The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes—How To Write A Villain
The Hunger Games franchise was a phenomenon, to say the least. It sparked a boom in dystopian fiction and proved that young adult literature is a force to be reckoned with.
For those unfamiliar with the book/movie franchise, The Hunger Games takes place in the future United States—only now it is Panem, which consists of twelve impoverished districts that must give all their resources to the Capitol.
As a punishment for a rebellion that led to the rumored annihilation of the thirteenth district, citizens must participate in the annual hunger games. The players are two tributes from each district—one boy and one girl between age 12 to 18. The selected tributes must fight to the death in an area until there is one tribute left standing.
The barbaric practice serves as a means for the Capitol to control the districts, as well as a form of entertainment. The hunger games simultaneously serve as a form of twisted reality TV. Audience members can place bets and “entertaining” players can get gifts sent to them like food or water.
While the original trilogy depicts District 12 tribute Katniss Everdeen’s fight for survival and freedom, one has to wonder—how does a society fall this low? How can people delight in something so heinous as children being forced to fight to the death?
Author Suzanne Collins decided to answer these questions in her 2020 bestselling prequel novel—The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Naturally, studios jumped at the chance to adapt it to film.
In this installment, Collins reveals not only the origins of the games but how malicious dictator Coriolanus Snow rose to power.
Opening with the war-torn Panem, we see Coriolanus’ childhood and the character hardened by poverty. During his academy years, the hunger games are fading in popularity. The District tributes are kept in cages, often dying in the first few hours of the games from malnutrition or disease. Capitol citizens refuse to watch and it seems like this will be the last year of the games.
That is until students are given a challenge—find a way to popularize the hunger games in exchange for a university scholarship.
Students must work as mentors and Coriolanus is given Lucy Gray Baird, a performer from District 12. He notices how much Capitol citizens love her songs and unique fashion sense, and starts developing feelings himself.
Torn between love and ambition, he must choose between the girl he claims to love and the chance to rise in the Capitol rankings.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes shows how fast dehumanization can occur. Although the tributes are children, they’re othered as “district savages” and the games are presented as a fun tournament. They are interviewed so watchers have the chance to “get to know” the characters created for the tributes. Suddenly those who used to call the games cruel were finding it entertaining. And Coriolanus Snow cements the hunger games in Panem’s traditions.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes film demonstrates how easy it is for humans to turn on each other. How fast friends can turn on each other when conditions get rough. Is it human nature to reveal in violence? The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes presents the nature vs nurture argument through its characters, as we see heroes and villains formed through the oppressive Panem regime.
We know what path Snow ultimately chose. However, it is interesting to see the different directions he was pulled in before he chose the path of evil. He could have chosen a simple life of morality but was too compelled by his lust for power.
Though The Hunger Games is a work of fiction, think of all the violent videos that went viral. All the dehumanizing parasocial relationships out there and demand for “realistic” entertainment and then we wonder who was really responsible for the success of the games.
