by Alexandra Sokoloff
I'm finding my breakdown of The Hunger Games scarily relevant in this week of forcibly taking children from their parents and incarcerating them to use as pawns in a chess match of authoritarian control. And other dire consequences of giving power to insane game show hosts.
And on to Sequence Two, which begins 20 minutes in.
SEQUENCE TWO
In a
sequence that begins with very strong echoes of the first Harry Potter
book/movie, Katniss and Peeta journey to the Capitol (sic) by high-speed
train.
Katniss and Peeta are escorted by armed guards to the train, and we get another image that echoes the
Holocaust: they first enter into just a metal box/boxcar – an ominous,
fear-filled moment. That entry then opens up into a luxuriously appointed
lounge car. Stepping into this lounge is the first INTO THE SPECIAL WORLD
moment: we see Katniss and Peeta reacting the shocking luxury of the car, the
gleaming metal and saturated colors, the sumptuous food (however, we can still
see the stark metallic walls; the luxury is just set dressing for the cattle
car that train is.).
This visceral moment is
especially effective because of the deliberate visual CONTRAST to the ORDINARY
WORLD, the bare-bones, subsistence-level poverty of District 12 that we saw in
Sequence 1. Remember, drama loves contrast, and visual contrast is a great
technique for engaging the interest of your reader or audience.
Just as in the first
Harry Potter, this train scene GATHERS THE TEAM: Haymitch, the MENTOR, Peeta,
the ALLY, and the ever-unhelpful magenta nightmare, Effie, who will nonetheless
be able to help with endorsements.
And Peeta vocalizes the
next element of the PLAN: he and Katniss need to get as much information out of
their designated MENTOR as they can. After all, he did once win the Games.
MEETING THE MENTOR:
One of the many, many
things this story does well is develop a unique and memorable mentor character,
that often-crucial character archetype - so-called for the original mentor,
named Mentor, in the Odyssey.
Haymitch is a past (distant past) winner of the games who is supposed to guide
the two sacrifices—I mean Tributes—from his district to victory in the Games.
But in this scene on the train, Haymitch is clearly hungover and goes straight
for the alcohol on the bar. (In the book he’s even more pathetic: we meet him
as he falls off a stage, stumbling drunk. In fact, he vomits all over himself
on national TV. He has a reputation as a complete buffoon.)
Peeta makes a valiant try to
get some helpful information out of Haymitch, but Haymitch responds violently
and gives them mocking advice instead: “Accept the fact that you’re going to
die and there’s nothing I can tell you to help.” Then he stalks off to drink
alone in his room.
Not a great omen for his protégés, right? But doesn’t that up the SUSPENSE
incredibly? How are Our Heroes Katniss and Peeta supposed to survive the Games
with only this antagonistic loser to guide them?
[25:00] Peeta goes after Haymitch to try to reason with him, and Katniss goes
to her own room, where she watches footage of an old Hunger Game being
broadcast and analyzed by the commentators on TV (continuing the THEME of the
Games being broadcast and analyzed as reality TV and the prescient condemnation
of evil reality TV hosts). One tribute kills another to win the game, and we
see Katniss’s INTERNAL CONFLICT: she is sickened by the idea of having to kill.
This raises the question and FEAR: Can she kill to survive? And the important
moral question: Do we actually want her to?
The next morning she leaves her room and finds the dining car, where Peeta is
deep in conversation with Haymitch. Katniss has another brief flashback of the
rainy day, Peeta feeding the pigs. He sees her shivering in the rain, and turns
his back on her to go inside the house. Again, Peeta is being set up as a
potential OPPONENT (which he literally is, because only one tribute will
survive the Games).
Haymitch taunts Katniss by telling her the most important skill in the arena is
making people like you. This introduces another key point in the PLAN (and
SETUP for PAYOFFS down the line): Katniss and Peeta must win endorsements in
order to get emergency deliveries of food, equipment, medication during the
games. Katniss finally gets Haymitch’s attention by flaring up at his
dissolution, grabbing a cheese knife and plunging it into the table between his
fingers. We see Haymitch is impressed.
This is the beginning of an important SUBPLOT: Haymitch realizes he might have
a couple of survivors on his hands, and Katniss will learn at key points that
she can actually rely on Haymitch’s sponsorship and guidance. They will develop
an almost psychic bond, and Katniss comes to understand through her own growing
success in the Games exactly what would have turned Haymitch into an alcoholic:
she can see herself going down exactly the same road if she survives/wins
(MENTOR AS MIRROR). In the end, Haymitch is the first one she will run to
embrace, showing how deep the relationship has become.
-->
Then we get another CROSSING
THE THRESHOLD/INTO THE SPECIAL WORLD moment as the train enters of the Capitol
– the contrast of city to village, hugeness to shacks, garish color to earth
and natural tones.
And we see the aspect of
celebrity, a running THEME in the story: citizens of the Capital are lined up
to catch a glimpse of the tributes. Peeta shows his SPECIAL SKILL of evaluating
a situation and working it to his advantage as he smiles and waves to the
crowd, making them like him, and setting himself up as an OPPONENT to Katniss,
who lacks social skills (her WEAKNESS, and SET UP of her CHARACTER ARC). Peeta
encourages Katniss to join him, but Haymitch hands her back the knife and says,
“Better keep this. He knows what he’s doing” – underlying the threat Peeta is
to Katniss’s survival.
[28:00] There are more
ESTABLISHING SHOTS of the Capital, emphasizing the decadence in fashion and
people. The architecture and set design is Romanesque, harking back to the
gladiator games and also the fall of a corrupt society.
Now we have a MAKEOVER
SCENE (very common in the TRAINING SEQUENCE, especially in romance genres) in
which along with the other tributes, Katniss is primped, coiffed, and
beautified by a team of stylists. But the laboratory setting and the cold, clinical
efficiency of the technicians make the obviously painful beautifying seem a bit
more like assault than a trip to a day spa.
Finally Katniss is left
lying on a table, alone in an exam room.
She meets her key stylist,
Cinna, who will become another MENTOR and ALLY, perfectly played by the
beautifully empathetic and Lenny Kravitz. There’s an otherworldly kindness here
that makes Cinna a true fairy godmother. He immediately apologizes to her, that
this his happening to her, and praises her bravery in volunteering to save her
sister. We see Katniss soften for the first time as she realizes he means it.
Cinna is there to dress
her for the opening ceremony, the Tribute Parade. It’s customary to dress
tributes in costumes of their districts, but Cinna has something bigger in
mind. He’s going to help her make an impression. (He repeats an important
aspect of the PLAN: to stand out so she can get endorsements).
30:48 The CLIMAX OF
SEQUENCE TWO is the Tribute Parade, with the chariot ride and the flaming
costumes. Again, the Roman columns and decoration, and the chariots in which
the tributes ride are visual echoes of the gladiator games. Also all of this is
broadcast over huge screens with elaborate multi-camera shots, continuing two
VISUAL AND THEMATIC IMAGE SYSTEMS. One emcee trills: “The importance of this
event cannot be overstated!”, announcing the STAKES for the scene.
And this climax employs other climax-building techniques we saw in the climax of sequence one: a huge crowd gathered, an elaborate set, special costuming, a long preparation for the event, the spelling out of the stakes (Katniss must win over the crowd to get endorsements and improve her chances of winning).
We get brief glimpses of
the other Tributes who will be Katniss’s OPPONENTS (and one ALLY, Rue).
And we meet a key
ANTAGONIST, President Snow, in person as he is introduced at the ceremony. He
watches the parade of chariots imperiously as the MCs babble excitedly. And
then everyone sees the final chariot. Katniss’s and Peeta’s capes look like
they’re on fire.
The emcees are thrilled
with the spectacle. But Snow is disturbed by it, and by the crowd’s ecstatic
reaction. He knows he’s got a problem on his hands. It’s always a powerful
moment when the antagonist of a story recognizes the strength and implicit threat
in the heroine (see The Silence of the
Lambs for another great example.)
Again showing his media
savvy, Peeta grabs Katniss’s hand and lifts it in triumph. When she tries to
pull away, he says, “They’ll love it”, and she reluctantly goes along. And as
they ride to the cheering of the crowd, Katniss looks up into a reflective
banner (or maybe it’s a screen with a close-up on her face, I’m not sure) and
sees herself as regal, surrounded by flame: a SET UP of who she is to become,
and a great glimpse of her inner power.
The chariots come to a
halt in a semicircle (and the fire of the capes goes off) as Snow gives his
speech. Note that Katniss is carrying a red rose, which puts her in visual
opposition to Snow, who is visually associated with white roses. Red roses vs.
white is a historical reference to the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil
wars in the 1400’s for control of the throne of England between the House of
Lancaster – red roses – and the House of York – white roses. Also symbolically,
fire opposes snow. Snow is filmed from high above, looking down on the tributes
and the entire arena, magnifying his power.
In the tag to the scene,
Effie is effusive about how they’re in the game, now. Katniss makes a barbed
joke about Haymitch’s drunkenness and Haymitch is about to scathe her back,
when he catches a glimpse of Cato, one of the professional tributes, who train
their whole lives to win these Games. Cato’s arrogance and Aryan looks make him
an obvious SECONDARY OPPONENT (and his Roman name aligns him with the Capitol
and Snow). Instead of disparaging Katniss in public, Haymitch opts to take them
up to their suite (CHARACTER ARC).
In her high-tech room
(more luxury), Katniss uses a remote control to change the wall-sized screen to
various views of locales. She stops on an immersive video of a forest, and we
see her homesickness (but also are reminded that she is at her best in a
forest). Then emotionally, she turns off the screen. [36:45]
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