#suzanne collins is one of the only mainstream authors these days who clearly writes for purpose rather than profit

[quincywillows]

like i remember the vitriol that came out when the mere PREMISE for ballad of songbirds and snakes came out bc it was “about the villain” and wasn’t instead a novella of one of the many cute likeable faves of the masses. i remember how fast people were to tear down the book before it even came out (and still do now). and it’s like look, i get it, suzanne created so many interesting characters that it would be incredible to learn more about and get more content for. but her choosing to write about snow for a prequel isn’t like Romanticizing The Villain or whatever bullshit y’all are claiming as hot takes on twitter -- ballad fits right into the common themes and tone of the series in that its not a romanticization but a reflection on how snow became what we know him as in the original series. both in how he already had some less than charming or healthy traits (just like katniss does -- suzanne is always clear that people are not inherently good nor evil and parallels were drawn between how snow and katniss view the world and think strategically, etc, from the second book), but also in how society and the choices of the greater community in panem created snow. like ballad is a really interesting piece of lore and history and worldbuilding for an already rich and elaborate setting that suzanne created, allowing us to see how that world even came to be and the kind of toxic impact it had on the people surviving in it while still pointing out that those people are human and that everyone has humanity and yet can still cause unfathomable harm to one another based on circumstance and need to survive and pressures of all kinds and like i have lost the plot here now but suzanne is one of the best authors of our time who actually gives a shit about creating layered, nuanced characters and worlds rather than black and white good and evil and unfortunately the hyperpolarization of our hot takes social media culture nowadays just can’t handle her anymore. suzanne im so sorry we don’t deserve your storytelling. anyway i’ll be seated for this movie y’all can skip and keep giving lukewarm takes on twitter to make urself seem so smart for hating a book you probably didnt even actually read

#suzanne collins is one of the only mainstream authors these days who clearly writes for purpose rather than profit #and puts thought into her writing always 100% of the time. but we as a regressing online society are not ready for her anymore #people are so scared of nuance in their media its incredible (derogatory) #the hunger games #ballad of songbirds and snakes #maggie.txt #fandom crit #to the people who are actually looking forward to this film + enjoyed the book i respect YOU

[sophiemariepl]

Am I the only one who does not really get all those takes which read young Coriolanus Snow as an epitome of toxic masculinity and keep saying “OMFG, Lucy Gray, yes, girl, run away from him!1!!1”?

Like, I don’t mean that Coryo is not toxic. He, very obviously, is. That’s how he is meant to be.

But it seems to me that many people don’t get that the whole point of “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” is to show how did it come to this, how Coryo became the way he is. Suzanne Collins literally makes a reference to tabula rasa - a concept in the Western Enlightenment philosophy, which, to quote the Free Dictionary, is:

This is the first. The point is to ask the reader: how much of a “clean slate” Coryo is as a person? How much does his experience and background shape him? How “free” is his will when he is continuously being shaped by everything around him?

Secondly, idk, did people realize that the characters of Coryo and Lucy Gray are constructed as personifications of the “civilization vs nature” conflict? A conflict which is, nomen omen, also common in Western philosophy in the Enlightenment era?

In short, Coryo is the personification of civilization - order, science, lack of spontaneity, etc. Meanwhile, Lucy Gray personifies nature - she is spontaneous, artistic, sensitive and trusting (even despite the fact that before being with Coryo she was in a toxic relationship). She believes in the inherent goodness in people, while Coryo clearly does not. And both of these two stances also derive from their upbringing.

Like, coming back to their background.

Lucy Gray, despite coming from an extremely underprivileged background and being in a toxic relationship prior to the plot of the book, seems to have had loving and trusting people around her. Most of the time, her background reinforced the story “you are good, worthy, and loved”. And this way she grew this attitude in her mind. She had developed a sense of self-worth, her own standing, her own “stone”, which saved her even when the odds were not on her side.

Meanwhile, Coryo came from a fallen high-class family embedded in Capitol’s politics - which in itself is not a good place for proper emotional development. In such an environment, you constantly have to prove your worth. You don’t matter on your own. If you don’t keep fighting, you are worthless. In a sense, you are what you do. And, to add fuel to the fire, Coryo had to hide the true economic standing of his family and almost constantly be on alert, because, in reality, everyone around him was a back-stabbing b*tch ready to hurt him. Wouldn’t you develop trust issues in this situation?

And yes, I know that many people here will mention Tigris, I know. But how much time does Coryo really spend with his cousin? How much time, ability, and opportunity does Tigris have on reversing the poison that is poured into her cousin’s head when he is outside of home, e.g. at school?

Idk, maybe it is just my experience (this is going to get private now lol), but when I read about Coryo, I found his person cruel, but weirdly relatable.

That mostly stems from the fact that I too have an experience of growing up in a very toxic environment that gave me trust issues. And it is not that I did not have a person like Tigris around me. I did, when I saw them for maximum 1-1.5 hour per day, because we both were overwhelmed with work and did not have time to talk and bond together and undo the toxicity that was constantly reinforced in my head when I had other stuff to do. Similarly to Coryo, I too had to stay in a constantly back-stabbing, non-empathetic environment, which constantly reinforced the fact that apart from very few people, I could not trust anybody. Because if I do - they will use that to hurt me in the end. So, I thought to myself that I have to be constantly on guard. When entering any friendships, a coping mechanism for me was to think of these people in the categories “what they can offer/do for me” instead of “who is this person for me as a person”. Because, you know, in case they stab me in the back, I still get something out of it.

This led to the fact that even when I supposedly could let my guard down - that is, I entered my first romantic relationship - letting this guard down felt unnatural, wrong. And it led to - tada! - wanting to possess the one I loved. Because no, I could not trust the fact them, that was not enough. I did not trust them enough to believe that they wanted to stay with me because they wanted to.

And damn, seeing that Coryo had similar issues was so… therapeutic. He just could not let go, give space and trust the woman of his life. And paradoxically, this is what largely contributes to her ultimately leaving him without a word.

The fact that Suzanne Collins understands this pattern (and most likely heavily researched it) makes me respect her so much more.

(Of course, I am in therapy. I don’t plan to repeat these behaviours anymore, I don’t want to end up like Coryo 😅 But I’m just saying that it’s still hard to unlearn these patterns years after leaving the original toxic environment because my brain got wired at some point to reinforce this “You should trust no one” story 24/7.)

And no, before you accuse me of “defending” Snow’s actions, I stop you here. I completely, fully acknowledge the fact that Coriolanus Snow, in the end, does evil things and is a truly evil person.

But what I am against is reading TBoSaS as just a story of a toxic romance between a guy embedded in toxic masculinity and a sensitive girl that he just wants to possess BeCAuSe hE Is ToXIc. This is just extremely shallow, and completely contradicts the point that, I believe, Suzanne Collins is trying to make here. And her point is still scary, if not more than just labelling Coryo as masculine in a toxic way.

The society also largely contributes to creating monsters. We create these monsters.

#suzanne collins #suzanne collins is one of the only mainstream authors these days who clearly writes for purpose rather than profit #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #ballad of songbirds and snakes #tbosas #coriolanus snow #coryo snow #lucy gray #lucy gray baird #the hunger games #catching fire #the mockingjay #the hunger games trilogy #about me #am I doing a psychoanalysis of my favourite characters? maybe #I respect Suzanne Collins for her effort so much more