A People Without a Culture?

Is an identity a choice? Do individuals have a say in the cultural labels they wish to have upon themselves? And what happens if they reject that label? While some passengers aboard the Snowpiercer had some say in thier choice of seating, a large number of them wre forced onto the train and subjected to live in unbearable conditions in the last car. These passengers in the last car (called "tailers") not only reject to be identified as this low class but they lead a rebellion in order to change thier identities entirely. 

A Quick Review of Events

Snowpiercer (Joon Ho Bong) follows the journey of Curtis (Chris Evans) as he leads a rebellion on a train that circumnavigates a post apocalyptic, frozen Earth. Curtis and his fellow tailers fight through car after car as they take on the front car oppressors that put them there. As they progress further up the train, these tailers learn more about their society and how it functions. As mentioned by Mason (Tilda Swinton), one of the few authority figures of Snowpiercer, everything is a perfectly balanced equilibrium with precise calculations. In other words, people must die in order to have a balanced population.

What is Culture?

According to Geert Hofstede, culture is “the collective programming of the mind distinguishing the members of one group or category of people from others.” It is developed overtime, learned and shared through generations. In fact, this continuous passing down of habits and beliefs form a social norm that ultimately determines the ways in which a group of people behave. 

Snowpiercer's Cultural Identity

As is often the case in a post apocalyptic film, the characters of the story have been stripped of any previous cultural identity they may have had prior to the beginning of the disaster. In a last ditch effort to salvage humanity, every person in the world has come together to struggle for survival. Cultural differences or even old national cultures are no longer important given the drastic reduction of the human race. 

In Snowpiercer, a diverse cast displays all the nationalities of the world coming together in order to survive a barren Earth. Languages previously spoken by these nationalities are also referenced as seen in scenes with a translation device used between Curtis and Namgoong (Song Kang Ho) and the translators accompanying Mason in the tail car. However, these seem to be the last remaining traces of any cultural identity held by the passengers before they boarded. 

While there are glimpses of other nationalities and possible culture present, there is not much more said about the almost nonexistent community of diverse cultures. This is because these individuals on the train no longer identify with their past national culture. Rather, the passengers' cultural identities have been deconstructed and molded to fit the new social norm in which they live. 

The passengers of Snowpiercer are now identified by their class rather than a country of origin. Tailers remain in the rear while the elite remain in the front. Tailers are the shoe. Elite are the hats. Any attempts of change to this order is chaos and will be punished. 

But Do They Identify?

One key difference between cultural identities today and the cultural identities seen in Snowpiercer is the individual's choice. Often with members of a transnational community, a person has some of a choice of where they wish to live and the types of communities of which they want to be a part. While most people in the world identify with the culture in which they grew up and are accustomed, some individuals chose to identify with multiple cultures depending on where the path of life takes them. All in all, there can be some element of choice in the process. 

This is not the case the the individuals of Snowpiercer. The passengers at the end of the train were brought aboard against their will and were forced to harsh living conditions. Immediately, they were labeled as tailers by others and were never given a chance to decide whether or not this was they way in which they wished to be identified or even live. 

Ultimately, they reject their label and refuse to be kept in the back of the train. But while they chose not to be tailers, they still unconsciously identify with this group of people. They have learned the social norms (whether they be just or not) from one another and have taken it upon themselves to rebel. In a sense, rebellion is the social norm for the tailer culture. Curtis and his followers may try to shake their label, but it does not alter the fact that being a tailer is a part of his cultural identity. 

Conclusion 

If a group of individuals refuses to live according to the culture they were forced into, do they still identify with that culture? Yes. Unwillingly and unconsciously, the people of the last car of Snowpiercer identify with one another as a fellow tailer. They may want to change their status, but this will not alter their roots. A change in status will not erase their history and their associations with one another. Curtis may have moved up to the head of the train, but it does not alter the fact that he was once a shoe.