Change Your Image
julianna_tyner
Reviews
The Corporation (2003)
capitalism is gross
During his 2012 presidential campaign, governor Mitt Romney said cluelessly and with confidence, "Corporations are people, my friend." While this statement might seem odd, even slightly dystopic, American corporations are legally seen as individuals under the fourteenth amendment. When directors Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott decided to take this clause literally, common corporate misdemeanors become irrevocably linked to various pathologies observed in psychopaths, changing the way I perceive corporate America forever. While companies may deserve some of the same rights as individuals, it seems to me that only small businesses shoulder the same ethical responsibilities and moral obligations as the average citizen. Corporations are famously and criminally aggressive, guileful, and selfish: exploiting workers, polluting the environment, some receiving monumental bailouts at the first sign of strife. If corporations were treated as humans, the documentary suggests, many would qualify for prison, a straightjacket, or worse. I think that John Ruskin would agree. The social thinker witnessed the European economy transform into a corporation-run system built to massively benefit the elite while at the same time hugely undermining human and natural life. I like to think that he would abhor the idea of such a company having the luxury of human liberties while simultaneously working to take them away from actual humans. If I had made the film, however, I might have done things differently. While I am usually a passionate advocate for the destruction of modern capitalism, I think it's necessary to recognize its indisputable role in the distinct and unprecedented growth of the American economy. Had I been able to contribute to the making of this documentary, I would have included more Marxian theory on capitalism. While Marx was one of the first to criticize laissez-faire capitalism, he lauded some facets of the practice for its unique ability to corrode arcane forms of political and cultural authority. To me, understanding the gravity of this idea is vital in the creation of a successful, informed critique of capitalist theory.
The Human Element (2018)
introspective
I think that The Human Element was a beautifully penetrating movie. Meeting generational coal miners, firefighters, and constituents of an endangered fishing community was chilling to me because I have lived such a sheltered and privileged life. I have never worried about my air being too dirty to breathe, or my house flooding with seawater, or my family dying in an untamable fire. Seeing people live this unfathomable fate was a layered discomfort. But it was only a discomfort, not a horror, or which made me feel self absorbed and delusional. I should be booking a flight to California to fight fires, or helping to relocate people who have lost their homes to rising sea levels. I should be doing something to help, something meaningful and impactful. Right? But that makes me feel even more self absorbed, in a way. Like I'm operating under the control of some savior complex. Do I really want to help, or do I just want to flush my system of the guilt that comes with the feeling of doing nothing? Or worse, do I subconsciously just want to be recognized for helping, for people to look at me, or this hypothetical me I conjure in my head, and feel the guilt that real me is feeling right now? These thoughts swam in my head as I watched the film, hanging from my frontal lobe down over my optic nerve like gristle on a fairground turkey leg, blinding me with my own passivity. I don't know what's at the root of this desire to help, but it's ringing in my jaw like a toothache every time I turn on the news. But really, what does it matter why I want to help? As long as people are helping, who really cares what's going on in their head? I wish more people had toothaches.