Sometimes people compare Snakes on a Plane to World War II, sometimes to youth sexuality. I guess they both make sense:

Snakes on a Paper
Or
The effects of sexual repression on today’s youthAn objective study by Andrew “Busdriver” Meggs

Snakes on a Plane is the best movie ever. With a combination of Samuel L. Jackson and venomous snakes, there is no doubt about Snakes on a Plane’s supremacy. For those that do not know, the plot of Snakes on a Plane involves people fighting snakes on a plane. On the surface, Snakes on a Plane, or SoaP, seems a generic thriller, humorous in some aspects, disgusting in others. To the casual observer it may seem no more than a play on a teenager’s emotions, catering to their unique look on life. Indeed, SoaP targets a teenage audience, but not to garner financial gain. SoaP targets an adolescent audience to inform the unwittingly repressed teenage masses that society does have a problem with its views on intercourse, and sexual thoughts in general. Snakes on a Plane comments on western society’s hypocritical view of sexuality, and its repression of said sexuality through the symbolic use of snakes representing western society.

The most obvious example of sexuality in SoaP is the actual sex scene. This is an important facet of the movie, because the people having sex become the first victim of the snakes. This simple first act already lays out the snake’s hatred for sex. Western society’s (the snake’s) disdain for sexuality becomes more and more obvious as the specific targets of the snakes takes focus during the movie. While the background attacks are given no great importance, the targets that deal with sexuality are. The breast, the genitals, the tongue, the buttocks, and even the eye are all popular signs of sexuality in today’s society. While the eye, at first glance, may seem a-sexual, in fact the eye can be used as a primary tool of sexuality. When one person sees another of the opposite sex, they subconsciously (and sometimes very consciously) observe their figure to determine their potential virility. Even this kind of unconscious sexuality can get you killed in today’s society. Snakebites on the neck also appear as a motif repeated throughout Snakes on a Plane. While this might seem normal, in fact, it is a subtle nod towards a lover gently kissing his companion’s neck. In all these attacks, the bites kill or injure. This shows western society’s hatred for any open sign of sexuality.

The personality of the people attacked also is an indicator towards the true purpose of this grandiose movie. The first people attacked die because they openly show their affection to each other on the plane. For this, Western society punishes them, and they suffer a gruesome death. The second person killed used the restroom and expressed pride over the size of his genitalia. For this most grievous of sins, at least to society, he was also punished. The large woman with the alcoholism merely dreamed inappropriate thoughts, and the snakes, the West, crawled up her skirt in a decidedly sexual manner, and killed her through a bite to the eye. The co-pilot of the plane also falls victim of the snakes. While he might at times seem humorous, and the cast seems to enjoy his rather perverted company, he still commits the crime of lechery. Because he opens himself to the women onboard, he dies. The snakes also confront the supposedly homosexual man, but he did not make the folly of the former people. In fact, this man was heterosexual, but he repressed his own sexuality, thus escaping the “justice” of the west, and he became able to destroy the snake. Three G’s, another character in the film, also escapes the deadly fangs of the reptiles. While he seems at first quite confident in his sexuality, he actually avoids direct contact with other people, including women, and inadvertently saves himself in the process. This movie shows that in today’s society, one has to restrict one’s sexuality in order to survive and prosper.

Snakes on a Plane is a direct microcosm of today’s society. On the one hand, it seems to promote sexuality and promiscuity, but on the other hand it punishes those that practice it. America, and to a lesser extent society in general puts sex on a pedestal. Everywhere you go, every TV station you watch, every moment of your life is somehow infiltrated by sex. Nearly every commercial geared toward an adult audience includes some type of sexual content, be it Paris Hilton seductively eating a hamburger, or an Abercrombie & Fitch calendar with inexplicably nude models, modeling for a clothing company. If one were to traverse any major city in America, one would find the streets surrounded by smut. Beautiful women on billboards advertising materials that might or might not have to deal with the woman herself. Ladies of the evening roam the streets at night. Women are objectified, and young girls are given an image of beauty that is extremely unrealistic and unhealthy. Even with all of this sex, though, society forbids adolescents to participate in it. During adolescence, teens show the greatest sexual curiosity, but society looks down upon pre-marital sex and intercourse between minors. Every day, politicians are on the television complaining about the rise of teenage sex rates, yet on the next channel you might find a man and a woman in an intimate moment, or even a woman and a woman. This contradiction leads to extreme confusion during the teenage years, leading to depression, disillusionment, and a general loss of character. Teenagers do not have to be so morally confused, however. In places without “civilization”, some young people feel no confusion whatsoever.

A woman once did a study on an aboriginal tribe of people that practiced complete sexuality at all ages. Children could participate in any sexual activity when they felt like, and it was not deemed socially unacceptable. Because of this, the aboriginal children were not plagued by the same self-doubt that so inhibits their more “civilized” and “morally superior” brethren. Perhaps if society would allow its people to openly show their own sexuality, there would not be as much crime, teenage depression, or in fact teenage pregnancy. As is shown in the case of Amsterdam and marijuana, people are less prone to abuse a substance if it is given no pedestal in society, and is a common day occurrence. Snakes on a Plane is merely a tool to show society this forgotten concept-freedom.

Snakes on a Plane has a high entertainment value. It uses this entertaining facade to deliver its message more easily, akin to taking a spoonful of sugar with one’s medicine. The producers, directors, and Samuel L. Jackson have done this country, and indeed humanity a great service, the likes of which can never be repaid. They have shown the “civilized” world the other side of sexuality, that if one represses people’s basic emotions too much, you might end up with mutherfuckin’ snakes.

Fin