YMMV / Snowpiercer

The Film

• Accidental Aesop:
  • The delicate balance of the train's life support is referred to constantly as the reason for the abuse heaped upon the tail-sectioners, though critics usually ignore this in favor of condemning the tyranny du jour. This makes most Green Aesops kind of horrifying, as they often boil down to, "A place is more important than the happiness, well-being, or lives of the people who live there." Especially since the train is destroyed in the ending; if a place demands blood to run, it should be destroyed!
  • Even worse, the film's message could very easily be interpreted as "a strictly segregated social hierarchy may be oppressive, but any attempt to rise above your station will only bring ruin". As much as the film plays up the "shoe/hat" metaphor as ridiculous and oppressive, the decision by the shoe (Curtis) to overthrow and replace the hat (Wilford) is what directly causes the train to be destroyed, condemning humanity to extinction.
  • The real Aesop is to listen to science; observe nature and respond in kind. Namgoong figures out that the snow has been steadily melting all these years, and it's possible that balance will return many years from now. In other words, the Engine need not be eternal, and in truth, it isn't eternal, as irreplaceable parts and components will break down anyway.
• Adaptation Displacement: Did you know the film was based off of a comic series? Neither did a lot of people outside of the Francosphere! When the books were translated into English in 2014, they were riding off of having inspired the film, so much so that when one of the authors returned to the work years later, the film was basically adopted into Canon.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Is Gilliam truly a traitor to the tail-end section, or was he so traumatized by the cannibalistic chaos from the train’s early days that he thinks cold-blooded population control is the only way of preventing another outbreak of total anarchy? Also, he urges Curtis to just kill Wilford outright, and not even give Wilford a chance to talk with him. Is Gilliam regretful that he let Wilford manipulate him for all these years and didn't want the same thing to happen to Curtis, or does he just want to keep his collaboration with Wilford a secret?
  • Sure, Gilliam had been working with Wilford all along, but in the aftermath of the Yekaterina Tunnel fight, he urges Gray to follow Curtis. This could be seen as a dick move on his part, but he may have figured out that Wilford would be gunning for him after the tail-sectioners prevailed, so he would want to get Gray as far away from him as possible to maximize Gray's chances of survival.
  • For that matter, was Gilliam ever really working with Wilford? We know that Wilford has security systems monitoring the entire tail section of the train, so it's quite possible that he found out enough to manipulate Curtis into believing Gilliam was a traitor that way, and we have no one's word but Wilford's to go on that he was actually telling the truth.
  • Wilford. An evil SOB who keeps hundreds of people in horrible conditions to maintain the system that keeps him in comfort, totally indifferent to human suffering, or a man who unexpectedly found himself responsible for keeping the entire human race alive, and who is resigned to have to make terrible choices for the greater good?
  • Then there's the front section passengers who all swarm Minsoo at the end. Is it the truest example of the rich's disdain for the poor that they all organize together and set aside their hedonist ways just to stop the tail-sectioners from threatening their luxury? Judging by their rather young ages, it is likely that they had spent most of their life on the train being conditioned to revere the engine and Wilford as divine, and thus stepped in to put down the threat to their god-leader...or maybe they're all a bunch of drug addicts mad that Minsoo took their Kronole.
• Anvilicious: Class differences are bad. The rich exploit the poor and don't care about them at all, and that's bad. Trying to claim that everyone has a "proper place" in society that they should not rebel against, thus justifying the continued exploitation of the poor, is really, really bad. Did we mention that class differences are bad?
• Award Snub: The film received no Academy Award or Golden Globe Award nominations, despite it being critically acclaimed and named by some as one of the best films of the year, though Tilda Swinton did receive some recognition for her work as Mason. This is somewhat justified though, as it was first released in Korea in 2013, making it ineligible for the Oscars, though it did get a 2014 release in the States.
• Broken Base: Fans of Bong Joon-ho's previous works are split about whether the movie was good or not.
• Complete Monster: The Snowpiercer's creator, Wilford, is a selfish megalomaniac who wishes to control the remnants of mankind. When the countries of the world combatted global warming with a risky procedure that ended up freezing the world over, Wilford took advantage of the catastrophe to seemingly save mankind with the titular ever-running train. Creating a caste system, Wilford tried to starve the impoverished people at the tail end of the train, resulting in them having to resort to cannibalism to survive. Under his iron-fisted authority, the upper-class of the trains have their children educated to worship him as a godlike figure, and he continues to mistreat the lower-class people of the train's rear-end, feeding them disgusting nutrient bars made from cockroaches. To keep the tail-enders under his control, Wilford uses his mole, Gilliam, to occasionally organize riots doomed to fail, ostensibly to let them purge their anger and costing many of them their lives so they'll stop draining precious resources. When Curtis tries to incite his own rebellion against Wilford, Wilford has Gilliam killed for failing to stop him and orders a massacre of the tail-enders, putting the slaughter on speakerphone to mock Curtis. To put the final touches on his utter evil, he's revealed to rely on kidnapping children younger than 5 from the tail-end to maintain his Engine. Wilford is a callous man with a god complex who only saved humanity at all to create a cult where he would be adored as a messiah and savior.
• Death of the Author: It's been argued that Bong Joon-ho wasn't making a film about class warfare, but about tyranny itself; maintaining the train — both its life support and its rigid caste system — demands that everyone aboard make inherently dehumanizing sacrifices. The tailenders obviously get the worst of it (living in squalor and eating gel bars made from ground-up cockroaches), but the frontenders also have no freedom, as the system permits no growth or change and when the population climbs too high, they are sacrificed just as callously as the tailenders in Wilford and Gilliam's revolution. Wilford cannot risk interacting with the population, as they have come to see him as a divine figure — breaking the illusion risks the entire system breaking down. The frontenders are as dependent on the tailenders for survival as the tailenders are on the frontenders — and the architects of the revolution are the least free of all. Unless everyone is free, no one is.
  ...whether or not the human race survives is irrelevant. What is relevant is that they are free and that their survival depends on their own independent minds. This is the movie's final message: the importance of freedom; damn the odds.
• Ending Fatigue: The film seems as if it's about to end during a tense scene near the exit of the train...and then Wilford's door opens, and the movie continues for another 20 minutes.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Gray and Andrew are two of the least prominent and fleshed out rebel leaders, but are still two of the most popular.
  • Grey has gotten a great amount of love for being The Voiceless and having wicked knife-throwing skills.
  • Andrew gets his popularity from being a Handicapped Badass and Papa Wolf.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: The shackles of tyranny have been cast off, and life is returning to Earth, but humanity might have been effectively wiped out to put an end to the atrocities of the train, and that beautiful polar bear sure seems awfully interested in our two remaining heroes. Terminus, however, confirms that our two remaining heroes not only survived, but made it to a safe spot.
• Fanon Welding: A popular fan theory by YouTuber Rhino Strew describes it as a sequel to Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory way darker than anything Roald Dahl ever wrote, with Wilford as a grown-up Charlie Bucket after Willy Wonka (or should it be, Wilford Wonka?) left him his business empire. The film even uses "Pure Imagination" in the score, as if to acknowledge the similarities between Wilford and Willy.
• Genre-Busting: The film has qualities of science fiction, Westerns, action-adventure, and even at times feels (fantastically) like an RPG video game, yet it can't be confined to just one of those labels.
• Harsher in Hindsight: In Bong Joon-ho's previous film, The Host (2006), Song Kang-ho's character Gang-du lives, while Go Ah-sung's character Hyun-seo dies. In Snowpiercer, Song and Go once again play father and daughter, but Song's character dies while Go's lives (longer).
• He Really Can Act: Most of the cast got this reaction, but especially Chris Evans and Song Kang-ho.
• He's Just Hiding: There are those who feel this way about some of the minor characters (like the remaining tail section prisoners) after the derailment.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: During the classroom scene, when they get to the part of the propaganda video on Wilford's backstory where his childhood self talks about how he wants to live on a train forever, the front-section schoolchildren all scream out "forever!" and perform a gesture that looks an awful lot like dabbing. While that gesture has its roots in anime and Super Sentai, it only caught on in the West in 2014, the year after this film was released.
• Ho Yay: Setting aside Grey and Gilliam's confirmed May–December Romance, the devotion Edgar exhibits toward Curtis and the look of heartbreak on his face when he realizes Curtis isn't going to save him from the executioners could be interpreted this way.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • It's been a thing for watchers of the movie to recommend for others to bring "yanggaeng", a type of jelly sold in Korea, to eat during the movie, because of its similarity to the protein blocks within the movie. In the same vein, other foods recommended are sushi, eggs, steak, and Coca-Cola.
  • Thanks to this video, it's become a popular fan theory that the movie is actually a sequel to Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, of all things.
• Narm:
  • When Andrew is punished by getting his hand frozen outside of the train car for seven minutes, Mason places a giant clock on a gold chain around his neck to count the time: This detail can seem kind of silly if you happen to associate it with Flavor Flav's Iconic Item.
  • Curtis slipping on a fish in the middle of the intense Axe Gang fight, with a pretty ridiculous expression on his face.
  • During the Axe Gang fight, Officer Fuyu turns to look at Mason. Mason's response?
    Mason: What are you doing, you dozy bugger?! Don't look at me! Look... THEEEEEEEEEEEAH!
  • Curtis' line towards the end, "I know that babies taste best."
  • The sight of the children miming the functions of train parts is...odd to say the least.
  • The use of a polar bear, of all things, to showcase that life still persists in the outside world. The two sole survivors of the train are an unarmed 17-year-old and an even less resilient 5-year-old, whereas polar bears are lethal apex predators in a biome where food is scarce with or without a man-made ice age apocalypse. Put those two things together, and this uplifting moment becomes decidedly grim. Supplemental material reveals that the two characters survive, but you wouldn't know that by just watching the film.
• One-Scene Wonder: The Large Ham, Pregnant Badass kindergarten teacher who provides the main characters with a surprising amount of trouble during her few minutes of screen-time. She pulls out a gun and mows down tail-sectioners with glee, while pregnant.
• Spiritual Adaptation:
  • The film shares a lot of similarities with the first BioShock game. The class division, a protagonist with a shadowy past, Wilford's egocentric propaganda, children being brainwashed to serve their corrupt society — it's all there. Some fans have even called this film "BioShock as directed by Terry Gilliam". Furthermore, while BioShock sought to deconstruct the Objectivist themes of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, the villains here are the kind of bad guys that Rand herself could have written. Wilford is a fascist tyrant who preaches that salvation comes from serving him, Gilliam can be seen as a socialist tyrant who preaches that salvation comes from serving each other (at his command, of course), and the two of them are working together to maintain the train and its oppressive system.
  • As mentioned above on the Fanon Welding trope, the movie is also considered by some fans and critics to be an unofficial sequel to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: The premise, story and setting of the film are so dark, that it's honestly hard to root for anyone on the train as they worked towards, and keep working towards, their own undignified demise.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Symbolic?: One scene that has inspired a number of interpretations from viewers is the scene of the Axe Gang members marking their axe blades with the blood of a gutted fish shortly before the fight begins. Some claim it's because the fish's blood is poisonous or even contains an antiseptic that would prevent wounds from clotting up, effectively ensuring a slower and more painful death. Others believe it serves as some sort of ritual equivalent to war paint. Some even believe it's more straightforward than that: they're gonna gut our heroes like a fish. The latter is the most accurate guess, as according to director Bong Joon-Ho, it was just meant to look intimidating.

The Series

• Alternative Character Interpretation: This review of episode 4 posits that, given LJ is all-but-stated to have been underage and too young to consent when her relationship with Erik began and that her parents were strongly implied to have been aware of what was happening but turned a blind eye, her speaking up to Layton in the dining car about Erik's absence (and that he had his gun) was her way of escaping an abusive relationship by ensuring Erik never came back from Nikki's murder. While this aspect of her background isn't given much light after her trial, her actress also believes she was being abused in her relationship with Erik.
  • There's a horrible moment in episode 5 when her parents tell LJ the key thing to repeat on the stand is that Erik forced her to do everything — to which a suddenly-emotional LJ tells her parents he did force her, then asks "you do know that, right?" in a tone that suggests she's about to cry. Given how her parents react (Lilah just walks away while Robert mouths false reassurances), there's an excellent chance she's actually referring to her relationship with Erik, one both her parents have already been shown to have turned a blind eye to.
• And You Thought It Would Fail: As mentioned below, the trailer wasn't well-received, as people thought it would be inferior to the film and would be a generic post-apocalyptic show. When it premiered, it surprisingly got a generally positive critical reception, with the audience reception being slightly higher. It did so well that a second season was commissioned but it ended up getting delayed until January 2021 due to the pandemic.
• Ass Pull: Characters suddenly coming Back from the Dead generally comes to mind. Melanie’s reappearance really stretches believability in the harsh nature of the setting. While it was a case of Like You Would Really Do It, especially when the actor started reappearing in dream sequences, the explanation quickly glosses over how implausible the situations is. She just happened to know some sort of maintenance vehicle was within walking distance, this vehicle was then able to be repaired and stay operational for 3 months plus, and the maintenance hut also had experimental cryogenic drugs lying around.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Several supporting or guest characters who only appear sporadically throughout whichever seasons they appear in have fandoms that are close to those the main cast enjoy.
  • Bojan, the husky yet surprisingly tender worker tasked with Braving the Blizzard, who gets an impressive moment of heroism during a mechanical failure, became one of the most popular characters of season 1 after just two appearances. He gets a more expanded role (and nuanced portrayal of his conflicting loyalties) in season 2.
  • Among the tail section rebels, Big John, Santiago and Winnie stand out despite not being among the movers and shakers of the group.
  • Miss Gillies, the primary school teacher, appears less as the show goes on but gets some moments to shine for being a Good Counterpart to the teacher from the film and having some good moments as a Reasonable Authority Figure while serving on a tribunal and The Mole while helping Layton.
  • Dr. Pelton, the Closest Thing We Got medical examiner, is one of the best-liked allies Layton makes in season one.
  • Almighty Janitor Terrence enjoys a lot of attention throughout the first two seasons for his Wild Card status and Affably Evil dialogue.
• Fanon Discontinuity: Even fans who appreciate a lot of Season 3 would like to ignore parts like the flu outbreak killing so many people in the Time Skip, Asha being written out of the show after a few episodes, and LJ and Oz ultimately ending up as enemies and dying after the previous season and early season 3 episodes made fans like their Heel–Face Turn potential.
• He's Just Hiding: Several characters who are seemingly killed turn out to be Not Quite Dead some time later, so this kind of speculation isn't uncommon.
  • Some people expect to see LJ's parents, Grey, their prisoners and the others who are left to freeze in season one come back.
  • Icy Bob does seemingly die from too much exposure to the cold, but some people wonder if anything could kill him.
  • Whether or not Melanie will survive being stranded in the season 2 finale attracted some debate before she did turn up alive in season 3.
  • Bojan's fate in the season 2 finale is considered slightly ambiguous by some. Turns out people were right to be suspicious, as Bojan returns in the Season 3 finale, having been nursed back to health by Mrs. Headwood in secret.
  • Mr. Headwood and the Last Australians dying of influenza during the Time Skip between seasons might be taken with a grain of salt. It can be interesting to wonder if they are just in hiding to keep safe from Wilfred and his sinister actions.
  • LJ choking on a glass eye in a freak accident is a fate that some fans are reluctant to swallow until further notice, with them speculating she may just be unconscious.
• Ho Yay: Wilford can get pretty physical in his manipulation of others, from disregarding personal space to alternating abuse with tender physical care. And he doesn't seem picky with his victims' gender. Thus, he has some weirdly erotically charged scenes with Kevin (whose blatant crush he's encouraging and exploiting), Javi and even Oz.
• Jerkass Woobie: Ruth is a grade-A kiss-up-and-kick-down toady with a snotty disdain for the lower classes and a downright religious devotion to Mr. Wilford (who in no way deserves it, and doesn't even seem to know that she exists). But she has just enough moments of vulnerability and humanity that it's hard to really hate her, and it feels a lot like her more odious traits are caused by a desperate desire for things to just make sense in a terrifying post-apocalyptic world. By the end of the second season, she has become The Atoner and is perfectly willing to perform a Heroic Sacrifice in order to help the two trains connect again in season three.
• Love to Hate: Joseph Wilford has swiftly proven himself as a very enjoyable villain, thanks to his shamelessly self-centered actions, monstrous ego, relationship with Alexandra, and Sean Bean's performance being an enticing mix of playful charm and coiled menace. In a show where most characters at least pretend to be motivated by higher ideals such as freedom or order, it's fun to see someone truly out for themselves at the expense of the remaining human race.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: While initially hated for being very selfish and self-centered, many people found that Zarah redeemed herself after becoming a more supportive figure to Andre and becoming a mother. It helped that she buried the hatchet with Josie, even being the one to tell Andre she was still alive, and eventually accepted that even if she and Andre will never be in love again, they still care for each other as the parents of their baby.
• Tainted by the Preview: The series' initial advertising made it look like it was going to be a procedural (not helped by the fact that TNT is known primarily for airing crime procedurals), which turned off a lot of potential viewers, especially those who are fans of the movie. In reality, the murder mystery is merely a catalyst for the series' larger arc.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: The series takes a lot of liberty with the Snowpiercer story, most notably giving Mr. Wilford a very different role than the one he had in the movie. A lot of fans of the movie are not happy about that.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Murray and Emilia have a lot of potential for a rich subplot and relationship after meeting each other and finding out that neither of them is the last Australian, but they only share a couple of scenes and both are reported as having died offscreen in the influenza epidemic.
  • Asha is introduced as a new main character for Season 3, the Sole Survivor of a group of researchers outside of Snowpiercer, and is made into a figurehead to maintain hope of there being a way to recolonize after the Freeze. Many had hoped to see her interact with Melanie, especially after she began wondering how she fit in with everyone on Snowpiercer. Instead, she dies before the season even ends, the episode right before Melanie came back.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Pike's Back Story as a convict who broke out of jail during the freeze and made it to the train before it took off is All There in the Manual, when it could have been used to shed a different light on some of his actions if included in the show's dialogue and/or made for some very cool flashbacks.
  • Some fans wish that some of the deleted subplots and world building from the original pilot (the maintenance of the train archives-a mixture of oral histories and written records- and midwestern greenhouse families and manicurists being almost at the bottom of the pecking order-just above the tail section stowaways-but still doing work that mattered to them and/or gave them some fragile security) had been preserved in some form for the show, even in a lesser capacity.
  • The six months between the departure and return of the Pirate Train, with Ruth setting up and leading La Résistance, Wilford trying to smoke her out, the hardships aboard the crippled train, the influenza epidemic, could very well make a spin-off midquel of its own, let alone an entire episode; they're mostly brushed aside off-screen and completely resolved by the end of episode 2, in a Season 3 that found the time to devolve an entire bizzarro episode to Layton's comatose trip in Ouroboros.

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