Analysis of the symbolism in “The Platform”.

Written By: Brandon Verastegui

Director of Millennial’s Era E-Magazine

Edited By: Kirk Shelton

Analysis Of “The Platform” Movie

The meaning behind this movie's symbolism: First off, we see plenty of references to societal class differences. The idea that people are good at birth but gets corrupted by society is present throughout the film. People's innate sense of self-preservation installs the norm of egoism and antipathy, an individualist modern trait that many philosophers and anthropologists (Jean Jacques Rousseau, Ayn Rand) have pointed out in today's capitalist systems. This humans normalization of human traits is what I like to call “over-unilateralism”.

Conceptualization & Categorization of the Genre

Wikipedia and Netflix have categorized The Platform as a science fiction horror-thriller. Now Magazine labeled it as high-concept horror, and Rotten Apples has referred to the movie as a dystopian thriller. The Platform represents multiple levels of the science fiction genre, but is indeed a science fiction horror thriller at first glance. After analyzing all the symbolism in the movie’s development (minus the technological aspects), this film closely mirrors today's societal situation in response to COVID-19. In this sense, it’s much more of a psychological thriller, and when realizing the weight of the symbolism and the parallels it has with human nature, the result leads the viewer to conceptualize this movie as a surrealistic thriller.

The Cube: The reason why people relate The Platform with this movie is due to the facility where all the events happen. Gray thick walls, with highly advanced mysterious technology and people trapped there, stuck in waiting or looking for ways to escape.
The differences between these movies are obviously their premises; The Cube’s premise is that Autistic people have a sense of divine connection, while in the Platform, the premise is that the world should have female divine symbols (A woman who represents Jesus).
Snowpiercer: I personally do not like this comparison, but if I had to force it, I’d say that it is obviously due to the sci-fi traits and longer story structure. Snowpiercer is really a communist allegory all the way through, as it has many examples of German-Nazi/Russian symbology. On the other hand, The Platform, though it might have some political allegories, is all based on the human condition and psyche, so it focuses on something beyond the material dialectic of Snowpiercer. Also, Snowpiercer has little to no suspense at all, so it loses the battle in the Thriller arena. I personally thought of Snowpiercer as a bit boring compared to The Platform.
Parasites: This movie is directed by Boon Jung-ho, the director of Snowpiercer, and is an actual social criticism, albeit mostly an attack on lower class groups and a stark contrast from the narrative of the Platform, which is a criticism to every human being with no distinction.

Characters analysis

Trimagasi ("thank you" in Malay/Indonesian language )

One of the more experienced prisoners, this old guy that has found his way to survive in this system, has been overtaken by the nature of this system long before being met in The Platform. He constantly pursues selfish motives and gives evil advice to Goreng, the main character, that is somehow morally admissible due to its rational foundation. His symbolism from a sociopolitical standpoint represents conservatives; old guy who “understood the rules of the system” in a "very rational and defensive " ways to survive. He argues that he was persuaded by a commercial to buy an unnecessary knife sharpening tool, only to find out that later on that another commercial was promoting a newer self-sharpening knife (his weapon of choice), making an allegory to conservatives who always fall for the first thing they see on TV.

Imoguiri ( a royal graveyard in Indonesia )

The symbolism of a lonely lady with a special bond with her dog is quite abstract; she uses this bond in an attempt to get past her own guilt and her “over-unilateralist” position of having assisted the administration of the facility. She then proceeds to commit suicide, knowing very well that her cellmate was never going to eat her flesh since she stated that she had cancer and that no one would eat contaminated flesh… at least not someone as conscious as Goreng. Everything is in the meaning of her name "Imoguiri"; a royal graveyard in Indonesia which is structured in sections, many of these sections have a sequence of three generations - 'Ego' or Father, Son and grandson. That being said, it is easy to infer that in her last moments she experienced the ego death, seeing Goreng on Floor 33 ( Representation of the number the Death of Jesus at Age 33) right before her death. Within the underlying narrative of the movie (the real actress is a transgender lady), there is a symbolic vote to end the succession and perpetuation of a patriarch system, which is solidified with the need for a Female Jesus.

Baharat ( a spice blend used in Turkish and Greek cuisine )

Regardless of anyone’s interpretation, he is one of the best characters in this movie. Equipped with a rope, he represents the will of humanity to climb this never-ending ladder of hierarchies; the will to survive and succeed at any cost. Being a Black actor, he reminds us of the difficulties of succeeding first through presentation, then by proving trustworthiness through works. His internal motivation can be compared with the internalization of a system that judges people based solely on the way they look. In his first appearance in the movie, he negotiates a way onto the level above, only to be defecated on the face by the manipulative inmate while he climbs the rope to what is perceived to be a better opportunity within the prison. Later on, we can hear that same inmate having sex with his roommate, another white woman, which represents very clearly the social capital access barrier for people of color, due in part to the perceived value of sexual capital based on euro-centric views of beauty. Baharat represents honest and hardworking people, while at the same time falling into a similar narrative belonging to one of the apostles that accompanied Jesus Christ's birth: Baltazar. Baltazar, the strongest of the 3 Wise Kings, went down with the protagonist on a journey to send the message of selflessness throughout the compound. We will explore how Goreng plays a role in this mission leading up to the climax of the film.

While many prisoners requested weapons, Goreng came into the prison equipped with a worn copy of “Don Quixote”, something that he is openly criticized for in the film. The novel is about someone who is obsessed with heroes’ stories drives himself to madness obsessing over the value of chivalry, in contrast with his friend Sancho Panza. This could lead one to think that he is representing the real last standing line of chivalrous men who are searching for a good in this world, leading some to call him the Messiah. At the same time, while closely mirroring a conquistador and at some point even the modern representation of Jesus Christ, Goreng was able to come up with ways to push the inmates to comply with ways to ration food. Some people viewed him as a communist, while others saw just another decent human being, but the fact remains that he is the “Messenger” of the film. As he leaves the platform near the end of the film, which is an allegory to Jesus Christ, this tells a lot about the transition of his role from prisoner to radical throughout the movie.

We can analyze his character in different ways:

The woke white person. As one of those white people who are aware of how certain structures of the system where the living affects his environment, he realizes that if he doesn’t do anything to bring about change, an exponentially growing number of problems will go unsolved. It is after this epiphany that his initiative for positive changes turns into a quest to search for a common good, regardless of his discomfort along the way.

The conquistador that is looking for redemption. He is aware of his comfortable position as a white male, so it benefits him to be directly involved in this experiment, giving himself a real life experience that other white people in his position may never understand without going through it. This interpretation will most likely be met with disagreement, but at least this character had the conviction to search for redemption by putting himself in that experience, and by doing so could have his own bloodline redeemed when it’s all said and done.

The realization of male privilege. The underlying need that many of the other inmates expressed to be equipped with weapons and other physical tools, the same need that helped Groneng to utilize both his book and his intellect, made him stand out among all of the other characters. It was this intellect that he used when he found Miharu in a daily fight to sustain the search for “her son”, a premise that other inmates didn’t buy into. The realm of paternity seems to weigh on his giving nature during his efforts to help this woman who seems very vulnerable to the dangers of this facility. He is rewarded when he was ultimately saved by her, and it gives him a hope that even though radical and macabre actions happen everyday in this hostile environment, he is still able to successfully help the whole modus operandus.

Miharu

Central to the film's plot by her actions and unpredictable nature, one of the most influential characters of the movie will be the last to be addressed. A true representation of a woman's nature, the strongest figure in the prison is willing to ride the platform, level by level, facing the hostile environment head-on to fulfill her mission of finding her lost child. She is represented as an Asian person who simultaneously seems to represent the difficulties of Asian countries when dealing with their overpopulated environment and the difficulties to succeed while keeping a family alive. This subconsciously leads us to a juxtaposition in between western and eastern culture, where the value of western symbolism is at stake when pushing beyond our comfort zone to empathize with the Asian population and especially with the everyday struggles of being an Asian woman.

Knowing about Chinese human reduction by halting the reproduction of women, Miharu seems to be that ultra savage hidden hero that will not stop until she finds her "son". The idea of maternity subconsciously becomes the real subject of this whole scenario, something that most of us as viewers don't have at the front of our minds when her character is introduced. It is precisely at the end of the movie that we find out that the child she is searching for isn't a son, but a daughter, which symbolizes that our country will deliver a message to the highest level within this system. It also symbolizes that perhaps we might be ready to embrace something other than the holy male representation of Jesus Christ, signified in the film by Goreng's death, and delivers the need for a powerful female symbol, a girl who becomes the new deity representation of the holy in humanity. This signifies the need for women to be represented in the highest level of spirituality, marking the end of patriarchy, as a result of all the chaos that perpetuates a system of self-preservation through extreme over unilateralist individualism that pumps blood into the heart of a cruel system.

A girl who represents the birth of this female deity, who was held at the very bottom of the deity hierarchy, more than representing the bottom of the societal class... it represents the collective subconscious bias of humans, where not many are aware that there is a need for women to have their own female deity to follow, something opposed to Jesus Christ or anything that represents a belief in patriarchy. It is now that we start accumulating efforts to install a system held by the natural capabilities of women, a calendar the follows the cycles of the moon, 13 months and 28 days, so women can (hopefully) synchronize their menstruation in an effort to help societies find waves of women collective hormonal fluctuation while being able to measure the populous reactions and flow of societal moods in a matter of women circadian levels. Goreng and Baharat, both representing Jesus and Baltazar, are the fathers of this new age for humanity, and the reason why the movie was originally called “El hoyo” (the hole), making a very degrading reference to women’s genitalia.

I want to end this review with the view that this movie hit home with many influences, on both of the conservative and liberal sides of the political spectrum.
This is something very funny that I would like to mention before wrapping up my actual review on this film. The social effect that created in people a concept that I call “over-unilateralisation”. People well-versed in the ways that political systems work might be aware of how propaganda, social pressure, and group cohesion work, along with the theory of masses (how to maintain a narrative). Even though I personally do not follow a particular political narrative myself, I find it notable that many of the influencers who try to appeal to people and want to be validated by the far right have pushed it almost to an impossible point. Not even leftist groups have been able to substantiate the melodramatic claims of being attacked. In short words: “self-inflicted right wing influencers were triggered to the point of coming up with martyr-like arguments against this movie”. Being in self-victimization mode because of the rejection of social justice groups, far-right influencers have been on a mission to twist this movie into being some sort of leftist propaganda movie. I personally find it comical, yet on the other hand I’ve seen some left-leaning influencers claim that this movie perpetuates the idea that socialism is the only way to maintain the continuation of human prosperity. Both of these claims are false and over-unilateralist, as this movie is simply a movie that contains enough content to extend a blanket of criticism on the modern human condition. As I said above, it still circles back to human egoism and how people have always dreamed of finding ways to help it.