Why Katniss Agreed to a "Symbolic" Hunger Games

reading through the hunger games trilogy as many times as i have this year being i believe my tenth read-through i always manage to find something new in katniss's journey whether it's how i interpret something finding a deeper meaning or just new little details i noticed the older i get and more life experience i obtain all of this was of course very much heightened with the release of the amazing prequel the ballad of songbirds and snakes which if you would like to hear my thoughts overall on that prequel you can click here to see that and while i always had respect for katniss even though she did make some decisions that i thought were kind of weird or taking into account that she is a hormonal teenager i was always deeply perturbed by one very important thing the fact that she and haymitch agreed to a symbolic hunger games using the capital's children except here's the thing she didn't agree to it [Music] hey y'all i'm the geek apprentice and it is officially the third year of hunger games month yes it is also zelda month but you can click here to see a very old very poorly made video explaining why november is hunger games month for me i also have a playlist full of videos about the hunger games and its prequel so you can check that out if you would like as well i'm sure we were all incredibly disturbed by the end of mockingjay specifically in the books i mean we've already had a bombardment of loss grief and trauma and then here we have this socialist interim president coin actually suggesting a symbolic hunger games with the capital's children as a way to satisfy the thirst for blood from the districts we all saw right through her tactics and knew this would not be a one-time thing and that the cycle of division and hatred was going to start all over again now none of us were shocked when joanna and anabaria agreed to the proposal but katniss and haymitch that seems so out of character for them i mean sure they're pretty vengeful but really so why did they agree to it well truth be told they didn't you have to read between the lines and get a real deep sense of katniss's character as well as hamuch's relationship to her and oddly enough it was the film that made it all clear for me to refresh your memory the districts have won after the bombing of capital children there were few capital loyalists even in snow's own mansion the tyrannical president has been imprisoned a meeting of the remaining victors annie cresta annabaria joanna mason peter milark bt latier hamich abernathy and katniss everdeen has been called by the new interim president of panem al mccoy this title was of her own choosing and when questioned about it she says that the country is not emotionally fit to make such a decision during this meeting coin brings up how the districts want revenge for their decades of suffering at the hands of the capital and also that the thirst for blood is a difficult one to satiate thus she suggests her own idea that they hold a symbolic hunger games as an alternative using the capital's children and she leaves the vote up to the victors who know the games better than anyone naturally most of the victors are appalled by this peta exclaims that this was the very thing they fought against and gives it a hard no joanna jumps in excited because she knows snow has a granddaughter and gives a vengeful yes anabaria who was already a favorite of the capital and twisted from her district 2 upbringing also votes yes beede shares the sentiment of peta and adds that people must stop viewing one another as enemies thus he also gives his answer as no annie cresta knows finnick would not have wanted it and she also says no hence it is left to katniss and haymitch both of whom say yes but why would they agree to something so horrifying after everything they've been through well let's look at what both the book and the films had to say on it truth be told in the books we aren't given much leading up to katniss's vote just that she sees that the cycle is now going to continue it's never going to end and that she weighs all of her options and then gives a yes but then she pauses and adds for prim we'll come back to that later turning to hamitch she notes that he's looking at her intently she wonders if he truly understands her she wonders if this will be the moment that signifies just how similar they truly are and thus he gives his consent now the film actually provides us with so much more and i'm always hesitant to give a film adaptation more praise in the book and that's not what i'm doing here however the film allows us a little more to work with voice inflection and facial expression in the book katniss is practically dead inside and isn't giving away much even in her own head however i remember when i first viewed this film mockingjay part 2 in theaters when this scene came to light and katniss gave her vote i remember letting out a subtle barely audible oh that's why she says yes you see they added a little line here prior to katniss giving her vote she asks i get to kill snow coin agrees and thus katniss continues with the line we know from the book there's not much here but for whatever reason this extra line finally put all the pieces together for me you must understand that i was not a book reader until the age of 17 when i began reading this trilogy thus my reading comprehension and ability to notice little nuances and details was severely lacking as i got older and became well-read in literature both through personal enjoyment and for college i began to finally see what the book was doing and how the book actually made pretty clear why katniss made the decision she did except some of it was made clear after she made the vote but we'll come back to that when katniss asks i kill snow it was like a wave of understanding crashed and toppled me over she was gaining coins trust so that coin would have no suspicion that katniss was planning to get rid of her remember back when coins sent a still mutt like peta to bogg's team katniss and boggs have a discussion about why this was done why was peta sent there to kill katniss boggs makes it clear that coin never liked katniss and does not trust her as she cannot control her he poses the question of an election would katniss vote for coin she hesitates and boggs tells her that if her immediate answer isn't coin then she's a threat in the book katniss says nothing will ever change with the symbolic hunger games the cycle is going to continue of course she doesn't want this but look at what just transpired coin has just decided she is president no election nothing she is now the boss of panam it's made obvious to katniss that she can't fight against coin in this way by voting no to the hunger games because even if she says no coin is going to find another way to control everyone just as snow did she has to stop the cycle which means killing president coin but how when the answer is right there she gets one shot at snow but he's as good as dead either choking on his own blood or by mob she need not worry about him he's no longer a threat she's got one shot and it must be coined but she cannot chance coins suspecting her how does she gain her trust after all they've been through agreeing to her proposal with that it's sealed and coined has no qualms about being near when katniss fires her arrow now to be fair there was no guarantee that coin was gonna be nearby katniss couldn't have known that for sure but she had to take that risk she still had to gain coins trust somehow no matter how she ended up drumming up a plan and in the book it's arguable that this was a very last minute decision too what happened when i was watching the final film and katniss asked about killing snow was that i realized that it was a cover-up that she was putting up this front that she just doesn't care anymore she just wants her revenge on snow and she'll do whatever coin wants but as stated previously the book actually does make this concept clear and here's how as aforementioned most of this clarity comes after her vote both in the book and the movie actually in the book she asks coin to place this white rose over snow's heart seems like overkill that doesn't seem like something katniss would do unless she's trying to do something trying to add some padding to keep her safe in the films they reverse some of the scenes and have katniss adding a night lock pill to her outfit just before stepping out with the vote having already happened so as far as the film was concerned why would she give herself the nightlock pill no one's concerned about her killing snow they want that to happen she would only add it because they might get upset about her killing someone else however in the book she has one thing that should have tipped off readers to her plan her added blurb after giving her consent where she pauses and says for prim sure maybe she said this to justify herself to those around her but that wouldn't explain hamich i believe this was for coin coin would be pretty sure that katniss was going to say no so her adding that for prim tells coin the katniss does not even in the least suspect that the double bomb which killed her sister was actually coins doing but we the reader know that katniss all but fully believes that coin is the reason prim is dead so that extra little line is supposed to be reassurance to coin of a false ignorance katniss had to say that as padding and he was incredibly smart on her part but what of haymitch i'm telling you his face in the film when coin gives her proposition is spot on you know he doesn't approve he doesn't look angry he looks mortified he's thinking about the vicious cycle too that it's not over still book or film why does he say yes as much as they kind of hate each other haymitch and katniss really do think a lot alike naturally when katniss gives her vote haymitch has to begin reading her because what the even heck in the book katniss tells us that hamich is looking very intently at her even though peta is right there screaming for him to give his vote as no we know that in this moment he is thinking about the same things that katniss was the cycle the unending cycle coin's power coin's trust why would katniss need coins trust for prim for prim all of this and a little bit of reckless trust and he delivers his line i'm with the mockingjay it all makes sense a little bit speculative i know but that's always the nature of discussions such as this frankly i am appalled that it took the film to make me understand this and i'm even more disgusted by the fact that it took me so long to see how clear it was in the books especially when so many have told me that apparently to them first read through they got it right away but better late than never right nevertheless this was one of the most fascinating things to discover over the course of my reading and experience of this series another example of the brilliant writing of suzanne collins i certainly hope i continue to discover more upon each read-through of the books and each viewing of the films thank you all so much for watching this video be sure to leave your thoughts in the comment section below was this something that was obvious to you were you also perturbed by your decision did this change your mind on anything change your perspective let me know and be sure to consider sharing the video and maybe joining the geekdom as i like to call it by subscribing special thanks to all of my amazing patrons especially joking batman ryan kirkland ryan harvey and cheap seats y'all i i say it every time but i can't thank you all enough y'all are amazing each and every one of you thank you so so much by the way for those of you who are not patrons we do something called monthly movie nights and naturally this month it's going to be the hunger games and possibly a few of the others if we're able to schedule that many so check out patreon.com the geek apprentice if you might be interested in that or even at a lower tier there's movie commentaries and i'm hoping to get out my movie commentary on the first one this month maybe even the second i don't want to get ahead of myself but i would really like to do both and there's other rewards and stuff too if anything sounds interesting to you but you know i know it's hard to become a patron sometimes so if you want to check that out but anyway that's all for today happy hunger games month and thank you for watching you

Channel: The Geek Apprentice

Views: 257,707

Keywords:

Id: VqowN56i2Ds

Length: 13min 23sec (803 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 12 2020