The Corporation, directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott, and based on the work of Joel Bakan, is not a film designed to entertain or keep you on the edge of your seat. It does not rush through information for the attention impaired, nor does it offer small, bite sized talking points meant for casual conversation at work. Instead, it is a film grounded in facts and analysis. It speaks less about the problems already visible and more about those looming ahead. At its core, it challenges untethered capitalism and asks us to consider how being the best at what you do can be as dangerous as it is beneficial.
By outlining the corporation as a psychopathic, self obsessed, disconnected, and manipulative entity, the film focuses on the unsettling reality that corporations are legally defined as persons and granted the same rights that come with that designation. Achbar, Abbott, Bakan, and their team sift through roughly one hundred and fifty years of history, tracing how corporations shaped American legislation to evolve into what they are today. By tackling the legal definition of corporate personhood head on, the filmmakers turn the very centerpiece of corporate power against itself, exposing how dangerous this terminology truly is.
Placing this corporate “person” into the seat of a psychologist, the film methodically evaluates it against the criteria used to assess a healthy human being. One by one, the corporation fails. Each trait reveals a pattern of behavior that would be deemed socially destructive if found in an individual. Over its one hundred and forty five minute runtime, The Corporation makes it painfully clear that if left unchecked, the modern corporation will become, is becoming, and in many cases already has become, a monster capable of consuming everything in its path.
The central question that lingers throughout the film is deceptively simple. What does any of this have to do with me? While the documentary addresses how the system affects individuals, it spends less time examining how individuals affect the system. The answer, perhaps uncomfortably, must come from within. Because no matter how clearly we understand the dangers posed by corporations like Walmart, McDonald’s, Nike, and others, they continue to make our lives easier. They offer convenience, efficiency, and comfort, quietly dulling our sense of urgency.
Even as they manipulate laws, exploit global labor, and shape future consumers from childhood, these corporations remain embedded in a system most of us do not feel compelled to change. And perhaps that is exactly how they would prefer it to remain.
If you get the chance, rent a copy and experience it from your own perspective. Let me know when you do.
Thanks for reading.
