On Wednesday, we watched Capitalism: A Love Story starring and directed by Michael Moore in class. The movie really puts a lot of things into perspective. Clearly, with any film, there are going to be exaggerations or manipulation of facts, however, there are some arguments that Moore makes that shed lighton the profit centric society we live in. Capitalism is a large part of society and as stated in the film, it influences the mentality and actions of a lot of American citizens. As Moore demonstrates, instead of the youth of the nation being reformed, they were being imprisoned for profit. Also, companies are profiting from the deaths of loyal employees. This speaks volumes of our society on a global scale. American still has the potential to be the land of dreams, however there are many people that are manipulating the nation for their benefit. As David Harvey states in "A Brief History of Neoliberalism," ""for any way of thought to become dominant, a conceptual apparatus has to be advanced that appeals to our institutions and instincts, to our values and our desires, as well as to the possibilities inherent in the social world we inhabit" (Harvey 5). For our society, according to Moore, that conceptual apparatus is capitalism; it has people acting a certain way that allows the rich to get richer, because those of middle or lower class believe in the American dream and hope to be rich one day. People keep acting the same, even though they personally are not benefiting in any way, because they have hope for a better future. However, Moore questions whether that future is based in reality or simply a mirage.
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