Critical Essay - Snowpiercer - Cultural Identity

Critical Essay

Culture

Merriam-Webster describes culture as “the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group.” It is what is created when a society or large group of people live together and find mutual likes, dislikes, and things to agree upon. We live in a society where you may not be able to choose the culture you grow up in, you are able to choose the culture you spend time in as an adult.

But...

What is the culture of a people trapped in a world that is only as big as 60 car long train? 60 train cars that are separated by gun toting commandos who kill any from the back of the train who try to cross to the other side? Can people truly identify to a culture forced onto them at gunpoint? This is the state the people of Snowpiercer find themselves in.

This leads to two cultures forming on the train, the world before the train no longer matters. The rich and powerful live in comfort in a idealistic cult like world where children are indoctrinated to treat the engine like a god. The poor live in the back of the train in squalor and feed on black protein bars made of cockroaches.

The Poor

In the normal world, you almost always have the choice to leave a culture if you do not like it. The people in the back of the train do not have this choice, forced to accept their position for years. A culture of hatred and fear breeds here, built upon the belief that they could be slaughtered by the people are the front should they step out of line. This culture is forced here and locked in place by the heavy doors and the soldiers keeping them in line as the “Shoe.”

The Elite

During the later sections of the movie, we see what it is like the more and more the rebellion travels through the train. This includes how the rich and powerful of the train live, still holding superiority over the others despite currency having long since lost any meaning. We see the people indoctrinating their children into a strange belief that the train is a god, praising it like a living being instead of the machine it is. In the end the Elite of the train are people clinging to the ideas and rules of the old world, wanting to keep their prestige instead of trying to form a truly combined culture with the poor.

Rejection

This forced mold is broken in the film, Curtis leading a rebellion and breaking out of the back of the train and cutting a bloody swathe to the engine itself. This shows a rejection of the culture of fear and subservience forced onto the people at the back of the train. A rejection of culture would leave them without a culture, yet could one form out of the remains of the previous one when combined with the newfound freedom? We never find out as the train is destroyed at the end, and the few survivors lives are not guaranteed.

A culture forced onto others to keep them under one's control can be identified with, but eventually will be rejected and the people will rise against the oppression forced onto them. A culture like this cannot last.

Conclusion

In the end Snowpiercer is a film that has the clashing of two cultures, almost two decades having passed of one controlling and dominating the other. Blood is spilled, ideas are challenged and secrets about the people and the train itself are revealed. We do not know if a truly peaceful resolution could have ever been reached.