User blog:The Devil's Advocate WP/Schnee Dust Company = De Beers?

After joking about the toothpaste Nora is using in The First Step having unintentionally offensive connotations to its name, I began to think about the Schnee family, the company, and Dust. What we see in the RWBY universe is a company with considerable reach and a clear predominance in the Dust industry. They are also a company viewed as oppressive and abusive by some, notably Blake. One company I immediately thought of as bearing a resemblance was the notorious South African diamond conglomerate De Beers.

For those who aren't aware, De Beers is the leading seller of diamonds in the world. A recent estimate is that they are responsible for 60% of the sales in uncut diamonds. This is actually a decline from their original position where they had a near-comprehensive monopoly. ALROSA in Russia and Rio Tinto Group in Australia, second and third in the industry respectively, have managed to strike out a path independent of the De Beers monopoly, but De Beers is still the dominant player.

What initially got me thinking of this was the resemblance Dust has to diamonds. Dust crystals obviously look somewhat similar to diamonds and at the Dust shop in the pilot episode we see the crystals arrayed in a display area similar to what is used for jewelry such as diamonds. Though differing in the sense that Dust is a sort of all-purpose mineral that can be used for energy, weapons, and apparently toothpaste, this is the first important link in my mind. Of course, one should note that diamonds have critical industrial uses as well, despite being more commonly associated with jewelry. In fact, the U.S. considered industrial diamond supplies during World War II so vital to the war effort that it even threatened to cut off critical war assistance to the British due to De Beers restricting U.S. supply.

Another obvious consideration was the history associated with De Beers comparable to SDC. Many are likely aware of the controversy surrounding conflict diamonds, commonly known as blood diamonds, but De Beers has also been embroiled in its own unique controversies regarding treatment of indigenous populations in Africa. This is without considering its prior involvement with the apartheid regime in South Africa. It is easy to see how these could apply to the SDC's "questionable business partners" and "controversial labor forces" noted by Blake. Fauna could be to the SDC what Black Africans have been to De Beers.

One can even see parallels in the Schnee family name. While the original head of De Beers was business magnate and British Empire enthusiast Cecil Rhodes, his company was taken over by the Oppenheimer family a quarter-century following his death. Ernest Oppenheimer, the first of the family to head the company, was originally from Germany and we know that Weiss Schnee's name is taken from German. Although the world of RWBY is undoubtedly lacking in any sort of German nationality, or Jewish for that matter (the Oppenheimers were Jews who later converted to the Anglican faith), this could still be taken as a nod to their real-world counterparts.

The Schnee Dust Company obviously has a more all-encompassing role given that Dust is closer to petrochemicals in its utility than it is to diamonds and most things said of De Beers could be said of other historic resource monopolies, so it does not translate perfecly. At the same time, Dust's physical resemblance to diamonds and the references to it being mined in a quarry would make this comparison more compelling than comparisons to oil companies. It is also important to note that few resource monopolies in history have had the kind of global dominance associated with De Beers and SDC does not seem to have any serious competitors.

I cannot say for certain if De Beers was actually the inspiration for the Schnee Dust Company, but if it was then it is a rather clever bit of social commentary on the part of Oum and the writers.