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.