A teaser trailer for Mockingjay, the third movie (of four) in The Hunger Games franchise, was released on Wednesday. It’s vaguely reminiscent of an Apple commercial, with a hint of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,“ and it makes no sense if you’re not familiar with the books or the movies.
The Hunger Games’ Mockingjay trailer has arrived
Alex Abad-Santos is a senior correspondent who explains what society obsesses over, from Marvel and movies to fitness and skin care. He came to Vox in 2014. Prior to that, he worked at The Atlantic.
The gist: it’s propaganda, shot from the point of the view of the villain.
The trailer is a clear departure from the typical rock ‘em, sock ‘em superhero trailer and plays on what viewers know from the franchise’s previous two movies, which show the grit and grime of the districts and the inhumanity of President Snow (Donald Sutherland) and the Capitol.
“But if you resist the system, you starve yourself. If you fight against it, it is you who will bleed,” Snow says, with a vacant-looking Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) flanking him. “I know you will stand with me, with us, with all of us, together, as one.”
One of our readers pointed out to us that the trailer also includes a reference to George Wallace, an American politician, a segregationist, and former governor of Alabama. In the trailer, President Snow says, “Panem today, Panem tomorrow, Panem forever,” (the phrase also appears in the book) which is similar to Wallace’s inaugural speech in January of 1963, when Wallace said:
In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny . . . and I say . . . segregation today … segregation tomorrow . . . segregation forever.
Wallace’s speech is considered one of the darkest and most damaging speeches in American history.
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