Wednesday, August 04, 2004
The Corporation
Just a few days back, I saw the award winning (does that mean anything?) documentary "The Corporation". The main premise of the documentary is that the corporation is an amoral institution that causes tremendous social harm in its pathological pursuit of profits. The power of the Corporation is compared to that of the Catholic Church and the Communist Party in other times and places. Of the recent films that delve into an anti-capitalist tirade (Michael Moore's documentaries, "Super Size Me" etc.), "The Corporation" is definitely the most ambitious. Evil deeds of the corporation include pollution, globalization, sweatshops, the punishment of whistleblowers, the privatization of our most precious resources (water), branding and dishonest PR, the patenting of life forms, media consolidation, certain corporations' fascist past and exploitive marketing to children. The movie loses its focus midway but delivers a lot of information. For example I found interesting the tale of how Fox News repressed two of its investigators, especially since the subsequent court ruling now makes it legal for for an American news corporation to force its reporters to lie.
Here is what The Economist had to say:
[T]hey have done more than produce a thought-provoking account of the firm. Their film also invites its audience to weigh up the benefits of privatisation versus public ownership. It dwells on the familiar problem of the corporate corruption of politics and regulatory agencies that weakens public oversight of privately owned firms charged with delivering public goods. But that is only half the story. The film has nothing to say about the immense damage that can also flow from state ownership. Instead, there is a misty-eyed alignment of the state with the public interest. Run that one past the people of, say, North Korea.
The movie is also silent on any benefits (positive externalities) of corporations. Regardless, worth a watch, if not for anything else, to hear the few lines that people such as Milton Friedman and Noam Chomsky voice on the issue. Maybe its also time for a documentary extolling the corporations benefits?
Here is what The Economist had to say:
[T]hey have done more than produce a thought-provoking account of the firm. Their film also invites its audience to weigh up the benefits of privatisation versus public ownership. It dwells on the familiar problem of the corporate corruption of politics and regulatory agencies that weakens public oversight of privately owned firms charged with delivering public goods. But that is only half the story. The film has nothing to say about the immense damage that can also flow from state ownership. Instead, there is a misty-eyed alignment of the state with the public interest. Run that one past the people of, say, North Korea.
The movie is also silent on any benefits (positive externalities) of corporations. Regardless, worth a watch, if not for anything else, to hear the few lines that people such as Milton Friedman and Noam Chomsky voice on the issue. Maybe its also time for a documentary extolling the corporations benefits?
