Bong Joon-ho begins fostering a sense of rebellion during the earliest stages of the film, where the poorest sector of the train must live in sordid filth and overcapacity. He achieves the birth of a revolution against their condition through a claustrophobic camera angle, a dark color palette, and a symbolic prop that all portray the dehumanization of the tail members caused by the structure of such capitalist systems. One of the first scenes in Snowpiercer illustrates a seemingly routine check on the tail section with a head count. Within this scene, all the tail sectioners stand neatly in rows, one behind the other, and fall back with every click of the authoritarian guard's counter (Snowpiercer). Specifically for this occasion, Joon-ho elects to show the head count with a long shot, or a view of a …show more content…
scene that is shot from a considerable distance (Yale), that begins wide and slowly narrows out in the deeper areas of the shot in order to create a feeling of the car being severely overcrowded. Joon-ho is able to emphasize the intrinsic confinement of the train car by having the characters occupy the entire frame in the foreground and diminishing their presence significantly at the back. By choosing this long shot and giving the audience the ability to peer back through the decreasing space between the rows of heads, he creates the impression of an infinite number of rows somehow contained within a finite space. Had he chosen a medium or close-up shot on one particular face and merely surrounded it with several others, the shot would look crowded without feeling confined. Even though Snowpiercer's hierarchal organization has not been fully detailed yet, the audience sees that the train spans far beyond this one cramped car. Therefore, the tension created by this long shot brings to light an idea that will motivate the entire film -- that the people in the back are unfairly subjugated in an overcrowded space when there exists plenty of room for them elsewhere. This visual allows the audience to begin acknowledging that this carriage is ready to burst under the pressure of its untenable situation. The distraught situation of the tail section is exacerbated with its matching depressing color scheme that fills the small living quarters of these people. The color palette of a film "is a subtle way to visually enhance the emotional aspects of a film and guide the view to respond to it viscerally" (Frost). When examining the color choice in the tail section, the tones appear very muted and consist of mostly gray, black, brown, blue, and off-whites (Snowpiercer). According to cinematographers, the colors selected “should have an aesthetic or thematic basis that underscores the mood or theme of the story, as well as the emotional state of the characters” (Yale). Therefore, the dark shades that dominate in the opening scenes can be correlated to the tail members' impoverished conditions; through this correlation, the colors evoke the characters' plight: a sense of hopelessness attached to the lower class people without a signified personality or importance. The first sign of color in the dismal atmosphere of the tail car arrives with the engine leader's assistant, Claude, dressed in bright yellow. In film, cooler colors, such as the blues, greens, and violet hues, have a tendency to recede when placed next to warmer colors like yellow, orange, and red; in fact, yellow is considered “the most prominent color to stand out when place in a sea of greens and blues" (Frost). Therefore, Claude’s sudden splash of cheerful yellow further emphasizes the separation between her and the filth of the tail (Snowpiercer). With the opposite ends of the spectrum being displayed so soon and so vibrantly in contrast with each other, Joon-ho is making a statement about the harsh segregation between the classes that clearly lacks the equality of a healthy system. Additionally, Joon-ho visually emphasizes how Snowpiercer's own internal society has fully embraced unfair differences through the difference in color. The intensity of those differences is a sign of how this system of social classes can ultimately degenerate the lives of the people on the lower end. Bong Joon-ho furthers his point about the oppression of the tail sectioners through the tangible components of their lives.
Using a food prop, Joon-ho reveals a horrifying secret about the treatment of the poorest members in Snowpiercer. In the tail section, the main source of daily nutrition comes from protein blocks, which are essentially black bars of subsistence. While the bars appear unappetizing, the protein blocks are actually a symbol of reassurance from the front of the train because they are a better alternative to the tail section's former phase of cannibalism (Snowpiercer). However, Bong Joon-ho shows the reality of the impoverished people's situation and utilizes a scene where the revolution passes through the food production car in order to reveal the true contents of the bars: insects. The disgusting truth about the protein bars signifies a lack of empathy towards the lower class and how the elite in this capitalistic system only seek to satisfy them through ignorance. In the end, the poor are given the benefit of the doubt in every aspect of their life, while they are barely kept alive to sustain the bottom-feeder position of the full
hierarchy. With all of these qualities of the tail section being laid out in the first several minutes of the film, director Bong Joon-ho shows how the tail section has justified reasons for fighting against their oppressors. Though these techniques of film-making, Joon-ho presents a situation in which the masses are being repressed by the elite few, and the exposure of this oppression results in the condemnation of the whole train's system that depends on that very foundation of the uninformed, powerless proletariat in the tail section.
Within a society there are those who promote non-conformity in a positive light, this idea is explored through the institutions of both texts by Ken Kesey and James Mangold. In Kesey’s novel, characters often shown as controlled by the system but there are also those who do not confront to such order and disrupt the enforced demand, by the system which is seen as the government. The character Randle McMurphy is one who is seen as conductor of rebellion, he introduces laughter to the ward which is an element of revolution within characters. McMurphy knows that one has to laugh “to keep the world from running [one] plumb crazy” (p.214). The use of sound throughout the novel displays that the power of this laughter represents McMurphy promoting non-conformity. Dictatorship rules the system and enforces conformity, Kesey’s use of imagery portrays that the fog machine is a pigment of Chief Bromden’s imagination but represents a way in which the characters are controlled. Chief figures that the “fog machine had broken down in the walls” (p.140), this symbolises his own building of rebellion and a defence against conformity. Similarly, Mangold’s Girl, Interrupted also shows the positive effect of rebe...
Eric Schlosser enters the slaughterhouse in the High Plains to show behind the scenes of fast food and how it is made. He was not expecting what actually lies behind the cold doors of the factory. People remain to have the misconception of fast food being made in the restaurant. Nobody thinks about there being a dark side to it all. Schlosser pulls on his knee high boots and guides readers through a pool of blood to show where we manufacture our food.
shows the effect of the society on them, the loss of hope they had in
Pathos is the most effective appeal used in Food, Inc. because many strong visual images evoke the viewer’s emotions. The food industry’s maltreatment of farm animals provides several examples of pathos. A particularly disturbing scene of a close up of a dying chicken lying on his back, bleeding and gasping for air appears early in the film when a farmer allows cameras into her chicken houses. A farmer, Carole Morrison, explains quite candidly that the chickens are grown too quickly and that their bodies cannot support the rapidly growing internal organs and oversized breasts. The crowded filthy conditions in which the chickens live are deplorable. Later sick cows, unable to walk and mistreated by workers, further illustrates the deplorable treatment of farm animals. The filmmaker reinforces his point that the industry is inhumane to the animals prior to slaughtering them for food, while visually appealing to the viewer’s emotions.
Transformation is used to deal with the predetermined ideas that their societies have. Jin Wang faces stereotypes that make it hard for him to function in his new neighbourhood. The Monkey King desires to match the others that originally humiliated him. Danny has trouble being tolerated by peers who at first enjoyed his presence. All must transform to handle an unwelcoming society.
...about the effects slavery had on blacks even after it was over, and how living in its shadow made it hard to be a man. The situation between Dave and Mr. Hawkins illustrates how he could not be a man because Hawkins was basically making him a slave for the next two years. Dave jumping on the train going someplace else illustrates his hopes of leaving his poor, miserable life in hopes of a new better life where he can be a man. On the surface the story seems to be a simple story about childhood disobedience, but it is much more than that.
The first time Professor Marx mentioned that we would be given the opportunity to witness a pig slaughtering, I immediately decided that I would do it. I chose the Abattoir because I wanted to be informed about the process. As I walked down the path to the Abattoir I tried not to think about what I was about to witness. After passing through the huge metal doors, stepping in the soap water to disinfect the bottom of my shoes, putting on the hair net, the apron, and hard hat, I felt like I was about to walk on to the production floor of a large factory. The room was an obsessive-compulsive person’s paradise. Everything was spotless and in top condition. On the ceiling were a series of wheels on rails that connected to hooks, which moved the pigs from station to station. Other than an assortment of carts, a monstrous machine in one corner, four butchers, and an inspector, the room seemed empty.
In conclusion, The Jungle offered a detailed insight to the working conditions and highly unsanitary processing methods in the meat packing industry. Although he failed to successfully promote Socialism, the book has been widely successful, mainly for the horrid descriptions and images of working in the plant. It will continue to be a memorable novel for history enthusiasts alike, and a captivating story to portray life of a working class citizen during the Progressive Era.
The novel describes much of the procedure of running a communist state. It includes the organization of committees, and the indoctrination of the public in the form of the sheep. Snowball, one of the two pigs who leads the animals after the revolution, teaches the sheep to repeat the maxim "Four legs good, two legs bad," which, he feels, sums up the laws of their new system - completely against humans. Methods of propaganda are also explored. Carrier pigeons are sent to neighboring farms to deliver heroic tales of the revolution and convert other farms to 'Animalism' - the domino effect in action. Internal propaganda is the responsibility of a pig named Squealer, whose primary function is to convince the animals that the actions taken by the pigs are for their own good. This is a clear description of how to keep a communist regime in power: as long as the pubic is convinced that all actions are for their own good, they will go along with anything.
During the train ride to the internment camp, the boy marvels at wild mustangs through the window. He perceives the dust that they leave behind as proof of their individuality, a privilege that his captivity denies him. He notices, “...wherever they went they left behind great billowing clouds of dust as proof of their passage” (45). The boy’s fixation on the dust represent his longing for an identity. His internment strips him of any kind of individuality, and reduces him to a number. Similarly to the way the horses leave proof of themselves, the boy covets the ability to be significant and recognized as a unique human being. Not only do the horses symbolize the boy’s desire for an identity, but they also illustrate his craving for freedom. This is evident as, “He watched the horses as they galloped toward the mountains and he said, very softly, “They are going away” (46). As the boy watches the horses, he envies their ability to come and go as they please. He comprehends that he has no jurisdiction over his situation, and posses hope that he will one day achieve freedom, in the same way as the horses. Midway through the family’s internment, the boy converses with his mother, and inquires where the horse meat served at the canteen is from. She responds, “most of the horsemeat come from wild horses. They round them up in the desert” (89). The horsemeat manifests the boy’s loss of longing for an
Initially Gaskell creates a rift between the social classes by comparing the differences in their residences and lifestyles. The scene where John Bart...
George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” is a political allegory based off the Russian Revolution of 1917, where the author explores the cruel dictatorship of Napoleon, and his comrade Snowballs views on Animalism. The value that both Snowball, and Napoleon share is mainly the factor of pig’s superiority, however, there are attributes they both contrast in; Snowballs goal to create egalitarian communism while Napoleon is in favor of gaining power over the animals.
Bound by the confines the train, the plot can only move forward. Once Everett's revolution begins, it cannot stop. Survival, like the train they live on, depends on moving onward. The further characters go, the harder it becomes to reach the end of the train. Obstacle after obstacle appear, often appearing in a deceptive form. In addition, it is made even more difficult by the fact Everett cannot leave the train, nor can he harm it. Their society is a balanced ecosystem depending upon all the parts to stay where they are. The children stay in their car, the workers in theirs, and the wealthy in theirs. However the back section cannot stay the same if they want to survive. It is unfair and dangerous. American movies like The Purge II, or The Hunger Games show governments that strip others of basic rights. Snowpiercer addresses this in more chilling manner. There are no fresh faced characters, suburban heroes, nor mutilated monsters. The heroes stand flawed and the only monsters are
...of the North and The Road. Today climate change is a growing problem and as a society, we have yet to open our eyes to the damage we our doing to the environment. Both Daughters of the North and The Road show possible outcomes of what can happen if we avoid the truth and proceed to live our lives in such a self destructive manner. Food shortages are prevalent in many parts of the world, but have yet to heavily impact the United States, by lacking an understanding of the malnutrition others go through, we are unable to contemplate what a large issue world hunger is. The Road shows a extremely drastic example of world hunger, one where cannibalism and killing are common tactics to receive food. Though they seem impossible, distopias such as those in Daughters of the North and The Road are very possible, it is just up to humanity to prevent them from becoming reality.
Schlosser devotes chapters to various aspects of the industry. They do not all fit together however the picture he created is frightening. In particular, the conditions described in the meatpacking industry are terrible and the description of the federal and state power regarding inspection and consumer safety is disturbing .