Notice: There are 3 separate pieces of media which are titled “Snowpiercer” and operate under the same plot premise, the original graphic novel, a 2014 movie, and the currently running TV Show. For the sake of simplicity, I will mainly focus on the show (2019-present) as it has a more complex and defined world. I will also reference the movie in comparison to the show, although the movie and show are not canonically related.
Summary
Snowpiercer is set in a present world in which due to concerns of climate change and a rapidly warming earth, scientists launch giant aerosol capsules (CW7) into the stratosphere. This backfires and instead of chilling the earth down it freezes completely. While this is happening the brilliant engineer, billionaire, philanthropist “Mr. Wilford” is taking precautions against the future, which he foresaw. He and his partner Melanie Cavill construct a massive hydrogen-powered train around the surface of the earth. The train is entirely self-sufficient and was openly designed as a luxury trip for the wealthy, but its secret use was always to act as a vestige for the remains of humanity. The series and film both take place entirely on the train and it is (more or less) impossible to survive outside without serious life support systems. In the series the train contains 1,034 cars, but in the movie, there are only 1,001. As the “Big freeze” worsened, the masses of humanity got desperate, and many everyday citizens attempted to board Snow Piercer before it left its station. This resulted in a large group of people boarding the train through a back entrance. The back of the train began to be referred to as the “Tail” and those that resided there as “tailies.”
As time progresses an impromptu class hierarchy forms with the tailies being the lower class, the service workers being the middle class and wealthy in First being the upper class. Tailies endure harsh conditions, specifically lack of food, water and space. They are explicitly emphasized to have become cannibals in both the book and series. Eventually they are given rations which ends the cannibalism but in response many tailie children are stolen annually and used as enslaved labor by first class. To morally justify their treatment of the Tail, First Class will often state that since Tailies did not purchase tickets, they are not true “passengers” and have no actual rights. Train-related terminology is heavily utilized as a means to de-stress the last remaining humans whose survival is constantly under threat.
Analysis:
The one element of worldbuilding that makes Snow Piercer so unique is its setting. The fact that the entire story is set on a massive train with limited resources circled the frozen earth adds a layer of constant suspense for the audience and pressure for the characters who are forced to coexist in such an uncomfortable position. Every decision made is vital to the survival of the human race and therefore nothing can be taken lightly. The normalcy of the train is a fascinating element, along with the struggle for resources. For example, in the movie Mr. Wilford is seen eating a steak while in the series steak no longer exists as during one of the wars a bomb exploded in the “Cattle Car” which made cows extinct.
Major themes such as class conflict are very much present in modern America as in Snowpiercer. The only difference is that resources are far more plentiful in the real world, so the desire to kill your neighbor and boss is far less prevalent. Much of the rhetoric used in Snow Piercer such as Tailies shouting “eat the rich” or First Class referring to Tailies as “parasites” are common slogans in the modern world. The apocalyptic universe of Snowpiercer gives us a glimpse of how when put into desperate positions humans will do anything for survival.
Other:
The train is huge. It takes hours to run across on foot. There is a sub train beneath the train.
Guns are incredibly rare, almost nonexistent.
In the series, to combat overpopulation there were various forms of sterilization/birth control introduced and childbirth is incredibly rare and closely supervised.
There is a popular drug called “kronol” which is a key plot element.
Advanced medical technology can freeze humans’ bodies in a coma, but there are serious side effects.
During the beginning of the Big Freeze. Melanie attempted to board 27 geneticists onto Snow Piercer, Wilford decided to veto that idea and brought strippers instead.
There is one “mainline” but many smaller tracks which divert off from it, to be used as shortcuts or emergency routes.
If the train stops everyone dies.
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