Movie vs Book: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

It’s finally here!

I read The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins in September and I had a good time reading it. It wasn’t a great time. It wasn’t the worst time. It was just okay.

I saw the movie this past Friday.

As with most people who read a book then watch the corresponding movie, I have a lot of opinions.

This will be a post written for people who have read the book. This post will contain spoilers. Please do not continue reading if you want to go into The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes blind. If you want to know if the story is good without being spoiled, you can read my review of the book here.

Alright.

Since that’s out of the way…

I cannot believe that almost a decade after the original trilogy came out we have been rewarded with another movie in the Hunger Games franchise. I had no idea this movie existed until after I finished the book a couple of months ago. I turned into that twelve-year old me that used to watch the movies every other day with my friend, quoting lines, and giggling. It was nice, surrounded by my adult responsibilities, to feel that way again.

That being said, the movie did a couple of things I liked, and a few things I strongly disliked. I’ll start off with what I liked.

The romance was toned down.

I’m not even certain I want to call it romance.

In the book, Coriolanus and Lucy Gray kissed before the Games even started. I rolled my eyes at that and debated putting the book down.

In the movie, there were intimate moments, tender moments, but nothing so grand as a kiss before the Games. A lot of this is due to the accelerated pacing the movie had. It wouldn’t make sense for them to kiss if they haven’t taken the proper time to build tension between the characters. I appreciated the movie for acknowledging this and not shoving it down the viewer’s throat.

Tigris

Throughout the movie, Snow seems to be striving to be just like his father. He has the same reckless ambition that bleeds into selfishness and conceit. Tigris warns him of this several times throughout the movie, all the while affectionally calling him Corio.

When Coriolanus emerges from his room at the end of the movie, hair done, suit blood-red, he asks her how he looks. It’s in this moment that Tigris, who had been calling him Corio the entire movie, decides to call him Coriolanus.

This emphasis implies that she’s devastated, sad, and putting distance between herself and her cousin because of their differing viewpoints. It implies that he has grown up. I love this heartbreaking moment that portrays a distinct difference in Snow’s character.

The ending gave me chills.

The ending of the book gave me chills, too. How can you top, “Snow lands on top” and still make an impact?

The movie did it. The movie pulled a quote from Catching Fire and put it at the very end, just before the credits. It was President Snow saying it, not the youthful Coriolanus, and it made it feel like Snow was recounting his life. It gave the impression that he was telling the story the entire time.

The pacing was better.

The pacing in the book was awful. I recognize why it had to be done to fully flesh out Snow’s character arc, but it was painful. It was especially painful after the Games were over. The tension that they provided was gone and the book was hurting because of it.

The movie kind of suffers from the same thing, except a few things that happened in District 12 got cut out. For example, we only see Coriolanus with the mockingjays once, whereas in the book, he had gone and worked with them several times. Once was enough in the movie. It gave the plot the boost it needed without dragging it down.

Before the Games, Coriolanus only met with Lucy Gray, who was chained to the table, once, rather than the few times it happened in the book.

Cutting these things out was beneficial to the movie and improved audience retention. However, it wasn’t without its cost.

Here are a few things I didn’t like about the movie.

Coriolanus’s character lacked the depth it had in the book.

This is my biggest pet peeve with the movie. I keep seeing TikTok’s about people who fell in love with Snow because the actor is attractive and ambition, despite it being thinly veiled selfishness, is an attractive quality. Then they read the book, and realize how evil and twisted he really is.

Several moments, such as him stealing money from Sejanus, were cut out of the movie. This lessened the impact of Snow’s character as a whole.

I recognize that the book is told in first-person and it’s hard to convey an internal monologue through a movie. A lot of Snow’s character was the way he thought about others. His insecurity wasn’t properly conveyed, his paranoia wasn’t conveyed, and his cruelty wasn’t quite properly conveyed either. I didn’t find him to be that bad in the movie.

Sejanus was a flat character.

This is the single most upsetting thing about this movie.

They did the Plinths dirty.

Sejanus’s mom was not present in the movie. Instead of Mrs. Plinth showing up at Snow’s apartment begging him to save Sejanus, it’s Gall who asks Snow to do it while they’re still in the building where the Hunger Games is being broadcast. We never saw Snow meet Sejanus’s parents. All of the instances in the book where Coriolanus is looking down at them for being district, all of the times he takes advantage of them because he’s hungry or needs money–all of these moments are missed in the movie. As a result, Sejanus’s character falls flat and Snow’s true character is missed.

Sejanus came across as intense and mildly annoying in the movie. In the book, I felt pity for him. While reading the book, you know, I cried.

I didn’t feel much while watching the movie, and I think that’s because I didn’t get the full context behind Sejanus’s history and his family.

Clemensia doesn’t turn into a reptile.

This is self explanatory. She gets bit by the snake and then dragged off. That’s it.

So lame.

— — — — — — — —

I have to be honest, I thought I would have more complaints than that, but that’s all that was in my notes. I have a few more offhanded comments to make that aren’t inherently negative or positive.

Lucy Gray Baird is just as boring in the movie as she is in the book. I’m sorry if you like her, but I find her particularly unremarkable.

I still cannot get over how clever it was to have the snakes recognize people by scent and then put the report in the tank. It’s one of my favorite things. I love those rainbow snakes. I would say I want one, but I promise you I would cry.

Overall, the movie is worth a watch if you like the Hunger Games franchise. If you don’t, don’t waste your time.

Have you seen the movie? Leave a comment and let me know your opinion!