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Capitalism – An Abusive Marriage

I don’t usually like to use films to represent complex sociological structures but the allegory of the movie The Matrix comes to mind.

People are deluded into a fairy tale of America…you can do anything, you can have it all, one day you’ll be a millionaire and as they skip through their lives believing all of this, they are mortgaged and indebted into a modern form of serfdom.

Buying all kinds of things they don’t need, spending more money than they have, borrowing it and spending the rest of their lives paying back what they owe…and many times that in interest.

And the fact that 97% of Americans will never be millionaires is not Twittered to any of them.

Americans in particular are over-entertained, over-fed and over-marketed to. When Bush asked all Americans to respond to 9/11 by going shopping, it was a call for Americans to go back to sleep and rejoin the Matrix already in progress.

Bush made very clear what the purpose of Americans are and all that the elite running this country want from them. To be good little piggies and keep consuming.

And talking about pigs, to quote from one other movie, Babe:

Cat: Ah, the fact is, pigs don’t have a purpose. The fact is that animals that don’t seem to have a purpose really do have a purpose. The Bosses have to eat. It’s probably the most noble purpose of all, when you come to think about it.

» Posted By AdLib On September 24, 2009 @ 9:28 pm

Or…Jihadburgers? With a Chocolate Sheik?

» Posted By AdLib On September 24, 2009 @ 8:50 pm

*in a Charles Nelson Reilly voice* “Gnaah!”

Actually, I was hoping to order a box of Thin Mint cookies from you.

» Posted By AdLib On September 24, 2009 @ 8:03 pm

Crepe!

And don’t forget the McBin and Cheese Burito or the new McLaden Burger, two all bull patties, specious sauce, lettuce, sleaze, in-a-pickles, onions on a sesame seed Tali-bun.

Ouch!

» Posted By AdLib On September 24, 2009 @ 7:59 pm

What’s odd is that when I reread it, my stomach became upset.

Actually, I heard McDonalds is introducing a line of Mexican items that will wreak havoc and terror on the intestines of children.

There are the McQaedadillias and McChili Con Qaedas.

» Posted By AdLib On September 24, 2009 @ 7:00 pm

I know the quote and just figured you were thinking of blaming Gore Vidal for something while you were writing that. So? What happened between you and Gore? Did you have to beat him up?

Don’t be concerned, sometimes I blow myself for mistakes but I then realize I shouldn’t blame my top.

» Posted By AdLib On September 24, 2009 @ 6:57 pm

The conundrum here is that the only way for the public to take back control of the country from corporations is through elections…in which corporations contribute millions to have influence over whoever wins so they can retain control.

Is it possible to elect a trust busting president in this era of corporate domination? One who shoves corporations back into their appropriate place and applies the requisite responsibility and regulation that is needed to protect the people?

Maybe…maybe in his second term, when corporate contributions to him or an opponent would be moot, Obama could take the bold steps that are needed but as long as he keeps trying not to rock the boat too hard, clearly with an eye towards upcoming elections, I don’t know.

» Posted By AdLib On September 24, 2009 @ 2:15 pm

Let’s agree that as with communism and socialism, there is no country which practices capitalism faithfully as it is described in textbooks.

So, capitalism is de facto the system we have, even if it is corrupted from it’s original tenets…just as calling a McDonalds milkshake “a milkshake” is appropriate even though it substitutes corn syrup for milk.

Trying to apply a theoretical and idealistic theory to reality is difficult and prone to corruption by other forces. This is American capitalism and it is a cancer that has and continues to eat away the fabric and foundation of our society.

I agree with you, that like tools in a toolbox, a society should feel free to use whatever principles are the right tool for the job.

Capitalism is the wrong tool for providing health care to a society. Just as it would be for a fire department, police, etc.. There are basic aspects of a society that are necessary for it to function and prosper and allowing capitalism to be a leech in our core system, draining it of what is necessary for the system to survive in the short and long term is self-destructive.

And unbridled capitalism with socialism for their losses, as we have here, is a ravenous beast that devours the key dynamics of a fair and just society.

Capitalism needs to be kept on a leash, no company should be allowed to consolidate or monopolize an industry so that it becomes too big to fail. Once reaching that status, there is never a price to be paid for stupid, risky and destructive choices, they always get the reset button pushed by the U.S. government no matter what terrible things they do.

And we need a Supreme Court that does not equate money with free speech. Would be nice too if personhood for corporations was revoked, it is absurd that they have been allowed all the rights of being a citizen with none of the responsibilities.

» Posted By AdLib On September 24, 2009 @ 2:06 pm

They Shoulda Been Contenders!

Just a note to say how down the line I am with you and Questinia on this, very insightful indeed.

» Posted By AdLib On September 22, 2009 @ 9:22 pm

The truth is that foreign markets have been developing their own domestic film industries and are distributing less American films.

As you say, manipulating the sheeples is the name of the game.

There is a reason that a McDonalds Hamburger is the most popular in the world…despite their making some of the cheapest and most terrible hamburgers.

The film business and many other industries are no different.

The quality of the product being sold is secondary. If the marketing hook and approach is strong, that’s all that matters. That’s what the priority is, not the quality of the hamburger (film).

» Posted By AdLib On September 22, 2009 @ 9:18 pm

I don’t agree with putting it on the audience as much.

The power of market research has far more influence on what films are made and though that does include polling potential audiences, it sets up a fait d’accompli for predictable and derivative films.

Market research is not effective in championing brilliant filmmaking. If you were to try to distill down the plots of some of the greatest films made, they would sound far less desirable than some of the crappiest films ever made. The movie going audience has often loved challenging or fresh films once they were made but would never have predicted that in a focus group when the film was just a concept.

For example, when Studios conduct polling on concepts for films, they are seeking the highest scoring projects to produce.

So, if the first question is, “Would you be interested in seeing a film based on the Transformers cartoons and toys?” and “Would you be interested in seeing a film that is a fictional account of the life of William Randolph Hearst?”, you can imagine which concept scores higher and is far more likely to get financed.

The old days were definitely worse in many ways but when there were studio moguls, when studios weren’t simply part of a global mega corp, the studio heads made some films simply because they were films they wanted to see made.

Market research wasn’t such a religion though they still did test concepts and star combinations and make films from books and plays.

Today, it’s all about the marketing. Look at the critic-proof films that pour out in the summer. Many of the films are admittedly poor but the skill, technology and knowhow of marketing to manipulate people to go see films is so advanced and prolific, films don’t have to be good anymore to be big hits.

It is the potential for marketing that makes a film most viable today, not the finished product being a great film.

That’s why the indie world is where most of the story-telling creativity is, the studio world is where the technological and marketing creativity is.

» Posted By AdLib On September 22, 2009 @ 8:42 pm

It’s the same thing that happened to Orson Welles, Coppola, even Scorsese to a degree. Great directors can have a period where they’re so plugged into their strengths and then they get to an age and stage where they are just trying to recapture what they had or where they were.

I didn’t see the Woody film starring Larry David but the last funny Woody film I can remember seeing was a long time ago, “Small Time Crooks” which was a fun little film. “Bullets Over Broadway” was cute but watching Cusack do a Woody impression was a bit annoying.

One underrated film of his is “Sweet and Lowdown” with Sean Penn playing a self-centered Django Reinhardt type musician.

AND…I just realized I left out one of my all time favorites of his, “Crimes and Misdemeanors”.

It’s a bit sad having to write off a filmmaker whose films I used to look forward to so much but based on his films this decade, it just doesn’t seem he’s got it anymore.

» Posted By AdLib On September 22, 2009 @ 8:18 pm

“Manhattan” is a time capsule which I loved… much more before Woody played it out in real life with Soon Yi.

Woody Allen was a very contemporary comedian so it is natural some of his films are dated. So, a division of my favorite Woody films:

DATED BUT GREAT:
Take the Money and Run
Bananas
Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex
Sleeper
Love and Death
Sleeper
Annie Hall
Manhattan

CLASSIC:
Hannah and her Sisters
Broadway Danny Rose
Purple Rose of Cairo
Zelig

Am I leaving any out?

» Posted By AdLib On September 22, 2009 @ 8:06 pm

Yep, I think that as far as drama goes, tv is typically superior to films. They do have the benefit of already-established characters and backstories that the audience has already seen. But the writing is very strong on tv.

You are quite a connoisseur of indie films! As for documentaries, I find them consistently more intriguing nowadays than narrative films.

Among my favorite documentary films (Ken Burns and other talented tv documentarians aside), “The Thin Blue Line”, “The Corporation”, “Control Room”, “Hoop Dreams”, “Dig” and a separate category for Michael Moore, “Roger and Me”, “Bowling for Columbine”, “Fahrenheit 9/11”, “Sicko”…and opening this week…

…”Capitalism – A Love Story”.

Might that entice you to the movie theater again?

» Posted By AdLib On September 22, 2009 @ 5:29 pm

VB, just move your cursor over the stars just below the article, you’ll see the stars turn red, to rate this article a “10”, place your cursor on the star at the last star on the right (which will turn all the stars red) then just click.

Same with the thumbs up, just click on it.

I enjoyed Chicago as a musical, one of my favorites but it was mediocre at best as a film, most musicals don’t make the leap very successfully because they are designed to work in a completely different presentation.

Hollywood is a corporate business. Teen stars are fabricated, blockbusters are about computer technology and fast cutting and stories are generally variations of recent films that succeeded.

Between the dominance of market research and corporate mindsets of mitigating risk, this hobbled art form is subservient to businessmen who are focused primarily on quarterly profits than making great movies.

There is also a lot of fear in the film business, sticking one’s neck out is rare, most prefer to go with films that are based on something that was successful, a broadway play, a book, a toy, a comic book, a cartoon series or tv show, etc. because it supposedly has a built in audience (mitigating risk) and if it fails, they have a built in excuse to cover their ass, “It was so successful as a musical/book/tv show/comic book, how was I to know it would fail as a movie? It’s the writer’s/director’s/actor’s/producer’s fault, not mine, so no reason to fire me.”

IMO, the majority of true quality films are independent films which can more often escape the forces that push films into molds and mediocrity. Still, distribution is tough for indies as many of the potential distributors are connected to studios and have similar commercial sensibilities.

Somehow, though, there are quality films that get made and distributed though most years, at the Oscars, it is the Indies that dominate and rightly so.

» Posted By AdLib On September 22, 2009 @ 2:26 pm

Great article and as always, fantastic artwork! A very warm welcome to The Planet!

One of the Oscar misses that always annoyed me was Peter Sellers not winning for playing Chance the Gardner in “Being There”.

He had just died, that was his last and IMO greatest role and instead the Oscar went to Dustin Hoffman for an unchallenging, movie-of-the-week type role in “Kramer vs. Kramer”.

Of course the most famous Oscar head scratcher was Marisa Tomei playing a cliche character in the throw away comedy, “My Friend Vinnie”.

And though I am a fan of many Woody Allen films (mostly the earlier funny ones), Mira Sorvino winning for her role as a ditzy hooker in “Mighty Aphrodite” was a replay of Marisa Tomei. Huh?

Lots of factors determine who wins Oscars, including studios throwing their weight around (many Academy members work with or for studios), marketing and what puts the best face on presenting Hollywood as having a heart and really caring about substantial things/humanity.

Then again, sometimes movies like “Shakespeare in Love” win and everyone walks away somewhat bewildered.

» Posted By AdLib On September 22, 2009 @ 12:15 pm

An Intolerant Truth – Reduce Global Flaming

Yep, the irony is that the Repubs know that taking steps that destroy the country are horrible…so they take these steps but try to hide them behind their accusations that Obama is doing what they are.

That’s very Rovian, take your weakness and project it onto your adversary (remember Bush attacking Kerry on his military record?).

They are a cancer in society and our political system needs the same kind of reform we’re trying to pass on health care, so we can get the GOP surgically removed from doing further harm to the public “body”.

» Posted By AdLib On September 21, 2009 @ 10:45 pm

Or maybe what’s steaming in their coffee cup is the same substance they’re shoveling out to their loyal viewers?

» Posted By AdLib On September 21, 2009 @ 10:40 pm

Yep, they have the emotional faucet turned on and the intellectual faucet is rusted shut.

Flames can exist without oxygen for Republicans because they don’t believe in science. They can also turn reform into whine.

Love the metaphor of them! May I add another to the list?

I see them as spoiled babies. They want what they want and don’t care for/are incapable of providing much complex reasoning for it. They cry when they don’t get what they want, they throw tantrums to try and get what they want and most of all, when it comes to satisfying their appetites, they suck.

» Posted By AdLib On September 21, 2009 @ 12:40 pm

It Looks Like All or Nothing Time

The American public is politically as they are about their health.

Generally lazy and pathetic until there’s an emergency then they’re involved and frantic for an overnight solution.

Sure would be nice if most Americans felt it was better to gradually press the break well before nearing the cliff than slamming the brakes on at the last minute as we’re about to go off the edge.

At least those who aren’t teabaggers, that is. There ain’t no stopping those lemmings.

» Posted By AdLib On September 21, 2009 @ 12:53 pm

Heh!

» Posted By AdLib On September 18, 2009 @ 11:07 pm

Why does the Baucus bill even matter? They have 5 other bills that have passed other committees, all of which have the public option.

No Repubs except possibly Snowe are going to vote for any health care reform bill anyway.

I suppose the point is to knowingly pass a bill without the public option that Snowe could vote for as the 60th vote with everyone privately knowing that the public option will be brought back in during reconciliation and needing only 51 votes.

If that’s the case, who cares what they pass initially, get it done and move this train down the tracks.

» Posted By AdLib On September 18, 2009 @ 7:35 pm

The White Elephant in the Room

Due to my experiences in the south over the past few years, I actually find it more remarkable that the rampant racism in this country has been so well hidden.

It’s the combination of wishful thinking by the politically correct, deceit by those who are racists and deceit by the MSM which regurgitates what both have said as the way things are.

What this should say to us is that we have been deceived for many years as to the true composition of the American people. A subset is and has been racist, they just haven’t had such great platforms as the GOP and Fox News before nor the opportunity and motivation of having a black president.

» Posted By AdLib On September 20, 2009 @ 9:12 pm

Actually, if you think of The Republican Party as a Denny’s coffee pitcher and imagine that those not weighed down by hatred and racism, the moderates and financial conservatives, have all been poured out of the pot already.

What remains AS the GOP are the dregs of the party and society.

It does make sense that the majority of people still clinging to the GOP along with their guns and bible are those who are the adversaries of equality, compassion, enlightenment and regular bathing.

» Posted By AdLib On September 20, 2009 @ 9:01 pm

Kalima, I don’t agree that it taints the accomplishments of the majority to acknowledge that a minority of Americans CONTINUE to be racist.

These people were racists when Bush was president, they condemned “Illegal Immigrants” and wanted to forcibly deport 8 million non-whites.

What I’m trying to say is that nothing has changed, these haters were haters before…even when Obama was elected.

To diminish the actions of the majority because a completely different group of offensive and ignorant people spew racial venom isn’t being fair to those who stood up during the election and continue to face off against these racists.

I think Pres. Carter stepping up to face off with racism in the country is very affirming.

Of course the right wing racists will ignore and discount him but as a Southerner, his words carry a lot of weight and he represents the many Southerners who oppose racism.

Just as the racists don’t represent all Americans, they don’t represent all Southerners either.

I think it’s valid to be concerned about violence, there’s been some already and there will be more.

That’s what happens when you whip up the nutjobs on the margins of society, they blow up federal buildings, assassinate doctors at clinics and shoot up a church because the shooter claimed they were “liberals”.

At the same time, while Bush was President, he caused the deaths of 1 million Iraqis and 4,000 of our military. He had people secretly and brutally tortured, held Americans without allowing them to contact lawyers. Is the U.S. actually more or less violent now?

Yes, of course the MSM spotlights the screaming lunatics, that’s what gets eyeballs.

You know the score, you can’t give much credence to what appears on the MSM. You have to take what you see about the U.S. in the MSM with a big boulder of salt.

It’s not reality, it’s just cynical entertainment.

It’s at trying times like these that it’s important to hold up the positive traits of ourselves as human beings and Americans. It’s time for a big helping of moral outrage from the majority.

Human beings can indeed let you down…but they can also surprise you.

Keep the faith, my friend. When this chapter is over, we will end up on top and they will end up more marginalized than ever.

» Posted By AdLib On September 20, 2009 @ 12:24 am

You too Kalima, hang in there.

Don’t allow the fact that racists still exist in the U.S. (every nation has racists, classists and provincial purists who hate those they deem below them) paint the majority in the nation with that stain.

Remember, America voted in a president by the classic Anglo Saxon name of Barack Obama. Most people wouldn’t have believed that possible just two years ago.

I’m not aware of any other major nation that has elected someone to lead their nation who doesn’t resemble the majority.

A majority of Americans made a bold and progressive statement by electing Pres. Obama. We shouldn’t allow recognition of what’s worst in the country (and a minority) obscure what’s best (AND a majority sensibility).

» Posted By AdLib On September 19, 2009 @ 8:47 pm

Thanks, I wasn’t familiar with him but just from reading the insightful quotes you provided, I’ll be reading him.

» Posted By AdLib On September 19, 2009 @ 8:35 pm

LuluMay, stay strong and don’t ever forget that you are surrounded by a majority of Americans who reject and stand against the hatred and racism of this ignorant minority.

You’re not alone in underestimating this. In the last few years I spent a bit of time in Louisiana, pre and post Katrina.

Being from L.A. and thinking I had a good idea of where things were in this nation, I was stunned to realize the amount of open racism and prejudice, particularly in the south, that continues unabated.

The MSM and Republicans (as an excuse to end Affirmative Action and other programs) have pressed the meme that racism is over in America.

Even if the intent by the well intentioned is to de-emphasize racial issues and by doing so, minimize race-consciousness, the facade of “everything’s cool” has led many, including me, into a false sense of security that racism has been marginalized in this country.

It’s especially obscene in today’s more informed and enlightened society that a major political party in the United States would choose aligning themselves with and encouraging racism purely for political gain.

The GOP is not just The Party of No, they are now The Party of Hate and apparently proud of it.

There is a light at the end of this tunnel though. Every demographic study I’ve seen on this issue shows that the majority of those who are racist are over 50. They are dying off and will continue to do so (especially since many in the South shorten their lives due to obesity and lifestyle).

Though some younger people are indoctrinated into racism by their families or peers, they are less inclined as a whole to follow in those footsteps.

Society has been evolving and these outcasts will indeed be Left Behind.

» Posted By AdLib On September 19, 2009 @ 8:30 pm

Thanks!

I’ll put that on my list just behind Fried Twinkies!

» Posted By AdLib On September 18, 2009 @ 11:05 am

Voices of the Teabaggers Movement

I know how you feel. Too late tonight for this tired brain but I have an idea for an article to write about how the root of all this hatred is such a poorly kept secret but the MSM refuses to focus on it even though so many of us and them know what this is really about.

Why are they tamping down the racial issue that is so obviously the key component here?

Maybe Pres. Carter’s statement will force them to confront this more honestly. If financial concerns are the cause, what could be a bigger, more explosive story than to accept that maybe 10% – 20% of this country are just plain hateful racists (maybe more?)?

An interesting area to explore…when I’m conscious!

» Posted By AdLib On September 15, 2009 @ 10:44 pm