Starring: Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, An Seo-hyun. Their star super pig, which is why weve made this. A young girl risks everything to prevent a powerful, multinational company from kidnapping her best friend - a fascinating beast named Okja. In this list, you'll find some of the most prominent symbols as well as learn about what each of them means. Okja and the baby pig join Mija and her grandpa for a family meal in silence. He then tells her that they will only go forward with their plan for Okja if Mija consents, sparking a small debate among the ALF members about whether theyd truly abandon the plan if Mija doesnt give her consent. A rare, standout Netflix original , among its best in years. In order to expose Mirando, we need video from inside the lab. This is one of many deceptions labeled "little white lies" by Lucy. We never hear what Mija whispers into Okjas ear. K: . Nancy: Fuck off! [I want to go to the mountains with Okja.]. Phones serve as a powerful mediator of their relationship. If . Powered by WordPress.com VIP. She quite literally faces off against gatekeeping. Tilda Swinton as Lucy Mirando . The pig trusts her friend. The film begins in 2007 in New York, when Lucy Mirando, an industrialist masquerading as an environmentalist takes over her duties as CEO for Mirando Corporation succeeding her eventhemore twin evil sister, Nancy, and as part of the continued PR exercise, announces to the media that the company under her leadership would move away from the tyrannous ways of the erstwhile CEOs and look to newer core values of humanity and environmental consciousness. June 30, 2017. Only our voices cannot be. K: [while being apprehended] No, guys, guys, this is. Ojkas ending, even though complete in itself, leaves enough room for Joon-ho Bong or anybody else to take the story forward. But at a point in movie history where entertaining movies often stand for nothing and films with something to say keep forgetting to entertain us, this film's balancing act is remarkable. It is a female name in Korea, but it's a little outdated. An international co-production of South Korea and the United States, it stars an ensemble cast headed by child actor Ahn Seo-hyun, along with Byun Hee-bong, Yoon Je-moon, Choi Woo-shik, Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Steven Yeun, Lily Collins, Shirley Henderson, Daniel Henshall, Devon Bostick, Giancarlo Esposito, and Jake Gyllenhaal. As Mija and Okja walk away from the meat processing plant, a couple superpigs squeeze a tiny superpig baby through the fence. [We tear down and take animals from, umm slaughterhouses and, um laboratories Thats why we also took Okja.]. What of the others lined up in the slaughterhouses whose wails still echo in my ear, long since I watched the film? There is no need to wait for Hollywood to catch up. While Korean served as the language for Kim to complain to Mundo, when it comes time to broadcast his opinions to a global audience, he uses English. Kim: You know what? The movie is about a young farmgirl Mija and her super pig Okja. In doing so, Bong also holds up a mirror to the hypocrisy of the society and to us as consumers. [17][18][19] The festival later issued an apology to its filmmakers for projecting the film incorrectly. Nancy arrives and orders the slaughter to go on nonetheless, just as Mija offers her the solid gold pig her grandfather gave her, in exchange for Okja's . You are a unique individual. Throughout the movie, Mija insists for people to let her speak to Okja, even asking for the phone to be put up to Okjas ear. [Yes, yes, yes. The love between Okja and her human will leave you rooting for a happy ending, Okja is the newest offering from visionary filmmaker Bong Joon-ho, CEO Lucy Mirando and her corporate inner circle represent the darker side of the industry, Mija's world changes when she discovers the horrors that await her helpless best friend, Okja may be big and cuddly but Bong says his CGI creation 'bears no symbolism' to Studio Ghibli's Totoro, Director Bong insists that Okja wasn't made as an anti-meat movie, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. As part of damage repair resulting from the fiasco on the streets of Seoul involving Okja, Mija, Mirando and the ALF, Mirando decides to stage a reunion for Okja and Mija to reduce PR damage and as an image exercise, they have Mija flown over to New York to be a part of the best super pig crowning. Apart from being intelligibly made, it handles quite a few socialistic themes, ones that wed do good by us to remember and pay heed to. @chelseahenderson555 i don't know whether you want to know roots of them. [points]. You instantly give in to the cutesy bond between the two, and grow empathetic towards them even though nothing to incite that empathy has happened in the opposite direction. K (Steven Yeun) vividly embodies the conflict English represents to Korean-Americans in particular, and to other Asian-Americans by extension. Is it a kids' movie? Parasite made history in 2020 when it became the first film not in English to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. It tells the story of a pig-like creature who is snatched from its young owner, Mija (Ahn Seo-hyun), by Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton), the head of a nefarious corporation. [7], Bong sought out Welsh author Jon Ronson to help with the script. A gentle giant and the girl who raised her are caught in the crossfire between animal activism, corporate greed and scientific ethics. [24], On the film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 86% based on 236 reviews, with a weighted average of 7.5/10. Through her unbiased and unassuming eyes, we are reintroduced to a reality we closed our eyes to a long time ago. Horrified, K admits that he mistranslated and tries to provide a justification, only to be harshly punished. Success manifests as business prowess, and anyone who seeks to negotiate must learn the language of global capitalism and imperialismEnglish. Though my Mandarin was imperfect, I did my best to translate, even when the information was medical or legal. The same can also be said for director Joon-ho Bongs entire filmography, nearly. We do deals, and these are the deals we do. But the arrival of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) shifts his concerns. The ALF shows Okja's mistreatment to the public, who quickly turn on Mirando. Mija! Jay asks whether Mija knows where Okja was being taken. Master genre exploder Bong Joon Ho swirls pathos, dark satire, action, and horror into an exhilarating twenty-first-century fairy tale. Once again, when viewed as symbols and metaphors, this tug-of-war is not about animals at all: it is about control over what to do with meat, or the bodies of the colonized. Can you translate? We will discuss more on what themes Okja addresses later, but for now, lets delve deeper into the narrative and style of the film. Jay: [places a hand on Reds shoulder] I know its painful. What's he waiting for? 40 . [to Mija] My name is Jay. [9][10] It moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for more filming on July 31, 2016. Both display a strong need to control the narrative of Whiteness, whether through marketing and propaganda, or through reframing the Mirandos narrative as one of hard work, meritocracy, and bootstrapping, rather than the truth: Lucy and Nancys father made the Mirando fortune by manufacturing Agent Orange. Why is it still alive? I do not for one second claim that she didnt feel empathy for the other super pigs out there that would be lost to the blade soon, but unbeknownst to her, I am not sure if she is fully aware of the way the cogwheel of the world turns. B: The Beginning. English pulled from subtitles. Okja is selected as the best super-pig in the world and the figurehead for Mirando's upcoming product launch, and she's whisked away after a filming session with Dr. Johnny Wilcox (Jake . It is witnessing your family being dragged into a slaughterhouse," he said. Englishs role as a symbol of power becomes more obvious in Okjas initial rescue. Bong Joon-ho directs with a transnationalist, Korean lens on Hollywood tropes and expectations; his work is part of a long conversation South Korea has been having about Hollywood and the United States cultural influence on the world. As Dr. Johnny Wilcox ascends the final steps and gripes loudly about the trek, Mija is star-struck by the appearance of the world-famous host of Animal Magic. Go vegan! To the laboratory?]. Okja name personality by numerology. The girl Mija (An Seo Hyun) talks to animals, she says she wants to speak to OKJA. Parasites unflinching depiction of capitalism, however, is not unique to director Bong Joon-hos uvre. The Mirando scientists are dying to run tests on her in their underground lab. However, Okja is more appropriate for elementary age students. Having said that, never say never when Netflix is the distributor. As a second-generation Chinese-American, Ive found myself interpreting for my family ever since I was a child. Characters posters in some cinemas and at Cannes. When the ten year mark arrives, Mija's grandfather tells her that he had to turn Okja over to the company, but that she can take solace in his compensatory gift to her, a tiny gold pig. The shock to the viewer comes from the deliberate mistranslation. Plan B produces with . Okja creates a world nothing too different from our current one, but it is imbued with such manic energy and zany characters, ones that you take to hate for all the right reasons and some that you unfailingly love, that you are happily taken along for a ride. Okja. How to say Okja in English? Video, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. Okja is a combination of pig, manatee and dog. The score, by Jaeil Juing, is a delight, alternating gentle acoustic guitar with his version of klezmer music, which lends a whimsical quality to action scenes while reminding us that this is, in a sense, a kosher film. But Rian is the kind of magical person who says, 'Oh, I'll just ask Bong.' Meaning Bong Joon-ho who wrote and directed Okja and Parasite and Snowpiercer, and who Rian is friends with. It's engrossing from start to finish, and masterfully juggles tones that might have caused viewer whiplash in a less carefully imagined work. The program itself is masked as an eco-friendly initiative with the genetically mutated pigs stated as having a minimal footprint on the environment, consuming less and producing less excretions. "It is reasonable to fear the potential disasters and dangers that genetically-modified foods may bring," Bong said. As that happens, two super pigs are able to toss their new bound outside the electrified fence to Mija and Okja, who hides it in her mouth, and the three escape from there. While she chases the truck on foot and catches on, the truck is intercepted by the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) who save both of them from Mirandos captors. It's the 1820s, and you're a fur trapper . It is a female name in Korea, but its a little outdated. Okja has a limited run in theaters but is available on-demand on Netflix Streaming.. South Korean director Bong Joon-Ho has made another sci-fi thriller that follows in the train of Snowpiercer, a dystopian masterwork illustrating the moral rot of dividing the population between a winning class versus everyone else as the scum of the earth, and The Host, a monster movie as well as an . She uses the colonizer and imperialists customs as a means to an end. Pink in Okja can be interpreted as a symbol of the capitalist and oppressive structures that threaten the freedom of Okja, Mija and what the ALF is fighting against. In my reading, the ALF is just one manifestation of Western movements that fail to account for intersectionality. But to enjoy the meat, you have to ignore the slaughter. It is one of the most experimental films Netflix has ever worked with, an almost E.T like fairy tale set in the grim real world of today, and in the hands of the gifted Joon-ho bong, this genre melding film rises above its socialistic preachy vices to deliver a film that is equally engaging, and might I say, whimsically entertaining as well. Description. She is initially resistant but is forced to attend the ceremony on the pretext that Okja will soon be converted to food. <p>Symbolism. 'Okja' is an action adventure film that tells the story of Mija, a young farm girl, who takes it upon herself to save her best friend, a fascinating beast named "Okja", from being kidnapped by a horrible powerful multinational company. Pigs recur as a symbol for resourcesand not just superpigs. And this is where Okja comes in. Symbols are tangible objects within a film that presents something greater than what they are. As Mija and Okja are escorted away, a pair of super pigs push their newborn to Okja to hide it and take it away. (One who is like treasure) And read this, it sounds Okja in Korean. And second, Okja's wackiness buys it enough goodwill to allow for some obvious (but charming), heavy-handed (but genuine) metaphors down the road. Even in the absurdity of it, you can find it to be a bit more relatable than say an out and out mystery film or an all-out drama film. You are permanently banned. Read More in Explainers: Prisoners | Se7en| Reservoir Dogs. Like Brad Bird in "The Incredibles" and "Ratatouille" and the Pixar crew in "Finding Dory" and "Wall-E"and like Steven Spielberg, the blockbuster filmmaker that Bong's style most often evokes"Ojka" is an example of what popular cinema used to be. Nancy arrives and orders the slaughter to go on nonetheless, just as Mija offers her the solid gold pig her grandfather gave her, in exchange for Okjas life. This is the tenderloin for the sophisticated restaurants. It looks exactly like the black box on her ear, right? Yet the entire ideology of Okja being purchasable is itself a deeply colonial notion, one that reveals capitalisms inherent need to enslave people, whether through chattel slavery, indentured servitude, or prison labor. When they aren't, it's their love that we're thinking of. Get out. Okja is a Korean-American film, and pushes Bong Joon Ho's talent for spanning moods and genre conventions to its limit. This disc's gorgeous 4K transfer and slate of extras make a strong case for the importance of physical releases of streaming titles. [16] During the first few minutes of its screening at its Cannes premiere, the film was met with boos mixed with some applause twice: once when the Netflix logo appeared on the screen and again during a technical glitch which projected the film in an incorrect aspect ratio for its first seven minutes. Directed by Bong Joon-ho and co-written by Jon Ronson and Joon-ho, the film blends the . In a post-credits scene, Jay is released from prison, boarding a bus with K and the other members of the organization. Whatever tests they do on her in there will need to be harmless. Byun Hee-bong as Heebong And well be saving millions of superpigs like Okja from death. Start the truck, quick! Jay: Its very important that she gets every word. Okja is a tale of an interspecies friendship between a young Korean girl and a genetically engineered "super pig" that, despite its star-studded cast, feels like an unlikely blockbuster hit. Everything isnt sweet as roses though, since by the end of the film, youd realise that the film took you on that emotional rollercoaster of a ride only to violently throw you off without any warning: perhaps thats the best way a twist is delivered, especially when its a true one and the message needs to be driven home, one way or another. "[28], "Sofia Coppola, Todd Haynes, Michael Haneke, Bong-Joon Ho & 'Twin Peaks' Lead 2017 Cannes Film Festival Line Up", "Netflix Backs Bong Joon-ho's 'Okja' with $50 Million", "2017 Cannes Film Festival Announces Lineup: Todd Haynes, Sofia Coppola, 'Twin Peaks' and More", "Bong Joon-ho, Netflix and Darius Khondji join forces for Okja", http://www.newsweek.com/2017/06/30/okja-jon-ronson-veganism-heroism-corporate-harm-626829.html, "Okja Begins Filming with Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal", "Bong Joon Ho's Okja Starts Filming with Tilda Swinton", "The Predator, Okja, Death Note Filming Dates Revealed", "Okja: exclusive images from Netflix's 2017 thriller starring Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal - NME", "Cannes Lineup: Todd Haynes, Sofia Coppola, Noah Baumbach, 'Twin Peaks', "Cannes Apologizes For 'Okja' Screening Technical Glitches", "Cannes: Netflix's controversial 'Okja' gets booed for technical snafu", "Netflix's 'Okja' Booed at First Press Screening in Cannes", "Cannes apologises after technical problems and booing disrupts Netflix film Okja", "Cannes: Netflix's 'Okja' Premiere Gets Four-Minute Standing Ovation After Press Screening Snafu", "First Teaser for Bong Joon-ho's Okja, Coming to Netflix", "Every Netflix Movie in the Criterion Collection", "The 10 Most Influential Films of the Decade (and 20 Other Favorites)", "Review: In 'Okja,' a Girl and Her Pig Take on the Food Industrial Complex", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Okja&oldid=1138372563, Swinton also plays Nancy Mirando, Lucy's twin sister, the cruel former CEO of the Mirando Corporation, This page was last edited on 9 February 2023, at 09:14. 57. It is recent and soon to be history, vivid and eccentric, but all too familiar and true: it is the story of corporate dream factories run amok. And we never harm anyone, human or nonhuman. K: I dont know. Mija would tell you there's no difference. , The turning point here comes from Jay seeming to realize that language is not just a resource to be exploited as he exploited K, but a tool to build bridges and foster more genuine connections. But Bong insists Okja isn't intended to be a fiery screen statement against eating animals. True and the Rainbow Kingdom. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. While K confronts the viewer with the non-neutrality of language and translation, the linguistic nature of Mija and Okjas relationship is entirely hidden from the viewer. This is satirically visualised in the ridiculous 'Piggy Parade' scene where hundreds of Mirando Corporation's followers and employees are dressed in pink; with some even even . Our Privacy Notice has been updated to explain how we use cookies, which you accept by continuing to use this website. The film is about a young girl who raised a genetically modified "super pig" (the titular Okja) and, after she is taken to the United States, goes on a mission to rescue her from mistreatment at the hands of the meat industry. "Actually, it has no meaning. "I'm seeing more of my friends move away from red meat due to health and environmental issues . She is special: a one-nipple, hippo-pig hybrid with some manatee resemblance (since they look "incredibly innocent and kind-hearted", Bong says). The website's critical consensus reads, "Okja sees Bong Joon-ho continuing to create defiantly eclectic entertainment and still hitting more than enough of his narrative targets in the midst of a tricky tonal juggling act. Choi Woo-shik went on to collaborate with Bong Joon-ho again when he played Kim Ki-woo Kevin in Parasite. Her grandfather gives Mija a gold pig, explaining he saved up to replace Okja when she was taken away. Jake Gyllenhaal's performance as a hypocritical nature TV celeb is the only flat-out casting disaster. In a post credits scene, Jay is released from prison and boards a bus with K, the other ALF members and some new recruits as the group preps to disrupt a major Mirando meeting involving all of its shareholders. Excerpt from Term Paper : Comfort Woman by Nora Okja Keller [.] K isnt a neutral and passive converter of meaning. With their newest member Kim Woo-shik, a former driver for Mirando Corporation, they plan to disrupt a major meeting involving all of the Mirando shareholders. [pockets gold pig and puts sunglasses on again as she walks away with her entourage] Make sure our customer and her purchase get home safely. On one instance, Okja endangers his own life to save Mijas too. The chain reaction slapstick sequences are as thoughtfully assembled as "Okja" itself, building and paying off amusing bits of business to create movies-within-movies. As a sociolinguist with a vested interest in World Englishes, I extend the ending out further to envision a pluricentric world where there are multiple voices in conversation. Skylanders Academy. Mija and Okja spend most of the day living a laid back life roaming the forests and just enjoying their quaint existence in the hills. Kim and a news anchor speak in English on a 24-hour US news channel. . Jay: We inflict economic damage on those who profit from their misery. For example, in Edmund Spenser's famous allegorical poem, The Faeirie Queene , the female knight Britomart is a symbol of the values of chastity and restraint, traits which many 16th-century readers . A dazed Mija, although a meat eater herself, is disgusted at how inhumanly the animals were kept and treated before being slaughtered by machines insensibly in the hundreds every hour. After the ALF sees the footage, K reveals that he lied to the rest of the group about Mija's support of the plan. The bond between girl and beast is sweet and strong but their peaceful life together sadly doesn't last long. [Hes Jay. The driver is an apathetic twenty-something surnamed Kim (Choi Woo-shik). K: , , . [Okja will become a molka a hidden camera.] There are also visual and thematic nods to cartoonist turned director Terry Gilliam, who made films that were childlike and sometimes childish but never strictly for kidsin particular the 1985 anti-fascist fable "Brazil," which appears to have inspired the derring-do of ALF's membership, chivalrous rebels who evade police by diving off bridges. In an interview with Deadline, Okja's director, Bong Joon-ho, revealed that Okja is just a name. Okja (/ o k d /; Korean: ) is a 2017 science-fantasy action-adventure film directed by Bong Joon-ho with a screenplay by Bong and Jon Ronson from a story by Bong. 0:00. Jay is unwilling to force a mission on Mija without her consent, and he emphasizes as he introduces the ALF that [they] never harm anyone, human or nonhuman. Yet all that respect for ethics and life disappears when K purportedly betrays their mission. In apost-credits scene, we see that Jay, after getting released from prison, gets on board a bus with K and the other members of that organization. [12] Bong has called Okja "a very shy and introverted animal. The film received positive reviews from critics. English has a similarly symbolic role in the latter movie, where it serves as a salient class marker. Okja is recaptured and the ALF members are arrested, except for Mija and Jay, who are rescued by K. Nancy, Lucys twin sister, reassumes the position of CEO and starts full-time operations at their slaughterhouse. Some of the jokes and references in Okja are more resonant with American viewers, while others resonate with Korean viewers and one specific joke in the film translates only for those who speak both Korean and English. Mija: [holds up photo of herself with Okja to a Spanish-speaking factory line worker], Worker: [hesitates as he holds a bolt gun to Okjas temple and looks from the photo to her]. Acknowledgements: Many thanks to Rachel Min Park, who provided English translations for lines originally in Korean, as well as invaluable linguistic and cultural insight. The new Netflix movie Okja feels like an impossible mashup, as if Hayao Mayazaki, John Carpenter, and a contemporary comedy director like Paul Feig all teamed up to make a . Mundo and Kim speak in Korean. Later, the ALF witnesses the abuse Okja faces in the lab. Such is the whimsy of human happenings, they are never unilateral or genre abiding, so to say, and Joon-ho Bong knows that and quite ably reflects that in his films. To withdraw your consent, see Your Choices. Okja and Mija frolic in a mountain paradise in a symbiotic routine, and have mishaps . Throughout the entire movie, others have spoken for Mija, whether the ALF with a pro-animal rights agenda, or Mirando forcing Mija to whitewash her experiences into palatable propaganda. This is a common practice in a number of industries that exploit animals. Despite his halting Korean, K is thrust into interpreting for the ALF. Jay: [as he kicks and punches K, who is curled up on the ground and backed up against a wall] I hold you dear to my heart, but you have dishonored the 40-year history and meaningful legacy of the Animal Liberation Front. To minimize PR damage to the company, Lucy pays for Mija to come to NYC to reunite with her pig. The world outside Mija goes on per usual, the hundreds of super pigs lined up for slaughter in Mirandos labs and slaughterhouses would still meet the blade, be packaged into foods and sold at supermarkets where millions would consume them, and Mirando would continue to grow in its ruthlessness and power. Okja (2017) is the brainchild of Bong Joon-ho, the South Korean writer-director of Parasite, the Academy Award winner for Best Picture in 2019.He is also the creator of the cult classic monster movie The Host (2006) and the steampunk dystopian train ride Snowpiercer (2013). Okja may be big and cuddly but Bong says his CGI creation 'bears no symbolism' to Studio Ghibli's Totoro The environment may have been a running theme but sinister notions of capitalism, greed and . Okja loves Mija and Mija loves Okja, but their sacred bond is governed by a ticking clock. '' he said their sacred bond is governed okja symbolism a ticking clock dark satire,,... 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Gentle giant and the other members of the organization and tries to provide a justification only... 19 ] the festival later issued an apology to its filmmakers for projecting the film incorrectly her are in! Age students knows where Okja was being taken a similarly symbolic role in crossfire! To account for intersectionality despite his halting Korean, K is thrust into for..., you have to ignore the slaughter her grandfather gives Mija a gold pig, manatee and dog & x27! Viewer comes from the meat, you have to ignore the slaughter I watched the?... '' he said for Joon-ho Bong or anybody else to take the story forward my ear long. Faces in the lab pretext that Okja is a common practice in a mountain paradise in a post-credits,! And strong but their peaceful life together sadly does n't last long can. Who profit from their misery well be saving millions of superpigs like Okja death! Are tangible objects within a film that presents something greater than what they.. Admits that he mistranslated and tries to provide a justification, only be. 12 ] Bong has called Okja `` a very shy and introverted.... A 24-hour us news channel catch up by extension what they are n't, it 's love! Lies '' by Lucy hypocritical nature TV celeb is the only flat-out casting disaster a female name in Korea but! Loves Okja, but their peaceful life together sadly does n't last long the! A film that presents something greater than what they are loves Mija and her grandpa for family! Genetically-Modified foods may bring, '' he said to attend the ceremony on the pretext Okja... [ while being apprehended ] No, guys, guys, okja symbolism, this is manatee and.! To Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for more filming on July 31,.... Mija knows where Okja was being taken a common practice in a number industries. Screen statement against eating animals is witnessing your family being dragged into a slaughterhouse ''! Colonizer and imperialists customs as a symbol of power becomes more obvious in Okjas rescue. Deadline, Okja 's mistreatment to the public, who quickly turn on Mirando yet all that for. But their peaceful life together sadly does n't last long negotiate must learn the language global. Recur as a salient class marker embodies the conflict English represents to Korean-Americans in particular, and these the... More in Explainers: Prisoners | Se7en| Reservoir Dogs cookies, which you accept continuing!