Reaction Essay 3

The Corporation

Corporations in this film were viewed or compared to family, a telephone system (reaching everywhere), eagles (soaring and competitive), a monster (devouring profits), a whale (large), Dr. Frankenstein’s Creation (overwhelming the world) and a person. One said it was like a small democratic country. What a corporation really is; is a group of people working to make money legally (some illegally). But without them, life would not be what it is today.

The film showed corporations in a negative light; gaining power by any means possible, causing various amounts of harm to both people and the environment; layoffs, unions, unsafe conditions, sweatshops, pollution, toxic waste, etc. The film also said they have low morals by allowing these things to happen. Most of this is true. They use the cheapest labor possible, pollute the air and water, are penalized for unlawful actions, and are patenting things that should not be (such as biological research). They have been accused of helping the Anix forces (Germany, Japan, and Italy) during World War II, making money off wars and conflicts and now targeting children (but as in Merchants of Cool, this proves very effective).

If it wasn’t for corporations, there wouldn’t be a need for this class because there would be absolutely no media. News stations, and television shows are run by corporations. Books and magazines have publishing companies that are defined as corporations. Music is distributed under various label companies also known as corporations. All house hold appliances come from several different corporations. Clothing also has its corporations. Basically everything you own comes from a corporation or can at least be linked back to one.

Now just because a corporation owns everything in daily lives, does not mean it owns the in-material. Blogs for instance are still free from copyright laws. The ideas or content that people post are not copyrighted (however the blog’s server is). The same goes with small, private or family owned businesses. They are small enough not to need a corporation, but they still advertise, and make money. And this is what (according to the film) corporations fear; privatizing. To privatize a company is to have ownership by a non-government company and the stock of such company is owned by a small number of holders who cannot trade it in the stock market. The private companies are making money, but corporations are losing out.

So because we have corporations and private companies, we have advertisements. Any company’s goal is to make money, and in order to do so, they must sell their product; wither it be a television show down to a car and all the way down to your socks. And these corporations are very tricky; they weave such an intricate web of who owns what that it is virtually impossible to (entirely) boycott any certain corporation. To not rely on any corporation for things in daily life would be to literally go back to the stone ages (or at least back before the 1700’s and the Industrial Revolution). Is it safe to say your material life is owned by corporations?