Even at this age I wouldn't have likes Snow lol Also super excited for the next prologue movie to come out! I hear it's about Haymitch! Almost done with Hunger Games the book! Can't wait to share my thoughts with you all!
Lucy left Snow because she didn’t trust him. Reminder: the movie doesn’t include Snow’s inner dialogue like the books do. If you watch the movie first, you don’t think Snow’s too bad, but the books show something you don’t get in the movie.
Yeh I don’t think the movie did the best job at depicting snows complexities. He’d often make fun of Sejanus and be annoyed by his preachiness. When Arachne died he found her funeral to be hilarious cos they were celebrating her as a hero when he thought she was dumb and got what she deserved. The final scene in the book is quite different too, cos we can see Snows thought process try and justify him wanting to kill Lucy Gray. Trying to say how she’s dangerous and she’s a victor, when in reality she was just a loose end to him
I love how simple as a line of “I can’t have killed them all for nothing” could put a viewer’s mind into perspective and remind them that yeah, while this chick was presented as the “bad guy” in the arena and a seriously petty hater toward Lucy Gray, she’s still just a kid. They all are. So that line reminds you that the Capitol were the ones trying to make her and the rest of the tributes out to look like savage villains because they left these kids with no choice but to kill each other. It’s such underrated writing and storytelling IMO.
I was waiting on your review as you seem to already be quicker to pick up the themes around propaganda and war which so many reviewers just don’t grasp or comment on. 😅 One thing from early in your vid about the mentor role - the mentor role was new this year. The students were the top students of their class and were just expecting one of the top students to get the prize. This new role was added as a requirement for the prize that Snow was depending on.
Other than every reactor “ASSUMING” Katniss is in love with Gale or that they are “together” this is what always annoys me the most. When themes and the entire point of these books/movies just goes right over so many peoples heads. When they are rooting for their fav (Katniss) and yelling out suggestions of what they would/should do to… kill… children. They are the Capital citizens. And just looking at the wealth disparity in the Capital vs the districts I don’t understand how people don’t get that the first world we live in is the Capital and all of the war torn resource stripped impoverished countries are the districts. The reactors always act surprised or grossed out by the gaudy Capital clothes and makeup but they don’t stop to think that this how those same poor countries would view our modern attire and makeup and plastic surgery and brands clothes. I mean just look at the damn MET Galla. 🙄 I think people assume if they are not super rich then they must be like the districts when NO you might not be 1% rich, you might even be poor but your still poor in the Capital. As such you are privileged against the true horrors places like Palestine or the Congo or Sudan have to endure on a daily basis because of us or “The Capital”.
I’m not sure if you noticed later but when Lucy Gray curtsied in the beginning, that was a reference to when Katniss curtsied to the game makers when she shot an arrow at the apple.
This movie made Snow seem way more sympathetic than he actually is in the book. In reality when you read his thoughts he is a complete elite snob who doesn’t view anyone in the districts as real people. The capital people are “BETTER” than all the rest. He is selfish opportunistic possessive narcissistic psychopath. He fancies himself in love with Lucy Grey but nothing he does is for her it’s always for himself. His thoughts are so morally repugnant.
I really appreciate your commentary on the setting, context, and history. You can really see how, because this time in the story’s history is so close to the first war between the districts and the rebellion, the district common people are naturally more free-spirited, lively, and rebellious (compared to Katniss’s time period at least). Yet at the same time the war devastated the Capitol’s elite and leadership classes, so THEY were naturally less inclined to view the district people as “people” and more as evil animals than the Capitol had been during Katniss’s time, with the way all the tributes were pampered and glamorized as celebrities. So yeah, the world and history of this universe is so interesting but of course the books do a better job explaining at them.
55:29 he can only rise now. The mockingjay won’t sing for another 65 years but in the end Lucy Gray and Sejanus will get their revenge through Katniss Everdeen.
So why the sudden turn in the end you kind of have to read under context. When snow says he killed 3 and Lucy Grey says she knew about 2 who was the third and he lies, she's smart to realize that a lie and know it was Sejanus, that he turn him in to save him solve and if he can do that to someone he knew for years and was a "friend" , then why can't he do that to her, i mean she knew he was there with her, not because he wanted too, but because he was running away because he was scared the gun was going to be found, she knew he wanted to go home. So i think in the end she was scared and realize she didn't really know him and what she found out about him showed that he was not a good person, also in the movie they made Snow more likeable then in the book when you know what his thinking and know he was always kind of bad.