I recently read a manga (namely “7 Seeds”) that was advocating that dogs are special because no other animal could ever be as close to humans as dogs. It actually makes a compelling argument for them (even though I personally am still a cat person), it’s absolutely impressive what dogs do for their owners. Sometimes I wonder if pigs could be like that too though, except that they are much rarer pets of course. A sees dogs a lot these days both in the city and from our window, but he rarely sees any cats. As a result, he has been a fervent dog person so far. O however prefers cats because he remembers that we used to have one, and not even his (temporary) love for Paw Patrol made him switch his preferences. Oh kids.
Films like Okja make me want to no longer eat any meat (in that aspect it’s been really efficient!) If I think about, I have already been mostly reducing my own meat consumption. Usually I make vegetables dishes with just a little bit of meat in it, so I hate that you cannot buy meat in small quantities, because honestly, all I want is to conveniently add a little flavor to a dish with like 30-40g of ground beef. Today I made a ratatouille (time for another themed movie night!) and I was pleased to see that there is a quick vegetable dish I can produce without resorting to adding meat. On a moral level though, I am personally much more bothered by eggs and dairy. Killing an animal is one thing, but imagining the life-long pain animals go through in order to produce eggs and milk just make me shudder. Unfortunately, forgoing meat is relatively easy (except for bone marrow and ribs, those are tough) but eggs and milk are part of the greatest pleasures in life!
Okja
I was so disappointed in “Snowpiercer” and its clichéd storyline that I was relatively cautious about “Okja”. Considering how much the film was snubbed in Cannes and all, I was also very willing to like it. But all of these would not have been necessary. “Okja” is Bong Joon-ho’s most lovable film because of its cute main characters and it really hit my heartstrings. As mentioned in the intro to the film, the animal rights aspects of the film made me re-think my own stance to eating or using animals.
Even apart from that, “Okja” is something like the perfect Bong Joon-ho film. We loved “Okja” ever since the first scene where we thought that they absolutely nailed capitalism with just one PowerPoint presentation. Going on, the film has some horrible scenes (especially the one when Okja is captured) and marvelous comedy (especially where Tilda Swinton is involved). Heck even the film’s biggest conflict (evil people are trying to kill Okja) was resolved with an almost absurd comedic scene, and yet it makes so much sense in the universe of the film that Okja’s last minute save didn’t even seem like a deus ex machina at all. Just a funny surprise.
Without a doubt, “Mother”, “Memories of Murder” and even “Host” are better films in terms of artistry, but personally “Okja” beats them all because it’s a wonderful heartwarming story (and also very clever, and also very well-made, and it made me think about our relationships with animals). Bottom line – I think “Okja” totally got snubbed because it’s a Netflix production, the film industry truly is a shameful thing and yet capable of producing so many gems.