We’ve simply acquired our first correct have a look at Panem via the eyes of a younger Haymitch Abernathy.
In simply two minutes, the newly launched The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping trailer presents a glimpse into what has modified in the nation of Panem since Tom Blythe made longtime followers nearly sympathize with President Snow in the franchise’s most up-to-date display adaptation: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Taking place 40 years following the final movie, the nature of the Games has clearly modified since the time of Lucy Gray Baird, and the emergence of the Capitol’s distinctive model says all we have to find out about these shifts.
What do District 12 escort Drusilla Sickle and Aunt Gladys from runaway horror hit Weapons have in frequent? (Besides terrorizing youngsters, that’s.) Her extreme purple bob definitely makes an impression at the trailer’s begin. The character’s face is embellished with thumbtacks, a grotesque surgical selection from the novel that demonstrates the Capitol’s shift into aesthetic extremism that we all know so properly from the unique trilogy.
There’s no higher option to convey that shift in direction of spectacle than via Sickle’s apparent surgical proclivities, wasplike tunic, and blackbird hairpiece. Lucy Gray Baird had been the flashiest woman at her personal reaping ceremony in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakesher iconic rainbow gown outshining the few Capitol attendees current at the time. Even the drawing of her identify for her Games lacked the identical ceremony that this new movie introduces: Rather than the conventional on-camera lottery, her identify was introduced by District 12’s mayor. It’s clear that the video games are starting to have extra construction, extra glitz and glam to cater to its rising viewers. It’s visually alluring and extremely unsettling.
Speaking of escorts, a primary glimpse of Effie Trinket, performed by Elle Fanning, simply would possibly assert her as the most indeniable fan casting of all time. Effie’s youthful years see her not fairly at the stage of garish, powdered perfection that Elizabeth Banks’ iteration of the character reaches in the OG trilogy, however her outsized butterfly pendant, star-studded hair piece, and clustered lashes ring true to the character’s eccentricities and love for the excessive impression. Her embodiment of a youthful Capitol crowd that naively sees the Games as “for a greater good” is certain to face in stark distinction to a post-bloodbath Haymitch once they seem collectively on-screen.
It additionally looks like the tributes’ garb has been upgraded for the huge display. While Suzanne Collins’ novel locations them in a easy long-sleeve, pants and belt combo coloured primarily based on district, Joseph Zada’s younger Haymitch and the relaxation of the tributes take their marks at the Cornucopia with the addition of sweeping white cloaks that could possibly be simply tripped on, torn, tugged – you identify it. The motion in direction of standardizing area put on (on condition that we noticed Lucy Gray Baird merely put on her Reaping gown into the Games) factors to an rising consciousness of the event’s leisure worth, on condition that it’s now a way more public affair – a political gambit that’s greatest served to the public on a tv display.
As telling as the costuming inside the movie is, panoramic overhead views of the Quarter Quell’s candy-colored area is perhaps the most indicative stylistic selection of all. The cornucopia serves up Midsummer-level realness, rows of flowers dividing every tribe from each other in meticulous patches. It’s a setup for a daytime horror film if I’ve ever seen one, and epitomizes the Capitol’s obsession with that aforementioned spectacle.
Readers will know that the area’s paradise seems to serve up horror and violence in spades, and its ugly hidden underbelly is an apt metaphor for the bloodlust and apathy gracing the higher echelon of Panem.
All in all, I’m obsessed.
I really like the glimpses of Haymitch and his sweetheart Lenora again in District 12, their easy clothes and basic joyful demeanor posing a pointy distinction to the stunning horrors that compose the trailer’s remaining footage. I really like seeing McKenna Grace taking on a severe franchise position, prompting me to replicate on the uncomfortable truth that the majority of the leads are youthful than me this time round. And I really like Ralph Fiennes’ first look as the tyrannical President Snow, the coloration of his coat maybe the most telling style metaphor of all: Stark, blood purple.
Image courtesy of Lionsgate/Murray Close