NickLawFilmAnnotations4

Nicholas Lawrence The Corporation

1. The Corporation, Mark (it’s a trap) Achbar and Jennifer Abbott, 2003.

2. This film is about the impact and evolution of the corporation and how it became the giant it is today.

3. The narrative is sustained by a really creepy, soft artificial voice. It was a little difficult to hear at some points. The introduction was a little weird and unusual but that gave way after the first 10 minutes. A good deal of factual is presented since this film is an analysis of the corporation. And scientific information is brought in from an unexpected source in the form of the psychological evaluation checklist. There is definitely an emotional appeal since this documentary focuses on something that is pervasive in our daily lives. Very few people on this earth are untouched by the hand of the corporations. And some of the things corporations do to people are just horrible.

4. The film draws out the following sustainability problems: corporate influence, corporate citizenship, corporate responsibility, chemical pollution, media influence.

5. The most interesting and convincing piece of information presented by this film is the evaluation of a corporation as a real person. If you take corporations as whole and evaluate their personalities, you’ll find they’ll have most if not all the characteristics of a psychopath. And these psychopathic entities are in charge of the things we buy, use and eat. They influence the government and policy makers. Another compelling piece of evidence for the carelessness of corporations is the bovine growth hormone. Injecting cows with this hormone causes them to produce more milk, yet at terrible pain to the cow. They have distended udders and get diseases and infections more often. Their nipples get infected so badly the puss has to be separated from the milk after milking. And the kicker is there is already too much milk. There’s no need for anymore milk to be produced. But the government pays dairy farmers to not sell all their milk. So they produce more milk than there is demand so they can be paid to not sell it.

6. I didn’t not find the business representative from IBM very convincing. It was very clear the American branch of IBM knew the role the German branch had in the holocaust and yet did nothing about it. Also that lady who had the weird laugh was a complete joke. She seemed slightly senile or just not very in touch with reality.

7. This film best addresses anyone who has every bought anything or eaten food or ever driven in a car. Actually it would be easier to list the people not affected by the issues in this film. I think the only people safe from the corporations are the remote tribes in the Amazon. Today the world is crisscrossed with international corporations who have great amounts of power. Almost anyone on earth can identify a Pepsi or Coke bottle.

8. Because corporations are so varied, it would be impossible to fit in all the environmental affects corporations have had on the world. Environmental issues are mentioned but not gone thoroughly into depth on. But this is good because many environmental issues are in need of their own documentary. I don’t think anything needs to be added to this film to improve its environmental education. Whatever environmental issue you study, you are most likely going to come back to the same culprit: the corporation. Thus this film is a necessary part to understanding environmental issues even though the film isn’t filled with pictures of endangered animals.

9. They film does not address forms of action to be taken. It doesn’t need to, after watching the documentary it should be obvious that watching the film itself is an action to correct things. Just knowing about and starting to resist corporate influences is beneficial. By educating people they can make smarter decisions about what they buy and consume. Personally I think the only way to remedy corporate power is through public education and protest. We can’t rely on the government or corporations to control corporate behavior. The only way to make them listen is through the power of the public consciousness. Collectively the people outnumber and outpower the corporation. However coordinating everyone on what to do is difficult. That’s why educating the masses is so important. That is why I say watching this film is as in itself, an action to correct things. [|10. http://www.global100.org/] This website has a list of the 100 most sustainable corporations, something I might keep in mind when apply for co-ops this winter/spring [] The Wikipedia page was interesting, especially the 6 characteristics of a sustainable business, something a bit more in depth than the triple top line