Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer takes place in 2031 aboard a circumnavigational train. The film is set in a dystopian world after humanity’s failure to halt global warming in 2014. The entire world has fallen into a new ice age and is inhabitable outside of the train. Now the sole survivors of humanity have found refuge aboard Wilford’s Dreamliner. The main protagonist is Wilford, he designed the train’s engine and lives in the front of the train among the wealthier inhabitants. He predicted the scientist’s failure of reversing global warming and knew that his dream of creating the world’s greatest locomotive would be a reality. His Dreamliner connects to all the world’s continents.
Despite all of humanity finding refuge aboard the train, not all life is treated equally. The front of the train is home to the rich and wealthy. It houses all employees, guards, and any huge benefactors for funding the construction of the train. Additionally, at the very front of the train in the engine room is where Wilford resides. The tail section of the train is home to impoverished people who live in stacked bunks, narrow hallways, and overall horrible living conditions. Knowing that life in the end of the train is dismal compared to how people live in the front, the citizens of the rear end of the train revolt to control the engine. This revolt is led by Curtis, a passenger in the rear end of the train.
While Curtis and the others make their way throughout the train, we can see how the train changes in each section. On the journey to the front the audience can experience different styles of living on the train. While the rear end is dark and dirty, the front sections of the train are very extravagant. When moving towards the front the colors change from dim and dull to vivid and captivating colors. The people who grew up in the rear of the train were accustomed to not having any windows or ways of seeing any light within their cabin. When the group moves towards the front, they are finally able to see through the windows of the train and witness what the world looks like.
There are scenes within the film which display the exciting lives the people in the front of the train have. When the group passes through the club, they are astonished to see that people are living their lives as if nothing has changed since the world fell into a new ice age. Towards the very front of the train the group enters a section with a swimming pool, not only does the pool prove the fact that the front passengers have numerous vicinities open for them to use but as well as where the designer of the train became creative. Not only creative but as well as intuitive to create an easy way of travel from section to section. Another scene displays a steam room for passengers to relax. The use of steam and intense yellow background lighting allows for a dramatic and intense scene for the characters to maneuver in the partially visible steam room.
While the film Snowpiercer is set in a fictional dystopian world, the outcome of our world collapsing is a possible reality. Humanity caused the world to fall into a new ice age with their neglect for the environment. While life may not be limited to just a train in the future, we are all subjected to the consequences of global warming. Throughout the film it is mentioned that if order is not kept and if the train fails that the rest of humanity would cease to exist. Earth is our home and if it is constantly neglected and forgotten then the world will collapse into a point of no return.
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