The Year of the Fangirl, part 1 – Hunger Games/TBOSAS post round-up

Happy holidays, friends, and welcome to part one of a four-part mini series celebrating the Year of The Fangirl. In other words, a ton of my favorite artists, authors, and media producers released new content this year and it was so amazing!! To celebrate the new Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes prequel movie release, here’s a round-up of my best Hunger Games/TBOSAS-related content. Hope you enjoy!

Lucy Gray Baird – Pure as the driven snow

Songbirds and Snakes – Pure As the Driven Snow

The first post I’d like to share in this Hunger Games round-up is a discussion of “Pure as the Driven Snow,” one of the very first posts I wrote for this website! This song is one of my favorites from the Hunger Games world, and I especially appreciate Maiah Wynne’s rendition of it, which will always be the original in my opinion. The book and song came out in 2020, and it still lives rent-free in my head!

Favorite moment from this post: “Jesus sees me as I really am– faults and dust, yes, but also worth and potential and purpose. The more I turn to Him for help, the more I put my faith in Him and seek to become more like Him, the more I trust Him.”

I just love the “I need you… I love you… I trust you…” progression of this song and how it relates to our walk with the Lord. I also recently shared a post where I re-digested what I learned from this song in a Bible journaling entry, in case you’d like to read it.

Make a Lucy Gray Baird skirt with me!

Speaking of LGB, I spent over 20 HOURS painting and sewing a nine-layer tulle skirt so that it matches the picture of Lucy Gray that I have in my head. It took sooooooo long, but I absolutely love how it turned out!

Here’s the tutorial post if you’d like to see my process and make one for yourself : ).

Hunger Games and TBOSAS bullet journal themes

In the past few years, I’ve gradually decided that every November is Hunger Games month. I love exploring a different aspect of this universe in a different way every year! Here’s a look at a couple of my favorites:

The Dark Days – Love will see us through

The Hunger Games OST – “Dark Days”: Love will see us through.

One of my favorite creations that came from the Hunger Games universe (other than the books themselves) is the music. Both the songs that Suzanne Collins wrote and the songs that the series has inspired, either for the soundtrack or otherwise, are so lovely and atmospheric. It really makes me feel like I’m a part of Panem, mostly without the fighting-for-my-life bit lol.

The song “Dark Days” is one of the best from the original The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond album, and its refrain “love will see us through these dark, dark days, sister/ till it lights the way back home” immediately brought to mind a few key Scriptures. It actually came to mind in the middle of a sermon back in 2021, which had me scribbling down Hunger Games song lyrics in my church pew. I love it when that happens!

Favorite moment from that post:

David’s formula for trusting God

• Remind yourself of God’s faithfulness to you in the past
• Share your heart with God, let yourself be vulnerable and weak knowing that He is strong and He cares
• Tell Him the circumstances you’re dealing with in the present
• Reaffirm your trust in Him and encourage others to do the same

I also came back and journaled about this song in my Fangirl: Fulfilled devotional journal this past November during Illustrated Faith’s Gratitude Documented project. You can read that post here if you’d like!

THG movie: Hope is the only thing more powerful than fear.

The Hunger Games – Only Hope is Stronger Than Fear

The last and final post I’d like to share in this Hunger Games post round-up comes from The Hunger Games movie. One of the scenes from the movie that aren’t included in the book features Snow talking to the Head Gamemaker about Katniss and the effect she is already having on the districts. He. the primary villain for most of the series, ironically points out that “hope is the only thing stronger/more powerful than fear.” He does this to emphasize that a little hope, a little spark of life, is just enough to keep the districts under control, but it must be carefully controlled (which sounds a lot like young Snow’s obsession with control in the prequel). By allowing Katniss to live, however, Snow ultimately lets loose a spark that ends up taking down his entire system.

In 2020, the Year Nothing Happened, I wrote a post about this memorable quote that has stuck with me to this day. Favorite moment from that post:

“This world is a dark, fear-inducing place. All the kitten videos in the world can’t hold back the conflict, the injustice, and the uncertainty. Humanity is no help; we’re the cause of most of our problems. Instead, we can look to Jesus as the only reliable source of hope. To help us remember, we can call to mind things God has done before to prove His faithful to us. We can remind ourselves of His promises, through memorizing Scripture and the Holy Spirit. And we can allow the Holy Spirit to erase our fear, anxiety, and doubt by speaking and proclaiming Scriptural promises, even when we don’t quite believe them yet.”

Conclusion

I hope you’ve enjoyed this round-up of Hunger Games-related content to keep the fandom going as we celebrate the release of the new TBOSAS movie! I had the privilege of watching the movie a few weeks ago, and… they done good, guys. That’s all I can say; they done good. Gonna have to watch it again so I can do a full review at some point XD.

What’s your favorite part of the Hunger Games universe? Have you seen/read the new prequel? I’d love to know!

Happy fangirling!