Marina Antunes [Celluloid 09.18.20] documentary



Much has changed in the 17 years since the release of Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott's The Corporation. Some corporations said they were sorry and appeared to turn a new leaf. Others continued trucking along until they were wiped out by the recession a few years later. Still others made it through the recession and pretended to change their ways only to remain exactly the same. Essentially, things seemed to change but the reality is that we're back to where we were in 2003 except this time, the corporations aren't being as blatant about their abuses instead, hiding behind the facade of responsibility, caring, and the promise to make a difference.


And so Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott are back with The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel which, yet again, lays out the realities of the world with a bleak frankness that is eye opening and utterly depressing.


The facility with which we're willing to take companies at face value that they're doing good for the world is shocking. Add the words "sustainable," "corporate caring," "green," launch a sweet ad campaign and maybe give a bit of money to a worthy cause and its amazing how quickly many of us drop our guard and soon, we're back to where we started or sometimes even further down the rabbit hole because the truth of it is, we're worse off now than two decades ago when, apparently, corporations didn't care as much as they do now.



Achbar and Abbott have an agenda and their goal is to ensure as many people as possible know about it. Even if you don't agree with all of it, shocking considering the global unrest, and climate disaster we're living in, one has to consider that there's some truth to their message and that if we want our grandchildren to have a place to live, we need to act now.


Trigger warning: Partway through The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel, I was so depressed I muttered to my partner "we're so fucked and the world is certainly going to end." Yes. It's that bad.


Thankfully Achbar and Abbott choose to help spare our mental health by ushering in some optimism but this time, with an even bigger caveat than before: it's not enough to hold the companies accountable and when they say they've changed leave them to manage themselves. We need to be active participants in the conversation because in another 20 years, there may not be a population to watch The New New Corporation: We Can't Believe You Didn't Listen to Us the First 2 Times!.


The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel is depressing, chilling, and absolutely necessary.

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zaphod777 (6 months ago) Reply

More exaggerated disaster porn. No Thanks.

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