Liya Abil- Week 9- Power in a Dystopian Society
Power is necessary for society. People need someone to look up to, someone to reinforce rules, someone to maintain order. But what happens when an individual gets too much power?
During the winter break, I watched The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the prequel to the Hunger Games Trilogy. It shows the young life and the origin story of the main villain in the trilogy, Coriolanus Snow.
In the beginning of the movie, he lived a humble life as a hardworking student in school. As a final assignment, the students were given a tribute to mentor during the games. From as far as the audience could see, he was a good person. He kept his tribute, Lucy Gray, alive by respecting her and even bending the rules for her. He almost sacrificed his life to save his best friend, Sejanus. He gave up his comfortable life in the Capital to live with Lucy Gray in District 12.
However, this humble and humane individual slowly shifted as he killed a tribute in the arena to save Sejanus. As he told his cousin Tigress, “it felt powerful.”
As seen in the original trilogy with Katniss and Peeta, Snow uses his power to leave the districts in a starved and even worse state, to continue the Hunger Games by making them more gruesome with new technology, and to maintain the power difference between the Capitol and the Districts.
Power can go both ways. Depending on the individual, power can either be used as a way to maintain the good of people, or to create an oppressive and fear driven society. Snow succeeded in maintaining the latter.
More details about Snow: https://thehungergames.fandom.com/wiki/Coriolanus_Snow#:~:text=As%20the%20number%20one%20person,Capitol%20and%20its%20contained%20districts.
Hi Liya! It is noteworthy that you mention the change that occurs in individuals following a transfer in power. I am especially intrigued by your mention of the Hunger Games Trilogy as a precursor to the effects that power can inspire on ambitious individuals. I feel that Coriolanus Snow is a perfect example of the detrimental consequences that feelings of being self-motivated can cause in the world. It is true that Snow came up from hardship and rose to power in a manner that exemplifies human resilience and ambition; however, the saying that with great power comes great responsibility applies here.
ReplyDeleteYour inclusion of a visual cue helped me recall the gist of the setting that inspired the trilogy and subsequently jogged my memory of the rise and fall of Coriolanus Snow. In his professional life, he is certainly someone to look up to, especially considering the struggles he had to endure in poverty as a child. His traumatic experiences have thus shaped the way he views the world. An important question that we must ask ourselves intrinsically is whether traumatic experiences in childhood can justify the insanity of the power grab that Coriolanus Snow has committed in the Hunger Games. It is interesting that you mention Snow’s relationships at the time when he was below his peak in the social ladder and when he was at the top of the social ladder. Most significantly, Snow’s happiness and friendly behavior are seen to have decreased over time as a function of his lust for power. Your blog is an intriguing overview of the detriments to seeking power and the ambitious mindset; however, I feel that there can be some counterexamples that can exemplify the other stance of elevating an ambitious attitude in the professional world.
Hi Liya ,
ReplyDeleteAlthough I have not watched this movie before, you were able to perfectly capture the main theme of the story; how the discovery of power can alter one to uncontrollably seek for more of it. When we watch movies, we want a good story. The feeling of watching a character you love thrive and an evil villain's downfall are part of the thrill of movies. To emotionally connect with a character is what makes us human. But after reading your breakdown of the true story behind this movie, I now realize the life lessons these movies and all other kinds of entertainment media can leave for us to decide. Power is a highly debated and complicated topic; it's one nations have been building on for centuries but still fail to master. Everything runs off of ones power: group projects, businesses, even our country all run off of it. Uncovering the theme of this movie helped me realize the importance of power and how handing power to the wrong person can disrupt the lives of many. Not only that, your words and very insightful thoughts gave me a reason to pay attention and ponder movies hours, days, to even weeks after watching them.
Hey Liya,
ReplyDeleteI haven't watched the movie yet because I really wanted to read the book. I'm a book purist, but I really like your take on Coriolanus Snow's corruption arc and how him saving Sejanus and then eventually killing Sejanus represents him becoming corrupted. I read the original HUnger Games trilogy and I think it's really cool that in that series the reason he resents Katniss so much is because she reminds him of Lucy Gray and even years later the memory of her still haunts him. I read part of the book a couple years ago and I know the movie romanticizes Coriolanus and insists that he did love Lucy Gray, but I feel like his corruption wasn't him becoming evil it was more of him accepting it. He never love Lucy, instead he just wanted to own her because he had this obsession with her. Your blog is tempting me to reread the Hunger Games and read The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.