The Hunger Games Fanmix: Cartoon Blues, Gale Hawthorne
Title: Cartoon Blues
Subject: Gale Hawthorne
Summary: I haven't posted one of these in awhile! A fanmix for Gale Hawthorne from The Hunger Games - I know he is a little unpopular but I hope everyone enjoys!
Gale is actually my favorite character from THG (this is close with Cinna, though a lot of what I love about Cinna is from fandom works, so I prioritized Gale over him oop). When people bash him I understand why, but I think they fundamentally mistake what his character is. I love Katniss, but she is not the book's revolutionary. Gale is. Gale is the one who wants to fight for everyone, who wants to tear the government apart, who wants people to have food, shelter, rights. It's not that I don't think Katniss wants those things, too, but Katniss has always been about survival and protection (primarily and almost solely of Prim). What she does, she does to survive. What Gale does, he does to liberate. And I just really FUCKING LOVE that about him!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Waaaaargh tragic Gale feelings spiral.
I really wanted to hit his spirit, that anger in him that nearly blinds him, and then the disillusionment, the displacement, the regret. Gale is a revolutionary, but the revolution does not happen the way he ever wanted, I think. He had to become a monster to fight monsters. That's something Gale will live with for the rest of his life, and it's something he'll shoulder in hope for a better future for the rest of Panem. F u c k i n g bury me I can't take him goodbye
Notes: Fanmix includes front and back covers and a .zip file of all 10 songs. Enjoy! :)
cartoon blues
One. Rebellion (Lies), Arcade Fire. sleeping is giving in, no matter what the time is. so lift those heavy eyelids. people say that you'll die faster than without water but we know it's just a lie, scare your son and scare your daughter. people say that your dreams are the only things that save you, come on, in our dreams we can live our misbehavior.
Two. Four Winds, Bright Eyes. your class, your caste, your country, sect, your name or your tribe, there's people always dying, trying to keep them alive. there's bodies decomposing in containers tonight in an abandoned building where squatters made a mural of a mexican girl with fifteen cans of spray paint and a chemical swirl. she's standing in the ashes at the end of the world, four winds blowing through her hair. she just can't sustain the pressure where it's placed, she caves. a heart just can't contain all of that empty space. it breaks, it breaks, it breaks. and i was off to old dakota where a genocide sleeps in the black hills, the badlands, the calloused east. i buried my ballast, i made my peace, heard four winds leveling the pines.
Three. Old Soul Song (For the New World Order), Bright Eyes. gray light new day leaks through the window, an old soul song comes on the alarm clock radio. we walk the forty blocks to the middle of the place we heard that everything would be and there were barricades to keep us off the street but the crowd kept pushing forward 'till they swallowed the police, yeah, they went wild. we left before the dust had time to settle, now all the broken glass swept off the avenue and on the way home held your camera like a bible, just wishing so bad that it held some kind of truth. i stood nervous next to you in the dark room, you dropped the paper in the water and it all begins to bloom, yeah, they go wild.
Four. Howl, Johnny Flinn. howl for my homeland, wherever that was. and howl for the homage that's been gone and lost. oh, the legacy is gone and the people who knew have lost their minds, oh left, there's a few who are choking on what and the will to hold on, with their principles pinned to the courts up above. me and the teardrop, me and the mountain, oh, and me and the wolf, who has eaten my heart, and me and my friends who laugh in the dark. oh, and you and yours, too, you and yours three, you and yours ever and ever be free.
Five. The Lion's Roar, First Aid Kit. but don't you come here and say i didn't warn you about the way your world can alter, and oh, how you try to command it all still every single time it all shifts one way or the other. and i'm a goddamn coward but then again, so are you, and the lions roar, the lions roar.
Six. Cartoon Blues, Bright Eyes. i listen to a lecture of nonsense 'till dawn by a plagiary poet with dark glasses on. he said, "how did you ever dream up that song? the one where the baby dies". i said, "i'll tell you the secret, which one's your good ear? yeah, people are made up of water and fear. if there weren't women present we wouldn't be here, so let's make like we're friends". then the pot turned to powder and soured the mood and the people i came with were gone from the room, so i asked like a child, "may i be excused?" and disobeyed them all. into the late night latrine, rain soaking through my shoes, i tried walking backwards to get less confused, working off a theory i could never prove, that it was life itself to blame. now my days are distractions that ring in my hands, solitaire crosswords and films on demand, when you turn from a cartoon back into a man you start to smell that human smell.
Seven. City With No Children, Arcade Fire. i used to think i was not like them, but i'm beginning to have my doubts, my doubts about it. when you're hiding underground the rain can't get you wet but do you think your righteousness could pay the interest on your debt? i have my doubts about it. i feel like i've been living in a city with no children in it, a garden left for ruin by and by as i hide inside of my private prison.
Eight. Lose Your Soul, Dead Man's Bones. you're gonna lose your soul tonight, you're gonna lose control tonight. i get up in the morning to the beat of the drum, i get up in the morning, put my dreams away, i get up, i get up, i get up again.
Nine. Home from War, Frightened Rabbit. here i stand like a soldier home from war with nothing to do but remember the shutter of bombs. i'm sure it never quite goes away, it never quite goes away. here i sit like a beginner, beginning again and all those fuck-ups counted for nothing 'cause nothing makes sense and i am never quite fully awake and never completely asleep. i'm walking around like a soldier who's home from war, lost in the foreign landscape i used to know. will i ever feel like i belong? will i ever feel like i belong anywhere?
Ten. Down in the Fire (Lost Sea), A.A. Bondy. i am home, wherever that may be. lay, lay us down, down in the fire.
Subject: Gale Hawthorne
Summary: I haven't posted one of these in awhile! A fanmix for Gale Hawthorne from The Hunger Games - I know he is a little unpopular but I hope everyone enjoys!
Gale is actually my favorite character from THG (this is close with Cinna, though a lot of what I love about Cinna is from fandom works, so I prioritized Gale over him oop). When people bash him I understand why, but I think they fundamentally mistake what his character is. I love Katniss, but she is not the book's revolutionary. Gale is. Gale is the one who wants to fight for everyone, who wants to tear the government apart, who wants people to have food, shelter, rights. It's not that I don't think Katniss wants those things, too, but Katniss has always been about survival and protection (primarily and almost solely of Prim). What she does, she does to survive. What Gale does, he does to liberate. And I just really FUCKING LOVE that about him!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Waaaaargh tragic Gale feelings spiral.
I really wanted to hit his spirit, that anger in him that nearly blinds him, and then the disillusionment, the displacement, the regret. Gale is a revolutionary, but the revolution does not happen the way he ever wanted, I think. He had to become a monster to fight monsters. That's something Gale will live with for the rest of his life, and it's something he'll shoulder in hope for a better future for the rest of Panem. F u c k i n g bury me I can't take him goodbye
Notes: Fanmix includes front and back covers and a .zip file of all 10 songs. Enjoy! :)
cartoon blues
One. Rebellion (Lies), Arcade Fire. sleeping is giving in, no matter what the time is. so lift those heavy eyelids. people say that you'll die faster than without water but we know it's just a lie, scare your son and scare your daughter. people say that your dreams are the only things that save you, come on, in our dreams we can live our misbehavior.
Two. Four Winds, Bright Eyes. your class, your caste, your country, sect, your name or your tribe, there's people always dying, trying to keep them alive. there's bodies decomposing in containers tonight in an abandoned building where squatters made a mural of a mexican girl with fifteen cans of spray paint and a chemical swirl. she's standing in the ashes at the end of the world, four winds blowing through her hair. she just can't sustain the pressure where it's placed, she caves. a heart just can't contain all of that empty space. it breaks, it breaks, it breaks. and i was off to old dakota where a genocide sleeps in the black hills, the badlands, the calloused east. i buried my ballast, i made my peace, heard four winds leveling the pines.
Three. Old Soul Song (For the New World Order), Bright Eyes. gray light new day leaks through the window, an old soul song comes on the alarm clock radio. we walk the forty blocks to the middle of the place we heard that everything would be and there were barricades to keep us off the street but the crowd kept pushing forward 'till they swallowed the police, yeah, they went wild. we left before the dust had time to settle, now all the broken glass swept off the avenue and on the way home held your camera like a bible, just wishing so bad that it held some kind of truth. i stood nervous next to you in the dark room, you dropped the paper in the water and it all begins to bloom, yeah, they go wild.
Four. Howl, Johnny Flinn. howl for my homeland, wherever that was. and howl for the homage that's been gone and lost. oh, the legacy is gone and the people who knew have lost their minds, oh left, there's a few who are choking on what and the will to hold on, with their principles pinned to the courts up above. me and the teardrop, me and the mountain, oh, and me and the wolf, who has eaten my heart, and me and my friends who laugh in the dark. oh, and you and yours, too, you and yours three, you and yours ever and ever be free.
Five. The Lion's Roar, First Aid Kit. but don't you come here and say i didn't warn you about the way your world can alter, and oh, how you try to command it all still every single time it all shifts one way or the other. and i'm a goddamn coward but then again, so are you, and the lions roar, the lions roar.
Six. Cartoon Blues, Bright Eyes. i listen to a lecture of nonsense 'till dawn by a plagiary poet with dark glasses on. he said, "how did you ever dream up that song? the one where the baby dies". i said, "i'll tell you the secret, which one's your good ear? yeah, people are made up of water and fear. if there weren't women present we wouldn't be here, so let's make like we're friends". then the pot turned to powder and soured the mood and the people i came with were gone from the room, so i asked like a child, "may i be excused?" and disobeyed them all. into the late night latrine, rain soaking through my shoes, i tried walking backwards to get less confused, working off a theory i could never prove, that it was life itself to blame. now my days are distractions that ring in my hands, solitaire crosswords and films on demand, when you turn from a cartoon back into a man you start to smell that human smell.
Seven. City With No Children, Arcade Fire. i used to think i was not like them, but i'm beginning to have my doubts, my doubts about it. when you're hiding underground the rain can't get you wet but do you think your righteousness could pay the interest on your debt? i have my doubts about it. i feel like i've been living in a city with no children in it, a garden left for ruin by and by as i hide inside of my private prison.
Eight. Lose Your Soul, Dead Man's Bones. you're gonna lose your soul tonight, you're gonna lose control tonight. i get up in the morning to the beat of the drum, i get up in the morning, put my dreams away, i get up, i get up, i get up again.
Nine. Home from War, Frightened Rabbit. here i stand like a soldier home from war with nothing to do but remember the shutter of bombs. i'm sure it never quite goes away, it never quite goes away. here i sit like a beginner, beginning again and all those fuck-ups counted for nothing 'cause nothing makes sense and i am never quite fully awake and never completely asleep. i'm walking around like a soldier who's home from war, lost in the foreign landscape i used to know. will i ever feel like i belong? will i ever feel like i belong anywhere?
Ten. Down in the Fire (Lost Sea), A.A. Bondy. i am home, wherever that may be. lay, lay us down, down in the fire.