The Green Parable: Animal Ethics and Capitalist Violence in Okja

International Journal of Research (IJR) e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 13 October 2025 Received: 12 October 2025 294 Revised: 25 October 2025 Accepted: 30 October 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17505178 The Green Parable: Animal Ethics and Capitalist Violence in Okja Nithya Peter, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Mar Gregorios College of Arts and Science 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. Keywords: Animal Studies, Capitalocene, Green Washing, Chthhulucene Profit, Pork, and the Post-Human In 1818, nearly 200 years ago, a twenty-year-old aspiring writer created her first novel, which went on to become the first science fiction horror novel of English Literature. Titled Frankenstein, the novel depicted the horrors of unrealistic ambition and unchecked scientific fervour. Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist, creates a monster out of his obsession with International Journal of Research (IJR) e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 13 October 2025 Received: 12 October 2025 295 Revised: 25 October 2025 Accepted: 30 October 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17505178 constructing a new life. He wanted to make a modern Adam and be the new God. Even though he succeeds in his mission, the grotesque figure of his creation makes him rethink his decision, and he abandons the creature. This novel by Mary Shelley is considered one of the first attempts at showcasing the horrors of scientific experiments and moral irresponsibility. Two centuries apart, in 2017, Bong Joon Ho, a South Korean filmmaker, made Okja, a genetically mutated super pig created by Lucy Mirando, the 21st-century Victor Frankenstein. The film Okja is a critique of the capitalist tendencies of a few profit-driven human beings. It is an insightful representation of the Capitalocene and its serious consequences, especially highlighting the effect it has on animals, man's companion from time immemorial. The movie is a valuable addition to the emerging field of Animal Studies. Animal studies is an interdisciplinary field that studies the complex relationships between humans and other animals. It is often linked to disciplines like philosophy, history, sociology, and environmental studies, exploring ethical, social, cultural, and ecological dimensions of human-animal interactions. The discipline has gained prominence pertaining to the concerns about animal welfare, environmental degradation, and the need for more sustainable coexistence of humans with other species on the planet. Due to the increasingly complex relationship and interaction between human beings and animals, the field is becoming more relevant in addressing critical issues like climate change, biodiversity loss, and the ethical treatment of animals in various contexts. The critics and theorists of the field often engage in questions about notions of what it is to be an animal or what exactly is animalism or animalistic, to understand human-made representations of and cultural ideas about „the animal‟ and what it is to be human, by employing various theoretical perspectives. Though Animal Studies as a field of study is a relatively recent discipline, its roots could be traced back to ancient times, where many scholars and theoreticians, like Aristotle and Plutarch, expressed their views on animals through their works. Even in such early ages, religions across the world, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity and Islam, had diverse views on animals, with some considering them as sacred while others as slaves or subordinate to humans. The medieval and Renaissance periods saw increased interest in animals, often symbolic or moralistic in purpose, which could be seen in illustrated texts like International Journal of Research (IJR) e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 13 October 2025 Received: 12 October 2025 296 Revised: 25 October 2025 Accepted: 30 October 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17505178 bestiaries that combined real and mythical animals. As science and technology advanced, animals began to be the focus of studies. During the scientific revolution of the 17th century, animals were increasingly studied empirically. But this age also saw the theories on animals, which were more or less inhumane. This includes Descartes‟ view of animals as „machines‟ or animal automatism, as he calls it, which states that animals should be regarded as automata because they lack language, general intelligence and reason. A breakthrough in the field occurred in the 19th century, precisely in 1859, with the publication of On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, where Darwin‟s theory of evolution challenged the commonly believed human exceptionalism and sparked deeper scientific interest in animal behaviour and common ancestry. During this time, the interactions of humans and the representation of nature in the man‟s world were described in a positive light. There was no dominance of one over the other. This development saw the emergence of new areas of study, like Comparative Psychology, that studied animal minds in relation to human psychology. This era also saw the emergence of animal welfare movements, including laws for animal protection and the rise of animal welfare organisations. It was towards the late 20th century and early 21st century that Animal Studies emerged as an academic discipline that challenged anthropocentrism by deconstructing human/animal binaries and reimagining ethical relationships with animals. After a short period of being together, humans started to realise the potential of animal herding. Man, then, started considering animals as companions and as productive beings, depending on his needs. In turn, many animals and species found themselves in a less risky and much comfortable position, with humans providing them with food and shelter, without having to search for it themselves. This relationship of mutual benefit soon turned into one of exploitation. They began to use animals for labour, like farming, transportation and even warfare, as well as for leisure, including exhibition and pet ownership. Recognising the rising demand as well as the health benefits, animal meat and animal products began to be increasingly produced and consumed by humans. It soon became a profitable industry, with animals, including birds and fish, being produced in large numbers exclusively for consumption. Thus, animal products became an unavoidable part of the human diet. The exploitation soon expanded to the fashion and clothing industries, where animals were even International Journal of Research (IJR) e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 13 October 2025 Received: 12 October 2025 297 Revised: 25 October 2025 Accepted: 30 October 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17505178 hunted for commercial benefits. The love for exotic products has been, for a very long time, proven lethal to animals of different species, which are being killed for their skin. More horrific than all of these is the use of animals for scientific testing and research. Animals are often used in drug development, medical research, and cosmetics testing, often causing pain or death. Moreover, animals are used in the experiments and processes related to genetic modification, where these animals are altered for experimentation or to produce pharmaceuticals. The animals widely used for this are mostly rats and pigs due to their physiological and genetic similarities to humans. Also beneficial in these processes are their manageable size and relatively short lifespans, making them valuable models for studying diseases, drug efficacy, and other biological processes. In short, what humans are unsure or afraid of doing to themselves is done to these innocent creatures, who have equal rights to live on earth as humans. The fate of animals has become much worse in the era of Capitalocene, the current epoch where most of the crisis on Earth is driven by the specific dynamics of capitalism, rather than simply by humanity as a whole. It emphasises how capitalism's drive for accumulation, its exploitation of nature and labour, and its specific organisation of production and consumption have led to ecological and social devastation. The term Capitalocene was introduced by Jason W Moore, an environmental historian and historical geographer, as an alternative to Anthropocene, the epoch in which the world is affected by human interactions. As per the critics, Anthropocene is a new world in which humans have become the single most influential species on Earth and highlights the lasting impact of human life on Earth. In Anthropocene, the whole of humanity was blamed for the changes that were happening in the world. The entire human species was condemned, shifting the focus from those capitalist giants who are the real culprits. Anthropocene was used as a mask by these corporate-run capitalist nations to redirect attention from the carbon footprint created by them and criticise the whole of humanity for the changes which was affecting the natural world drastically. By universalising the responsibility, Anthropocene ignored the deep inequalities and capitalist forces that were leading to the collapse of the planet. Jason W Moore pointed at this disguise and he formulated the term Capitalocene to shift the attention from the whole humanity to the International Journal of Research (IJR) e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 13 October 2025 Received: 12 October 2025 298 Revised: 25 October 2025 Accepted: 30 October 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17505178 capitalists, neo-colonists and industrialists who were getting the real advantage from this. Here, the responsibility of environmental degradation is lifted from the whole of humanity to those select capitalists who remained invisible under Anthropocene. Moore focuses on the socio-economic aspects of this mass destruction of the natural world. This aspect of the Capitalocene and its impact on various species, especially animals, has been explored in film and literature since then. Bong Joon Ho‟s Okja, like his previous movies Parasite and Snow Piercer, centres on the narrative of capitalism. It is a movie on animal cruelty and how genetically mutated animals are used for greenwashing corporate greed. Lucy Mirando, the antagonist, is the owner of Mirando Corporation, a livestock company. Previously run by her father and founded by her grandfather, the company was known for their cruel attitudes. Lucy, one of the twin daughters, decides to change the company image by making it more environmental-friendly. Within the first ten minutes of the movie, the director manages to put forward the problematic side of capitalism through the words of Lucy, who is an ideal example of capitalist greed. During the inauguration of her new project, which involves the mutation and breeding of a new species of super pig for consumption, while talking about her twin sister Nancy, she says, "She's totally ignorant of humanity. She lacks vision beyond the next round of golf" (Okja 00:01:4448). This is a short narrative of capitalism, which never sees beyond the profit it could make, ignoring humanity and its future almost entirely in the process. In her speech, Lucy points to an aspect of current scientific research and experimentation on animals. While talking about the animal on which they performed their experiments, Lucy calls it a 'miracle' and says, This beautiful and special little creature was miraculously discovered on one Chilean farm...Our scientists have been raising her with love and care ever since, observing and performing various studies. And we've successfully reproduced 26 miracle piglets by nonforced, natural mating. They are like nothing on Earth (00:02:1445). The creature becomes a miracle to Lucy because it could gain thousands of dollars for her capitalist corporate firm. It is evident from her words that in the creation of the piglets, the creature would have been subjected to various experiments. Her speech is paradoxical, as love and care and experimentation cannot exist together because a creature undergoing International Journal of Research (IJR) e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 13 October 2025 Received: 12 October 2025 299 Revised: 25 October 2025 Accepted: 30 October 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17505178 scientific studies will undoubtedly be subjected to extreme pain. This is proven right towards the end of the movie, where the atrocities suffered by Okja, the one which is selected as the best super pig, in the research facility of Mirando, are revealed, including the forced mating. What she does here is a classic example of greenwashing, that is, manipulating people by making misleading claims about the environmental benefits of a product to create a positive impression. The scenes that follow focus on the super pig, Okja, who was given to a farmer in South Korea and is now a fully grown pig. Okja's unique and warm relationship with Mija, the granddaughter of the farmer, is what makes the story beautiful. The viewers will instantly be pulled into the dynamics of the relationship between Okja and Mija, who could understand each other without even a word. Okja, the mutated pig, looks cute yet strong and magnificent. This happiness is soon turned into an emotional ordeal when Okja gets selected as the best super pig and is taken to Seoul without Mija's knowledge. The story then follows Mija's journey to Seoul to bring back Okja and her relentless efforts, which run parallel to Okja's extremely painful sufferings. After a series of chaotic events, Okja is rescued by the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) for a short period of time, only to reveal their ultimate plan: using Okja as a pawn to reveal the brutalities committed on the pigs by Mirando. Justifying their actions, the head of the team informs Mija about the experiments conducted on genetically-mutated animals in Mirando's research lab and says, Because genetic mutation is too dangerous, Mirando's been disguising it as natural, safe and non-GMO. But that's a complete scam. Millions of GM pigs are already lining up in front of slaughterhouses. You and the other local farmers are just promotional devices for them... They have been frantically breeding their super pigs, and soon, the supermarkets will be filled with their flesh and organs (00:53:3154:21). In the course of the movie, it is revealed that this exploitation of people, animals or resources is not something exclusively done by Lucy. Her father and twin sister are hated by the people for committing heinous things like releasing toxic waste to the river. This shows how International Journal of Research (IJR) e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 13 October 2025 Received: 12 October 2025 300 Revised: 25 October 2025 Accepted: 30 October 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17505178 capitalism and exploitation by capitalists are sustained through ages, generations after generations, with each person utilising or getting profited by it in some way or the other. Ironically, Lucy blames her father and loathes her sister when she herself is doing the same thing by masking it as utilitarian. Lucy and her corporate partners see business even in the relationship shared by Mija and Okja and decide to use it for their own benefit. While pondering the strategies to cover up the damages done by ALF, Lucy thinks of reuniting Mija and Okja. She says, A moving reunion! The best super pig and the adorable farmer girl forced apart and somehow brought together on our stage. An emotional reunion, and then they leave the stage together. Hand in hand. Hand in trotter. She can be the new face of the Mirando Corporation. She can be the embodiment of the Mirando ideal (01:05:01-21). In the lab, Okja faces horrific violations, including forced mating. These cruel acts were done to the innocent being, partly because the scientist was humiliated by Lucy Mirando in a meeting earlier that day. As he cannot express his anger then and there, he takes it out on the innocent creatures whose fate is in his hands. These monstrous acts even cause a change in Okja's character, as can be seen at the Super Pig Fest, where Okja becomes aggressive, even failing to recognise Mija. At one point, Okja begins to physically harm Mija. But Mija stays calm and whispers something in Okja's ears, which comforts her. This once again proves the uniqueness of the relationship shared by them, which suggests that animals and humans can actually co-exist peacefully. Towards the end of the movie, Okja is rescued by Mija, who reaches the production facility just in time to stop Okja from being slaughtered for meat. But she encounters another challenge in the form of Nancy, Lucy's twin sister, who steps in to cover up the damage caused by her sister's actions. Nancy refuses to release Okja as it will be a great loss for her, even if Okja is just one of hundreds of super pigs waiting in line to get slaughtered. When Mija asks why she wants to kill Okja, she replies that she could only sell the dead ones. When Mija demands that Okja be returned to her alive, Nancy refuses and says that it is her property. This scene contrasts two different mindsets that exist in the worldone humanistic and the other materialistic. While Mija sees Okja as one of her own, the capitalists, headed by International Journal of Research (IJR) e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 13 October 2025 Received: 12 October 2025 301 Revised: 25 October 2025 Accepted: 30 October 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17505178 people like Nancy, see it as a mere property that could earn them money and profit their business. While one took many risks, including travelling a great distance and getting injured by an animal, the other asserts possession, dismissing the fact that what is at stake is also a life worthy of existence on the planet with whatever rights that she possesses. After numerous attempts, Mija manages to save Okja by giving Nancy the figurine of a pig made of gold, gifted to her by her grandfather, to replace Okja. She replaced the golden pig with Okja instead and demanded Okja alive. Upon seeing the golden pig, Nancy agrees to release Okja, as the figurine would earn her more than the actual pig. This scene aptly portrays one of the characteristic features of capitalism, where the only thing that matters is money and wealth, not emotions or humanity. In a moving scene towards the end, as Mija walks with Okja back to the vehicle, a super pig couple waiting to be slaughtered pushes their piglet out of the line and towards Okja and Mija in the hope of rescuing their child. The helplessness in the eyes of those pigs gives a humanistic perspective to the whole scene, eliminating the concept of animalistic or whatever is related to animals as dangerous and ruthless. Okja hides the piglet in his mouth away from the guards, and Mija takes the piglet home, where the three of them exist together in a happy and peaceful space. The whole movie is presented in a humorous and sarcastic way, yet it was successful in delivering the seriousness of the subject matter it dealt with. It gives the viewers a vision of a peaceful co-existence and makes them think about its importance. What is essential in the years to come is a balanced existence where all the species, as well as non-living things coexist without posing any danger to one another. This is what Donna Haraway calls the Chthulucene, a speculative, ecological and multispecies epoch where humans live in harmony with all forms of life, systems and technologies. It rejects the idea of human mastery or human domination. The Chthulucene is a concept coined by Donna Haraway, a prominent feminist theorist and science studies scholar, in her work, Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene, as an alternative to Anthropocene or Capitalocene. According to her, “The Chthulucene is made up of ongoing multispecies stories and practices of becomingwithin times that remain at stake … in which the world is not finished and the sky has not fallen - International Journal of Research (IJR) e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 13 October 2025 Received: 12 October 2025 302 Revised: 25 October 2025 Accepted: 30 October 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17505178 yet” (55). In essence, the Chthulucene is a way of living, thinking and existing based on interconnectedness and co-existence with no forms of domination or hierarchy in play. She proposes this as a solution to the problems caused by humans to the world. Okja masterfully portrays how the Capitalocene not only increases ecological degradation but also deepens the elimination of non-human lives. The movie makes visible the hidden yet lived realities of the lives of animals under capitalism, driven by violence, manipulation, and dispossession. In challenging the narratives of humane consumption and corporate ethics, the film urges us to reimagine our relationships with non-human others, not as resources to be optimised but as kin entangled in shared worlds. Reference “Animal Machine”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 July 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_machine. Accessed 22 July 2025. Bong Joon Ho, director. Okja. Plan B Entertainment and Lewis Pictures, 2017. Haraway, Donna. Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press, 2016.