Snowpiercer Analysis

Set in a not-so-distant, yet post-apocalyptic future, Snowpiercer follows Curtis Everett, a lower-class man rebelling against an indomitable ideological regime, as humanity 's last survivors circle the frozen globe, divided by class, in one, long train. The world of Snowpiercer is built upon a society in which inequality reigns and violence is routine, and where the needs of the poor are eschewed in favor of the desires of the rich. Director Bong Joon-Ho adeptly weaves black humor with fast-paced dramatic action, and utilizes the Marxist concepts of hegemony, interpellation, and commodity as spectacle, in order to paint a cautionary picture of a continuously capitalist future.

The State in Snowpiercer relies upon a deeply entrenched ruling ideology that can be summed up by Minister Mason 's 7-Minute speech beginning with "This is not a shoe." According to Marx & Engels, "The ruling ideals are nothing more than the ideal expression of the dominant material relations" (Marx & Engels, 9); ideology is developed by the dominant class, which imposes this ideology through force. In her speech, Mason repeatedly, almost ritualistically, emphasizes the ruling class ideology in Snowpiercer, that "we must each of us occupy our preordained particular position."
Mason continues to explain that the shoe thrown at her signifies disorder, chaos, and ultimately, death. Order, and therefore survival, is seemingly maintained through force. Mason 's speech is, after all, spoken over the howls