As "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" (2011) (PMMM) unfolds and especially in episode 9, in this conversation between our MC and the alien creature Kyubey about its real motive behind contracting Magical Girls, it dawns upon me that PMMM serves as a perfect commentary of animal exploitation. The idea of inviting the audience to imagine humans being consumed by alien species, so they can sympathize with the fate of the animals on their plates was also attempted by PETA in their ‘Aliens’ to Feast on ‘Human Flesh’ (2022) as a part of their Campaign to End Speciesism.
However, personally, when I first saw PETA's post on this topic, I couldn't help but chuckle. It feels somewhat childlike in its presentation and simple premise, not at all relevant to my daily life, and too far removed from reality that I couldn't bother to imagine. It wasn't until I watched PMMM just recently that I realized that PETA has a point, there is value to this comparison. Since then, I have been fascinated by the way this very same idea was established so well in Madoka - how the series captured the specific dynamic between the apathetic consumer and the unknowing prey, and how it gave so much impact to the revelation of the exploitative intent. I don't know if the creators ever meant for it to be a commentary on this matter, after all, the main theme of the show is human emotions. Nevertheless, for me, the show is a masterclass on how to set up the comparison of humans and lifestocks.
I want to clarify that this is not to put down PETA's efforts. I just want to show an example of this idea being presented in two different ways and dive into how one of them was able to deliver the idea more effectively. Likewise, I understand that actually to compare these works would be unfair. PETA made an imaginative campaign with public performance, illustration, and social media while PMMM is a series, a 12-episode-long immersive and fantastic narrative. They aim for different and achieve different things. They are so inherently different that there is no need for real comparison.
Now let's get into how Madoka pulled it off.
1.Futuristic and Magical Set-up
The world that Madoka lives in is where technologies are a little bit more advanced and commonly used than in today's world (2024). But since the manga was first published in 2011, we can assume that this was a vision of a future not too near. The series also introduced magical girls and witches (before we knew that these were just energy harvesting). With a mix of sci-fi and fantasy set-up, the show:
Allowed general suspension of disbelief, slowly submerging the audience into a world where more abstract and unrealistic premises should be explored.
Created a fictional and escapist reality. The more compelling and immersive this escape is, the more invested the audience is in what the show has to say. And I'd say that they aced at being compelling.
Made the point that even if mankind was more advanced and powerful, we'd still fall victim to alien exploitation.
This level of investment in such an unrealistic idea simply cannot be established via a Facebook post.
2.KYUBEY - The Alien
The depiction of Kyubey is an interesting and expectation-defying one of an alien, an incubator, and an exploiter. Let's peel this little creature like the tear-inducing onion that it is:
First Impression - AWW
Can you say no to this little, adorable creature? Can you ignore its call for help? It's cute, harmless, and knowledgeable. The biggest appeal? It PROMISES to make miracles come true. This probably won't be the first thing you imagine when you think of a heartless alien or a master manipulator. But that's the point, though. An alien coming to Earth (with exploitative intent) would probably not look like a green-blue five-headed freak. Even if it doesn't employ a human disguise, it would have to take a form that is not appalling but appealing. A small, white, fluffy creature that is a mix of a cat and a bunny looks trustworthy enough to the middle-school girl demographic that Kyubey deals with. The girls might not make a deal just because Kyubey is cute, but they definitely would not even consider if Kyubey looked like Ryuk of Death Note.
Second Impression - at least it's FAIR
Kyubey respects consent. It even warns the girls to be careful with their wishes. It doesn't push, it just sticks around and conveniently ENCOURAGES them. Kyubey stays neutral among magical girls' conflicts and gives advice to those who seek it. It even allows Madoka and Sayaka to tag along with Mami and see the risks of failing as a magical girl. At this point, you may think, Kyubey's promise is not without a hefty price. But now it seems more realistic, no longer too good to be true. And at least Kyubey is being transparent and fair about the contract, right?
Third Impression - Run, girls! RUN!
Only when Madoka throws away Sayaka's Soul Gem does Kyubey explain what happen to their souls when they sign the contract. “Why do humans care so much about where their souls are?” sums up its response to the girls' horror. Then it goes on to analyze how this is better for their pain tolerance during battle. Alright, soul extraction might be tactical and reasonable, but how about disclosing that to Sayaka before she makes her contract? Kyubey has been recruiting girls since the beginning of human history, and judging from what it says, every time magical girls learn about this information, they fall in despair (which implies that they always learn about this too late.) Even if Kyubey doesn't understand why the girls are so upset, it must know that the decent thing to do is to disclose this information. But it never did. Because the only thing it cares about is getting the girls to agree to the contract. It deliberately hides this information (which is a big part of the price to pay for wishes) and never reveals its true intent.
Bro, it's not a misunderstanding, it's you not disclosing a very important and alarming part of the contract, to make the slave agreement sound like a fair deal. And of course, you don't comprehend "tricking" because that is all you do, and you have no moral distinction between employment and exploitation.
This is the mindset of an exploiter. It claims to not understand the victim's suffering, but even if it does, it couldn't care less. The well-being of the subjects beyond aspects that impact the overall production is the least of its concerns. What matters to an exploiter, is how much it can squeeze out of a life before that life loses its production value. And if you find this eerily similar to how a meat or dairy industry sees millions of sentient beings, we are on the same page.
Final Impression - It's for the GREATER GOOD
Let's look at Kyubey's final set of rationales that solidify its species' entitlement to exploiting humans.
Emotions are considered a disorder in its civilization. It sees human emotion and conscience as trash, therefore, completely justifiable to be recycled into usable energy for its kind. It uses the girls' conscience to force them into being magical girls with the illusion of choice.
The exploitation of humans is for the GREATER GOOD. But this greater good doesn't seem to reach the human world. In fact, Kyubey doesn't mind if it creates the most powerful witches that blast Earth into dust. Kyubey takes no responsibility for what happens to the girls or their world because it does this for the good of its species only.
Kyubey thinks that without incubators, humans would still be naked in caves. Therefore, its species is ENTITLED to benefit from humans. This reasoning reminds me of the "myth of animal consent" which Jonathan Safran Foer sums up well in his book "Eating Animals":
"A common trope, ancient and modern, describes domestication as a process of coevolution between humans and other species. Basically, humans struck a deal with the animals...: we’ll protect you, arrange food for you, etc., and, in turn, your labor will be harnessed, your milk and eggs taken, and, at times, you will be killed and eaten. Life in the wild isn’t a party, the logic goes — nature is cruel — so this is a good deal." (Foer 99)
In both cases, the essence of the deal is that we help your species survive, and you pay with your lives in return. But how fair is this logic? We'll have to look at the 2nd party of this contract - the magical girls/ humans.
3. MAGICAL GIRLS (HUMANS) - The Livestock
"But species don't make choices, individuals do." (Foer 100)
In PMMM's case, the individuals in question are magical girls, or teenage girls chosen by Kyubey. The unfairness of this proposition, aside from the fact that they are children, is that the deal is virtually incomprehensible to them. The girls make the deal to fulfill personal wishes. None of them made the wish for grand concepts such as the development of humanity, or the survival of the human species. These impacts are the by-products of the deal, not the goals of it. You might even argue that the expansion of the human population and the advancement of societies only serve to provide more energy to Kuybey's species, from an alien perspective.
The same goes for the logic that animal domestication is just as beneficial to the animals as it is to us. Similar to how Kyubey thinks that without his species' involvement, humans would still be naked in caves, many think that without human's farming practices, animals would be in perils. Our reality has proven Kyubey's hypothesis to be wrong; we just don't have another reality to see how cows, pigs, chickens, and turkeys are just fine without us. But even if they are not fine, this argument by Benny Malone in "How to Argue with Vegans" logically points out the fallacy that we have taken as an excuse to consume animals:
"If animals cannot live free on their own terms then they should not be bred just to be exploited and killed at the earliest possible convenience. The disingenuousness of saying that this is "giving animals a life and that's better than no life at all" is staggering." (Malone 28)
To breed animals for consumption and say that it is for the survival of said species, is no fairer logic than to exploit magical girls and say that it is for the greater good of mankind.
4. CONCLUSION: Do we care?
Do we care? The rest of Kyubey's species will never see (or understand) the devastation of a magical girl's transition into a broken-hearted, resentful and destructive witch. Likewise, in today's world, we most of us don't have to witness the end of an animal's lives. Even if we do, it's not likely that we fully understand their experience. Then, does their suffering matter? Is it worth considering, when the alternative is to blissfully remain ignorant and negligent?
Advocating to end animal's exploitation is incredibly difficult because all arguments can be shut down with "But I don't care." Aliens don't need to care for the suffering of humans. But to assume that human, therefore, shouldn't need to care for the suffering of animals either is to ignore that unlike Kyubey's species that lives faraway in the vast universe, we share this world with other sentient beings. Beings that we know are capable of experiencing happiness, fear and pain like we do. And unlike Kyubey's species, we are not apathetic.
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