BUSINESS-RELATED DOCUMENTARY FILM ANALYSIS
Business-related documentaries have become popular over the last several decades. Examples of such documentaries are: The Corporation, Take: Occupy. Resist. Produce, Supersize Me, Roger and Me, American Jobs, and Exporting America. All these documentaries can be considered "anti-business" and are very critical of capitalism.
You are to prepare an assignment that contains the following sections:
1. A brief introduction outlining the purpose of the paper and identifying its sections.
2. A review of the documentary as a medium and its influence on society, in particular, as it impacts business (capitalism). The following questions are designed to stimulate your thinking:
- Does the treatment of business reflect society's lack of trust in business and its leaders?
- Does the content of documentaries simply "mirror the times," or the attitudes held towards business?
- Why do the negative depictions of business continue even with modern management styles that favour more participation by managers as coaches and mentors rather than as dictators?
- Are filmmakers more liberal or radical and thus critical of the culture in which business works?
- Do documentaries influence the attitudes of Canadians towards business and its leaders?
3. Analyse one of the documentary films shown in class. The following questions are designed to stimulate your thinking:
- What social and/or ethical issues are portrayed in the documentary?
- Did the documentary accurately depict how business operates?
- Does business get a bad rap in this documentary?
- Is the "evil-doer" either a business executive or a large, menacing corporation?
- Did the selection of actors enhance or diminish the reputation of businesspersons?
- Are any of business's "good deeds" portrayed in this documentary?
- Will the treatment of business in this documentary influence attitudes towards the business system?
4. The identification of topics and examples that you would include in a documentary entitled Fixing Capitalism. The thesis of the documentary would be that there are problems or downsides to the corporation and capitalism. Instead of only taking a negative slant, the documentary is to illustrate corporate social responsibility, indicate how businesspersons could improve the corporation's economic, ethical, and environmental performance (Triple-E Bottom Line), and suggest how stakeholders can and have influenced the corporation.
5. A concluding section containing your insights of documentaries and the particular one analysed.