dotinthesky | I Used to be a Corporate Kid

I awoke today thinking of the documentary The Corporation. I saw it yesterday with Chris and my boyfriend. We met outside the Curzon cinema in Soho, in one of London's coldest nights. I was sad to see that Chris's girlfriend Kris wasn't there, but then again I'm glad she didn't get to find out with us that her favourite drink was also Nazi Germany's fave. I always thought there was something funny about Fanta. ;+)

Before the movie, we went to a quiet pub off Leicester Square and talked about forgotten horror movies. I don't think the conversation prepared us for the long hours afterwards of watching video footage of corporate corruption mixed with flashy strikes at McDees, Sears, or even grainy returns to Gandhi walking to the sea to gather salt forbidden by the British Empire. Chris thought the documentary was a mess, a jumble of ideas that would have better suited a 6-episode documentary on television. I think the producers had their hearts in the right place, but perhaps they were a bit too ambitious; they struck at so many corporations, took in so many angles of how corporations are affecting our world negatively, that they didn't leave much space for discussion on how we can do something to revert all the bad that has been done. And the uplifting "world" music in the end did bring the cynical out of me.

By the way, if I was living in America, I would have woken up today and poured all the milk down the drain. The thought of cow puss in the milk because of all the antibiotics injected into American cows was incredibly sick. How true was the story? It was the one piece of the documentary that seemed detailed and incisive - as if there was enough evidence to carry a sole documentary by itself. No wonder Monsanto freaked out and tried to hush the story.

Naomi Klein, Noam Chomsky and Michael Moore, the usual leftist stamp collection faces, were there. Naomi Klein reminded me of women I met in Montreal during my University years. She's still got so many years ahead of her - I think she's going to go far. I'm glad I'll get to hear her talk on Wednesday. It will be a nice continuation of whatever was reborn inside my mind last night.

The Corporation didn't teach me many new things, but it reminded me of decisions I had made a long time ago and which I had slowly been leaving by the wayside. I know that it's hard to abandon the modern way of living, the waste and ignorance... but I'm going to try! If I can write a crappy 200 page horror novel in one month, then I sure learn to see beyond the brand that I consume.

I would recommend you go see The Corporation, if only to instigate discussion in your mind or with your friends. Maybe pick up a book afterwards. Can you believe I never read Chomsky? He looks like my boyfriend's father. I wonder if he's ever written anything on Brazil.

Current Mood: productive
Current Music: INXS - Just Keep Walking

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ephemeritis.livejournal.com

I felt much the same about The Corporation, that it didn't teach me anything new but was a total scream in the face reminding me that I need to make a better effort. I used to drive Alan nuts talking about pus in milk, and I turned to him during that part of the documentary and made some smug facial expression. :P

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"Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it. Don't wait for it. Just let it happen." - Dale Cooper, Twin Peaks

I Used to be a Corporate Kid

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