Snowpiercer, a movie directed by Bong Joon-ho and was released on July 11, 2014, is based on a

graphic novel entitled “Le Transperceneige” by Benjamin Legrand, Jacques Lob, and Jean Marc-
Rochette. It is a story that was set in 2031, nations unleashed the material CW-7, a cooling agent
that was used to cool down the temperature of the planet, to regulate global warming but it
unintentionally results in another Ice Age destroying the planet Earth and ending humanity’s life.
Only passengers of Wilford’s train were able to survive the catastrophe. Curtis, who is living at
the tail of the train, is determined to get to the front and distribute the wealth to all the people
living inside the train by causing a revolutionary movement.

Bong Joon-ho, a South Korean film director, was born on September 14, 1969, in Daegu, South
Korea. He is not just a film director but also a screenwriter. Also, he is known for his
extraordinary works such as The Host (2006), Okja (2017), and Parasite (2019), and won 3
Oscars award. Mostly political themes, class conflict, and social injustice were the themes of
Joon-ho’s masterpiece. Using a Historical-Biological lens, it is indeed that the themes usually
associated with Joon-ho’s movies were related to his origin. He grew up in South Korea and by
that time the country was under a dictatorship regime. During the tenure of Chun Doo-hwan, the
country was under strict military rule which led to chaos and resulted in several deaths. This can
be a possible reason why Joon-ho’s movies were mostly focused on this type of themes.

Throughout the movie, Snowpiercer, there were many lenses to apply to explain different
symbolisms given in every scene and one of those lenses is the Marxist lens. The train, itself, is
one of the symbolism that is applicable for this lens. The train is composed of different sections:
tail, center, and head. It symbolizes the class of the people living inside the train. The tail, where
Curtis and his fellowmen lived, is for the low class, the center is for the middle class, and the
head, where Wilford lived, is for the high class or the nobles. It is not just a train that symbolizes
the class of the people but also a shoe. It is the scene where Andrew throws a shoe at Claude
because they took his son, Andy, without knowing the purpose of taking them. As a punishment,
Andrew’s arm was exposed outside the train making his arm frozen. Minister Mason enters the
tail of the train and delivers her speech saying, “We must all of us on this train of life remain in
our allotted station. We must each of us occupy our preordained particular position. A shoe
belongs on your foot. A hat belongs on your head. I’m a hat. You are a shoe. I belong on the
head, you belong on the foot. Yes? So it is.” This dialogue clearly shows that the shoe, which
pertains to the low class, must stay on the tail of the train and those who are considered as a hat,
which pertains to the high class, must stay on the head of the train.
The Archetypal lens may also be used to decipher the meaning of the symbols in the movie.
Andrew’s arm was frozen and hammered until it turns into pieces because of his unethical
behavior. An amputated arm symbolizes something has been taking away. In the movie, the
rights were taken by the high officials from the people living on the tail of the train making them
prohibited to go to the other section of the Snowpiercer. The passengers from the tail of the train
are being fed of what they’ve called protein blocks. In the latter part of the movie, it is shown
that the protein blocks are made out of gelatinized insects, specifically cockroaches. A cockroach
is a type of insect that is known to survive from any attempt to their life, making them the
symbol for rebirth. It is seen in the movie that Curtis and his fellowmen were determined to
reach the head of the train and meet Wilford, for them to achieve equality inside the train that
will lead to a new beginning. Kronole is known as an addictive drug that makes the user
hallucinate and it is also used as an explosive. Nam and Yona keep on asking Curtis to give them
this kind of drug for them to open the doors inside the train. It is also seen in the last minutes of
the movie that Kronole was used as an explosive for the door to be opened that will lead them to
the outside world. The Kronole symbolizes freedom because it is used as a tool for escaping. In
the end, Yona and Tim were the last passengers who survived the explosion of the train, making
them go outside and observe their surroundings. Yona, a clairvoyant, saw a polar bear looking at
them at the side of a hill. The polar bear symbolizes life. Seeing the polar bear alive debunked
the belief that life outside doesn’t exist.

Citations:
History. (2018, August 21). South Korea. https://www.history.com/topics/korea/south-korea
IMDb. (n.d.). Bong Joon-ho. https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0094435/
IMDb. (n.d.). Snowpiercer. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1706620/?ref_=ttfc_ql
IMDb. (n.d.). Tilda Swinton: Mason.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1706620/characters/nm0842770?ref_=tt_cl_t5
Little White Lies. (2020, February 3). A Beginner’s Guide to Bong Joon-ho [Video]. Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoSV2n8mByM&t=129s
People Pill. (n.d.). Bong Joon-ho. https://peoplepill.com/people/bong-joon-ho/