Parallels: The Ballad of Songbirds And Snakes & The Hunger Games Films

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes first trailer has been out for TWO weeks (!!), and we’re still thinking about all of the parallels between Ballad and the original films. SPOILERS AHEAD for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

 

The one parallel I think everyone noticed immediately was the Lucy Gray curtsey callback to Katniss sarcastically curtseying for the Gamemakers, not only in The Hunger Games..

 

…But also in Catching Fire. Rachel Zegler said it was an ad lib. But director Francis Lawrence noted in Variety, “I thought it’d be really interesting if we created a history of it so that maybe [Katniss] didn’t come up with it on her own. Maybe she’d heard about this girl from a long time ago, having done the same thing.” 

 

Katniss finds a white rose from President Snow while visiting District 12 after the Capitol bombing. She thinks, “That white-as-snow rose is a personal message to me. It speaks of unfinished business. It whispers, “I can find you. I can reach you. Perhaps I am watching you now.”

The white rose Coriolanus holds at the train station is from the Grandma’am’s precious rose garden, on a suggestion from Tigris to offer his tribute, Lucy Gray, a token. “I need to make a connection with her. As you always say, your roses open any doors.”

 

Throughout The Hunger Games films, President Snow is often seen wearing red. This scene featuring young Coriolanus on the Corso gives major future President Snow vibes. 

 

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a role more perfectly cast than Jason Schwartzman as Lucky Flickerman, an ancestor of Stanley Tucci’s Caesar Flickerman from the original films. On their similarities, producer Nina Jacobson says, “He’s not impersonating [Tucci] - but there are moments with his laugh or flair.” Lawrence adds. “I said, ‘Listen, I think the character is under-written right now. But we have a lot of opportunity to flesh him out. I would love your help if you’re game.’” Schwartzman was. “I think he had, at the end of the day, 50 pages of new ideas and dialogue for all of his scenes. He had so much fun.”

The rubble from the arena explosion in Ballad looks very similar to the original series’ cornucopias. As if the future gamemakers drew inspiration from the rubble of the 10th games in designing their cornucopias. Francis Lawrence said, “We’re trying to find ways of linking [Ballad] to the other movies and into the things that people love.”

 

Coriolanus shooting up at the trees in the trailer is a cool cinematic parallel to the peacekeepers shooting at the lumberjack rebels in District 7 in Mockingjay Part 1. 

From The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes book:

“He lifted the rifle and machine-gunned the trees, trying to wipe out the birds.”

“Furious, he turned this way and that and finally blasted the woods in a full circle, going around and around until his bullets were spent.”

 

The shot of the train in District 12 parallels nicely with the shot of the train pulling into District 11 in Catching Fire. I can almost hear Effie saying, “This isn’t very festive!” 

The dancing crowd at The Hob in District 12 reminded me of the people of District 12 dancing at Finnick and Annie’s wedding in 13. “We may have been the smallest, poorest district in Panem, but we know how to dance.” - Katniss in Mockingjay (the book) There's also the lone fiddler theory, which I love. It surmises that the lone fiddler from District 12 at Finnick and Annie's wedding is actually Clerk Carmine from The Covey, years later.

 

One of the few stills we have of Eugenie Bondurant as Tigris in MJ2 features the same hands-over-heart pose as the first look we got of Hunter Schafer as Tigris in Ballad. Was it international? I don’t know! But  I choose to believe this is a parallel, signifying Tigris as the true heart and conscience of the Snow family and Coriolanus’ better angel. 

The beautifully cinematic parallel between the ruined arenas in Ballad and Catching Fire. 

The reapings in District 12 in Ballad and The Hunger Games.

 

The meadow in District 12 in Ballad is where Lucy Gray goes for privacy to write songs and where Coriolanus, Sejanus, and the Covey cross to the lake. Lucy Gray sings 'Deep In The Meadow' as a lullaby to Maude Ivory, just as Katniss sings the song to Prim and Rue. The meadow is also the scene of the epilogue in Mockingjay Part 2.

In the book, the entire epilogue revolves around the meadow, with Katniss referencing her children innocently playing there and singing ‘Deep in the Meadow,’ not realizing what lies beneath them. “My children, who don’t know they play on a graveyard.” You can see they even made it look like the 2 trees in the background of the Ballad screenshot grew up by the time Katniss, Peeta, and their children were there.

Did you notice any other parallels or call backs to the original Hunger Games films? I'm sure we'll see many more as new footage is released.

The Hunger Games:The Ballad of Songbirds And Snakes hits theaters November 17th.