Coriolanus Snow
Coriolanus "Coryo" Snow is a character in The Hunger Games franchise, a book series and film series. In the original book trilogy (2008–2010), President Snow is a fascist dictator who leads the counter-revolutionary movement. In the prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2020), he is an ambitious, intelligent and charismatic 18-year-old. He is assigned the role of mentoring a girl competing in the tenth Hunger Games—singer Lucy Gray Baird—and forms a relationship with her.
Coriolanus Snow
In the film adaptations, President Snow is portrayed by Donald Sutherland. He asked to be involved in the series as he believed it would engage young viewers in the politics of revolution. Tom Blyth was cast as the younger Snow in The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023): he saw the character as progressing through three stages, from naive and ambitious to the more reserved, Sutherland-like character.
Roses are a symbol of the Snow family, connecting Coriolanus to his mother and grandmother. He uses roses to communicate with The Hunger Games' main character, Katniss Everdeen. His signature method of eliminating his enemies is with poison. Snow is influenced by Dr. Gaul's view of state control as a necessity to prevent disorder. He initially acts to help Lucy Gray out of self-interest but develops feelings for her. Lucy Gray bears similarities to Katniss, including their musicality, home and experience in the Hunger Games.
Critics of both the book and film disapproved of the choice to center Snow in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, as it is known that he will become a villain. However, Sutherland's performance in four The Hunger Games films—which expanded the role of President Snow from the books—garnered acclaim. Sutherland was nominated for a Teen Choice Award and an MTV Movie Award.
Reception[edit]
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes book[edit]
Lucy Pavia of The Evening Standard found that Snow "fails to stir much empathy or interest" with his "oddly curdled" mixture of empathy and ambition. Pavia was unclear which character the audience was supposed to support, contrasting him with Katniss.[28] Time's Megan McCluskey criticized that his character was "reverse-engineered" based on his role in The Hunger Games, with the "roots of his at-any-costs ambition" not justified.[18]
In contrast, Laura Miller of Slate praised Snow as a more relatable and realistic protagonist than Katniss, as he experiences "petty resentments, flashes of generosity, and moral failures". Miller found his perspective tiring in the middle of the book but praised the book's direction as Coriolanus is forced to make difficult choices in District 12.[10]
The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes film[edit]
Many critics disapproved of the film's focus on Snow. Vulture's Roxana Hadadi reviewed that Snow's future villainy and a single year of his life prevent the movie from forming "a coherent portrait" of the character.[29] In HuffPost, Candice Frederick objected to the origin story of a white male villain as clichéd. Frederick found it hard to be invested in the story when Snow's villainy is already known and criticized the implications of an oppressed woman of color—Lucy Gray—falling in love with her white oppressor—Snow.[30] Lauren Coates of Chicago Reader said the film did not "fully commit to exploring Snow as a twisted antihero", instead focusing on the "distraction" of Snow and Lucy Gray's Romeo and Juliet-like relationship.[31]
Sandra Hall of The Sydney Morning Herald described Blyth's Snow as "intimidatingly tall with icy blue eyes, blonde curls and a patrician demeanour".[32] In Deadline Hollywood, Valerie Complex said Snow had "uncharacteristic hesitancy and lack of confidence", unlike the book's "chillingly dispassionate cunning", and that humanizing the character worked against the film.[33] The Observer's Wendy Ide found Snow "oddly inconsistent" and undeveloped;[34] Time's Stephanie Zacharek questioned why Lucy Gray would be attracted to him.[35] In contrast, Elizabeth Weitzman of Time Out praised Blyth's "understated charisma" and chemistry with other actors for providing the "steady centre" of the film.[36]
The Hunger Games films[edit]
Sutherland was nominated for a 2014 MTV Movie Award in the Best Villain category for Catching Fire.[37] He was nominated for a 2015 Teen Choice Award in the Movie Villain category for Mockingjay – Part 1.[38]
Critics largely praised Sutherland's acting.[14][39][15] Reviewers noted that his white beard makes him resemble a lion.[39][4] The Independent reviewer Geoffrey Macnab called him a "sleekly evil, beard-stroking President".[15] The New Yorker's David Denby found his "satanic eyebrows and rounded, insinuating voice" entertaining.[40] Emily St. James, writing in Vox, lauded Sutherland as "icily brilliant".[41] Nonetheless, David Thomson of The New Republic criticized Sutherland as "hollow and predictable" in the role of a "portentous mastermind".[42]
His role in the films' narrative was met with mixed reception. Writing in The Globe and Mail, Geoff Pevere believed his role increased the dramatic tension of Catching Fire.[43] Hall criticized Snow's diminished screen time in Mockingjay – Part 1 compared to previous films.[44] IGN's Terri Schwartz said that Mockingjay – Part 2 neglects other characters to focus on the rivalry between Katniss and Snow, adding that Katniss' refusal to kill Snow at the end "lacks the punch it needs".[45]