Cressida (Natalie Dormer) Lionsgate
Cressida (Natalie Dormer)
Gale (Liam Hemsworth) Lionsgate
Gale (Liam Hemsworth)
Cressida (Natalie Dormer) Lionsgate
Cressida (Natalie Dormer)
Messalla (Evan Ross) Lionsgate
Messalla (Evan Ross)
Boggs (Mahershala) Lionsgate
Boggs (Mahershala)
Castor (Wes Chatham) Lionsgate
Castor (Wes Chatham)
Pollux (Elden Henson) Lionsgate
Pollux (Elden Henson)
If there’s anything fans of The Hunger Games know, it’s that advertising is propaganda with a nicer name. So in promoting the film franchise’s next installment, Mockingjay—Part 1, it is appropriate that the marketing onslaught look and feel like the message war that plays out as Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and her fellow Panem revolutionaries rally to take on the Capitol.
The latest installment is a series of slick “Rebel Warriors” posters. Readers of Mockingjay will remember Katniss, having been rescued from the Hunger Games arena at the end of Catching Fire, was taken to the underground enclave of District 13 to lead Panem’s revolt. These Rebel Warriors posters depict the soldiers and film production crew who join Katniss after she vows to lead the revolution as the Mockingjay (as seen in the film’s first trailer). There’s Cressida (Game of Thrones’ Natalie Dormer), the propaganda documentary director; Gale (Liam Hemsworth), Katniss’ longtime friend and fellow Capitol-hater; Messalla (Evan Ross), Cressida’s assistant; Boggs (Mahershala Ali), Katniss’ bodyguard of sorts; and Castor (Wes Chatham) and Pollux (Elden Henson), who—if their characters follow the book—are brothers and Cressida’s cameramen.
The posters are something of a tide-shift in Mockingjay’s marketing. These images are being released after a series of in-universe (and super-creepy) promos like the “together as one” TV address from President Snow (Donald Sutherland) and images of Panem’s “Heroes.” And, following the way the rebels respond to the propaganda from the Capitol in the books, the posters are coming on the heels of a video showing that Beetee (Jeffrey Wright) interrupted one of Snow’s addresses to announce “the Mockingjay lives” and after a series of Capitol billboards appeared to be vandalized with Mockingjay graffiti in various cities. Clearly, the latest marketing push is all about showing how the rebels are hacking their way to a revolution.
This is the point where the line between marketing and symbolism from the Hunger Games meet. Just as the lead-up to Catching Fire was littered with “Capitol Couture” and Victory Tour ads, this one evokes the guerrilla tactics the rebels might use to spread the word that fire is catching. Cue up a four-note whistle and put three fingers in the air.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 1 hits theaters Nov. 21.
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