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Snowpiercer: Even Muddled Morality Can’t Derail High-Speed Fun
By Désirée Guzzetta
Note: The review below is based on viewing the entire series and contains mild broad spoilers for the first few episodes.
After spending a few years in development hell, the eagerly awaited Snowpiercer finally debuts on TNT on May 17, 2020. Boasting a stellar cast, including Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind) and Grammy and Tony Award-winning actor Daveed Diggs (Hamilton), the show is often a rollicking romp through cultural and class divides, tackling morality as well. The morality, however, is a bit muddled and the tone of the series inconsistent.
Based on Academy Award-winning director Bong Joon-ho’s 2013 film of the same name—which in turn was based on the 1982 French graphic novel, Le Transperceneige, by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand, and Jean-Marc Rochette—the TV version “reboots” the continuity of the film, taking place much earlier in the eponymous train’s journey than the events of the movie version (see the official timeline here.
As in the film, the series opens in an ice age apocalypse as Snowpiercer, a train we’re repeatedly reminded is 1,001 cars long, is ready to leave on its journey perpetually circumnavigating the globe with its passengers who will soon be the last living people on earth. All paid passengers are aboard, but the train is besieged by a desperate mob, some of whom force their way onto the train and are subsequently forced to live in the tail section because they are effectively stowaways. These people become known as “Tailies.”
Snowpiercer is divided by class; the closer to the engine, the better the accommodations and treatment. First is the most opulent (rich), followed by Second (middle class, including the train’s doctors), Third (the working class), and the Tailies (the poor). In between the Tailies and the other classes are cars with ocean fish, various agriculture and farming cars, and even an entertainment venue called the Night Car. The train’s staff is also divided by class; Hospitality is in charge, while the Brakemen provide upper-level security/policing and the Jackboots provide the army. Tailies are put to work by force; they are dragged and decontaminated for jobs in Sanitation and other “menial” tasks. They live in poor conditions and they get to clean up the waste of the upper classes.
It’s no wonder they want to rebel. Led by Andre Layton (Diggs) and Pike (The Walking Dead’s Steven Ogg), the Tailies prepare to fight their way to the Engine Eternal and take over the train. With nearly 1,000 cars between them and their freedom, it’s a very daunting task.
Other stars include Alison Wright (The Americans) as Melanie’s Hospitality subordinate, Ruth; Mike O’Malley (The Good Place) as Roche; Kerry O’Malley as Lilah Folger; Annalise Basso as Lilah’s daughter, LJ; Mickey Sumner as Bess Till; and Susan Park as Jinju Seong.
Connelly plays Melanie Cavill, the head of Hospitality who is known as “the voice of the train.” Melanie makes all the announcements each morning, makes sure the upper-class passengers are happy, and literally makes sure the train runs.
When a mutilated body is discovered, Melanie pulls Layton (Diggs), the only homicide detective on the train, from the tail section to help solve the crime. What starts as a murder mystery soon turns into an examination of class, culture, power, religion, survival, and morality as Layton moves about the cars and learns that the levels of corruption and disruption go deeper than he previously believed.
While the initial mystery is solved rather quickly, the other layers Layton uncovers propel the story forward and keep the series from becoming stuck in a formula (a mundane murder mystery would have been a total waste of the futuristic trappings). The closer Layton gets to the truth about Snowpiercer, the more danger he creates for himself and everyone he loves.
It’s a lot of thematic material to cram into one show, and when the moral calculus of the characters’ motivations gets messy, the message gets a little muddled. The tone of the show is not wholly consistent, either. Characters sometimes do or say things that seem more plot-driven than anything we’ve seen from them, making their morality less a personality flaw or virtue and more a moment for whichever writer provided the script to make a point.
However, whether by design or happenstance, there are plenty of moments reminiscent of our current circumstances that make the show worth a watch. For instance, the super-rich Folgers exemplify the pitfalls of capitulating to an oligarchy, while the Jackboots are aptly named. Cultural divides are embodied in small details, such as the American passengers tiring of being “body-shamed” by the Swedish passengers because they won’t go into the sauna nude. Trappings of religion abound as well—referring to the front as The Engine Eternal, the worship of the mysterious Mr. Wilford—and are also reminiscent of what’s happening in the U.S. today.
Even the characters’ reaction to disease—everyone putting on masks and immediately disinfecting surfaces—seems heightened because of the coronavirus pandemic. Even if in-world, it makes perfect sense: Snowpiercer is a closed ecosystem and one errant sneeze could conceivably wipe out what’s left of humanity. That people are chipped by which class they belong in (chips allowing access to the right cars) also seems less fantastical now than when the trope first appeared in science fiction.
In addition to the stars of the show, the new iteration has quite a pedigree behind the scenes; along with Bong, other executive producers include Park Chan-wook (2016’s The Handmaiden), Scott Derrickson (2012’s Sinister and 2016’s Doctor Strange), and Graeme Manson (writer on Orphan Black), who also has creator and writer’s credits on the show. Directors of the episodes include James Hawes (Black Mirror) and Frederick E.O. Toye (who directed the “See How They Fly” episode of HBO’s Watchmen mini-series). Legrand, Lob, and Rochette are credited writers, along with Manson, on the pilot episode.
Music is provided by the prolific Bear McCreary; his theme song alone is worth tuning in for. The special effects are okay as far as television goes, but the sets are great and abound with little details to immerse you in the train’s world. The music by Bear McCreary is also excellent. One other nice touch for continuity is having almost every episode starting with one of the characters narrating part of what happened in their lives before the climate calamity, giving some insight into life on the train for the different classes and setting up the theme for that episode.
While Snowpiercer isn’t ground-breaking, it does have fun with its premise and attempts to probe deep into the human psyche to drive its drama. It doesn’t necessarily succeed in everything it tries to do, but it does have a catchy premise and an already-announced second season going for it, as well as some good, gory battles. If its morality was only a bit clearer, it would be a straight-up thrill ride. It’s still a fun trip, though.
For more on Snowpiercer (the TV show), see: https://www.tntdrama.com/snowpiercer
The post Snowpiercer: Even Muddled Morality Can’t Derail High-Speed Fun appeared first on The Nerd Element.
Banned Book Club from Iron Circus Comics caught my eye from the beginning. I love reading about places I’ve never been, about historical events involving folks people who don’t look like me, speak the same language as me or worship the same way I do. I love comics from the Asian diaspora, especially manwha. Banned Book Club presents the true story of a South Korean woman’s student days in college in the early 1980s. Under an authoritarian regime she found — through the rebellion of reading — her purpose and learned how powerful a tool censorship can be.
Yearning For Change
Banned Book Club opens on Kim Hyun Sook who starts college in South Korea back in 1983. She’s a headstrong young woman who constantly butts heads with her much more traditional mother, who isn’t even fully onboard with her daughter going to college. But Kim is a determined girl who is ready for her life to change and for her world to start to open up. College will the be catalyst for that and she’s been ready. For two years, while working at her family’s restaurant, she saved up her own money working another job and applied for school in secret to make it happen.
With a love of reading in her heart, she leaves home and jumps on a bus to her university to study Western Literature…she’s ready to be the captain of her own ship. The first steps off the bus, she finds herself smack in the middle of a student protest. The protest outside the university’s gates is complete with Molotov cocktails, riot gear clad authorities, and folks being arrested.
Kim Hyun Sook figured that college was a battlefield — intellectually — of ideas! She had no idea that her new college campus would be one literally with life-or-death stakes.
Resistance In Flames
The artist, Ko Hyung-Ju, illustrates the adventures of Kim Hyun Sook and her ragtag band of friends effortlessly. Banned Book Club visually shines with a stark, black and white color scheme. What comes across the best are the emotions. We see nervous smiles on faces of girls entering bookstores looking for forbidden, banned books, the look of fear echoed in someone’s eyes when a government authority turns their sly grin their way in an interrogation room.
The fast pacing of the book is enhanced by Hyung-Ju’s art with big, bold action sequences. Grittiness and softness both have their place in this narrative across the pages. That Ko Hyung-Ju? He has THE RANGE. I’ve always loved manwha, often placed second to Japanese Manga for years. This is a great representation of it to share with someone who is looking to get a start in reading it.
There is this wonderful thread in the narrative on art, on literature and the political nature of it all. My friends, let me assure you it is one of the best turning points for both Kim Hyun Sook and the reader. Our girl just wants to exist, and moreso try her hand at making a life for herself. We can’t fault her. So she reads her assignments, goes to her classes, joins a club, and tries to keep up. Yet at every turn, she is hella surprised when she is confronted with the fact that nothing is apolitical — from the tried and true plays of William Shakespeare to more traditional Korean art forms like the stories connected to Korean mask dances. It is a startling turning point for Kim Hyun Sook and a brilliant reminder for the reader as we can all turn a critical eye to all the media we consume now. From fairy tales and folklore from days of old to AAA video games we buy and heatedly discuss and debate on the internet.
I understand why it was important to tie authority figures into this story as well: the dangers they bring when they wield too much power, induce too much fear-mongering and division among people. This too is a timely and uncomfortable reminder for these times when intellect is thrown to the wind and political division is demonstrated so much in the clampdown on the press. From the perspective of these brave students and their underground book club of rebellion, this is stressed in degrees. There are parents who willingly kick out a fellow club member when the government authorities visit her family home (to inform them of her activities as a protester). Teachers who are tasked swith being guiding lights for their eager, impressionable students, and don’t succeed. There is a government that is willing to mow down insurrection at any level, even hurting young people barely older than children, exposing them to the darkest and most wicked faces of humankind.
I really appreciate the tag team work Kim Hyun Sook and Ryan Estrada did in taking the stories from this time period and crafting it to this format. This becomes a story that is easy to follow and hits all the right notes. I appreciate the cultural nods to life for a teenager during this time in South Korea. The banned book club members all add to the discussion on what it means to be a loyal countryman or woman. Each of them provides perspective on how to bend over or resist under the tyranny of their corrupt government. There are some interesting confrontations when fellow students disagree with the protesters and rabble-rousers that add to the plot as well.
This extends to what it means to be a good Korean son or daughter in Kim’s case, a point that is expressed so well with the extremes of her parents. Her traditional mother originally did not support allowing her daughter a college education and her aloof and admiring father who doesn’t stand in her way. While I believe this part could be universal to nearly any reader who picks up this book, as each generation sets themselves apart from their parents ,I can only assume that this will hit differently for those of Korean descent as this history is still fresh.
Banned Book Club in Full Bloom
The creative team nails it with Banned Book Club. It is satisfying to read and reread this narrative of becoming your own person, with conviction, refusing to go back once your eyes have been opened. When I think about the movements started by and fleshed out with young people — like the movements that helped birth Ruby Bridges, The Little Rock Nine, The Freedom Riders, and the Chicano Students of the east L.A. School Walkouts — it all seems so big.
I have to center myself and remember that every movement, every cluster of like-minded folks, every crowd of protesters starts somewhere, starts small, starts in a classroom, starts in an unused storage room, in a church or in a bookstore. Young people have created and led so many measures to right wrongs and fight against the injustices of their days.
Narratives about rebelling young people who are not the default Caucasian or American are needed. These stories outside of America are so important and worthy of our attention and our admiration. Narratives about persons of color who get centered in their own stories for their own selves and their hopes for the future are necessary. Narratives about girls and women in student movements who get to be fully fleshed out individuals and not just love interests, secretaries or pushed to forgotten corners are valid and always worth a read.
As a graphic novel, Banned Book Club is the daring memoir that comes once a generation. There is nothing else like this on the bookshelves. This is a book with a message that is as eerily timely and necessary as the atmosphere present on the pages–feels a lot like the world today in fact.
As a learning tool, Banned Book Club is a genuine look into the lives of those young people who wanted more not just for themselves but for their country. Optimism colors the pages even when the plot reveals the worst for this brave crew of young adults and their comrades.
As a love letter to those times, Banned Book Club is an ode to the rebellion of reading and how change must be worked for continually, never having an ending, always present.
It's official!
Banned Book Club will have simultaneous release in both English and Korean!Both versions will be out on May 19th, the 40th anniversary of the Gwangju Uprising, a huge moment in the fight for Democracy in Korea that played a big part in the story the book tells. pic.twitter.com/0ntSK5PIPr
— Banned Book Clubs (@BannedBookClubs) May 4, 2020
Kim Hyun Sook was born in Changwon, South Korea. She became a member of a banned book club in the 1980s while studying English Language and Literature. This is her first book. She has co-written comics for websites including The Niband, Oh Joy Sex Toy, and she translated Lady Rainicorn’s dialogue for Adventure Time comics. She now runs a new banned book club in Busan, where she lives with her husband, Ryan, and her cat, Dog Baby.
Ryan Estrada is the author of POORCRAFT: WISH YOU WERE HERE, Learn to Read Korean in 15 Minutes, Ryan Made Mistakes, and many other comics. He started submitting his work to newspapers when he was six years old, and one of those newspapers finally hired him when he was 16. He has had many adventures around the world since, but the best thing he ever did was marry Kim Hyun Sook.
Ko Hyung-Ju was born in 1996. He has drawn comics since elementary school. His first published comic premiered on Lehzin Comics in 2016, and he is part of the group SIS Comics. He now studies art at Cheongang Cultural University. He will draw until he dies.
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See more of Iron Circus Comics and their books on their site, Ironcircus.com .
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The post ‘Banned Book Club’ is the Daring Memoir That Comes Once A Generation appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
As we head into summer and the pandemic rages on, many states and businesses are reopening their doors. Movie theaters across the globe are still figuring out what that reopening would look like, and when it would be safe to do so. Most studios have moved their upcoming major releases to much later in the year (or to VOD), save for Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film Tenet.
Tenet, which stars John David Washington and Robert Pattinson, is still set for its July 17th release date, but theaters would have to reach a certain threshold for the film to be released. According to insiders, Warner Bros would require at least 80% of the world’s theaters to be open, including New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. This amounts to 3,500 domestic theaters and over 30,000 screens worldwide.
If theaters cannot meet those numbers, then Tenet will get pushed to August 14th, which is currently reserved for Wonder Woman 1984. This would then bump Wonder Woman 1984 to a December opening.
But how do you practice social distancing in a movie theater? Will theaters be filled to half capacity? And even when they do open, who will be rushing to spent two hours in a crowded box with strangers? There’s still so much to figure out, and so many movies with release dates on hold.
What would bring you back to the movie theaters when they reopen? Gal Gadot in a gold suit of armor is obviously tempting, but also I want to live. Le sigh.
(via Deadline, image: Warner Bros.)
- Check out this interview with Supergirl star Nicole Maines aka Dreamer. (via Collider)
- The Snyder cut, like any good zombie, refuses to die. (via CBR)
- Pack your bags, we’re going to Danny DeVito island. (via Kotaku)
- This site is free, y’all:
- Disney World wants visitors to wear masks and American are not having it. (via Jezebel)
- Dogs are being trained to sniff out COVID-19. Your move, cats. (via The Guardian)
- Here’s some deets on the next Arrowverse crossover. (via EW)
- #IDAHOBIT Day is here: be kind to yourselves and each other, now more than ever.
Fuck both of you
— Lilly Wachowski (@lilly_wachowski) May 17, 2020
Human rights are for everyone – no matter who you are or whom you love.
❤️🧡💛💚💙💜Sunday is the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia & Biphobia https://t.co/Ljui9G92Ag #StandUp4HumanRights #IDAHOBIT via UN @free_equal pic.twitter.com/RC9YSBV8uy
— United Nations (@UN) May 17, 2020
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