One Piece Research Paper PDF

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Critical analysis of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud's ideals and how it compares to Oda's manga series, One Piece...

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Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud in One Piece

UCOR1400 “Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud”

10 December 2018

Eiichiro Oda's One Piece, a shōnen manga revolving around the eccentric pirate, Monkey D. Luffy and his ragtag pirate crew, shows the typical shōnen themes of hard work, victory, and

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friendship. However, it goes beyond the typical shōnen and also deals with heavy political critique by first using the series to build a gigantic world run by a mysterious World Government. Luffy and his crew, the “Strawhat Pirates,” eventually face off against the World Government during the Water Seven story arc, during which it is revealed that the World Government is a thinly masked puppet for a small corrupt aristocratic group whose ancestors overthrew the previous kingdom. Under the guise of the World Government, these nobles allow the slavery and exploitation of people who are under their rule. In the midst of this, the “Strawhat Pirates” as well as other pirate groups, roam the seas itching to pursue their dreams. Many in the world of One Piece consider the pirate’s lifestyle as the most free despite the possibility of capture by the World Government because they are able to take their own means of survival into their hands rather than being forced to be a slave or live in poverty as a regular citizen. Although the World Government attempted to eradicate the pirate threat through the Navy, a Golden Age of Pirates has emerged and resistance to the oppressors is at an all-time high. As a typical pirate, Luffy fails in almost every aspect. He almost never finds treasure and does not rob the innocent. However, his focus is almost always on eating more food and doing whatever satisfies him. His crew does not exist in order to serve him but to achieve their own individual dreams as well. At first glance, it may seem as though One Piece simply values adventure and freedom. However, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the character of Monkey D. Luffy and uncover how One Piece is more than just a funny manga series about freedom and adventure. We will come to understand how it actually promotes many deals developed and held by Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud, emphasizing around Nietzsche’s Übermensch and Marx’s proletariat uprising due to the inherent instabilities of modern society. Animated series have always been a medium for messages and can be considered as an

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alternative form of education. As a way of installing values, children learn messages of righteousness and what society deems as good or bad. Friedrich Nietzsche claimed that education was either a cruel experiment to understand what the young could be led to believe or a tool used to teach conformity. He believed "the unchangeable character is influenced in its expressions by its environment and education - not in its essence."1 One Piece constantly reflects the importance of freedom and the wonders of adventure through the journey of the Strawhat Crew. Luffy’s main objective is to become the “King of Pirates,” which is a title given to the one with the most freedom on the seas and represents Oda’s version of the Übermensch, Throughout the series, Luffy receives a bounty on his dead and is constantly on the run due to the threats of the World Government and its Navy. Despite calling himself a pirate, a title which spurs ideas of violence and thievery, Luffy does not engage in common acts of piracy. He does not murder or plunder. He steals only when necessary and never with violence. In fact, besides for wanderlust, Luffy only longs for food. In Freudian terms, Luffy’s driving force is the pleasure principle. This is the principal force that guides the Id, meaning Luffy’s instincts towards pleasure is what keeps him going. WIth this in mind, One Piece appears to be a fun story made to promote the excitement of adventure and camaraderie. Luffy would do anything for his friends. From facing countless near death experiences to breaking into Navy prisons to rescue them, One Piece appears to show the reader the importance of being dedicated to your friends and being willing to go to any length for them. However, as the series progresses to the Water Seven story arc, "Luffy orders one of his crew members to set fire to the flag sitting atop the courthouse tower"2 as an open declaration of war against the World Government. This is symbolic of revolutions and acts of defiance that took place in the real world such as the French Revolution in the late eighteenth century. Prior to this 1 Friedrich Nietzsche, On Ethics (1868) 2 Thomas Zoth, The politics of One Piece: political critique in Oda's Water Seven ( Literature

Resource Center, 2011).

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moment, the World Government was largely an innocent organization with corrupt military officers and government officials appearing as outliers. After this, it is revealed that the World Government in the world of One Piece is essentially an authoritarian monarchy and is ruled by the Five Elders who answer to a mysterious figure. The stories of One Piece become "increasingly sophisticated and political"3 from this point forward as the inner workings of the cruel and corrupt government are further uncovered. W learn how deeply rooted the corruption is through organizations such as the Shichibukai, a group of seven notorious and powerful pirates given the rights to “legal piracy” as long as they follow orders given by the World Government. Furthermore, Monkey D. Luffy appears to represent Nietzsche’s idea of the Übermensch. Nietzsche did not mean Übermensch to represent an idea of some "super-brute but a human being who has created for himself that unique position in the cosmos which the bible considered his divine birthright.”4 Luffy was born on a random island in the East Blue, known as “the weakest of all the seas.”5 In most cases, it should be expected that a pirate originating from the weakest sea to be weak but Luffy defies societal norms in nearly every aspect of his character and is most similar to an innocent child. To Freud, it would be expected for a child who grew up learning about his world’s culture and cultural norms to follow them. However, Luffy only follows his own heart and does not care for the typical societal definitions of good or bad. Since Luffy is not a murderer, savage, or privileged noble, most underestimate Luffy and expect him to be as weak as his appearance. He defies all expectations by refusing to engage in the normal life that he would have lead had he stayed on the island. Instead, he decided to roam the vast ocean in an attempt to be the one with the most freedom on the seas. Although One Piece may seem like the typical shōnen that most manga readers would like, it actually delves into complicated 3 Thomas Zoth, The politics of One Piece: political critique in Oda's Water Seven 4 Friedrich Nietzsche, On Ethics, 32 5 Eiichiro Oda, One Piece (Vol. 6 Chapter 51), 4

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ideas set by nineteenth century thinkers. One such thinker was Karl Marx. Marx constantly discussed the idea of the “alienated human being,” the idea that humans were estranged from their fundamental human essence. By believing in religion and projecting humanly issues as something bigger than themselves, people have disconnected themselves from truly being human. As an abstraction of our human consciousness, we created religion as a mean of representing our self-consciousness and selfawareness and only with its abolishment can we begin to achieve our true human happiness. Luffy does not represent an “alienated human being” because he does not see his purpose in the world as something he was given by a higher being. He is an extremely social person with the unique power to befriend everyone he comes across. As Marx believed humans are innately social creatures, Luffy wholeheartedly accepts this as a part of himself and depends on his pirate crew a great deal. Although it may seem on the surface that Luffy is just an imbecile who runs on a one-track mind, One Piece writes him as such to show how Luffy represents Marx’s notion of a true human being. Similar to Marx’s ideas regarding the alienated human being, Nietzsche was focused on the alienation of humanity and their essential being, meaning that humans tended to project their values and issues as something beyond themselves. A former Lutheran himself, Nietzsche was highly critical of Christianity and saw it as one of the biggest ways humanity alienated itself. A true human or an Übermensch, it is clear Luffy is written to represent the most natural state being human through his story which shows his attitude and actions towards going about the world. In addition, Marx also spoke about the problems of society including the presences of a class system that allowed the upper classes to exploit the working class, also known as the proletariat.The World Nobles, an aristocratic class who are the descendants of the Twenty Kings

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that established the World Government, are treated as superior human beings who refuse to even breath the same air as commoners. They are able to keep slaves and outright murder those who cross them. Any action can set off the rage of a World Noble. If one looked at a noble in the wrong way, that could be grounds for their demise at the hands of a World Noble. However, a majority of the population of the world of One Piece simply accepts this. They are complacent in a system that exploits and enslaves other beings, including other sentient non-human species. The apparent class struggle is unveiled over the course of the series and is relatively unknown at first. Marx's ideas called for the end of the capitalist regime in order to make room for a postcapitalist society which would be the means to an end of the exploitation and internal struggles of humanity. According to Marx, the system of Capitalism was inherently flawed and was the reason millions of people in the working class were essentially enslaved. They were forced to work extremely long hours in horrific conditions. Under capitalism, there is no one to protect you. It is essentially everyman for himself. If you succeed, it is because you worked hard, not because God let you. If you are just a mine worker, than you did not work hard enough or get lucky enough to become a mine owner. However, the benefit of Capitalism was that exploitation was no longer hidden under the guise of religious favor or birthrights. The exploitation is apparent and obvious. If you work harder, you gain power to make others work for you one day. One Piece featured islands that had the industrial capabilities of nineteenth century European countries yet had an authoritarian government. The class struggle existed between the peasant class, the working class, and the aristocracy. World Nobles are allowed to treat commoners like objects and tools for their own enjoyment simply because they shared blood with ancestors who founded the corrupt authoritarian government in the first place. The nobles rule the world with the crack of whips and gunshots, oppressing everyone along their path and ruling through pure

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blood rights. Common folk have their livelihoods and may be able to ascend to a higher position through the military but in the end, even the mighty Admirals of the Navy serve at the whim of the World Nobles. In response to years of oppression under the World Government, One Piece also reveals a large revolutionary force fighting against their oppressors. The Revolutionary Army, led by Luffy's father Monkey D. Dragon, opposes the World Government. Although it seems to be the typical story of heroes fighting against villains, the relation between this and Marx’s inevitable revolution of the working class is apparent. Capitalism creates the conditions for its own demise because it supports a large and growing working class by grouping them together and education them. The bourgeoisie furthers its growth, “accompanied by a corresponding political advance of that class,”6 by tearing apart “all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations.”7 Born in the Goa Kingdom,8 an island that represents the One Piece version of a monarchy, Dragon leads the Revolutionary Army against the corrupt World Nobles. At first, they appear to be opposing the whole idea of the World Government but are actually against World Nobles corrupting the government and using it to serve themselves rather than the people. According to Marx, the state existed to serve the people and not the other way around. The concept of a Revolutionary Army fighting against the World Government to save it from corruption by a minority class with birthright is extremely similar to the ideas Marx discusses in his writings throughout the beginning of his career. So this further unveils how Oda uses One Piece to promote Marxist ideals. One Piece, underneath the bizarre adventures and imaginative settings of the story, shows the story of an oppressed and exploited people struggling against a powerful ruling class. During the course of this paper we have discussed the characters and settings that exist in 6 Karl Marx, The Marx-Engels Reader (Second Edition) ( W. W. Norton & Company, 1978) 475 7 Karl Marx, 475. 8 Eiichiro Oda, One Piece (Vol. 60 Chapter 586)

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the world of One Piece to determine whether the story is just a typical shōnen manga or a piece of work that promotes values beyond what is presented. As previously stated, One Piece promotes the struggle against oppressive governments. It shows Monkey D. Luffy one of the only human beings in the show that are not estranged from their human nature. The power of education is apparent and Oda uses One Piece to promote values that can only be seen upon further inspection.

Bibliography

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Zoth, Thomas. "The politics of One Piece: political critique in Oda's Water Seven." Forum for World Literature Studies 3, no. 1 (2011): 107+. Literature Resource Center (accessed October 17, 2018).

Allen, Kate, and John E. Ingulsrud. "Manga literacy: Popular culture and the reading habits of Japanese college students." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 46, no. 8 (2003): 674-683.

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Maulana, Syarif. "Marxism Representation In Manga (John Fiske Semiotics Analysis About Marxism In Shingeki No Kyojin Manga)." In International Conference on Transformation in Communication (ICOTIC). 2015.

Mulder, Catherine P. "It's the time of your life: Marxism in animated films." Rethinking Marxism 25, no. 2 (2013): 284-292.

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