Weeping Willow is an independent Fan Film based on The Hunger Games trilogy, directed by Maxwell Swet and Annie Poling and created by Rogue Zohu Productions. Released on YouTube in 2014, the short film (around 20 minutes with the credits) focuses on the events of a previous Hunger Game.
Synopsis: It is the year of the Fifty-second Hunger Games. Willow and her older brother, Tristan, are orphans living in District 7, where Willow is about to face her first reaping. When her name is drawn, Tristan volunteers as their district's male tribute so she won't have to face the arena alone. But as the siblings struggle to survive their fellow tributes, they are faced with the grim reality that only one of them can get out of the arena alive.
You can watch the movie on You Tube
. And here is the facebook page.
Spoiler Warning! Some of the tropes listed below may spoil the end. You've been warned!
Weeping Willow contains examples of:
- Accidental Murder: Willow's killing of Ti.
- All There in the Manual: The Photos in the website show all the tributes and give their respective Districts. It also reveals the names of the two Careers from District 2, Mason and Ti.
- Attention Whore: Ares seems to be this, if his speech directed to the audience of the Capitol during his second fight against Tristan is any indication.Ares: "Ladies and gentlemen! Today, a hero is about to be made. Only two are left... And I was always going to win!"
- Ax-Crazy: Ares. And, as a bonus, his favourite weapon is an axe.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Tristan is a normal teenager and devoted brother, with no real training in battle. He becomes a dangerously competent fighter when he tries to save his life or save his sister. Just ask Mason, or Ares... if you can.
- Big Bad: Ares, the leader of the Career Pack, is the main antagonist; with the Capitol as the Greater-Scope Villain.
- Big Brother Instinct: Tristan, who volunteers in the Hunger Games to save his sister.
- Big Damn Heroes: This is how Tristan reunites with his sister: by saving her from the Careers. During the last confrontation with Ares, Willow tries to do another, but it ends poorly for her.
- Blood Knight: Ares is gleeful at the prospect of fighting in the Hunger Games.
- Break the Cutie:
- Poor twelve-year-old Willow has lost her parents and is reaped in the Hunger Games with her brother, her only remaining family. It becomes Kill the Cutie in the end.
- Her brother Tristan too, who has to go through the horrors of the Hunger Games in order to save her. Especially in the end, when he's unable to save her and loses the last member of his family.
- Death of a Child: Poor, poor Willow.
- Didn't Think This Through: It was probably because of fear (or fear of being tortured), but did Cindra honestly think that helping the Careers after they captured her was going to save her life? Predictably, she's a victim of You Have Outlived Your Usefulness as soon as they don't need her anymore.
- Doomed by Canon: In Catching Fire, Finnick is stated to be the youngest to win the Hunger Games at age fourteen so twelve year-old Willow couldn't survive. What's more, even if her age hadn't been against her, she would, assuming she won, only have lived for another twenty-two years at most since Johanna Mason is stated to be District 7's only living female victor at the time of the Seventy-fifth Games.
- And while Tristian made it out alive... remember the Victor's Purge during the events of "Mockingjay", and how it made Johanna the only District 7 victor period...
- Downer Ending: This is the Hunger Games, so expect no happy ending here. In spite of Tristan's best efforts, Willow still dies. Tristan may have won his Games, but we all know it's not necessarily a good thing for him.
- Foregone Conclusion: Twelve year-old Willow isn't going to survive the Games since the youngest Victor in the Games' history is fourteen year-old Finnick.
- Heroic BSoD: Tristan's reaction after Willow's death, starting with the moment when the cannon sounds.
- Kick the Dog: Ares does it on a regular basis. His casual murder of his own District partner Jewel when she's injured or his Evil Gloating to Tristan after he mortally wounded Willow come in mind as some of his "finest" moments.
- Kill the Cutie: Ares fatally wounds Tristan’s little sister Willow.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Ares kills Cindra by snapping her neck, and stabs Willow using Tristan's own knife, fatally wounding her. Tristan kills Ares less than a minute later, using Ares' own axe, with the killing blow landing directly on his neck.
- Meaningful Name:
- Ares. For a Career, the name of the Greek god of war is very fitting.
- Jewel comes from District 1.
- Willow, who comes from the lumber district, is named after a tree.
- Neck Snap: This is how Cindra dies, at the hands of Ares.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: Ti, the Career girl from District 2, especially compared to Ares. Every time she meets an opponent, she doesn't gloat. She attacks them and/or shoots them.
- Noodle Incident: At one point, Cindra says Tristan is the only tribute with a high training score left apart from the Careers. However, because the film skips from the District 7 reaping straight into the Games, we never learn what he showed the Gamemakers to earn his high score.
- Only Sane Man: Compared to their partners from District 1, the two Careers from District 2 seem far less prone to do unnecessary Evil Gloating and apparently know that it's best to just shoot them. Mason even states the simple solution when they find Willow and Cindra.
- Pyrrhic Victory: In the end, Tristan survives and kills Ares, but tragically, it only happened after Ares had stolen a knife from him and fatally stabbed his younger sister and sole surviving family member, Willow.
- Shout-Out:
- Jewel's fighting style mirrors Clove's.
- Ironically, Ti (the other girl of the Career Pack, from District 2) uses a bow and has a hair style remindful of Katniss herself.
- Slasher Smile: Ares gives one to Tristan right before the beginning of the Games.
- Smug Snake: The Careers' primary weakness is their overconfidence. Several times, they're foiled because they would rather gloat and / or toy with their helpless opponents, instead of just killing them. Especially jarring with Ares and Jewel.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Considering the dark tone, comes up numerous times:
- When Cindra and Willow are following the Careers, Willow covers her ears when they are about to kill another tribute, looking extremely uncomfortable to say the least. As one would expect from a non-violent, twelve-year-old girl.
- After Cindra reveals to the remaining Careers where Tristan and Willow are, Ares immediately kills her. See You Have Outlived Your Usefulness below.
- Willow tries threatening Ares with the bow she took from Ti into releasing Tristan, whom Ares is about to kill. Unfortunately, Willow has had only three days' worth of archery training at most, and is using a bow that is far too big for her to use effectively. She misses by several feet.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Willow herself dies at the end of the story.
- Unstoppable Rage: He doesn't scream at the top of his lungs or make angry faces, but Tristan's attitude during the last stage of his fight with Ares certainly evokes this trope.
- His expression as he stares at Ares' corpse afterward is clearly of nothing but absolute hatred, hammering this trope home.
- Would Hurt a Child: In Ares' case, “would stab a child to death”, as that is exactly what he does to twelve-year-old Willow.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Ares kills Jewel, his own District partner, when she's injured by Tristan and his last words to her makes it clear that it's not a Mercy Kill. He does it again to Cindra, after forcing her to lead him to where Tristan and Willow are hiding. In her case, it doubles as Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves.
