Film / The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

"What are the Hunger Games for?"

"What happens in there, fueled with the terror of becoming prey? See how quickly we become predator? See how quickly civilization disappears?"

— Dr. Volumnia Gaul

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a 2023 sci-fi dystopian action drama film and the prequel to The Hunger Games and its sequels, based on the prequel novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins. It is once again directed by Francis Lawrence and stars Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Josh Andrés Rivera, Hunter Schafer, Jason Schwartzman, Burn Gorman, Peter Dinklage, and Viola Davis. The film premiered on November 17, 2023.

Over sixty years before Katniss Everdeen volunteers as tribute, the nation of Panem is slowly rebuilding from a devastating war fought by the Capitol against the twelve districts. In a bid to keep the Games relevant amid declining public interest, the tributes of the 10th Annual Hunger Games are given mentors from the Academy, an elite secondary school in the Capitol. One such student is 18-year old Coriolanus Snow (Blyth), who seeks the status and financial reward that have been promised to the best mentor. He is assigned to Lucy Gray Baird (Zegler), the enigmatic female District 12 tribute, setting him on the path to becoming Panem's tyrannical president.

Previews: Trailer 1, Trailer 2

---

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes contains examples of:

• Adaptational Heroism:
  • 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 False Friend 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. That his famous line to Katniss exclusive to Mockingjay Part 1 decades later highlights the pain still present at the conclusion of this film onward does also speaks volumes too:
      Snow: …it's the things we love most that destroy us.
    • His relationship with his family both here and the book also helps better inform his actions in the films too, in that he hopes to definitely elevate his whole 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.
  • While Lucy Gray will do anything to survive, she is clearly traumatized by the prospect of having to kill other tributes during the Games, and regrets accidentally killing Dill through the rat poison. By contrast, book Lucy Gray has far lesser qualms about killing others so she can win, and in fact has a bigger body count (while she doesn't kill Dill, she does use the rat poison to kill Wovey and Reaper, and uses her pet snake to kill Treech).
  • However sympathetic any of the various academy students are in the book, none of them go as far as to shout out for Gaul to spare Lucy during the attempt to end the games with no Victor.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Clemensia Dovecote in the book is a Nice Girl (at least until she temporarily Took a Level in Jerkass thanks to the mental side effects of the snake bites) who's one of the students most disgusted by the brutality of the Hunger Games, and she and Coriolanus lie to Gaul that they both worked on the paper together to avoid her getting in trouble, since she was unable to focus the previous evening due to being distraught at Arachne's brutal death. Here, her dislike of the Games is nowhere to be seen and replaced with a competitive drive to win the Plinth Prize like many of the other students, and she tries to claim sole credit for writing the essay that Coryo wrote himself while he's standing next to her as an attempt to look good in front of Gaul and gain a competitive edge, though the latter sees through her lie.
• Adaptational Villainy: Somehow, Dr. Gaul manages to be even worse in the film than in the book:
  • For example, 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 only at the insistence of the students that Lucy Gray is declared Victor as well.
  • While Adaptational Jerkass 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 as a 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.
• Adaptation Expansion: The Games are covered in more detail. There is a proper Cornucopia bloodbath in the film, compared to most tributes running away in the books. In addition, the pack are shown in more detail, chasing Lucy Gray and trying to kill her.
• Asshole Victim:
  • Arachne, the bitchy, cruel hearted classmate of Coriolanus, is killed by her tribute, Brandy, after taunting her at the zoo one too many times.
  • Snow's partner Clemensia blatantly attempts to steal the credit for Snow's work on the essay on how to improve the Hunger Games. For her trouble, Gaul subjects her to apparent death by snake bite (or at least severe injury), which she wouldn't have suffered if she had ever actually laid hands on the essay.
  • Snow shooting Mayfair Lipp dead after she haughtily brags she will use her father's, District 12's Mayor, connections to have everyone in the Rebel Cell hanged. Given she had done so before to get Lucy Gray Reaped as District 12's tribute, no one feels sorry for her.
  • Billy Taupe, Lucy Gray's former boyfriend who had cheated on her with Mayfair, which led to Mayfair setting up her rival to be Reaped for the Games, is also shot in the chaos that ensues by Spruce.
• Arc Words:
  • “Snow lands on top!”
  • “What are The Hunger Games for?”
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Clemensia. While playing like she is friends with Snow, after leaving him to write the entire proposal for Gaul by himself, she takes credit for the entire project. Gaul tests her, stating the proposal had "accidentally" been placed in a cage of venomous snakes. She assures Clemensia that since she wrote the proposal and not Coriolanus, then the snakes will recognize her scent from the proposal and leave her be. A frightened Clemensia tries to retrieve it, but is bitten by one of the snakes and carted off in agony, while Gaul comments that it will be good research to see how the venom affects her.
• Black Comedy:
  • When Coriolanus is sent to retrieve Sejanus from the arena, he's forced to bludgeon Bobbin to death with a piece of rebar, who then falls backwards through the turnstiles which causes them to let out their automated cheery greeting as his lifeless corpse hits the ground.
  • After Lucy Gray is surrounded by Coral's pack, Snow saves her by sending multiple supply drones into the arena, their shoddy design causing them to violently smash into her attackers at breakneck speed and create chaos. Lucky Flickerman then points out in a deadpan tone how the drones aren't very good at doing what they're supposed to.
  • When Gaul's tank of snake mutts is airlifted to the arena (in dark glass obscuring the contents), Lucky comments on how funny it would be if the tank were full of candy as though it were a pinata. As the tank breaks open and the snakes pour out in horrifying droves, he quickly says that it was most definitely not full of candy.
• Bloodless Carnage: Many people, the tributes especially, suffer from horrific injuries that should leave them bleeding profusely, such as Arachne's tribute stabbing her in the neck with a broken bottle, but no blood is ever shown. When Lamina is speared in the stomach by Coral, she even looks at her hand as if it were covered in her own blood, but nothing can be seen.
• Call-Forward:
  • Dr. Gaul's colorful and bizarre fashion choices and makeup stick out like a sore thumb among the more somber Capitol residents of this era, but they would fit in perfectly with the Capitol aesthetic six decades later.
  • Lucy Gray does a mocking curtsy/bow during the Reaping, much like Katniss did in the first film (which takes place decades later). Her defiantly screaming at the Capitol to kiss her ass also brings to mind Johanna's profane rant during her Quarter Quell interview.
  • Coral is from District 4, and like Finnick Odair, a future Victor from her District, she wields a trident.
  • When Coriolanus sneaks into the arena to get Sejanus, his eyes linger for a moment on a bow sitting on the ground, something that would go on to be Katniss' signature weapon.
  • Reaper wrapping the bodies of the dead tributes in a Capitol flag echoes Katniss covering Rue's dead body with flowers, as both are done to spite the Capitol. For bonus points, Reaper does this after mourning for Dill, a District 11 female tribute, much like how Katniss mourns for Rue, a District 11 female tribute.
  • Coral has several parallels with Cato in the 74th Games. Both are the big threats of their respective Games, both hunt down the District 12 Female, and both betray one of their allies. Tanner is killed by Coral, a Career tribute, for letting Lucy Gray get away, mirroring how Cato, a Career tribute, kills the District 3 boy for letting Katniss destroy the Career's supplies during the 74th Hunger Games. As well, both Coral and Cato are killed by mutts, and ponder if killing other tributes was worth it in their last words.
  • When Coriolanus meets Lucy Gray for the first time in District 12, she is composing "The Hanging Tree", the same song Katniss sings in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, inspired by seeing a man hung by the Peace Keepers from a large tree.
  • On another Katniss-related note, while swimming at the District 12 lake, Lucy Gray tells Coriolanus that the plants the Covey are collecting are arrowheads, or "katnisses", but that it is too early for them. As she does this, "Katniss' Theme" from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire starts playing in the background.
  • Lucretius Flickerman is heavily implied to be the father of Caesar, the host of the Hunger Games during Katniss's time. During a lull in the games, Lucretius calls a restaurant about a dinner reservation and requests a high chair.
  • The Districts supplying their required quotas is initially justified as in the name of "reconstruction" following the Dark Days, but is also shown to be another convenient way of keeping them subservient in exchange for order. Something that becomes long institutionalized by the time President Snow makes his speech about the Districts' relationship with the Capitol in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1.
  • The Peacekeepers' uniforms, while resembling what a soldier from World War II or the middle of the 20th century in general would wear, are also rather white in appearance, foreshadowing their more futuristic and face-concealing incarnations generations later.
• Cheaters Never Prosper:
  • Clemensia attempts to take sole credit to Dr. Gaul for the essay of ideas to improve Hunger Games viewership that Coriolanus wrote entirely by himself. Gaul knows she's full of it, and forces her into a test that proves it and results in her being bitten by a poisonous snake muttation.
  • Coriolanus is punished by being sent to work as a Peacekeeper after Highbottom learns of his cheating.
  • Averted with Lucy Gray herself, who is merely sent back home despite winning through underhanded means, and even receives some money from Highbottom.
• Composite Character: Since most of the mentors get Demoted to Extra, the few who actually do have speaking lines or any amount of prominence tend to combine traits from multiple different book characters.
  • Arachne Crane in the book wasn't shown to be very pleasant, but didn't get a lot of characterization. For the film, though Arachne dies the same way she originally did, she also shares book-Livia Cardew's traits of an Alpha Bitch and Coriolanus's most despised classmate.
  • Felix Ravinstill is still related to President Ravinstill like his book self, but takes Gaius Breen's role of being critically injured in the arena bombing, hospitalized for a few days before succumbing to his injuries, and his death prompting Gaul to unleash the snake mutts on the remaining tributes.
• Creepy Crows: Unlike in later Games, the Capitol do not pick up bodies of the dead tributes, and the film briefly shows crows gathering around to scavenge on Marcus' body.
• Crucified Hero Shot: Marcus is strung up in the arena for his botched escape attempt.
• Death by Adaptation: Felix Ravinstill survives the stadium bombing in the book, whereas he is gravely injured and eventually dies in the film.
• Death by Falling Over:
  • This happens to Jessup, who falls to his death when a drone crashes through him as he is hunting Lucy Gray in his rabid delirium.
  • Downplayed with Marcus and Lamina. Marcus is already dead when he falls from a great height, while Lamina is dying after being stabbed by Coral, with the fall merely finishing her over.
• Demoted to Extra: This applies to quite a few characters.
  • Aside from Sejanus, most of Coriolanus' fellow Mentors have reduced roles compared to the book.
    • This hits Clemensia hard; in the book, she's a constant presence, as we learn how she suffers and slowly recovers from being bitten by Gaul's snake mutt. In the film, she disappears after the scene where she's bitten, and is never seen again.
    • The Ring twins, though not major characters, are unnamed in the film and not given their grand funeral.
    • Festus Creed, Coriolanus' best friend in the book, is more a part of the herd of students except for promoting his tribute.
    • Persephone Price, Mizzen's mentor, is unnamed. It's also not mentioned that the cannibal in the opening scene was her father.
    • Livia Cardew barely makes an appearance, whereas in the book, Coriolanus regularly remarks on his disdain for her and considers marrying her at the end.
  • The District 3 tributes, Teslee and Circ, are unnamed and presumably killed off in the bloodbath. In the book, they both survived until the snakes were dropped, and Teslee made the final four.
  • Perhaps most noticeably, both of Sejanus's parents are sidelined, with their District 2 origins and decision to adopt Coriolanus as their heir after Sejanus' death revealed by other characters' dialogue.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation:
  • In the book, the District 5 male tribute, Hy, dies of asthma before the Games even start. In the film, he survives up until the Games begin, and, together with Sol, chases Lucy Gray and Jessup to the underground, before both are killed off by the Careers.
  • In the book, Wovey and Reaper are killed by the water puddle that has been poisoned by Lucy Gray's rat poison. In the film, both are killed by the snake mutts, while the rat poison instead kills Treech (originally bitten by Lucy Gray's snake) and Dill (originally succumbing to tuberculosis).
  • Most tributes, actually. Otto, Panlo and Sheaf all live to the Games in the film, while they died in the explosion in the book. Circ and Teslee claimed seventh and fourth respectively in the book, while they died in the bloodbath in the film. In the books, Mizzen was killed by Teslee's drones, while he is killed by snake mutts in the film. Coral's death is from Gaul's snake mutts in both book and film, but the scene plays out quite differently in the film.
• Desperate Plea for Home: When the snake tank is brought in the arena, Wovey comes out pleading to go home. She's the first killed by the snakes.
• Dirty Cop: Panem’s security forces are riddled with corruption. Sejanus is able to bribe a guard into letting him enter the arena in the middle of the Hunger Games, and at the start of the third act Coriolanus uses all the money he has left to bribe an officer to assign him to a post in District 12 instead of District 8, as Casca Highbottom had intended.
• Disabled in the Adaptation: Wovey. While only described as small and weak in the books, she has Down syndrome here.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Rather than being transported to the Capitol in a luxurious train with fine food and amenities, the tributes are instead brought in a box car similar to Jews during the Holocaust. In both cases, the victims were treated by the oppressors as livestock.
• Downer Ending: 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, 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 Olivia Rodrigo'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.
• Due to the Dead: After Dill dies, Reaper wraps the bodies of the dead tributes in the Capitol flag.
• Dramatic Irony: Lucy Gray composes "Pure as the Driven Snow", a love song dedicated to Coriolanus about his inner goodness and how she trusts him. This scene is set immediately after the viewer has seen him sell out Sejanus via jabberjay recordings, showing Lucy Gray's faith is sadly misplaced.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: In-universe, the 10th Hunger Games operates differently compared to the 74th and 75th iterations, both due to reconstruction and general prosperity limiting the available technology and due to the formula struggling to sustain itself due to established practices:
  • 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. This is probably why reaping is done by Capitol escorts in the future - to ensure there won't be any rigging.
  • Far from being treated like celebrities, the tributes are entirely dehumanized at this time. Instead of 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 inhumane conditions also lead Reaper to contract rabies from a bat, which isn't noticed until he enters the arena.The tributes start the Games wearing whatever they were wearing when they were Reaped and have no stylists or prep teams.
  • 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 exclusive to the film is that nobody objects when 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. This is a stark contrast to the Gamemakers being forced to break formula by massive public outcry when the last two tributes of the 74th Hunger Games threaten to deny Panem a victor. Lucy Gray is implicitly saved by the students in the control room objecting and causing Dr. Gaul to allow a victor, not the broader audience of Panem sounding off.
  • 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. This is entirely justified—not only had there not been enough preceding Games to produce twelve victors who would mentor their corresponding District's tributes, but the odds that each of the first nine victors was from a different District are also extremely low.
  • There's no focus on talents. The tributes' chance to win is only measured by their physical fitness and fighting abilities, and it's seen as a novelty when Lucy Gray uses her musical talents to gain attention and win sponsors for the Games.
  • 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 drones smashing, as well as a lot of water being wasted.
  • The Arena is a literal indoor sporting arena rather than some elaborate simulated outdoor environments. The tributes are given a tour of the arena, whereas later arenas would be a surprise until the games begin. The location being bombed by rebels likely results in later Games using the more familiar format as seen in previous films.
  • After winning the Games, Lucy Gray is sent back to District 12 in more or less the same condition that she was in the beginning, with no fame or notoriety associated as a Victor. She does receive some money, but it is a personal gift from Casca Highbottom, rather than a prize of winning the Games.
  • Something not discussed in the book is the look of the telecast: while in Katniss's time, the Games are filmed much more dynamically, during the lower-tech 10th Games, the filming is done with static cameras, with broadcast shots that look more like a security feed or a hidden-camera documentary.
• Every Proper Lady Should Curtsy: Lucy Gray gives a mocking curtsy/bow as she is led off to the games.
• The Exile:
  • For rigging the Games by helping Lucy Gray win, Coriolanus is sent to work as a Peacekeeper in District 12. Dr. Gaul monitored Coriolanus closely and pulled strings to ensure his reassignment would end quickly once he satisfied her ideals.
  • After Mayfair is killed, Lucy Gray is forced to flee District 12, as Mayor Lipp has a vendetta against her, and would surely attempt to accuse her of the crime and bring her to the gallows had she remained.
• Face Death with Dignity: When Doctor Gaul's venomous snakes are unleashed upon the remaining Tributes, Reaper simply closes his eyes and calmly accepts his fate as the serpents overwhelm him.
  • Averted with Sejanus, who screams for his mother before dying.
• Foil: Coriolanus and his friend Sejanus. Neither of them fully fit in with the wealthy and powerful of the Capitol — Coryo is an Impoverished Patrician who wants to restore his family's status no matter the cost, while Sejanus is Nouveau Riche and uncomfortable with his family's new fortune. Coryo's ambition leads to the death of Sejanus after the latter commits one misguided good deed too many.
• Firing in the Air a Lot: In third act, Coriolanus shoots an assault rifle into the canopy of a forest trying to kill a flock of mockingjays who are mimicking Lucy Gray's singing, obviously thinking that they're mocking him for failing to kill her.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: Before the Games begin, Highbottom tells Coriolanus to suggest that Sejanus should take a seat closer to the door. Moments later, we're shown that Marcus, Sejanus' mentee, has been captured and is left for dead in the Arena, meaning Sejanus no longer has any business in the stage (as mentors have to leave the moment their tributes are done for).
• Foregone Conclusion: As this is a prequel to The Hunger Games, Coriolanus will survive to eventually become the President of Panem. The film even concludes with words that he'll speak several decades later.
• Foreshadowing: When Lucy Gray tries to give Jessup some water from a nearby puddle, he slaps her hand and the water to the side afraid she did something to it. His hydrophobia combined with his sluggish, confused demeanor are clear signs he not just dealing with an infected bat bite, but rabies. He attacks Lucy Gray in a confusion the next day while foaming at the mouth.
• Gory Discretion Shot: Lamina opts to give the badly beaten Marcus a Mercy Kill. After raising her axe over him, the camera cuts away just as she brings it down on his neck, showing the reactions of the audience instead.
• Grin of Rage: Lucy Gray Baird keeps her mouth shut tight to control her anger when she's reaped to be District 12's female tribute, and the result is The Unsmile.
• I'm a Humanitarian: In the opening, Coriolanus and Tigris spot a man cutting up human remains to feed his family. While he is unidentified, book readers can deduce that this is Nero Price, the father of Persephone Price (Mizzen's mentor).
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Coral, the leader of the Career pack, wields a trident, and she puts it to good use. She is seen using it to kill a few tributes in the opening bloodbath, as well as to kill Lamina and Tanner later on.
• Impoverished Patrician: The Snows were once one of the Capitol's leading families, but since the death of Coriolanus's father during the Dark Days, they've barely been scraping by. Coriolanus and his grandmother, however, act like the family fortune is still intact, and Coryo aims for the Plinth Prize as it's a significant windfall.
• Incurable Cough of Death: Dill, who is rarely talking, but coughing in any scene she is in. Justified by her having tuberculosis. This means it's easy for her death to be blamed on her illness rather than the water Lucy Gray poisoned.
• Interclass Friendship: Coriolanus Snow came from a Capitol family that lost their fortunes during the Dark Days, while his best friend, Sejanus Plinth, came from a District family who became the wealthiest in Panem, and as a result was allowed to move to the Capitol.
• Ironic Name: Clemensia Dovecote's name suggests "clemency" and associations with the dove, a symbol of peace. She plays herself off as Coriolanus' friend while piggybacking off his proposal and claiming credit for ideas she neither came up with nor wrote down.
• It Gets Easier: Coriolanus is shown as extremely traumatized after killing the District 8 male tribute, Bobbin, in self-defense, with him on the verge of tears upon meeting Tigris afterwards. When he later deliberately shoots Mayfair dead, however, he is considerably much less shell-shocked.
• I Will Find You: After he is forced to become a Peacekeeper, Coriolanus bribes the Capitol army to reassign him from District 8 to 12 so he can find Lucy Gray.
• Killed Offscreen: An in-universe example. Coriolanus is forced to infiltrate the arena in order to extract Sejanus and ends up killing Bobbin in self-defense while the cameras are disabled. From the in-universe audience's perspective, they went to sleep and woke up to learn a tribute died off camera.
• Loophole Abuse: Coriolanus manages to get away with blatantly interfering with the games in progress and attacking the tributes that have Lucy Gray surrounded by sending in 8 drones to deliver water bottles to her simultaneously, which then crash into the attackers. When he gets immediately called out on this, he hides behind the letter of the rules.
• Meaningful Echo:
  • 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.
  • Toward the beginning of the film, Arachne mocks the fact that Sejanus calls his mother "Ma". This sets up the second and last time we hear the name "Ma" in the film: it's Sejanus's last words, crying out for his mother as he is being hanged for treason. Also a change from the book, where Ma Plinth had more presence and was mentioned more.
• Mercy Kill: After Marcus is captured following his failed escape, the Capitol beat him up and chain him to a slab of rocks in the Arena, intending to let him either die of exposure or starvation. Lamina ends up mercy killing him by slashing his throat, and Marcus actually precedes it by pleading for her to just end his misery.
• A Minor Kidroduction: The film opens with young Coriolanus and Tigris searching for food in war-torn Capitol during the Dark Days, briefly glimpsing a man scavenging for human remains, before returning home and being informed that Coriolanus' father has been killed by rebels.
• Mock Millionaire: 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 on Reaping Day, 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.
• Murder by Mistake: Lucy Gray 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.
• Not The Illness That Killed Them: In the movie, Dill doesn't die from tuberculosis like in the book, but from drinking poisoned water.
• Nouveau Riche: Sejanus Plinth and his family were originally from District 2, but were allowed to move to the Capitol because they became very wealthy. Although no one is stupid enough to badmouth them to their face, no one has forgotten that the Plinths originated from the "savage" Districts, either.
• People Zoo: Rather than luxurious apartments that serve as a Gilded Cage, the tributes are instead kept at the disused Capitol Zoo for the days prior to the games.
• Public Execution: The Capitol routinely conduct public executions in District 12 by hanging convicts from a big tree, which likely inspired "The Hanging Tree".
• Racist Grandma: Coriolanus and Tigris' grandmother holds nothing but contempt for people from the Districts, to the point that she outright calls them savages.
• Related Differently in the Adaptation: In the book, Felix Ravinstill is the great nephew of the President of Panem. Here, he is his son.
• Retro Universe: The film depicts Panem as a mix of several different decades from our world; the characters (especially from the districts) wear clothing that ranges from the beginning to the middle of the 20th century, but the Capitol uses drones in the Hunger Games.
• Riddle for the Ages: As in the books, what becomes of Lucy Gray Baird? The last we see of her is a quick glance of her running through the woods before Coriolanus shoots at her. She seems to fall as if hit but when Coriolanus reaches where she was, the only sign of her is one of her earrings and a trail of footprints. And when Coriolanus follows the prints, they simply stop in the middle of the woods, with no sign of where she could have gone. Did she die in the woods and Coriolanus simply never found her body? Did she escape, and if so, to where? Even her motives are unclear. It’s implied she realized Coriolanus was responsible for Sejanus’ death but she never confirms this. She also seems unsurprised that the guns have been hidden in the shack. And while she lays a trap for Coriolanus, it seems to be a completely nonlethal one. Ultimately, the movie heavily implies the mystery haunts Coriolanus for the rest of his life.
  Dean Highbottom: It’s a mystery and mysteries have a way of driving people mad.
• Saved by Canon: Given the movie's nature as a prequel, both Coryo and Tigris Snow are guaranteed to survive thanks to appearing in the earlier films which are set after this.
• Shirtless Scene: Coriolanus has a couple of these, but most prominently in the beginning, when he wakes up shirtless, then proceeds to take a shower.
• Slashed Throat:
  • Brandy kills Arachne by slitting her throat with a broken glass bottle.
  • After he is chained and left to die by the Capitol, Lamina ends Marcus' suffering by slashing his throat.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Gaius Breen and the Ring Twins seemingly survive the arena bombing, unlike in the book.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Snow and Lucy Gray. He does everything he can to ensure her survival in the Games, coming to care for her more than just for the prize winning. In time, their friendship turns romantic after the two reunite in District 12. Their love ends, violently and bitterly, when Lucy Gray realizes she can never trust Coriolanus, after figuring out he had set up Sejanus with the jabberjay recording, leading to his hanging. In turn, she abandons Snow, and sets a trap with one of her pet snakes to punish him, causing him in rage to try and shoot her down after catching a glimpse of her in the forest.
• Stolen Credit Backfire: Clemensia Dovecote attempts to claim all the credit for Coriolanus’ essay on how to improve Hunger Games viewership. Gaul, seeing through the obvious lie, forces her into a test to take the written essay from a container full of snake muttations, since the snakes can recognize the scent of the person who wrote the paper and thus won’t bite them. When Clemensia reluctantly does so, she ends up being bitten.
• Swiss-Cheese Security: A combination of rampant incompetence and widespread corruption results in the security of the Capitol during this era leaving a lot to be desired.
  • When the Tributes arrive at the Capitol, Snow is able to simply waltz into the transport taking them from the train station to the zoo, without any of the guards noticing or stopping him.
  • After Arachne is stabbed in the neck with a bottle the guards' reaction is first to shoot her attacker, nearly killing the only person who's trying to help her, and then manhandle said person trying to help her instead of giving her first aid.
  • The rebels are able to plant enough explosive in the Arena to nearly demolish the place and set them off when a large number of VIPs, including the president's own son will be in attendance. The movie later implies that the people responsible for this are never identified or caught.
  • One of the Tributes takes advantage of the aforementioned explosion to escape the arena, and despite being alone, in a completely unfamiliar city, it takes the Capitol's security forces days to track him down and capture him.
  • Despite the precedent of Arachne's death, the mentors are still able to get unsupervised access to the Tributes at all hours and pass along contraband to them, including rat poison that can be used against the other Tributes once the Games start.
  • Even in the aftermath of the bombing, Sejanus is able to bribe a guard or guards into letting him enter the arena while the Games are in progress.
  • Coriolanus is able to put his handkerchief in the snake-mutt tank without any of the guards in Dr. Gaul’s lab being the wiser.
• Tagline: "Everyone hungers for something".
• Tampering with Food and Drink:
  • Lucy Gray mixes Coriolanus' rat poison with a water bottle, intending to kill the Careers. However, she ends up accidentally killing Dill.
  • At the end of the film, Coriolanus kills Dean Highbottom by mixing the rat poison with his morphling.
• Tick Tock Tune: Briefly in the trailer, as Lucky Flickerman counts down to the start of the games.
• Uncertain Doom:
  • The last time Clemensia is seen, she is lying paralyzed on the floor after being bitten by Dr. Gaul's snake mutt, with guards carrying her away. We never learn what happens to her after that.
  • Also the fate of Lucy Gray Baird. Coriolanus tries to shoot her with an assault rifle, and seemingly manages to do so, only to learn that he has been shooting at nothing. Later, Highbottom tells him that while the chance of her still being alive is slim, the Capitol has not been able to confirm her whereabouts, meaning she may either have died or moved away to the north like she wanted to.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  • 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 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.
  • It's revealed in the movie's ending that Dean Highbottom originally conceived the Hunger Games as a drunken joke in response to a school assignment to come up with the most extreme punishment possible for the districts' uprising, only for Coriolanus' father to actually present it and the Panem government to actually implement it. Highbottom greatly regrets this, has worked for years to end the games, and antagonizes Coriolanus out of resentment towards said father.
• Uptown Girl: Gender-Inverted with Capitol boy Coriolanus Snow falling in love with District girl Lucy Gray Baird.
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: During a preview clip, one of the mentors vomits at the sight of one of the tributes getting shot in the back during the beginning of the games. This is lampshaded in the film, with Flickerman criticizing the mentor for puking on camera.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: 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 face to become mutated and her subsequent Sanity Slippage during the games.
• You Are Too Late: Highbottom's admittance to Coriolanus that the Hunger Games were a drunken joke that Crassus submitted to Gaul as a legit proposal who then gleefully made it real is at the point when Coriolanus has slipped Highbottom a poison-spiked bottle of Morphling.
• You Have Failed Me: Coral not only denies Tanner any water (neither of them are aware that the only bottle remaining is poisoned), but also kills him by stabbing with a trident for letting Lucy get away.

---

"It's the things we love most, that destroy us."