Okja Satire

“It’s all edible! All edible, except the squeal!” (Okja). Bong Joon-ho’s film, Okja, was not only Netflix’s first original film to make a splash with audiences around the world, but also the first Netflix produced film to take to the big screens at the Cannes Film Festival (Taubin 30). While it was at first met with boos by the audience, by the end of the movie the Cannes audience was roaring with applause (Taubin 30). Okja captures the lighthearted moments of friendship between a girl and her best friend while also exposing viewers to harsh truths, giving it a beautiful balance of fluff pieces and darker content. Despite film critics’ badgering for its genre transitions and supposed heavy-handed displays propaganda, the genre bending showcased

The social and political satire interspersed in Okja blended in with the comedic and ominous elements of the film, never becoming too overwhelming and instead almost hiding behind the witty dialogue and graphic images. With Okja’s focus on protesting factory farming and GMOs, the movie could have come across as rather oppressive but it utilized amusing discourse and came across as the perfect blend of enjoyable and edifying (Scott). Furthermore, the satire portrayed in Okja does not take a particular side, it is subtly used against both neoliberals (Animal Liberation Front) and capitalists (Mirando Corporation). The majority of the film features the Mirando Corporation as the bad guys, as shown when CEO Mirando blatantly admits to lying to their customers about their supposed naturally grown products, “Such a shame we had to tell all those little white lies. It’s not our fault that the consumers are so paranoid about [genetically modified] foods.” However, it also puts the spotlight on the immoral actions of the Animal Liberation Front, for example: the ALF participate in terrorizing the people transporting Okja, jumping aboard the truck while brandishing weapons all the while screaming, “No compromise!” (Okja). This clearly demonstrates that the satire utilized in Okja does not merely villainize big corporations, but also shows the bad side of the well-intentioned. The satire promoted in the movie is only one layer of Okja that displays the bad parts of both sides with Mija and Okja caught in the middle of it