In the Hunger Games, public image is a huge deal that it’s a dominating theme in the series. And in the Hunger Games, it’s such a huge deal that it could make  a difference between life and death since the competition is very deadly. A tribute cannot win the Hunger Games on pragmatic survival skills alone. They also have to win over an audience and attract sponsors in the days before the Games even begin. Of course, there are interviews which aren’t Katniss’s strong suit. But luckily, Peeta loves her and has a magnetic personality to excel in the PR department that if it weren’t for him, Katniss wouldn’t have stood much of a chance. Nevertheless, when PR can make a difference between life and death, professions that many might seem rather trivial become critical. And in the Hunger Games, having crappy stylists and fashion designers may hurt your chances of leaving the arena alive. So whenever a tribute arrives at the Capitol, they’re given a makeover by a team of stylists in order to look acceptable to a TV audience, which means all the lady body hair has to go (save for the head). And each district prep team has a particular stylist who designs the outfits the tributes would wear in the Avenue of the Tributes parade, which reflects their local resource. Many of these can be ridiculous. But fortunately, District 12’s resident stylist is a young man named Cinna who’s actually a very nice guy and one of the better fashion designers in the Hunger Games (though you might know it from the movies).  His outfits before the 74th Hunger Games establish Katniss as “the Girl on Fire” in order to make her look unforgettable and irresistible. He also insisted that she and Peeta hold hands during the parade.

Now I thought a good parody for Cinna would be a ripoff of “I Feel Pretty” from West Side Story. Yes, I know that the original song is about how smitten Maria is over falling for Tony. And I know that Cinna is played by Lenny Kravitz in the movies and old show tunes aren’t his forte. But still, in the Hunger Games version of this song, I have Cinna and the rest of Katniss’s prep team singing about making her look pretty for the cameras in order to win over audiences and attract sponsors. Yes, I have her prep team talk about how dirty and smelly she is. But c’mon, do you expect Katniss to have excellent hygiene habits? I mean she’s from one of the poorest families in District 12 who spends most of her spare time hunting in the woods to support her family. Let’s just say she’s not going to look as clean as Jennifer Lawrence did in the movie.

 

“Make Her Pretty”

Sung by Cinna and Katniss’s Prep Team

 

Cinna:

Make her pretty

Oh, so pretty,

Make her pretty and witty and bright!

And the city

Will be falling over her tonight.

 

Girl on fire

Will draw desire

That the Capitol will surely squeal!

And so pretty

That they hardly can believe she’s real.

 

See the pretty girl in that mirror there:

Who can that attractive girl be?

Make a pretty face,

Wear a pretty dress,

Wear a pretty smile,

Katniss Everdeen!

 

Make her stunning

And entrancing,

So the Capitol may surely adore,

So she’ll soon

Attract important sponsors for sure!

 

Prep Team:

Have you seen our poor girl from 12 there

Has the hairiest legs of the lot?

Her armpits smell far worse than Peeta’s,

And her hair’s greasier than an oiled up pot.

 

Her toenails need cut.

She might need a bath.

Her face has some zits,

So what’s up with that?

 

She has so much dirt,

Did you see her teeth?

She has so much grime

She probably has fleas.

 

How to work with her?

Tell us, Cinna!

She dearly needs

A good TV image!

 

Grimy and poor,

Oily and unrefined

With terrible BO

And a stinky behind!

 

Cinna:

Make her pretty,

Oh, so pretty

That the Capitol will see her with glee

That it’d be shitty,

That if she was killed off by a teen from 3.

 

Prep Team:

La la la la . . .

 

Cinna:

Make her lovely,

Make her sunny,

Make her lovely and sunny and fine,

And so pretty,

That some sponsors can keep her alive!

 

Prep Team:

La la la la . . .

 

Cinna:

See the pretty girl in that mirror there:

 

Prep Team:

What mirror where?

 

Cinna:

Who can that attractive girl be?

 

Prep Team:

Which? What? Where? Whom?

 

Cinna:

Make a pretty face,

Wear a pretty dress,

Wear a pretty smile,

Katniss Everdeen!

 

Prep Team:

Katniss Everdeen!

 

All:

Make her stunning

And entrancing,

So the Capitol may surely adore,

So she’ll soon

Attract important sponsors for sure!

 

In the third book of the Hunger Games trilogy, Katniss Everdeen is now a symbol of the rebellion as the Mockingjay. Now what’s a Mockingjay you might ask? Well, according to the books, the Capitol created a genetically engineered bird called jabberjays in the Dark Days of the first rebellion. These birds were used for surveillance, designed to remember and repeat human conversations verbatim with human voices. As anyone with a parrot would know, avian espionage is probably not a good idea if you do it with talking birds. The rebels quickly discovered this and fed them lies instead, which upset the Capitol that they let these jabberjays die in the wilderness. But the jabberjays didn’t and because they were exclusively male, they ended up breeding with female mockingbirds to create a new species. And that’s the Mockingjay, a bird that wasn’t meant to exist. During the Hunger Games, Katniss wears a Mockingjay pin and as she wins the 74th Hunger Games through defying the Capitol due to her unwillingness to kill Peeta when she could, districts start rebellion and associate her with that bird for the rest of the trilogy.

Now for the parody, I once again took from Jesus Christ Superstar with the “Superstar” song. Now I had it sung by Katniss’s hunting partner and longtime friend, Gale Hawthorne. Sure he has a romantic interest in her, but let’s face it, he doesn’t have a chance mostly because Katniss saw him as a big brother. And by Mockingjay, the only way’s he’s ever going to end up with her would be if Peeta dies. Yes, the love triangle gives Gale the short end of the stick. However, Suzanne Collins really didn’t want to include one in the first place and intended Gale to be her cousin. But Twilight happened so she didn’t have much choice from her publishers. In the original, the voice of the dead Judas Iscariot asks Jesus questions that are on his (and almost everyone else’s minds), many of which have not been fully understood in over 2000 years. Of course, there’s a reference to Muhammad who didn’t come to the scene until 5oo years after Jesus, but I didn’t write the song so don’t ask me. For the Hunger Games version, I have Gale asking Katniss about whether she meant her actions lead to mass Capitol defiance and why she let her image get so out of hand. And whether she is the icon so many people at Panem think she is. Still, I didn’t change a lot of the song though.

 

“Mockingjay Superstar”

Sung by Gale Hawthorne

 

Every time I look at you

I don’t understand

Why you let the things you did

Get so out of hand

You’d have managed better

If you’d had it planned

Why did you use such a deadly game

To make your own stand?

 

Now you’re Mockingjay

You could now reach the whole nation

District 13 now has great mass communication

(Don’t you get me wrong)

Don’t you get me wrong

(Don’t you get me wrong, now)

Don’t you get me wrong

(Don’t you get me wrong)

Don’t you get me wrong

(Don’t you get me wrong, now)

Don’t you get me wrong

 

(Only want to know)

Only want to know

(Only want to know, now)

Only want to know

(Only want to know)

Only want to know

(Only want to know, now)

Only want to know

 

Chorus:

Mockingjay

Mockingjay

Who are you? What have you got to say?

Mockingjay

Mockingjay

Who are you? What have you got to say?

Mockingjay

Superstar

Do you think you’re what they say you are?

Mockingjay

Superstar

Do you think you’re what they say you are?

 

Tell me what you think

About your friends at the top

Now who d’you think besides yourself

Was the pick of the crop?

Finnick is he where it’s at?

Is Peeta where you are?

Could Johanna move a mountain

Or was that just PR?

Did you mean to win like that?

Was that a mistake or

Did you know your messy act

Would be a record breaker?

(Don’t you get me wrong) Don’t you get me wrong

(Don’t you get me wrong, now) Don’t you get me wrong

(Don’t you get me wrong) Don’t you get me wrong

(Don’t you get me wrong, now) Don’t you get me wrong

(Only want to know) Only want to know

(Only want to know, now) Only want to know

(Only want to know) Only want to know

(Only want to know, now) I only want to know

 

Chorus:

Mockingjay

Mockingjay

Who are you? What have you got to say?

Mockingjay

Mockingjay

Who are you? What have you got to say?

Mockingjay

Superstar

Do you think you’re what they say you are?

Mockingjay

Superstar

Do you think you’re what they say you are?

 

Mockingjay

Mockingjay

Who are you? What have you got to say?

Mockingjay

Mockingjay

Who are you? What have you got to say?

Mockingjay

Superstar

Do you think you’re what they say you are?

Mockingjay

Superstar

Do you think you’re what they say you are?