The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes arrives in theaters this week, which means it’s time to take the long train ride back to Panem. It’s been almost a decade since the last of the original films premiered, so you might be worried about confusing your Jabberjays with your Tracker Jackers, or remembering why this society makes a spectacle out of kids fighting to the death in the first place. Don’t worry, we have the tools to help you survive. Maybe not in the arena, but at least to the end of this latest cinematic take on the widely read YA franchise.
The basics
The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes—based on the novel of the same name by Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins—is a prequel set 64 years before the events of the original series. That means you won’t see Katniss, Peeta, or (sadly) Effie and her outlandish outfits. The film isn’t really an origin story for the Hunger Games themselves, either.
We’ll get to all that later, but first a brief refresher on Panem. Set vaguely in North America sometime after the fall of modern civilization, Panem—at least when Ballad takes place—is a collection of districts run by a totalitarian government out of a corrupt and exorbitant capital city. Each of the districts, numbered 1 through 12 (with a 13th revealed later in the original trilogy), is in charge of a particular export, i.e. fish, lumber, coal, etc. They are organized in terms of class, with District 1 being the wealthiest and District 12—the home of Katniss and Peeta—being the least well-off.
About 74 years before Katniss’ games, the districts rebelled against the Capitol in a war that lasted three years. While the conflict ravaged the country, the Capitol eventually crushed the revolution and instituted the police state we see in the movies. The Hunger Games were invented as an exceedingly cruel punishment for that war, to remind the districts of the Capitol’s power and the chaos that would descend should that power ever be challenged again.
So what are the Hunger Games?
Masterminded by Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage) and advanced by Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis), the Hunger Games are an annual event in which two tributes from each district, one male and one female, fight to the death until only one tribute is left standing. When the Hunger Games first started, they were not the multi-day spectacle we see in the original trilogy. For the first 10 years, children were abandoned in a converted sports arena and given basic weapons with no food or water. The games were usually over in a matter of hours.
What changed?
The advent of sponsors, gifts, and tributes’ celebrity status is largely thanks to the efforts of one man: Coriolanus Snow. Rather than following the origins of the Games themselves, Ballad is largely concerned with tracking Snow’s journey from young, struggling student to the cold, cruel president of Panem (played by Donald Sutherland in the trilogy) we know and loathe in Katniss’ day.
In Ballad, young Coriolanus (Tom Blyth) is paired as a mentor with District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), a member of a nomadic group of musicians known as the Covey. While Snow obviously goes on to play a huge part in the original Hunger Games books, we meet Lucy Gray for the first time in the prequel.
Other familiar faces/things
Snow may be the most prominent returning character in the prequel, but his presence is far from the only nod to the trilogy in the film. Here’s a glossary of some other people and terms that may come in handy:
- “The Hanging Tree”: An old folk song that Katniss sings to rally the troops in Mockingjay. The tune was written by Lucy Gray Baird and plays a part in this film as well. Rachel Zegler’s version of the song was released last month.
- Flickerman: Showman Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci) is the Game’s official host and commentator in The Hunger Games. His ancestor Lucky Flickerman (Jason Schwartzman) holds the post in the prequel.
- Jabberjays: Jabberjays are a mutated species of bird able to record and repeat entire human conversations. They were created by the Capitol to spy on their enemies. Eventually, they mated with mockingbirds to create a new species called mockingjays, which inspire Katniss throughout her journey.
- Peacekeepers: Capitol soldiers. Their job is to patrol, root out, and suppress any dissension in the districts. They’re notoriously brutal.
- Tigris: In the original series, Tigris is an elusive stylist covered in tiger stripe tattoos who comes to the rebels’ aid in Mockingjay—Part 2. She’s also Coriolanus’ cousin, and plays a large part in his story in the prequel. Tigris is played by Hunter Schafer in the new film.