Religion In The Snowpiercer

In Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer, the year is 2031, nearly two decades after scientists, in an attempt to counteract global warming, cause an ice age that inevitably annihilates all lives barring a few. The survivors are those who, ticketed or as stowaways boarded the Snowpiercer: a train that travels in perpetual motion. The cause of the ice-age resulted from scientists spraying an amorphous CW7 chemical into the air to slow climate change. Found in the Snowpiercer is a class system that separates the rich from the poor by train compartment. Found in the very front section is Wilford, the engine driver and the creator of the train. For much of the movie, he is unseen by most people except for Minister Mason, the middleman for Wilford, who delivers his message to the tail sectioners. In the film, the director uses Christianity to portray Wilford as a savior, Minister Mason as his messenger, and the people

In this film, Joon-ho delineates in evocative detail a recurring theme of the Christian Religion by depicting Wilford, as a God figure of the sacred engine, and in doing so, he actively portrays a reading of Christianity as dehumanizing and authoritarian.

Incorporating a well-known Biblical story in his film, director Bong Joon-ho utilizes an “ark” metaphor to symbolize the story of Noah’s Ark and the great flood. In the opening scene of Snowpiercer, the film exhibits in writing “The Precious Few who boarded the Rattling Ark are humanity’s last survivors” (00:03:45). In doing so, the author sets up a comparison between Noah saving the animals from the great flood and Wilford saving humanity’s last survivors from the ice age (NIV, Genesis 8:16:17). In both scenarios, that is the train and Noah’s ark, we see an omniscient entity that causes the catastrophe in the first place. Although Wilford took so many people on his train, he is not willing