#me vs. thinking about capitol culture 24/7

[mirixmoya]

Which song do you think is best to describe Effie's relationship with food? I would love to read Haymitch's reaction when he realizes she has to follow crazy standards as a model, and how nonchalant she acts about it, and how he makes it his unwilling mission to slowly help her see the fault in those habits.

(This entire ask is me being fully convinced Haymitch brings Effie little snacks when she is doing paperwork, annoys her until she is distracted and then makes a challenge out of eating them together, because he knows she is far more competitive than she shows, and I am here for protective Haymitch)

OOOO OKAY excellent question!!!

if we're talking taylor songs i definitely think "you're on your own kid" is a great one for effie's relationship with food. the lines "i hosted parties and starved by body" and "i search the party of better bodies" feel very close to effie imo. what i think these lines illustrate really effectively is how much The Rest Of The World would be involved in effie's eating habits. her relationship with food isn't unique and it isn't just solely a product of her chosen career (even tho i do think her career heavily enables it) but i think that disordered eating is so incredibly normalized in the capitol that it becomes a public matter rather than a private one. everyone's body is constantly in competition with everyone else's body, the vomitisium is served publically and presumably consumed publically too, their eating culture and their public social culture are so closely intertwined that you physically cannot participate in one without participating in the other. effie cannot exist in the public sphere without participating in this heavily disordered eating culture, and i think the effects of that on her development and perception of food / eating has to be extensive.

i also LIVE for protective haymitch who doesn't quite realize how much effie-information he subconsciously picks up over the years until one day it just hits him, so it's definitely a topic i plan to write more about!!! i think haymitch helping effie with her eating is a very long-haul process and that any material recovery only comes for effie after the war once she's away from the capitol, but i also love the idea of haymitch doing little things over the years to help where he can. ALSO i love love love the headcanon about haymitch bringing snacks, (with ur permission ofc) i might have to borrow it :)

thank u so much for ur question bestie, i cannot thank u enough for continuing to prompt me to talk in length about my favourite topic <3