Akko vs Diana: Embodiments Of Political Ideologies
It may come as no surprise that this opinion piece (or essay) is heavily inspired by the 14th episode: New Age Magic, in which the fairies go on strike. I'd recommend rewatching the episode before continuing if you had forgotten the contents. What truly caught my attention though, was Akko's use of the word "bourgeois" and the face off between Akko (a girl from a non-magic working class family) and Diana (the girl born into nobility and wealth.) The writers of the show, through Akko and Diana, illustrate the contrast of the ideological differences and how they may interact with one another. In the following essay, I will draw references to Karl Marx's Manifesto of the Communist Party as well as Wage Labour and Capital.
To start, Akko and Diana are caricatures of what Marx labels the "bourgeoisie" and "the proletariat." Diana, being born into nobility, only ever having to work for self interest and never worrying about staying fed, is the bourgeoisie. Meanwhile, Akko and her family, having to save up money and work to fund her into Luna Nova, are the proletariat. The bourgeoisie, often described as conservative in nature, and the proletariat, "revolutionary" in nature.
Much like in Luna Nova, the students and faculty could be seen as bourgeois while the fairies are the wage labourers, the working class, the proletariat, and seek themselves a sort of revolution through the means of the strike.
In the face of leftist outrage, i.e. a unionized strike of the working class against oppressive capitalists, the bourgeois will tend to reason with structural functionalist ideologies, best represented by Diana and her arguments such as "the witches need the power from the sorcerer's stone in order to keep the school functioning. Without it, the school will inevitably fail. No Luna Nova means you'll all lose your jobs and your homes." Diana uses this in order to perpetuate class antagonisms and enforce suppressions and oppressions of the working class for the benefit of the bourgeois. A direct correlation can be drawn to Karl Marx's words in Wage Labour and Capital: "But the worker, whose only source of income is the sale of his labour-power, cannot leave the whole class of buyers, i.e., the capitalist class, unless he gives up his own existence." Another direct correlation is as Karl Marx writes in his Manifesto of the Communist Party: "the modern working class … a class of labourers, who live only so long as they find work". Diana uses these institutional facts of the bourgeois society to quell the descent of any notions of equality of the working class, which in of itself, is conservative politics in nature and lends itself to bourgeoisie and capitalist culture.
Throughout Little Witch Academia, more evidence of how Akko and Diana represent differing political ideologies is very much abundant. However, I wrote this piece on an epiphany and have since run out of steam.
Update: I'm thinking about writing a more serious LWA fanfiction, sort of in the style of a dystopian society, like 1984 (interesting how in a short scene Andrew can be seen reading 1984 after dealing with his authoritative paternal figure. Probably a theory lodged in there…) and would very much appreciate recommendations as I am very bad at creative ideas. Also, I would be happy to ghost-write for someone who has an idea but doesn't have the time to write it themselves. Please PM me if you're interested. I don't charge a thing :)