“The Hunger Games” franchise is an incredibly well-written political commentary with good — but lacking — movie adaptations. With the new release of “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” movie, I curated a list of elements the movie should have expanded upon.
Although I enjoyed the movie adaptation, many things were cut to make it more palatable to movie watchers.
This list includes seven elements I wish the movie wouldn’t have left out:
- Snow’s Internal Monologue
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I fully recognize that it is difficult to integrate internal monologues into movies without coming across as childish or cringy. However, I believe that Snow’s internal monologue is the most chilling part of the books and a must-needed element to a faithful “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” adaptation.
A second-class citizen. Human, but bestial. Smart, perhaps, but not evolved. Part of a shapeless mass of unfortunate, barbaric creatures that hovered on the periphery of his consciousness.”
The Ballad of Songbirds and SnakesThe novel creates tension and uneasiness, showing just how cruel and delusional Coriolanus can be at times. He is constantly paranoid, and you can tell throughout the novel that he becomes more and more unraveled.
I believe that the movie was missing some of the paranoia and unhinged thoughts we see from Snow. With this addition, I think moviegoers who haven’t read the book would get a much better understanding of just how far Snow will go to maintain his power.
Coriolanus Snow, wearing an outfit created by Tigris to hide their financial struggles. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough time in the world for me to share every time Snow’s thoughts shocked me, but I have a few highlights of times I was truly disturbed by his thought process.
He knew the gifts would pour into the arena for her. That her success, even now, reflected back on him, making it his success . . . He knew he should be elated at this turn of events and jumping up and down inside while presenting a modest, pleased front.
But what he really felt was jealous.”
The Ballad of Songbirds and SnakesEven his own family is not safe from his manipulation and cruel intentions. His cousin, Tigris, is shown in “Mockingjay” as a victim of materialism; she is physically altered to look like a tiger because Snow does not find her “interesting” anymore.
Snow is constantly thinking of himself and his own image, which shows just how little he regards other people. He is selfish and egotistical, which is slightly overlooked in the movie.
The movie slightly overlooked how horrendous Snow can be, but the novel accentuates his flaws through his internal monologue. He has constant delusional, disturbing thoughts about the people around him.
- Snow’s struggle to prove he isn’t poor
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He took a modest spoonful and tried not to drool. Boiled potatoes. Summer squash. Baked ham. Hot rolls and a pat of butter. On second thought, two pats. A full plate, but not a greedy one. Not for a teenage boy.”
The Ballad of Songbirds and SnakesThis is barely a point in the movie, but I think it is important to point out Snow’s struggle for power. He and his family are struggling financially — one thing that Snow can not control.
Snow is constantly thinking about food, describing food in lavish ways and talking about his absence of food. A possible reason for this is that it is the only factor in his life that he can not manipulate.
Snow in his Reaping Day outfit. This would have been a great addition to the book because it shows the great lengths that Snow goes through to pretend he has money. Although it is a small detail, it adds to his character significantly.
- The brutal deaths of many of Snow’s classmates
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Clemensia gave a bloodcurdling scream, shaking her hand madly to rid it of the vipers. The tiny puncture wounds left by their fangs oozed the neon colors of their skins. Pus dyed bright pink, yellow, and blue dripped down her fingers.”
The Ballad of Songbirds and SnakesIf you’ve seen the movie, we all know that Snow’s classmate, Arachne, is stabbed in the throat by one of the tributes in the monkey house.
However, there are many brutal deaths of Snow’s classmates during the 10th Hunger Games that do not get nearly as much traction in the movie.
I believe this could have been an important addition to the movie because it shows that the Capitol is just as unstable as the districts, they just pretend to be more “civilized.”
Dr. Gaul, portrayed by Viola Davis, is responsible for many of the deaths in the Hunger Games. One important element that wasn’t expanded on in the movie is the snake bites that Snow’s classmate Clemensia obtains. Although it is shown that she gets bitten by the snakes, the movie never goes back to show the suffering she endures.
In the book, Clemensia’s wounds cause her skin to be “mottled with bright blue, pink, and yellow scales.”
Snow also observes Clemensia constantly twitching, jutting her tongue out and jerking her hands involuntarily as a symptom of the snake venom. Even by the last time Snow sees Clemensia, she is not fully recovered.
Three mentors dead, three hospitalized — really, four if you counted Clemensia.”
The Ballad of Songbirds and SnakesAnother instance that wipes out many of Snow’s classmates is the explosion while they are touring the arena.
Two classmates are critically injured — one losing both of his legs (he eventually dies of complications). Snow’s classmates, the Ring twins, also died in the explosion, bringing the number of Snow’s classmates dead or critically injured to six.
Again, I wish they would have added this element to the movie because it enhances how viewers perceive the Capitol. It may seem perfect and lavish, but there is an underlying brutish nature that even Capitol citizens can not escape.
- The Subtext of Snow seeing Lucy Gray as a “possession”
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His girl. His. Here in the Capitol, it was a given that Lucy Gray belonged to him, as if she’d had no life before her name was called out at the reaping.”
The Ballad of Songbirds and SnakesNothing is more frustrating than seeing the TikToks romanticizing Snow’s relationship with Lucy Gray. I’m not sure the movies stressed just how much he saw her as a possession.
From the very beginning of the novel, Snow only sees Lucy Gray as something that belongs to him. The first time she is mentioned, the Dean says: “And last but least, District Twelve girl […] she belongs to Coriolanus Snow.”
Snow offering Lucy Gray a rose as soon as she arrives in the Capitol. There is never a point in the novel where Snow considers Lucy Gray to be an equal; he simply believes she is a spectacle that will help him get a leg up in the Hunger Games. She is a possession of his, nothing more.
The moment that Lucy Gray begins to have her own thoughts, Snow criticizes her.
Lucy Gray was one thing belonging to Coriolanus that [Sejanus] would never, ever get.”
The Ballad of Songbirds and SnakesI definitely believe the movie could have expanded more on Snow’s possessiveness and objectification of Lucy Gray. I think it is important that there is no gray area (no pun intended) about their relationship. Snow only saw Lucy Gray as a possession.
- Snow Manipulating Sejanus Plinth
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Sejanus had already usurped his position, his inheritance, his clothes, his candy, his sandwiches, and the privilege due a Snow. Now he was coming for his apartment, his spot at the University, his very future, and had the gall to be resentful of his good fortune… If having Marcus as a tribute made Sejanus squirm, then good.”
The Ballad of Songbirds and SnakesAnother thing that irks me about the movie is that it made it seem like Sejanus and Snow were truly friends, giving viewers a skewed perception of their relationship; in the novel, Snow undeniably hates Sejanus, and he is simply using Sejanus to get a leg up in the competition.
Let’s not forget that book Snow killed Sejanus and felt little to no remorse about it. In fact, directly after Sejanus dies, Snow rationalizes that “Sejanus had been bent on self-destruction” and that Snow only did him a favor by turning him in.
Snow also uses Sejanus’s death to his advantage, taking handouts from the Plinth family as if he truly cared about Sejanus.
Someone should pay for the indignities of the Snow family, and who better than a Plinth?”
The Ballad of Songbirds and SnakesI wish the movie could have incorporated more of Snow’s manipulation of Sejanus. I think it shows just how much Snow gets away with, especially in the end when the Plinths pay for his education when he literally killed their son.
The film does not go enough in-depth into Snow’s devious plot against Sejanus.
- The Abuse of the Tributes Before the Games
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The tributes had absorbed the odor of the cattle car and it mixed with an unwashed human smell that made him feel slightly nauseous. Up close, he could see how grubby they were, how bloodshot their eyes, how bruised their limbs.”
The Ballad of Songbirds and SnakesOne of the most haunting — and important — elements of the novel is how the tributes are perceived by members of the Capitol. They are kept in conditions meant for animals, specifically a monkey house at an abandoned zoo (hello, symbolism).
As I mentioned, the tributes are merely seen as possessions that can be treated however the Capitol seems fit. This means feeding them through the bars of the monkey house, packing them into small train cars designed for livestock and killing them if anyone steps out of line.
In this sense, they are treated worse than actual monkeys would have been in the zoo. Snow even mentions how they are seen by a veterinarian when they get injured.
Moreover, while in the monkey house the tributes constantly have to fight to avoid being eaten by rats and other vermin. In the novel, Lucy Gray’s ally Jessup contracts rabies from rabid animals inside of the zoo.
Lucy Gray Baird when she is reaped for the Hunger Games. The movie did go into great detail about some of the abuses, but it left out a lot of what was important.
Adding more about the tributes shows how poorly they are treated. Audiences need to know that the Capitol citizens do not regard tributes as people, merely animals.
- Snow’s Finale Freakout
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She’d figured it out. All of it. That destroying the guns would wash away all physical evidence of his connection to the murders. That he no longer wanted to run away. That she was the last witness to tie him to the crime.”
The Ballad of Songbirds and SnakesI could write a dissertation on this masterfully written scene when Snow realizes Lucy Gray ditched him in the woods. His internal monologue is incredibly scary, showing who Snow truly is.
I have to recommend that you read the book to fully understand how chilling this scene is. Although the movie did a great job, the book remains unmatched in tension.
Snow and Lucy Gray in the woods. Snow is left to think for a few moments, and immediately his paranoia about Lucy Gray begins. His logical solution is to go into the woods and get rid of the final piece of evidence — her.
It looked bad coming after her armed. As if he was hunting her. But he wasn’t really going to kill her. Just talk to her and make sure she saw sense.”
The Ballad of Songbirds and SnakesSnow’s meltdown is masterful, a perfect culmination of all his delusional thoughts that he has been having since the beginning of the novel.
Although this scene is in the movie, I was left wanting more from it.
Sure, snow shoots the air and yells a lot, but where is the burning hatred? Where is the paranoia? Where is the absolute unhinged behavior that book Snow was exhibiting?
Unfortunately, the movie left me disappointed, especially because this is the best scene in the entire novel.
Although I did like the movie, these are all of the things I believe could have been better refined; but like many adaptations, there wasn’t enough time to put the entire novel into a 2.5 hour movie.
If you want more from “A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” I would definitely pick up the book — you will get a much more in-depth perspective into the villain that is Coriolanus Snow.