The The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes movie will include a prologue scene that wasn’t included in the book, and this could be bad news for the film adaptation. The prequel novel to the popular Hunger Games book series by Suzanne Collins achieved a delicate balance with its central character, Coriolanus Snow. Having been the villain of Katniss’ story, it was important that “Coryo” not be too sympathetic or redeemed in the prequel. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes book handled this perfectly, but it will be a far more difficult task for the screen adaptation. Unfortunately, it already looks like things are headed in a dangerous direction.
Set 65 years before the events of The Hunger Games, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes follows Coriolanus Snow through his later teenage years and the 10th Hunger Games. Throughout the prequel, readers gained a new appreciation for the Capitol citizens, furthering the idea of the original Hunger Games trilogy that all citizens—not just those in the Districts—were victims of the totalitarian government of Panem. Still, Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes did nothing to justify Snow’s later actions, it only provided an extra layer of understanding—something the movie adaptation risks undoing with its prologue scene.
Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes’ Snow Prologue Is Already Changing The Book
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes producer Nina Jacobson has revealed (via Polygon) that the upcoming film will open with a scene of Coriolanus Snow as a child, showing how, during the famous war between the Capitol and Districts, his fellow citizens were “literally starving and doing whatever they have to to survive.” She stated this is “an essential part of who he is and who he becomes.” Though this is certainly a sentiment that is included between the lines of the Ballad and Songbirds and Snakes, starting with this scene in the movie could risk skewing the prequel novel’s intention.
The book is written from Coryo’s point of view, and there are moments in the text in which he thinks back to his war-filled childhood. He thinks about watching his neighbors take part in cannibalism to survive and questions whether the years of malnourishment might have had a lasting impact on his growing brain (and with what we know of his days as President in The Hunger Games, it did). Jacobson likely hoped to bring this to the screen by adding the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ opening prologue, but without Coryo’s inner dialogue, this added scene may do more harm than good.
The Hunger Games Prequel’s Snow Prologue Risks Making Him Sympathetic
The unique thing about having a prequel novel be from the point of view of the original Hunger Games trilogy’s villain is that it gives audiences a rare look into the monster’s mind. However, going into The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Coryo doesn’t seem all that bad. It’s only as the book continues that readers see bits and pieces of Coryo’s inner killer until it can no longer be denied that the boy truly is the same villain seen in The Hunger Games. By the end, the future president of Panem seems even worse than the man seen in the original series since we better understand the choices that got him there.
Collins approached Snow’s backstory in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes with mastery, demonstrating how the horrors of war breed individuals who are likely to continue it. The film adaptation must be just as careful not to justify Snow’s actions. Hopefully, the movie’s prologue will demonstrate how the war had varying consequences on the growing children of the Capitol, just as the book did—rather than making it seem as if Snow was a bad person only because of his circumstances. Based on The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes‘ opening prologue tease, fears that this won’t come across the same way may be frustratingly valid.
Key Release Dates
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Release Date:2023-11-17
