Clemensia’s Death In Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes Was The Best Way To Fix A Movie Problem

Summary

• The movie made a necessary change by killing off Clemensia to highlight the danger of Dr. Gaul, which was difficult to portray after the movie’s other changes.
• The mentor deaths in the book emphasized the tragedy of the Capitol, but the movie had limited time to include all of them.
• Killing off Clemensia in the movie effectively showcased the perilous nature of the 10th Hunger Games and the risks faced by Capitol children involved in the District tributes.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes movie killed off Clemensia, despite her having survived in the book, but this was the best way to fix a larger problem. In both versions of the Hunger Games prequel story, the mentor was attacked by Dr. Gaul’s rainbow snakes after she claimed to have written a homework assignment rather than Snow. This scene was a way of demonstrating how dangerous Gaul was to District and Capitol children alike, a fact that is was far easier to drive home in the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes book than in the movie. Still, Clamensia was one of the few who survived the cruel woman’s wrath, something the film negated.

In the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes book, Clamensia was sent to the hospital following her snake bite, and though it was quite a while before Coriolanus Snow heard anything about her fate, she eventually returned to join her classmates watching the Hunger Games. She had changed significantly, with Coryo noting how unwell and frightened she appeared. In the Lionsgate movie, on the other hand, Clamensia’s fate is never again addressed, but film writer Michael Lesslie has since confirmed that Clamensia did die from her injuries. Ultimately, this change didn’t make a difference in the overall plot of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, but it still served a significant purpose.

More Mentor Characters Died In The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes Book

Dr. Gaul hoped to make the 10th Hunger Games into a spectacle the Capitol of Panem had never seen, and she was successful in this. However, the decision to make Capitol children mentors for the District tributes was a disaster since they quickly began dropping like flies. By the end of the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes book, Arachne Crane was killed by her tribute, and Apollo Ring, Diana Ring, and Gaius Breen were all killed in the arena bombing. They each had grand funerals, with a fair amount of time spent in the novel focusing on how tragic the Capitol found their deaths.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes movie made several changes regarding the mentors’ deaths. Though Arachne Crane was killed similarly, the Ring twins were never mentioned. Then, instead of Gaius Breen later passing away from the injuries he had obtained during the bombing, Felix Ravinstill (son of Panem’s president) was killed in his place. These were the only Capitol mentor deaths confirmed in the Hunger Games prequel movie—far fewer than in the books—and little attention was given to the profound tragedy and how it affected Panem. Ultimately, there simply wasn’t time.

Clemensia Dying In The BOSAS Movie Made Up For Other Missed Mentor Deaths

Since the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes movie was already so long, there wasn’t time to include all the mentor deaths in the books, let alone their funerals. Unfortuantely, this means that the out-of-control nature of the 10th Hunger Games was lessened for the film. Confirming Clemensia’s death was a great way for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes to remedy this retroactively.

The scene in which the snakes attacked the mentor served to demonstrate how dangerous Dr. Gaul was—just as in the book. Then, by killing Clamensia instead of bringing her back into the plot, audiences can still get the sense of how dangerous these Hunger Games were compared to Katniss’ day. Lionsgate managed to kill two birds with one stone by including a scene that was far more important than Arachne’s funeral or the deaths of the Ring twins while also communicating how risky it was to get Capitol children involved with the District tributes—both because of the deaths of characters like Clamensia in Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and because of the romance that evolved between Snow and Lucy Gray.

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  The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

  Release Date:

  2023-11-17

  Director:

  Francis Lawrence

  Cast:

  Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Hunter Schafer, Jason Schwartzman, Peter Dinklage, Josh Andrés, Josh Andrés Rivera, Viola Davis

  Rating:

  PG-13

  Runtime:

  157 Minutes

  Genres:

  Action, Adventure, Drama

  Writers:

  Michael Lesslie, Michael Arndt, Suzanne Collins

  Studio(s):

  Color Force, Lionsgate

  Distributor(s):

  Lionsgate

  Sequel(s):

  The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2

  Franchise(s):

  The Hunger Games