My Soul Returning | 过桐庐
In a near-future society, corporate exploitation transforms workers into animals. Ami, a salesperson who has grown a duck’s bill, is forbidden to speak outside work. In a world where mouths serve only labour, how can love survive?
China
In development
Full synopsis
“Mouths may not be used to speak outside work. How can humans transformed into duck-billed beasts of labour fall in love?” In an imagined near future, every industry is dominated by monopolistic corporations that exploit their employees in every aspect of life to maximise profit. Domesticated by work, humans take on animal traits and become “beasts of labour”. They have lost the capacity to fall in love; reproduction is arranged through “breeding”, and even entertainment is merely a less intensive form of work. Programmers who type all day become octopuses, while couriers and food-delivery workers become donkeys. Ami works for a sales company, spending every day talking. A hard duck’s bill grows in place of his mouth, turning him into a platypus. Outside work, these duck-billed workers are forbidden to use their mouths to make a sound.