Favourable Odds
The government official, Effie Trinket, after choosing the tributes from district twelve utters the line “And may the odds ever be in your favor.” This slogan is repeated throughout the film and represents a verbal irony as the odds are shown to never actually be in the favor of the tributes or even the people of the districts. The imagery of district twelve shown strengthens the irony of the slogan by displaying the hunger and poverty that the people live in.
Selection
When we first see Katniss, she is comforting her little sister Prim. We hear Katniss comfort and dismiss Prim’s notion that she is going to be selected by mentioning that her name’s only been in there once. Reassuring her sister that she won’t be selected as a tribute. Ironically, Prim is chosen. This distresses Katniss and forces her to volunteer as tribute, jump-starting her long fight against the government.
Bakery Skills
During dinner, when Peeta starts to mention how great Katniss is with the bow, Katniss also proceeds to highlight Peeta’s physical strength by saying he can throw a hundred-pound flour bag over his head. This leads Peeta to angrily dismiss his skill as useless. Ironically, Peeta’s strength and bakery skills help him camouflage himself and ensure his survival in the hunger game.
Straight Shooting
Before the final task of presenting their skills before the sponsors, Peeta tells Katniss to shoot straight as a kind of good luck. To get the attention of the carefree sponsors, Katniss proceeds to shoot an apple stuck in the roasted pig’s mouth that was served to the sponsors. This act gets Katniss scolded by Effie Trinket and seems to put Katniss as unfavorable. But when the ratings of the tributes are announced, ironically, Katniss gets the highest score. Her very act of rebellion, which in hindsight made her unfavorable, helped her achieve the best score.
