Snowpiercer (Le Transperceneige) made its debut in France in 1982. From humble beginnings as a serialized bande dessinée, it has gone on to spawn sequels, prequels, a wildly successful film adaptation, and now a television series. Far from just a somber sci-fi thought experiment, the franchise has neatly tracked the crises and contradictions of this disastrous half century.

Regardless of the medium, the basic premise of Snowpiercer remains the same: an environmental catastrophe has plunged the world into eternal winter. Menaced by a frozen wasteland that kills in seconds, a few thousand unlucky souls pile into a high-speed locomotive. But this remnant of humanity finds itself strictly divided into classes: momentum must be maintained at all costs, and order is maintained with an iron fist. Non-ticketed passengers, reviled and banished to the rear of the train, play the role of whipping boy and reserve army of labor. But this lumpen-passengariat is freezing, famished, and ready to fight back.

So, why exactly has this gloomy rail journey excited audiences for forty years, and how has the tumult of capitalism stoked its creators’ imaginations?