Thursday, March 23, 2006
The Corporation - documentary film
Retrieved from: Wikipedia /* other sources
The Corporation is a 2003 Canadian documentary film critical of the modern-day corporation, considering it as a class of person (as in US law it is understood to be) and evaluating its behaviour towards society and the world at large as a psychologist might evaluate an ordinary person. This is explored through specific examples.
Contents
1 Creators
2 Basic plot
3 Topics addressed
4 Interviews
5 Reviews
6 Topically related movies
7 External links
1. Creators
The film was written by Joel Bakan, and co-written and co-directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott. The documentary has been displayed worldwide, on TV (sometimes in 3 parts) and is also available in DVD. The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power is also the title of a book (ISBN 0-74324-744-2) written by Bakan during the filming of the documentary.
2. Basic plot
The film charts the development of the corporation as a legal entity from its genesis to unprecedented legal protection stemming from creative interpretation of the 14th amendment, that is from its origins as an institution chartered by governments to carry out specific public functions, to the rise of the vast modern institutions entitled to the legal rights of a "person." One central theme of the documentary is an attempt to assess the "personality" of the corporate "person" by using diagnostic criteria from the DSM-IV; Robert Hare, a University of British Columbia Psychology Professor and FBI consultant, compares the modern, profit-driven corporation to that of a clinically diagnosed psychopath.
3. Topics addressed
Other topics addressed include the Business Plot - where in 1933, the popular General Smedley Butler was nearly implicated to lead a corporate coup against then US President Franklin Roosevelt, the tragedy of the commons, Dwight D. Eisenhower's warning people to beware of the rising Military-industrial complex, economic externalities, suppression of an investigative news story about Bovine Growth Hormone on a FOX News affiliate television station, and the Cochabamba protests of 2000 brought on by the privatization of Bolivia's municipal water supply by the Bechtel Corporation.
4. Interviews
The film also features interviews with prominent corporate critics such as Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Michael Moore and Howard Zinn as well as opinions from company CEOs such as Ray Anderson (from the Interface carpet company), the conservative viewpoints of Peter Drucker and Milton Friedman, and think tanks advocating "free markets" such as the Fraser Institute. Interviews also feature Dr. Samuel Epstein with his involvement in the case against Monsanto using a harmful chemical called Posilac to induce more milk production in dairy cattle.
5. Reviews
* richarddirecttv, INDYMEDIA.ORG.UK: “The Corporation” presents a powerful history of how this monster came to run the world. In the US, corporations have been able to establish constitutional rights by claiming they are human individuals. If this were the case, this complex and fascinating film argues, it would be diagnosed a psychopath (...)" (Full Review)
* Richard James Havis, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.COM: "Some thorough research, a clear presentation and a nice knit with America's ongoing corporate scandals should prod uninformed viewers to think more deeply about the role of big business in the world (...)" (Full Review)
* Bill White, SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER: "A film as multifaceted and monolithic as its subject (...)" (Full Review)
* Pete Vonder Haar, FILM THREAT "Powerful, infuriating, and ultimately sobering (...)" (Full Review)
- The Economist says: "Unlike much of the soggy thinking peddled by too many anti-globalisers, “The Corporation” is a surprisingly rational and coherent attack on capitalism's most important institution (...)"(link)
* OTHER REVIEWS
6. Topically related movies
- Why We Fight (2005 film)
- Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media
7. External Links
- The Corporation official movie website
- Interview with Joel Bakan
- Interview with Bakan and Achbar
- The Corporation at The Internet Movie Database
* Sundance Film Festival
- 2004 Sundance Film Festival
- Sundance Film Festival award winners
- Genie Award winning films
- Anti-corporate activism
¶ 19:06
Retrieved from: Wikipedia /* other sourcesThe Corporation is a 2003 Canadian documentary film critical of the modern-day corporation, considering it as a class of person (as in US law it is understood to be) and evaluating its behaviour towards society and the world at large as a psychologist might evaluate an ordinary person. This is explored through specific examples.
Contents
1 Creators
2 Basic plot
3 Topics addressed
4 Interviews
5 Reviews
6 Topically related movies
7 External links
1. Creators
The film was written by Joel Bakan, and co-written and co-directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott. The documentary has been displayed worldwide, on TV (sometimes in 3 parts) and is also available in DVD. The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power is also the title of a book (ISBN 0-74324-744-2) written by Bakan during the filming of the documentary.
2. Basic plot
The film charts the development of the corporation as a legal entity from its genesis to unprecedented legal protection stemming from creative interpretation of the 14th amendment, that is from its origins as an institution chartered by governments to carry out specific public functions, to the rise of the vast modern institutions entitled to the legal rights of a "person." One central theme of the documentary is an attempt to assess the "personality" of the corporate "person" by using diagnostic criteria from the DSM-IV; Robert Hare, a University of British Columbia Psychology Professor and FBI consultant, compares the modern, profit-driven corporation to that of a clinically diagnosed psychopath.
3. Topics addressed
Other topics addressed include the Business Plot - where in 1933, the popular General Smedley Butler was nearly implicated to lead a corporate coup against then US President Franklin Roosevelt, the tragedy of the commons, Dwight D. Eisenhower's warning people to beware of the rising Military-industrial complex, economic externalities, suppression of an investigative news story about Bovine Growth Hormone on a FOX News affiliate television station, and the Cochabamba protests of 2000 brought on by the privatization of Bolivia's municipal water supply by the Bechtel Corporation.
4. Interviews
The film also features interviews with prominent corporate critics such as Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Michael Moore and Howard Zinn as well as opinions from company CEOs such as Ray Anderson (from the Interface carpet company), the conservative viewpoints of Peter Drucker and Milton Friedman, and think tanks advocating "free markets" such as the Fraser Institute. Interviews also feature Dr. Samuel Epstein with his involvement in the case against Monsanto using a harmful chemical called Posilac to induce more milk production in dairy cattle.
5. Reviews
* richarddirecttv, INDYMEDIA.ORG.UK: “The Corporation” presents a powerful history of how this monster came to run the world. In the US, corporations have been able to establish constitutional rights by claiming they are human individuals. If this were the case, this complex and fascinating film argues, it would be diagnosed a psychopath (...)" (Full Review)
* Richard James Havis, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.COM: "Some thorough research, a clear presentation and a nice knit with America's ongoing corporate scandals should prod uninformed viewers to think more deeply about the role of big business in the world (...)" (Full Review)
* Bill White, SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER: "A film as multifaceted and monolithic as its subject (...)" (Full Review)
* Pete Vonder Haar, FILM THREAT "Powerful, infuriating, and ultimately sobering (...)" (Full Review)
- The Economist says: "Unlike much of the soggy thinking peddled by too many anti-globalisers, “The Corporation” is a surprisingly rational and coherent attack on capitalism's most important institution (...)"(link)
* OTHER REVIEWS
6. Topically related movies
- Why We Fight (2005 film)
- Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media
7. External Links
- The Corporation official movie website
- Interview with Joel Bakan
- Interview with Bakan and Achbar
- The Corporation at The Internet Movie Database
* Sundance Film Festival
- 2004 Sundance Film Festival
- Sundance Film Festival award winners
- Genie Award winning films
- Anti-corporate activism
¶ 19:06
