Discuss The Platform
Discuss → Film → The Platform → General
Thoughts... [SPOILERS]
posted by BenedictSTAFFMOD on Maret 30, 2020 at 8:29 AM
Just my thoughts on a first viewing...(probably an only viewing to tell the truth - it's pretty grisly!) Interested to hear how other people interpreted the film as well. Ps. what a frustrating ending!
So in no particular order:
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Life is a lottery, just like the hole - you can be born into the riches and wealth and plenty of the upper floors or the misery of the lower floors. The poor fight for the scraps left by those in the upper classes, blame each other, fight each other, kill each other, and shit, piss and spit down rather than blaming those above.
Your life is shaped by the people you meet and the experiences you have with them. You can take lessons even from the most morbid of teachers.
When Goreng first experiences level 48 and the old man says he has been as low as level 171, his implication is that the new guy doesn't know he's born, and that he's so fortunate to be at 48. But when it turns out there are 333 levels, it highlights the truth that no matter how bad things are, there are always people worse off, and no matter how low you go, you can always go lower.
There will always be those who shit down, and those who try to climb up. There will always be people who, having once experienced the suffering of the lower echelons, will feel it's their right to enjoy the riches of the upper levels at the expense of those below.
People can try to ration, to share, to do what's best for everyone etc., but unless everyone cooperates it's futile.
Sometimes doing what's right requires force, maybe even violence. Things get worse before they can get better.
When they think they're at the bottom floor, they're on floor 333. Half of the devil's number, 666. Could suggest that you can descend half way to hell, but there's still hope for the future (the child), even though those who fought for that future might never see it (Goreng gets off at the bottom, Baharat dies).
I think 'the message' is a message for us, the viewers, that there is always hope for the next generation. The next generation have the capacity to make a change if we give them the chance, but as they say in the film, change doesn't happen spontaneously.
Not sure necessarily sure how the administration fit into the analogy - are we all The Administration? Everyone who keeps the status quo as it is? Is 'The Administration' a euphemism for 'The Establishment'?
Reply by cpheonix
on Maret 31, 2020 at 8:00 PM
I like your points and how you articulated them, thanks for sharing :)
Maybe The Administration is meant to represent society that just keeps putting people into this class system/mentality?
Going by your analogy I do wonder what was meant by them being able to take one thing in with them. The main character chose a book, while the other guy chose a knife. The woman chose her dog. Does this mean some people are more aware of how to survive the system/society (the knife guy), while others are oblivious (Goreng) and some are naive (the woman)?
I just wished they gave a bit more explanation of what The Platform was about (in terms of the story, not meaning), why it was there, the message and the girl being in the system, why they had to show the cooking preparation scenes etc. Just seemed too allegorical.
Reply by Benedict
on April 1, 2020 at 2:48 AM
Yeah, agree with Admin representing society, and think you're probably onto something with the thing they get to take in.
I take your point about wider world and context for The Platform/ The Hole, but tbh, I can't say I was that interested in the why or the how of it all. I think they clearly envisaged the film explicitly as an allegory, and therefore the wider world wasn't worth substantiating.
Reply by Davidance
on April 8, 2020 at 3:03 PM
About the number of levels: there are 333 levels, with 2 people in each level, so actually there are 666 people in the prison, which I think they represent the evel of this world (selfishness, violence, contempt etc...). The final ascent of the child (which consists of 333 levels) is like the "divine" side of human kind and I think that represents a sort of "new Christmas": the possibility of a new era of respect, that we don't see in the movie, like "now it's up to you". That's only my interpretation of the numbers, by the way I'm atheist. Peace.
Reply by JustinJackFlash
on September 7, 2020 at 6:45 AM
Great film, but there are still a few logistical elements that I can't quite get my head around that maybe someone can shed some light on.
1- If there were 333 floors why did nobody Goreng ever met in the prison ever reference spending their time below floor 200? Seen as 133 is over a third of 333 then people would be waking up down there pretty regularly.
2- Why was everyone dead after they reached the extremely low levels? Seen as the food runs out by a certain level anyway then everyone below that certain level would be in exactly the same situation. So it makes no sense to me that the ones who never eat would all die on the very low levels but not the slightly higher low levels.
3- And I guess this would be the most obvious, but why did no one ever try going down on the platform in order to go up before Goreng and Baharat? For many of the prisoners this could be explained by saying that no-one wants to go lower, no-one wants to lose the position they have. But for the ones who are all starving and dying at the bottom and desperate surely one of them would try it at some point. Surely some of them would go to a lower floor in order to kill and eat the people below them.
Reply by aiace68
on April 16, 2021 at 3:13 AM
I found it a brilliant film. Arrogance, selfishness, stupidity, altruism, resignation, and the chance of being born at one level or another: there is everything in this film as in life. And the message is: if those on the upper floors didn't selfishly waste food, there would be something for everyone.