Mark your calendars and get ready to time travel! That’s right, on November 17th, 2023, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is taking us all back to our 2013 dystopian era. The Lionsgate film will explore the prequel novel to The Hunger Games trilogy written by Suzanne Collins. If you have yet to read The Hunger Games, I greatly encourage you to do so. However, the beauty of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is that it lives up to its name as a prequel. So, even if you have no idea who Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mallark, or even the prequel’s protagonist, Coriolanus Snow, is, you are guaranteed to enjoy the novel and hopefully the movie.
But, all movie adaptations of novels need to have a concrete foundation to begin with, and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is certainly thrilling on its own. As mentioned previously, the novel follows protagonist Coriolanus Snow, previously known as President Snow in The Hunger Games. As readers of The Hunger Games novels are aware, President Snow is the malicious, cold-hearted ruler of Panem, which is seemingly the only nation left to exist on Earth. Furthermore, it is established early on in The Hunger Games that Panem is divided into twelve districts, which have a hierarchical structure and are each responsible for providing the capital with some sort of product/service. As fans know, President Snow is the leader of Panem and its districts and resides in the capitol, the center of Panem where the wealthy live. Ultimately, the novels place readers in “The Hunger Games,” the annual televised event that places one male and female from each district into an artificially generated arena, with the purpose of murdering one another, to serve as entertainment for the capitol.
However, the trilogy leaves readers questioning how “The Hunger Games” came to be, and why this evil tradition is still upheld in Panem, hosted by the nation’s president, Coriolanus Snow. Therefore, in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Collins explores Snow’s involvement in the tenth annual Hunger Games, which was initially held in order to remind the citizens of Panem what happens if they rebel against the capitol. Snow is left to sponsor Lucy Gray Baird, a tribute from District 12, at only eighteen. Without spoiling the great plot twists that creep up on almost every page of this prequel novel, Collins explores Snow and Baird’s relationship as their two vastly different worlds collide, and they are both left with the dilemma of being true to their morals and autonomy or adopting the values and structure that govern their nation. What is probably the most bone-chilling aspect of the novel is how readers begin to understand the humanity of Snow’s character, as they begin to sympathize with him despite most readers’ knowledge of the person he becomes once he is president in the other novels.
So there you have it. Suzanne Collins swept people off their feet when she released her series of dystopian novels and led a surge of young adult dystopian fiction beginning in 2012. And just when everyone thought she was done, Collins released The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes about eight years later. Evidently, the movie that is set to be released later this month is expected to get the same amount of attention, especially from fans of Collins’ existing novels. I believe I speak on behalf of all Hunger Games fans and book lovers when I say that this movie is highly anticipated, and we are all hopeful that it lives up to the amazing novel it is based on.
But what does Olivia Rodrigo have to do with this? Well, on Nov. 2, 2023, the young artist revealed that her song, “Can’t Catch Me Now,” will be featured on The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes soundtrack. The song is currently out now and beautifully encompasses the blood-curdling awe the novel leaves readers in.If I have not made it clear already, this film is in high anticipation for Hunger Games fans, and Rodrigo’s involvement with the soundtrack, with her increasing popularity and talent, is certainly getting fans excited for the movie and generating a new audience as well. Hopefully, this film lives up to the beauty that is The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.