Of course, a franchise usually has to have a good villain. And in The Hunger Games, the resident baddie is none other than President Coriolanus Snow who’s the autocratic ruler of the Capitol and all of Panem. At first, you might find him a seemingly laid-back, polite gentleman saying all the right words. But his demeanor hides a sadistic and psychopathic mind. So don’t be surprised if he’s smiling politely and engaging in friendly conversation before he makes a remark or threat reminding you of the evil lurking underneath. He wasn’t directly responsible for initially organizing the Hunger Games (they had been held years before he took power), but he uses the Games to show the Districts who’s boss just the same. Still, Snow serves as the prime mover behind all the horrific events that happen within the story. Murder is basically his go-to solution to virtually every problem that he needs a compelling reason not to have someone killed. And he has secret cameras everywhere, much to everyone’s discomfort. Oh, and he reeks of blood and roses. Nevertheless, despite that he had a huge role in the first movie, he doesn’t appear much in the first book other than giving the official welcome for the 74th Hunger Games and crowning Katniss and Peeta as its winners. But he doesn’t have a key scene until Catching Fire when he meets Katniss face-to-face (more on that later). However, since the first movie needed scenes beyond Katniss’s perspective, expanding his role was necessary.

As for a good parody song for him, I went with “Heaven on Their Minds” which is the intro song from the Andrew Lloyd Weber Broadway musical, Jesus Christ Superstar. It’s sung by Judas Iscariot whose betrayal of Jesus for 30 pieces of silver leads to our Lord and Savior’s arrest and crucifixion. However, in Jesus Christ Superstar, he’s basically a star of the show. Yes, Judas betrayed his friend which is very bad, but his vileness has been heavily debated among scholars, theologians, and authors for centuries. Now as a Hunger Games parody, I have set it at about the beginning of Catching Fire when Fascist Santa Claus visits Katniss’s house and first meets her face-to-face. At this point he’s absolutely pissed that she and Peeta were allowed to survive the Hunger Games, as their act of defiance (like preferring a joint suicide to one killing the other) has ignited rebellion in several Districts. However, Snow knows that despite being well aware that Katniss and Peeta’s relationship is a ruse (at least on paper), he lets it continue to avoid further rebellion because killing her would make her a martyr. So he tells her that convince the Districts that she’s just a love-crazed teenager during the Victory Tour who had no intention to defy the Capitol whatsoever or he will have Gale and her family killed.

 

“Revolution on Their Minds”

Sung by President Coriolanus Snow

 

My mind is clearer now

At last all too well

I can see where you all soon will be

If you strip away

The myth from the maid

You will see where you all soon will be

 

Katniss! I’m not sure to believe

The things they say of you

Can you really say

Your love for Peeta’s true?

Cause I saw you in the woods

Kissing another man

Did you defy the Capitol

With those berries in your hands?

 

Listen, Katniss I don’t like what I see

All I ask is that you listen to me

And remember, my threats are never empty all along

You have set Panem on fire

But please, don’t be a new Messiah

Or your family’s sure to not last long

 

I remember when this whole thing began

Just a volunteer taking her own sister’s stand

And believe me, my admiration for you hasn’t died

But everything you do today

Gets reported round some other way

And I’ll kill your loved ones if you’ve lied

 

District 12’s most famous gal

Should have stayed a great unknown

Like her father mining coal

Would’ve made good

Pick axes and dynamite

Would have suited Katniss right

She’d have caused nobody harm, no one alarm

 

Listen Katniss, do I make myself clear?

Play your part and you’ve nothing to fear

And convince me, your pact with Peeta was of a lovestruck teen

Several districts have rebelled

And they all know you far too well

But I’ll crush you if you go too far, if you go, go too far

 

Listen, Katniss to the warning I give

Please remember that I want you to live

But it’s harder not to martyr you with every hour

Signs of defiance you will find

Revolution on their minds

So don’t anger me or you will fall

And you don’t want to fall