Snowpiercer: Film Analysis

Social commentary comes in many forms. From light-hearted political cartoons, to hip-hop culture in the 1970’s, all the way to current mainstream films, almost everything has a basis of social commentary. Snowpiercer, a film released in July 2014 originally based off a French graphic novel, had a premise of class warfare and governmental population control based in a dark dystopian future.

Set in 2031, the entire earth has been frozen due to a failed climate-change experiment and all life on earth was destroyed except for the select few who could make it aboard a train called the Snowpiercer. Those at the tail-end - the lower class - lived in poverty and were led by Curtis. Their primary goal throughout the film was to reach the front of the

train and start a mass revolution, thus making everyone equal and altering the fate of humanity forever.
In the style of both Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell, Snowpiercer is less about character development or Bildungsroman and more about an individual getting revenge against the government.

Just as Big Brother represents a god-like figure, Wilford is the train’s conductor and is not seen until the end of the film. Wilford supposedly controls every aspect of the Snowpiercer and maintains “the sacred engine”. Naturally, Wilford must have his lackeys to protect him and carry out his orders. One example is Minister Mason, a woman who often reports to the back of the train to deliver Wilford’s message. She also asserts her power over the impoverished residents in a multitude of ways; She refers to them as “shoes…[that] belong on the foot”, takes away children in an attempt to brainwash them with the teachings of Wilford, and, if especially defiant, she cripples them by removing entire limbs and permanently marking them as examples of what will happen if they fight against the bourgeoise class. The majority of passengers near the front are also given copious amounts of alcohol and mood-altering drugs, possibly to keep them from challenging the law as

well.
One memorable phrase that Curtis repeats throughout the film is, “We move forward.” By physically moving forward through the train’s cars, Curtis and his pack of pauperized passengers are bringing themselves one step closer to freedom from the almost feudal society they are forced into. At every corner, they are again belittled by those above them politically. Minister Mason at one point even claims that she is superior to the tail-end passengers as a human being because that is simply how it must be:
“We must all on this train of life remain in our allotted station. We must each of us
occupy our preordained particular position. Would you wear a shoe on your head?
Of course not. A shoe doesn’t belong on your head. A shoe belongs on your foot….
Eternal order is prescribed by the sacred engine….Now, as in the beginning, I
belong to the front. You belong to the tail. When the foot seeks the place of the head,
the sacred line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe” (Masterson).
In her mind, Mason has made these people so meaningless that they are no more than a dirty, worthless shoe that the head is allowed to walk all over and use how they please. Continually, she makes Curtis and his gang of ruffians seem beneath her even when they are holding her hostage. Mason has the innate human instinct for self-preservation, but would rather die than have anyone above her but Wilford. Every person on the train has been conditioned to remain in their predetermined position except for Curtis. He had spent half of his life on the train and half on the normal, unfrozen Earth and never quite fit in in either setting. It was practically destined for Curtis to be the one to finally lead a successful overthrowing of the train’s government.
A film’s atmosphere and tone can be influenced by the music, cinematography, or even the overall color palette. For Snowpiercer, all of these can apply. However, the juxtaposition of the hoi-polloi having darker, dreary colors and the cleaner, geometric architecture and brighter colors associated with the elite, Another example of Minister Mason exerting her authority over
Curtis and everyone else from the tail section is through her outfit: a purple tailored suit and golden fur coat. Purple is a color commonly associated with royalty, and the fur coat is for her comfort due to the freezing temperatures outside the train.
As for the audience of this film, it is for restricted audiences only, and rightfully so.

There are many scenes involving heavy gore and fighting, as well as an overall sober, mournful, and foreboding tone. However, out of the entire the mature audience that Snowpiercer was designed for, many different subgroups were able to find entertaining and possibly introspective moments throughout. From an action-lover’s perspective, there were moments of tense, in-your-face battles between Curtis’ army and the hordes of fighters from the front sections. For political theorists, this film beautifully demonstrated a dystopian world in which the entire system was ultimately going to fail. In the same style of The Hunger Games franchise, Snowpiercer had major implications of one person completely transmuting a lone leader’s regime. The train in it’s entirety symbolizes capitalist principles, while Curtis represents Marxist ideals. He desires equality and for the spoils to be shared between all passengers, while Wilfred and his attendants strive for the rich to stay rich and the poor to stay

poor.