Racial analysis in Okja (2017): Exposing stereotypes and unequal power distribution

As the world has gotten more exposed to globalization, communities have grown to be more diverse. People coming from different racial backgrounds live and interact with each other on daily basis, creating a harmony within the communities. In spite of the fact that the concept of diversity has been familiarized in the society, prejudices and stereotypical thoughts regarding certain races may form due to frictions and different principles. This issue has been discussed in many forms of discourses for the past few decades, including through cinematic endeavors. Okja (2017) is a science fiction movie produced by Netflix and directed by Bong Joonho that tells a story about the journey of a young Korean girl named Mija who tries to save her artificial pet pig, Okja, from the hands of its creator, Mirando Corp. This movie tries to embrace the concept of diversity by casting people with different racial backgrounds as the characters as well as by having representations of different races in the movie. Despite the positive attempt, obscured stereotyping and inequitable power distribution between the representations are implied throughout the movie. This paper aim to uncover the covert stereotypical portrayals regarding certain races and underlying unequal power distribution implicitly exerted in the movie. This research is conducted through a deep analysis of the scenes and the dialogues displayed in the movie. By utilizing the concept of stereotyping and power relation, the analysis reveals that Okja (2017) might instead uphold stereotypical and conventional representations of minorities and power relations. Okja (2017) continues to conserve racial stereotyping toward minorities as they are depicted according to the existing stereotypical traits in the society. Other than being portrayed stereotypically, minorities or people of color are also placed in the lower tier of the hierarchy than white people as inherently shown in the movie. While the depiction might be an exposé of the contemporary state of the society, it can also be in turn read as normalizing the state of the marginalized others in the society as well.