Here’s a screenshot of Joon-ho Bong’s movie Okja (2017) and the famous photo of the Obama administration watching the killing of Bin Laden.
Look closely at the casting, the placement, the costumes.
Obviously this is 100% on purpose because Joon-ho Bong is a great director who thinks about each frame.
Why do YOU think he chose this visual?
The short answer is that the director thinks critically about power. He chose to frame up the villainous leadership of the Mirando corporation to look like the US government.
Possible answers (Okja SPOILERS ahead)
1. The Corporate Power connection
In the film, this is the leadership of the “Mirando” corporation. This shot suggests that corporate power is equivalent or greater than government power. This is reinforced by the use of bad guys called “Black Chalk”. They look like military soldiers but they’re actually a private business. That choice is a direct connection to Blackwater in Iraq.
In short, government and corporations have the same face of power.
2. The Distance-of-Leadership connection
Both the US government in reality and the Mirando corporation in Okja view things with great distance. In reality, the information about the assassination of Bin Laden was tightly controlled in government press releases. Consider that the most famous image of the killing of Bin Laden (above) is elites watching a TV. Similarly, in Okja, the leadership is out of touch with the realities and thinks only in terms of controlling public relations.
In short, power is distant from reality.
3. The Western arrogance connection
I think I’d have to be a foreigner to North America to fully appreciate how arrogant it was (and is) for the US to launch military strikes in Pakistan (not to mention Afghanistan, Yemen and Oman) with no declaration of war. Similarly, the villains in Okja are the leadership of the factory food industry which thinks only in terms of selfish profit. Both have forgotten what is right and replaced it with self-interest.
In short, it takes an outsider to hold the mirror up to villainous behaviour.
