The Hunger Games - The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023):The Dystopian Origin Story That Puts Students Inside the Making of the Hunger Games' Villain

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes gives students a rare vantage point on a villain's origin story, tracing how ambition, fear, and self-interest gradually pull a young man toward cruelty rather than presenting him as already formed. It also introduces students to questions about power and control in an authoritarian society, and whether staying true to a moral compass is possible once survival and advancement come into conflict with it.

Eighteen year old Coriolanus Snow, hiding his family's fall from wealth, is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird, the District 12 tribute for the 10th Hunger Games, after she wins over Capitol audiences by singing at the reaping. Coriolanus develops a plan to keep her alive in the arena while also advancing his own ambitions, and the two grow close as his methods become increasingly ruthless, including betraying a close friend. After Lucy Gray wins the Games, Coriolanus is caught having cheated to help her, and is sent away to serve as a Peacekeeper. Their relationship deteriorates once Lucy Gray realizes he has lied to her about a killing, and after a tense final encounter in the woods where he searches for her without success, Coriolanus abandons the search, disposes of the evidence against him, and returns to the Capitol, where he is reinstated and set on the path that leads him toward the man he becomes in the original Hunger Games.

The movie also gives students a way into discussing how systems of control shape the people who serve them, seen through the academy's Gamemakers and the arguments they use to justify the Hunger Games as necessary. Its prequel structure, filling in the reasoning behind a character students may already know as a villain, offers a way into discussing how stories build sympathy or understanding for someone whose actions are still difficult to defend.

Watch the Trailer

Click to play trailer

🐍 Traces the making of a villain in real time. Rather than presenting Coriolanus Snow as an already-formed tyrant, the movie follows the specific choices, betrayals, and justifications that shape him into the man seen in the original Hunger Games. Students can identify the exact moments where he chooses ambition over loyalty or decency.

⚖️ Explores staying true to a moral compass under extreme pressure. Characters around Coriolanus respond differently to the same corrupt system, some holding onto empathy and principle even as others learn they will do whatever it takes to survive or get ahead. The contrast gives students a concrete way to examine how people justify their choices under pressure.

🏛️ Examines how authoritarian systems justify themselves. The Capitol's Gamemakers and academy figures argue for the necessity of the Hunger Games using reasoning that reveals how power structures rationalize cruelty. Students get direct access to the logic characters use to defend a brutal system rather than simply being told it is wrong.

🎤 Builds empathy through music and performance. Lucy Gray's singing becomes her most powerful tool for survival, winning over Capitol audiences and shaping how Coriolanus and others see her throughout the story. The movie ties her musical talent directly to questions of manipulation, audience, and public image.

🤝 Shows friendship tested by ambition. Coriolanus's relationship with his classmate Sejanus, who is critical of the Capitol and genuinely selfless, is steadily eroded by Coriolanus's willingness to prioritize his own advancement. Their friendship becomes a measure of how far Coriolanus is willing to go against someone who trusted him.

🌾 Offers a prequel lens on a familiar dystopian world. Set 64 years before the original Hunger Games, the movie expands students' understanding of Panem's history and the origins of its traditions and cruelties. Watching the system take shape gives students a deeper foundation for understanding the world of the original trilogy.

⚠️ Things to be aware of:

• Frequent graphic violence throughout, including on-screen killings during the Hunger Games arena sequences, executions, and hand-to-hand combat with weapons.
• A scene shows several tributes bitten and killed by snakes released into the arena.
• A public execution by hanging is shown on screen.
• A supporting character struggles with drug addiction and is shown acting impaired.
• Brief romantic content includes hand-holding, embracing, and a small number of kisses.
• Language includes a single use each of two mild profanities.

📚 English Language Arts Teachers. This movie gives an ELA class a complex villain origin story built on an unreliable, self-justifying narrator, rich material for studying character development, point of view, and how a story builds sympathy for someone whose actions are difficult to defend. The guide includes two differentiated sets of comprehension questions and writing tasks that push students beyond simple recall into character analysis and original narrative work.

🗣️ ESL and ELL Teachers. The movie's clear narrative arc and its focus on a small set of central relationships make the plot easier to follow for English language learners, even given its length and darker subject matter. The multiple choice question set is built with that in mind, giving ESL and ELL students a way to demonstrate comprehension without needing to produce full written responses.

🌐 Social Studies Teachers. The Capitol's Gamemakers and academy figures spend much of this story building the case for why the Hunger Games are necessary, giving a Social Studies or Government class direct access to the language and logic authoritarian systems use to justify control and cruelty. The guide does not include dedicated Social Studies activities, but the comprehension questions give students a structured task that keeps them engaged with this material as they watch.

🎬 Substitute Teachers and Cover Lessons. With two differentiated sets of comprehension questions, a storyboard and synopsis task, and character and scene writing activities, the guide gives a substitute everything needed to run the session. Answer keys are included for the comprehension question sets. A substitute can manage the lesson without having seen the movie.

🏠 Homeschool Parents. This movie's morally complex central character and its themes around power, loyalty, and self-interest can anchor real conversation between a parent and an older student. The guide's comprehension questions, storyboard task, and character and scene writing activities are all suited to independent work, giving a homeschool student a full session built around the movie.

💙 SEL Teachers. Loyalty, betrayal, and the psychology of moral compromise run through this story, as Coriolanus's closest friendship is steadily eroded by choices he makes to protect his own ambitions. The guide does not include dedicated SEL activities, but the comprehension questions give students a structured task that keeps them engaged with these dynamics as they watch.

🌟 Supporting All Learners Movie guides can be a wonderfully calm fit for students with autism, learning difficulties, and mild to severe disabilities. The structured format gives every student a clear purpose during viewing, easing uncertainty and allowing them to engage at their own pace. If you teach in a special education or learning support setting, you may find this guide a gentle and practical resource. Find out more about why movies work for diverse learners.

Part 1: Comprehension Questions
Two sets of chronological comprehension questions for differentiation, each covering three parts of the movie: The Mentor, The Prize, and The Peacekeeper. One set has 52 questions requiring full sentence answers, and the other has 52 multiple choice questions with 3 possible answers each. The multiple choice set may also work well with ESL and ELL students. Answer keys are included for both sets.

Part 2: Storyboard and Synopsis
Students draw a nine scene storyboard depicting what they believe are the most important parts of the movie, with a brief description for each scene, then use that storyboard to write a synopsis of the movie.

Part 3: Characters
Students choose any character from the movie to write about, including a drawing, then write a short scene depicting an action that happened off-screen for three specific characters: Lucy Gray's journey from the reaping ceremony to the Capitol, Sejanus bribing the Peacekeeper so he could sneak into the arena, and Spruce taking the guns to the log cabin in the woods by the lake.