“All colours lead to Gray”: Urban Dystopia and Cultural Identity in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

This thesis explores how the dystopian movie The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023), a prequel to The Hunger Games movie series, influences the cultures and thus the characters’ cultural identities in the city of the Capitol and the districts. Starting with reviewing the relevant literature on the four original movies and additional literature to use as a framework for the movie analysis, this research aims to fill the gap in existing scholarship by analysing the prequel within the context of cultural representation and urban dystopia. The narrative in the films unfolds in the country of Panem, a future version of the United States of America, where the government in the Capitol exerts oppressive control over twelve districts through the annual Hunger Games. By employing a narrative approach and close reading of key scenes, this paper first places the prequel in a wider context of dystopian fiction and explores the urban dystopia in the Capitol and districts. Second, concepts...Show moreThis thesis explores how the dystopian movie The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023), a prequel to The Hunger Games movie series, influences the cultures and thus the characters’ cultural identities in the city of the Capitol and the districts. Starting with reviewing the relevant literature on the four original movies and additional literature to use as a framework for the movie analysis, this research aims to fill the gap in existing scholarship by analysing the prequel within the context of cultural representation and urban dystopia. The narrative in the films unfolds in the country of Panem, a future version of the United States of America, where the government in the Capitol exerts oppressive control over twelve districts through the annual Hunger Games. By employing a narrative approach and close reading of key scenes, this paper first places the prequel in a wider context of dystopian fiction and explores the urban dystopia in the Capitol and districts. Second, concepts like Appalachian culture, food, power, and gender are explored considering the prequel. Lastly, the two themes of dystopia and culture are connected in the last chapter. Comparing and contrasting the prequel to the original movies and the contemporary USA through the literature, the dystopian quality of the movie is connected to the cityscapes and governing system, which successively influences the cultures and cultural identities of the characters.Show less

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“All colours lead to Gray”: Urban Dystopia and Cultural Identity in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes