The Social Class analysis of Snow piercer and its deeper political messages

My artifact of choice is the movie Snowpiercer by director Bong Joon-Ho. In a review on Vox.Com titled ” Sci-fi movie Snowpiercer is one of the most political films of the year”, the author of the review illustrates the way that the film exploits the social classes in today’s society. It goes on further to critique the conservative ideologies that create an inequality in the distribution of wealth per se, which is demonstrated by the division in the carts on the trains. As the review states, “the system that governs the giant post-apocalyptic train that is the film’s setting benefits a privileged few at the expense of teeming masses who have a much harder lot in life”.  This is a clear critique of the conservative economic policies as they make the “rich richer and the poor poorer”. At the front of the train, the “rich” live lavish lives with sushi, steak, and vast and luxurious living conditions. However, towards the tail end of the train, the poor eat a block of protein that is produced from crushed insects and live in terrible conditions with no space. Personally, I think that the train is a symbolic depiction of society with conservative ideologies and the dangers that this could pose. this goes beyond the previously mentioned message, that the conservative views of economics can cause a huge separation between the upper and lower classes, going on to analyze other hidden messages such as drug use, “worship” of a leader, and ultimately revolt. In the movie, an Asian character who is in jail but was previously part of the lower class, is addicted to a drug called Kronoles. he and his daughter use this drug to hallucinate and take them out of their sorrowful lives. This can be seen as a message by the director symbolizing the danger of a society that opens up doors for drug abuse.  the poor people, being in horrible conditions with no money often turn to drug abuse and are depicted almost as “junkies” in the film. Yet, when compared to the use of Kronoles in the rich carts of the train, it is not given much attention as the rich use ut to hallucinate in party settings. this, once again adding another message in the film, exploiting the clear inequalities that are exposed by a division in social classes.