The Hunger Games’ President Snow Has A Message For You, Er, Panem
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You know how you can tell the world we live in is really different from the nation of Panem in The Hunger Games? It isn’t the segregation, the class wars, or the annual battles to the death. It’s the presidential addresses, of course. Instead of watching President Obama stand behind a podium, or sit behind a desk in the Oval Office, the people of The Hunger Games get to see President Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland) completely decked out in a fabu white suit, sitting on a modest white throne set inside a completely white room. And before anyone can say “white” two more times, Snow has placidly laid to rest all of our war-mongering thoughts and urges.
Or not. Because we as viewers (or readers, by extension) know that Snow is about as full of shit as any other politician, fictional or otherwise. With words like “unity” and “prosperity” floating around, Snow tells the masses that, while their hard work feeds them, they are in turn able to feed everyone else. (Because “hunger” games always start up in places where everyone is eating properly.) And even if it’s just a barely veiled metaphorical threat against non-conformity, I’m more hungry than I am concerned about my well-being. White chocolate, anyone?
So what is Peeta, also wearing a dapper-as-white-shit suit, doing standing up there next to Snow? A former Games winner, he certainly used to be a face that a politician wouldn’t mind having around, but Catching Fire ended in mass controversy, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay is supposed to kick off with Snow holding guilty parties captive, Peeta included. Maybe he’s been brainwashed and is only siding with Snow to help save Katniss and the others in some way. Maybe he’s just a traitor bitch. Either way, Peeta is one of my least favorite characters in blockbuster history, so I’m all for him doing anything to appear more interesting.
We recently got a look at Snow’s quasi-partner in antagonistic crime, Julianne Moore’s rebellious President Alma Coin of District 13. While her dyed hair may be her most recognizable trait from afar, her wicked deviousness doesn’t take long to make itself known. I’d like to see her do one of these State of the Panem addresses at some point, where it’s the exact same set, only with her name spray-painted all over everything.
Together as one, we can all wade through another five months of teasers and trailers on the way to Francis Lawrence’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 hitting theaters on November 15, with Part 2 releasing just over a year later. Head to the Capitol’s website for more information.
