I guess the supposed appeal is in the implicit dehumanization and racism.

yeah, that's actually how I've always read it. looking at people in lives stretched to the limit of tolerance by the pure drive for survival, and instead of having a fucking lick of empathy and going "wow yeah, all this is kinda shitty, maybe we should change it" they go "oh yeah very clearly this person is incapable of self-directed behaviour and action"