Upon the recent release of “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds And Snakes,” fans of the popular book-to-movie adapted franchise are reflecting upon the original trilogy’s release a decade ago. The original trilogy famously starred Jennifer Lawrence as the rebellious District 12 games survivor Katniss Everdeen, Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne, and Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark, the infamous dystopian love triangle that captivated audiences and readers alike. Notably, the films launched Hutcherson’s career from child stardom into more mature acting roles.
Fan edit videos first rose to popularity within the digital culture sphere in the 2010s. The edits typically consist of humorous interview clips featuring the celebrity in question spliced together, or photo montages. One such edit of Hutcherson to the tune of rapper Flo Rida’s “Whistle” went particularly viral on YouTube at the time of “The Hunger Games” 2012 release, and its sudden resurgence amid “The Ballad of Songbirds And Snakes” release has landed the humorously meaningless video a spot in the conversation once again.
“The Ballad of Songbirds And Snakes” stars Rachel Zegler as the first District 12 Hunger Games victor, Lucy Gray Baird, and Tom Blyth as a young Coriolanus Snow, the villainous president who viewers meet as Donald Sutherland in the original franchise. The film seeks to tell Snow’s villain origin story as he embarks on a journey of love and loss that ultimately paves his path to becoming president of the fictional post-apocalyptic nation of Panem.
The prequel takes place several decades ahead of “The Hunger Games” trilogy. The franchise tells the story of a post-apocalyptic North American society that resorts to an annual fight to the death among children between 12 and 18 as a form of population control.
Commentary On Whistlegate
The current trends on TikTok have users editing clips of the infamous “Whistle” edit under the guise of dropping some important pop culture news. This bait-and-switch meme linking first originated with the term “rickrolling” in reference to linking social media users to Rick Astley’s 1987 song “Never Gonna Give You Up.” There appears to be no rhyme or reason to the trend, and it simply caters to humor and elder Gen Z nostalgia.
The viral “Whistle” edits on TikTok range from pranking users into thinking Taylor Swift announced her “Reputation” rerecording to discovering the edit in an orange.
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The original creator of the “Whistle” edit on YouTube, a user named @MetroGirlzStation, has commented on the new life given to her decade old fan-made video of Hutcherson. In a pinned comment, she wrote, “OMG! I can’t believe this video blew up after all these years. My little sister showed me all the videos on her TikTok and I think it’s hilarious what you guys have done with it. Shout out to Natalie (@hutchers) for sharing the video on her TikTok and making all this happen. I had so much fun making this edit back then and it warms my heart to see a wave of new fans having fun with it :)”
Hutcherson is yet to comment on Whistlegate at this time.
