And in the universe of “The Hunger Games,” in which the oppressed citizens of the fictional Panem live under the constant threat of execution by an exploitative upper class, that reference is all the more poignant. ![]() Whether you owed a debt or had murdered your wife’s lover, hanging was a likely punishment in the ballad universe.įor Americans, murder by lynch mob-that tried-and-true act of citizen vigilantism by which white supremacists terrorized and dominated the black population in the aftermath of emancipation-is probably a more familiar context for hangings. Appalachia’s songs are themselves descendants of ballads brought over by English and Scottish settlers, and hangings are a common occurrence in both traditions. “The Hanging Tree” is written from the perspective of a man accused of murder and hung as punishment. And Collins’ lyrics, too, play with the tropes of the genre. Lawrence’s character Katniss Everdeen hails from District 12, a coal-mining sector located in a post-apocalyptic Appalachia. The Appalachian inflections in “The Hanging Tree” are no accident. There is a satisfying aptness to the astounding popularity of “The Hanging Tree.” In a sense, folk songs were the original Top 40 hits. Though the sing-songy melody feels more like a caricature of an Appalachian ballad than the real thing, it is nevertheless a recognizable riff on the genre. “The Hanging Tree,” which employs lyrics based on those written by “The Hunger Games” author Suzanne Collins, is set to an eerie tune penned by the folk-pop group The Lumineers and given extra dramatic heft by the unearthly orchestrations of composer James Newton Howard. As much credit as Lawrence deserves, the song itself is arguably the real star.
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