The Green Parable: Animal Ethics and Capitalist Violence in Okja

Abstract

Since the dawn of civilisation, human beings have been coexisting with animals. This coexistence has been a natural and necessary part of human existence and survival. In the Stone Age, when settled life was not in practice, men used to hunt animals for food and used their skins to keep themselves warm. As the early humans started practising agriculture, domestication of animals began, and since then, the bond between the two has changed. From hunters to caregivers to companions, the relationship has evolved. However, with the advancement of technology and the development of societies, humans have gone from being participants to being dominant, controlling the oceans, the landscape, the air and everything around them, especially in the epoch of Capitalocene. The increase in population necessitated the expansion of meat production. To satisfy this rise in demand, corporate companies turned to engineered livestock, which inflicted violence upon animals and resulted in their exploitation. The animal rights were compromised as animals were reduced to consumer products. Bong Joon Ho’s Okja, set in one such world, where nature and its inhabitants have been reduced to mere consumer products, depicts the emotional bond between humans and animals, contrasting it with the dehumanising effects of corporate capitalism and greed. Okja criticises the capitalist tendencies of humans and discusses the shifting boundaries between the human and the non-human in the neocolonial world. The movie also touches upon the issue of greenwashing, used by corporate companies to deceive customers. Bong Joon Ho’s proposed solution and rightful alternative is the Chthulucene, the co-existence of all the entities on Earth.