Introduction
The Corporation is a Canadian documentary film written by Joel Bakan and directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott. The topic is relevant because corporations are increasingly influencing lives; they have become global, and the government has lost control over them. Since corporations generally pursue only their own goals, the film emphasizes that the government treats them as separate entities in their own right. In the continuous search for profit, corporations become the causes of various ethical, political, and social problems.
Analysis
At the film’s beginning, different definitions of corporations are given; it explains what contributed to their birth, what gave corporations their strength, what kind of structure they have, and what their influence is on people’s lives. By defining corporations as artificial creatures that want to make big profits at any cost, the authors show that the main reason for the emergence of a corporation is unlimited enrichment, and to obtain it, corporations have to resort to lies regularly (Achbar & Abbott, 2003). They cannot conform to social norms and follow laws.
Corporations bribe governments, organize coups in countries, and use the power of money where it is beneficial. Corporations are ready to sell their products to anyone, even illegal organizations or regimes, to make a profit. The film provides several examples of dubious decisions by corporations to increase profits.
The Corporation discovers the detrimental effect corporations have on the environment. Corporations are destroying entire natural areas with their flora and fauna in pursuit of profit. The film shows examples of using fertilizers for plants and vaccinations for animals, which lead to human diseases (Achbar & Abbott, 2003).
Food additives are synthetic chemicals or natural substances that are never eaten on their own but are only introduced into foods to give them certain qualities, such as taste, texture, colour, smell, shelf life, and appearance. One example of violating the ethics of production is the use of stimulants and hormones, which increases the risk of developing cancer.
Corporations’ intervention in the environment is not limited to their products. Whyte also discusses discrimination against native settlers who want to get cheap land for business development (Whyte, 2019). The author speaks of this as a colonial injustice by the settlers and argues that it is equal to an environmental injustice (Whyte, 2019). That, in turn, stimulates work on global climate change and ecological sustainability in a negative direction.
In addition, corporations use developing countries and their availability for selfish purposes to quickly build their business. Another impressive example from the film is the production of sneakers, showing the costs of their creation and the final price. This example is crucial to the theme of the exploitation of cheap labour by firms in poor countries. Labour exploitation is the forced labour of an employee in violation of the rules of work and rest (Obeng‐Odoom, 2020).
In general, exploitation is the appropriation of the results of another person’s work without exchange or with the provision of goods (services, money) in return. Its value is less than the value created by this person’s labor during working time. Cefai also notes that they not only try to limit the natives but also discriminate against them on their land, not providing them with the opportunity for normal work (Cefai, 2015).
Corporations use the essential slave labour of third-world people: a woman in Indonesia sews Nike sneakers for 6 cents a pair, while the business sells them for at least 50 dollars (Achbar & Abbott, 2003). However, the growth of organizations only reinforces the brutal exploitation of labour, both adults and children, and contributes to their development.
In the end, the film leads to the thought of a corporation’s omnipotence and its significant impact on the life of an ordinary person. Large businesses use various levers of pressure and interfere in political decisions, thereby influencing the lives of the whole society. Moreover, even through media and marketing, large organizations can shape the majority’s views.
Desai notes that “corporate politics intersect and shape a myriad of political issues, from fair trade to gay rights, organic farming, child development, gender bias towards work, and more” (Desai, 2013, p. 456). The author emphasizes that the state allows corporations to have a powerful social and political character (Desai, 2013). Thus, corporations use all kinds of sources of mind control and form the dominant ideas in society.
Conclusion
Despite the current topic, the film itself turned out to be ambiguous; on the one hand, we are talking about problems that affect humanity, from manipulation through advertising to environmental pollution and slavery. On the other hand, many topics turn out to be unrevealed, and somewhere, on the contrary, too many details are given, which causes the film’s central idea to be lost. A lot of attention is paid to, for example, profit motivation, but the whole section seems too extensive (Achbar & Abbott, 2003).
However, what corporations are willing to do for this benefit is not always supported. For example, an interesting topic would be the consumption of ‘useless’ goods that are popular only due to manipulation in marketing. The film review could be improved by equally distributing attention to each topic. The Corporation considers the main stages of the formation of industrial, financial, and other associations in the form in which they are known to many today, starting from their inception. The film focuses on those corporations that have the most significant impact on the global economy.
In addition, the film demonstrates that big businesses impact a country’s economy, politics, public opinion, and, in general, most people’s life patterns. Specific examples are used to criticize corporate business practices that violate ethical standards of production, discrimination, and exploitation of people. Thus, corporations cannot maintain adequate business conduct; they ignore laws and social norms.
References
Achbar, M. & Abbott, J. (2003). The Corporation. [Film]. Web.
Cefai, S. (2015). Policing Aboriginality in Aboriginal community policing: Cultural labour and policing policy. Australian Aboriginal Studies.
Desai, D. R. (2013). Speech, citizenry, and the market: A corporate public figure doctrine. Minnesota Law Review.
Obeng‐Odoom, F. (2020). The African continental free trade area. American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 79(1), 167–197. Web.
Whyte, K. P. (2019). The Dakota Access pipeline, environmental injustice, and US settler colonialism. The Nature of Hope, 320–337. Web.