vegans out here claiming that Okja is a pro-vegan film have honestly missed the film’s themes and message entirely. Okja is not concerned with the ethical consumption of animal products (as exemplified by the shots of people consuming meat are few and far between), but the ethical production of meat.
mija’s grandfather farms chickens and they raise okja by letting her “run around” (exemplifying the ethical free range production of food). furthermore, mija and her grandfather eat meat: the first sequence of the film is Mija collecting fish for dinner and later, her grandfather makes Mija her favorite chicken dish. the contrast between the soft lighting of mija’s grandfather preparing food vs the harsh sterile cuts of the preparation of the super-pig meat literally spell the message of the film out for you- ethical production: good! mass production: bad!
even if you missed all that, you can catch Silver, one of the members of the ALF, almost passing out because of his refusal to eat anything that has been mass produced, even his fellow ALF members remark that his convictions are unhealthy and make him useless for their cause (the liberation of animals)
also okja is the biggest super-pig in the film and the most healthy, making her a living breathing testament to the success of free range production, as what makes Okja’s suffering so terrible is the contrast between the way she was raised vs her horrible fate. furthermore, the insidiousness of the film lies in the dishonesty that runs through it. both mija and the public are lied to from the beginning about okja and the super-pigs, mija’s grandfather lies to mija about okja and all these lies were told in the pursuit of profit. even k, in the ALF, lies about mija’s consent in pursuit of his own idea of fame and fortune,
if this film is pro-anything, it is pro-halal/pro-honest ethical production. the film shows you over and over again abstaining from mass production doesn’t impact the production of the product, only abstaining from the nature of the production itself does
Okja is anti-capitalist, not anti-meat. Veganism is just giving your money to other cooperation who would rather take your money than let ethical independent farmers (like mija and her grandfather) get anything for their labor. support independent ethically produced products where you can!!
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