The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Movie • 2023 • Thriller
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This prequel to The Hunger Games focuses on Coriolanus Snow at age 18, years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem. Young Coriolanus is handsome and charming, and though the Snow family has fallen on hard times, he sees a chance for a change in his fortunes when he is chosen to be a mentor for the Tenth Hunger Games, only to have his elation dashed when he is assigned to mentor the girl tribute from impoverished District 12.
This movie contains 70 potentially triggering events.
(Major spoilers) in the final sequence in district 12, Lucy leaves the cabin stating she’s going to collect food. But it’s heavily implied she’s actually leaving as she’s realised at best he’s going to abandon her or at worst, kill her. (The other interpretation, less likely in my mind, she was genuinely gathering food and his paranoid caused him to follow her outside)
Coriolanus’s father is shown to be not a good dude and quite possibly emotionally abusive towards Tigris and maybe Snow but he is dead in the movie and this is never seen only slightly mentioned/alluded to
The main character is sort of stalked around the arena by a group of other tributes during the scenes of the hunger games, they follow her around the arena and try to kill her.
No dog fighting but the film revolves around children essentially being forced to fight each other to the death. Like dogfights, it is shown for “entertainment” and there is betting.
Part 1
Tributes are restrained to the desk with handcuffs while talking with their mentors.
Major trigger warning. Part 2 spoilers.
Marcus is restrained at the centre of the arena.
A character’s hand/fingers are jammed in a vent grate when it is forced shut by a different character. You see this happen on screen and hear the character cry out in pain.
Marcus, one of the tributes, who was thought to have run away was hung up in the arena alive and shows clear signs of torture/being beaten
It could also be argued that the statement the tributes are kept in is torturous as they are without food. The games in themselves are also torturous
A main character is hanged for treason. The ending of the film leaves it unclear as to whether the main character, Lucy Gray, is dead or not. There is a scene which suggests that she is shot by Snow but her body is never found so it is not known whether she was killed or whether she survived.
Both of the main characters’ parents are dead (this is not shown on screen but mentioned by them both). Many tributes die after mentions of them having family back in their districts.
Lucy gray mentions that her boyfriend cheated on her. The girl he cheated with got jealous and sets her up to be the tribute for district 12, effectively a death sentence
Another random jumpscare was when Clemensia was at the table with her tribute trying to strategize and he like aggressively jerked himself towards her. not a huge scare but it made me jump a little.
The scene is so quick, audio & visual. It’s right after the Games start & one of the mentors is s* after watching their tribute die. Later Flickerman jokes about it.
Also, a tribute gets rabies. No v* but his mouth is foaming & it was kinda triggering for me.
Many tributes are killed by stabbing and you hear this happening. A character’s fingers are caught in a grate and you hear this. People fall to their deaths/dead bodies fall to the floor in the games and this can be heard. I think there is also a mention of people "hearing bones snapping" when a character fell from a height. During part III several people are hanged and you hear the people fall and their necks snapping which could be very triggering. There is also a lot of screaming/gun shots/explosions throughout the film.
Because the protagonist is capitol, he really admires capitol, government, and military things. This is expressed numerous times, though people who disagree with the protagonist's opinion also have their opinion expressed a few times.
Lucy gray is called mentally ill by a mentor. Her behavior might be an illness. Most of the people in the movie seem like they might struggle with the health. Both snow and lucy show symptoms of PTSD
Not in a mental health related way but Coriolanus rips out some of his stitches so he can get back into Dr Gauls lab
He also punches and hits things (like the floor) when upset
It’s arguable that a mentally ill person is violent as Coriolanus Snow could be considered mentally ill However, he is never described as such in the film and he isn’t shown as experiencing psychosis or other mental illness symptoms often demonised in films
Spoilers. Towards the very end of the movie just after Snow is bitten by a snake. Snow has an episode in the forest behind Lucy's cabin that could be considered derealization etc. I found it not too bad although it was an unnecessarily long scene.
It is implied that in the climax of the film, the protagonist may be hallucinating from his panic/paranoia. It is left ambiguous if what he sees and hears in that scene is real or not.
During the scene where the tributes and mentors are touring the arena before the games a series of bombs explode, a character is seen freezing up and appears anxious/distressed which could be considered an anxiety attack.
While there is no ED the characters are literally starving to death and the main character is shown looking emaciated in the first scenes which I found quite triggering.
During the scene where the mentors and tributes tour the arena for the first time before the games there are several explosions as bombs go off. The noise is very loud and sudden. This happens not long after the mentors and tributes enter the arena, other tributes and mentors are shown talking then Snow and Lucy Gray are talking to each other which is when the bombs start to go off. There are also several gunshots throughout the film which are loud and some of them are very sudden though you always see a character holding a gun/picking up a gun before this happens so they are not completely sudden.
There is a mention of a main character’s mother dying during childbirth. He says that he would’ve had a baby sister suggesting that the child was stillborn or died during childbirth. This is only mentioned briefly and nothing is seen onscreen.
No childbirth is seen onscreen but there is mention of a main character’s mother dying during childbirth. This is only mentioned briefly and nothing is seen onscreen.
There is a brief scene of a male character showering, he is not wearing a shirt and only his chest/upper torso are shown. Characters are shown briefly in their underwear before jumping into a pond but there is no nudity.
No one is homeless but an eviction notice is shown and there is a suggestion that main characters may lose their home because they are unable to pay the rent. SPOILER
this doesn’t happen and the characters keep their home.