Games wearing whatever they were wearing when they were Reaped.

* MockMillionaire: The Snow family lost everything in the war and are barely eking out a living in a rented place. However, this isn't public knowledge, so when Coriolanus shows up at the Academy, he's dressed as best he can, claiming he walked to give the driver a day off and his hunger is because "the cook burned the breakfast steak". Only Highbottom knows this is all an act.

* MurderByMistake: [[spoiler:Lucy mixes rat poison into the bottled water in the hopes of killing the Careers. Unfortunately, Dill ends up drinking the poisoned water instead and dies from it.]]

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Clemensia. Despite surviving her snake bite in the book, Clemensia never reappears in film. The film also cuts out the aftermath of Clemensia's snake bite, where the venom causes her [[FacialHorror face to become mutated]] and her subsequent SanitySlippage during the games