this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2024
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Another thing I feel makes Hunger Games stand out is how much it focuses on optics. So much of the story revolved around how people perceive her. So much of what she does is impacted by how others look at her. "Don't act so angry all the time; people won't like you." "Do this to win their favor." Even in the third book, the rebellion was trying to market her to inspire the rebels. I don't think I've seen any other series focus on how much someone appears to others as this one.
This is something I haven't seen any people comment on, so I'm not sure if it's just me seeing it, or if it's more commonplace than I realize and thus not worth bringing up.
Did you read/watch the prequel? Yes, public perception is absolutely a theme of the series.
I was not aware there was a prequel. I will have to look into this.
Don't go in expecting the same style. It's not a bad book, but it's definitely told with a different 'voice', or at least it felt that way for me. I enjoyed it, it was definitely not my first choice for a backstory, but getting to see what makes Snow such a good villain in the first 3 books was really nice.
I think what hunger games was calling attention to, the dangers of unchecked capitalism, the prevalence of group think and the uncaring pain inflicted on out-groups different from your own, and told through a lens that also let's us draw parallels to the way women are treated in society at the time, really struck home when I was younger and it really fit the 'times' it felt.
That is juxtaposed to what I think ballad of songbirds is telling, which is almost a shift in the opposite direction. The protagonist is a male, and it's pointed out quickly that he's expected to be the Man of the family and all that entails. Where Katniss didn't care what others thought of her, but had to play the game for survival, Coreo CONSTATLY obsesses about his appearance and how others perceive him but he also plays the game for survival. Both protagonists are poor, scraping by by the skin of their teeth, but one knew of a time before the war and so he has a sort of longing for a time when his family DID have wealth and he knew those luxuries. Katniss hated the system, Coreo believes he can climb on top of it. Coreo is in the "in-group", the one that is doing the exploiting, and so there's a different tone in how that conflict is perceived and discussed.
I'll say no more as to not give any spoilers, I recommend it and it's not long.