The Corporation

Submitted by fyl on 23 January, 2008 - 11:47.
There is an amazing video called The Corporation which was produced about five years ago. It is now available for free download using bittorrent or you can buy it (there is more on the "for sale version) from TheCorporation.com. There is about three hours of material here but, as the friend who told me about it said, "if you only watch any 10 minutes of it, you will learn something".

Does this have anything to do with Nicaragua or the third world? Yes, very much so. Some might say that it paints the corporation as the root of all evil. I don't believe that was the goal but rather to show how granting corporations the rights of individuals but essentially requiring them to not show human characteristics such as compassion can be a serious problem.

On the third world scene, you will learn about sweat shops, Bechtel and water in Bolivia and a lot more. On the U.S. end you will learn about corporate spies, FOX investigative journalism, and even the 1934 U.S. coup attempt and how Marine General Smedley Butler prevented it (even though he had the most to gain from it). If you can't name the U.S. Constitutional Amendment that granted corporations so much power, you really need to see the video.

No matter what your political stripes you will likely find parts you agree with and parts you disagree with. But, no matter who you are, it is exteremely likely you will learn a lot of things that are pretty important in the world today. Note that the bittorrent download also includes a radio interview with the guy who did the documentary. It, in itself, is very interesting.

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The Corporation is a very good film...

Submitted by nuestragringa on 26 January, 2008 - 20:45.

...like taking an Intro to Corporations course at Reality University.

I also like Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, to see corporations at their worst, and how our political developments in the last 20 years enable them.

There are a lot of good docs out there, since we live in a visual society now, they seem to replacing books.

The shock doctrine

Submitted by dirtbag on 23 January, 2008 - 23:11.

By Canadian Naomi Klein is an interesting read. part of a new concience in relation to Governments, US and Global (relatively recent)financial history.

Theatrical release, too

Submitted by mjt on 23 January, 2008 - 20:02.

This was originally a motion picture, with a theatrical release (though rather limited). There is more than one DVD edition, with the latest having nearly 8 hours of bonus material. The film and video derivatives are all based on Joel Bakan's book, "The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power".

For critical viewing...

Submitted by K7 on 23 January, 2008 - 19:09.

Should be preceded or succeded by viewing "Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy" (2002)

Not free but worth anyone's time, particularly these days.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy confronts head-on critical concerns about the new interconnected world. Based on the best-selling book by Pulitzer Prize-winner Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw, this groundbreaking series explores our changing world—the great debate over globalization and the future of our society. Commanding Heights reunites the team that created The Prize— award-winning producer William Cran (From Jesus to Christ) and Daniel Yergin—and is the first in-depth documentary to tell the inside story of our new global economy and what it means for individuals around the world. Filmed on five continents, the powerful narrative combines stunning film footage with dramatic stories and extraordinary interviews with world leaders from twenty different countries.

Commanding Heights dramatically captures the issues that have defined the wealth and fate of nations and shows how the battle over the world economy will shape our lives in the twenty-first century.

On three DVDs

Part 1 - The Battle of Ideas

Part 2 - The Agony of Reform

Part 3 - The New Rules of the Game

DISCLAIMER: I derive no financial benefit from this posting and have no affiliation whatsoever with the product or anyone associated with producing or selling the product.

360 minutes worth

Submitted by mjt on 23 January, 2008 - 19:56.

This is one of the best documentary films on economics, which might not sound all that impressive or all that interesting - but it is both impressive and interesting. More than once the segments have aired on public television and the foreign equivalents of PBS. A very brief summary of the project is listed below; each "episode" is 120 minutes.

Episode one: explains how, for the last half of the 20th century, the world moved toward more governmental control of markets -- from the centrally planned economies of the communist world to the "mixed economies" of Europe and the developing world to the United States’ regulated capitalism -- and then began to move away from governmental control in the 1980s and 1990s. Discuss two important economists of this era: John Maynard Keynes, who advocated government intervention to control the booms and busts of capitalist economies, and Friedrich von Hayek, who argued that government intervention in the economy would erode human freedom and was doomed to failure.

Episode two: illustrates how economies with strict governmental control encountered serious trouble in the 1980s and how many leaders embraced the idea of "shock therapy," a rapid conversion to free-market capitalism. The program focuses in detail on how reform played out in several countries: Russia, Poland, India, Bolivia, and Chile, as they lived through the upheavals of rapid change, dealing with both the new freedoms and the new dangers of privatization, deregulation, and competition.

Episode three: examines the promises and perils of globalization in the 1990s, focusing on the story of President Clinton’s embrace of free-trade policies, the challenges the world’s leaders faced in taming the virulent contagion of financial collapse in the developing world, and the strong opposition to globalization that surfaced in protests against the policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Covers the years from the 1992 U.S. presidential election to the September 11 terrorist attacks.

A great video...

Submitted by Doug on 23 January, 2008 - 13:01.

glad to hear they put it up for free now. I liked the perspective of Psychiatric Disorders being used to describe corporate behavior.

Quacks and walks just like a duck

-Doug

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate

innocent question

Submitted by 1st Capt. Ron on 23 January, 2008 - 18:05.

Was Michael Moore involved in the production of this video? 1st Capt. Ron

I don't believe so

Submitted by fyl on 23 January, 2008 - 18:29.
He briefly appears in it but, I don't think he had anything to do with the production. It, well, isn't his style.

From the about page it says "The film is based on the book The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power by Joel Bakan. It also says "A film by Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott, and Joel Bakan. Here is a paragraph from the about page:

About the Film

WINNER OF 26 INTERNATIONAL AWARDS! 10 Audience Choice Awards including the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.

Provoking, witty, stylish and sweepingly informative, THE CORPORATION explores the nature and spectacular rise of the dominant institution of our time. Part film and part movement, The Corporation is transforming audiences and dazzling critics with its insightful and compelling analysis. Taking its status as a legal "person" to the logical conclusion, the film puts the corporation on the psychiatrist's couch to ask "What kind of person is it?" The Corporation includes interviews with 40 corporate insiders and critics - including Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Milton Friedman, Howard Zinn, Vandana Shiva and Michael Moore - plus true confessions, case studies and strategies for change.

The true confessions are pretty interesting. One is from the CEO of the largest carpet manufacturing company in the world. It is not a "freak out" but more coming in touch with reality and deciding that the company needs to actually make some changes.