the ballad of cash-grabs and easter eggs | NEW HUNGER GAMES BOOK ANALYSIS

[@gabriellepriest5007]

I will say, my grandfather is 82 and he is definitely lucid enough to be a fascist dictator.

[@gracehaven5459]

Right, my grandfather is 85 and is half-lucid enough to be a fascist dictator, lol

[@jessi_bear]

My grandmother was pretty sharp mentally until about 90 years old. A touch forgetful after 80, but nothing worse than my adhd lack of working memory. My grandmother lived to 92 and honestly only truly lost herself mentally in the last 6 months or so. As a side note, she was a badass, spoke her mind, progressive and fair. I miss her, She passed 2yrs ago.

[@honeymoon2766]

I was gonna say this! Not being lucid in your 80s is only if you actually have a disease like Alzheimer’s. If you’re healthy, you retain your memory. I thought everyone knew this 😅

[@NeyamRye]

What

[@Skye_Writer]

Donald Sutherland was 76 when he played the character in the original trilogy, only 6 years younger than the character.

[@ElizaRose526]

I feel the spoon feeding is because of how people took the hunger games and made it more about the love triangle than the children in war

[@succubitch1054]

thats exactly what it was, also not enough people picked up on it being post apocalyptic america so she had to really reinforce that

[@marketamala1032]

In this book i really liked how unintentionally funny Snow is.

[@NeyamRye]

Ikr

[@futuristicgirl14]

He was like a softer version of book Joe Goldberg, just mad and roasting everyone in his head

[@Wildkidnoremak]

As somebody who listened to the book recently. I can honestly say I never felt like it was dipping. There wasn't as much forward momentum as in the other books but the slower pace really let us get inside and see the duality of Snow. Great videos though.

[@NeyamRye]

Yeye

[@LRCh_]

I interpreted the songbird and snake as Coriolanus and Lucy Gray respectively, because those were the tools they used and it makes you examine biases. Songbirds are seen positively, even though Coriolanus used a jabberjay to get Sejanus executed. Lucy Gray is generally pretty kind and loving, despite how we view snakes negatively. The songbird is a beautiful evil, while the snake is a mistrusted good.

[@nickit7655]

I’m so glad KZbin recommended your videos to me! Keep up the good work.

[@thebigcheese4375]

I love that snow is scared of Mockingjays! in the books they're described as being nature adapting beyond the means of the governments control, and essentially the governments creation being sullied by nature. in essence, that's what snow is against his whole life, the corruption of the things he and the government make/manipulate. Lucy would be a great example of that.

[@gardenfairy16]

Love these thoughts! Coming from a family with multiple relatives who lived to be 100, I feel fully confident that some 82 year old people could be as lucid, manipulative, and plotting as Snow is. A lot of people are mentally gone by then, but there are still some who are as clever and fiery as ever (plus they probably have technology to help with Alzheimers and aging). I also want to jump on what everyone else is saying and agree that so many people really saw The Hunger Games on the same level as Twilight for depth. Like, they just saw it as a scary world, cool games, and a live triangle. The games are the favorite part for so many readers, and they were never meant to be. So I feel like this book spoon feeds some of those ideas so that the average person understands, and it cements how the games shouldn't be enjoyable.

[@mckenziepearmain]

i really enjoyed the book as well as the movie, and it helped that it had been a few months since reading the book to make me enjoy the movie more haha. but i loved this peek into Snow’s background and the additional world building of Panem, the districts, the capital, and the games. my boyfriend, who had not read the books, felt like the climax was too soon with the games and the victory happening in the second part/middle of the movie, so I can definitely see what you mean!

[@Gabriela-bl5py]

My boyfriend and I discussed about the spoon feeding and ended up talking not only about TBOSAS but about other stories where the antihero is the protagonist (like Breaking Bad, Watchmen - comics and series - and Bojack Horseman to name a few) and in most, if not all cases, the anti-hero or straight up villain ends up being praised and their actions justified. Hell, there's even people who look up to them as role models even when they're portrayed so blatantly as fascists/misandrists/racists/homophobic/eugenicists/psychopaths and overall awful people. So based on these examples I think; if I were Suzanne Collins, I would also like to be very clear about what's the idea I want to convey. And the worst part is that even with that clarity and "spoon fedness" a lot of people didn't get it 😔

[@Skye_Writer]

I think it's because too many people saw the movie without reading the book. The book shows you more clearly how he weighs every action as to how will it benefit _him._ Keeping Sejanus close and acting like a friend to him was Snow's way of getting good with the Plinth family; he was _required_ to be with another Peacekeeper at all times, and to Snow Sejanus was the least objectionable option because he at least has a veneer of Capitol civility compared to the rest; Ma Plinth would send them both care packages every month with baked goods that both of them were able to trade to the other guys and use almost like cash in District 12. But the whole time, Snow is calling Sejanus an idiot in his inner monologue, mentally rolling his eyes at him, and all in all just determined to get away from him because Sejanus is "too district." It's the same with Lucy Gray...he got saddled with her and he KNOWS that the dean did this so that Snow would fail. But then Lucy Gray does surprising things that make him think twice; they were told to make their tributes _memorable_ and Lucy Gray can do that for him. And yes, he starts to be a little charmed by her and the he starts considering her to _be_ "his" (in the most possessive sense of the word) and he even allows himself to daydream about taking her back to the Capitol with him and she can be a singer in a family friend's night club...though of course he figures he is going to have to basically make her over into something more acceptable to the Capitol. When he agrees to run away with her, it is ONLY to save his own skin; the gun that killed the mayor's daughter is still out there, and if it is ever found, he's done for. Five minutes into the hike into the woods, he's hating it and thinking this was a mistake, but it is his only option...Lucy Gray said she didn't think she would have had the strength to leave the district if he wasn't coming with her, so if Snow gives up and returns, she will too. And then they get to the cabin and he finds the guns, and his FIRST thought is that if he gets rid of the guns, there will be nothing to tie him to the murder...nothing but Lucy Gray. (Why the movie put those words into _her_ mouth baffles me, because she was already distrustful of him by then. Why bring attention to it?) The book is MUCH more clear in how evil the man truly is. The movie turned him to the Emotionally Tortured Hot Guy™and made his evil more ambiguous.

[@annapuhl6889]

EXACTLY. she had to beat you over the head with “snow is a bad guy” cause people would be like “Snow is a 😎bad🥵 guy”

[@keittykit]

I think the spoon-feeding is to not be swayed by Snow's mental gymnastics. Like, "This is normal. It's fine." Then Suzanne comes with a wooden spoon and hits me with a take that screams "NO! THIS GUY IS THE! THE CORIOLANUS SNOW! DO NOT BE SCAMMED!" Even with that, I still needed to reread to get the full picture, because like the original trilogy, we have an unreliable narrator. And a charismatic self-righteous one at that. I honestly wasn't bored. I didn't want it to end. I wanted to know more about the world. As for the movie... It did not translate well without his internal monologue. People are so used to the Villain Origin Story that the movie felt like one. "He was betrayed by Lucy Gray so he (truly, no backsies) became eeeeeevil" is what I see from watching movie reactions. No, that's not it. I think the movie tried its best to show that it was Snow's choices that "made" him evil, and not Lucy Gray's, but he was always doing the "right thing" so it never really showed his evil capacity. The rose bud was always in him. And he made all the choices that made it bloom. He liked that it did, and made Panem his garden.

[@TerminalTalent]

Maybe I'm remembering wrong, but I was under the impression that Panam became America after, essentially, global warming. Places closer to the coast were flooded. It has been a WHILE since I read the books though.

[@ricksanchez665]

Love hearing your insight on the novel! Do you think one day you'll do a run down of what YOUR book is about?

[@meredithnovaco]

Not sure!! I hope to publish it so I for sure wouldn’t want to give too much away!!

[@jarl-b_1124]

I recently started watching your videos, and I love your takes on the books! I also liked looking at all your books in the background and noticed you have the first warriors arc! That’s really cool

[@shadn]

Love your vids they’re so comfy

[@ItsMursha]

GREAT VIDEO, QUEEN! ❤

[@meredithnovaco]

THANK YOU!!! Thanks again for having me on your channel!!

[@merbear98]

not my alter ego killing it in this video!!! 😍

[@gabrielleduplessis7388]

I felt this wasn’t needed, but people still catch things they haven’t noticed when they read or watch. But wish Snow’s “friend” sejanus was the main character. I feel the message would come across more, but that’s just me. Am glad the next book is the one we really wanted. Haymitch and his games. Whoo!

[@strawberriesandcandy]

😭😭😭you constantly calling Lucy Gray just “Lucy” is infuriating idk why it bothers me so much. But other than that your video was really insightful and well-presented

[@HannahBerg-y5q]

I think the Capitol bombed the arena to get more viewers. (Definitely, Maude Ivory. Katniss can remember songs just as well as Maude Ivory did.)

[@NeyamRye]

Eeeeehhhhh maybe? *squeaky voice at the end*

[@user-rl6el1bo6x]

YES with the spoon-feeding and beating you over the head with the messages . . . it was so unsubtle it almost did not feel like the same Suzanne as the original books!!

[@kimu8639]

I wonder if it's a reaction to the first movies. I remember the marketing around them and it was really obvious that the marketing guys did not read the books, there were ads for make up and subway etc... and people made it all about team Peeta or team Gale. Maybe she thought no one understood the message and dumbed it down accordingly?

[@succubitch1054]

because people so deeply misunderstood what she was trying to say with the trilogy. majority of people just didn't pick up on so much of the message.

[@HannahB613]

Who made the mockingjay pin and why was Madge so eager to give it to Catniss? I don't think there were too many jewelers in District 12 after the war and a Capitol jeweller certainly wouldn't have made it...

[@jessi_bear]

This!

[@NeyamRye]

Maybe it was an old token from the war? And the old lady kept it on her person until there was someone interesting enough to give it to

[@NeyamRye]

After the war she kept them on her person

[@HannahB613]

@@NeyamRye But there were no mockingjays at the beginning of the war, maybe not even until after the war.

[@Mr__Dr]

How long would you survive in the hunger games?

[@meredithnovaco]

Hmm good question, I’m not very fast so if I’m being real someone would catch me running away from the cornucopia and I’d die right away….but I’d like to think I could get away and hide and last at least a few days!!

[@THEMAX00000]

The movie was a total cash grab. It left a lot of the important parts of the book out. I think the book with something up a cash grab as well.

[@meredithnovaco]

Yeah, the movie was rushing a lot in the beginning, and I feel like it left a lot of the message out for sure

[@succubitch1054]

suzanne writes when she has something to say, the book was not a cash grab at all

[@NeyamRye]

True it wasn't that good :/

[@BocchiSite]

i dont think so, maybe its the fact that they dont have enough time to fit it all plus no monolouge

[@mariazuniga6018]

She spoon fed and manu people still got it wrong

[@MurshaGames]

FIRST!!!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@meredithnovaco]

one of the suggested responses to this was “second” 😂❤️

[@MurshaGames]

@@meredithnovaco HAHAHA KZbin is getting silly with it 🤪

[@annapuhl6889]

i love you videos and politely disagreee

[@kaitlynrobson5978]

You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen with some beautiful opinions on the hunger games

[@politereminder6284]

I definitely DNFd this one. Saw the movie first. I felt a bit icky about thr attempt to redeem President Snow, so i just tried to think of him as a separate character, and i didn't want to read about the falling in love part of the story. Also, Sajanus was such an annoying character. , 🤦‍♀️