Corporations in Movies

The subject of this post revolves around a pattern that I've noticed in films - and other medias as well - over the last few years and which I believe is becoming increasingly pronounced: vivid depictions of corporations, those commercial entities composing the pillars of the capitalism found almost everywhere in the modern civilized world.

In many movies, corporations have become stand-alone characters. Not individual characters, but collective ones, although their depictions are seldom less developed than, say, a protagonist's character. They may not have the same qualities and flaws or the same convictions and doubts as a human character, but they often do have a major impact on the storyline, strong enough to regard them as full-fledged entities for whom the viewer develops empathy or sympathy and which are an essential element of the story as a whole.

This pattern that occurred to me is not "balanced". Far from it. If it were, corporations would be depicted sometimes as benevolent and other times as malevolent - and anything in between -, averaging a somewhat uniform distribution, much like it is with human characters. But what I've noticed over the years is that there is no such uniform distribution when it comes to corporations. They are almost always shown at the negative end of the spectrum. Greedy, ruthless entities, seeking profit and domination at all costs, with no respect for ethics and with little regard for the impact on humans and other beings. Colossal monsters which, although far beyond the achievements and abilities of a single person, have reached a critical mass beyond which they can only function as a singular role: the villain. The modern, sophisticated and highly resourceful villain which can impress the viewers in so many ways - the ideal negative character of any story.

More than that, corporations in movies are becoming increasingly tyrannic and totalitarian. It is as if the role of the over-authoritative state (which is itself a vast subject and could well be the topic of a future post) has steadily shifted to a more cunning, subtle and adaptable adversary. It's not always the case, of course, that corporations are shown in such strong light. Take, for instance, films such as "Fight Club", where the focus of the blame is shifted on the consumers and their mindless submission to the "consumerism" urge. In contrast, compare this view with the one in the more recent "Cloud Atlas", where corporations in the not-too-distant future have literally reached the status of slave owners, enacting a sociopolitical regime of so-called "corpo-crats".

What I find truly fascinating about this attitude is its context. To make things clear first,  I do not intend to either uphold or denounce here the concept of a corporation and its role in modern society - I'll stick to commenting about its depiction in movies. It's interesting to see how almost everything involved in the production of such a movie is driven by one or more corporations - from the movie studios to the cinemas. Hypocrisy? No, I don't actually think this explains it best. Is it that film producers believe that corporations are a very modern topic that confuse and fascinate most of the viewers, a "necessary evil" that we're probably addicted to but we just can't make up our minds yet about whether we admire or hate them? Well, I'll be the first one to admit, this works for me, there is something about corporations that makes this kind of movies very, very interesting. I believe thus that films that continue to depict corporations, real or fictional, in bold and controversial ways will make a strong impression among a good part of the moviegoers. I, for one, can't help being one of them! How about you? Would you say that this is a topic that is getting more and more attention, or is it just a random and unspecial occurrence instead of a pattern among film producers?

Before I sign off, I'll make a list of some of the movies I've seen where corporations have a strong presence in the storyline. I'll give some examples and outline the general attitude of the filmmakers. I'll only include movies that I have seen, thus the list is far from being complete. Let me know about movies that I've missed, so I can add them as well!

Movie Title	Depicted Corporations / domain	Real/fictional	Overall attitude
Cloud Atlas (2012)	Papa Song	Fictional	Unfavorable
TRON: Legacy (2010)	ENCOM (software)	Fictional	Mostly unfavorable
Avatar (2009)	Resources Development Administration (mining)	Fictional	Unfavorable
District 9 (2009)	Multi-National United (weapons)	Fictional	Unfavorable
The Insider (1999)	Big Tobacco, CBS	Real	Unfavorable
The International (2009)	Banking	Fictional	Unfavorable
The Devil’s Advocate (1997)	Law firm	Fictional	Unfavorable
WALL-E (2008)	Unnamed	Fictional	Unfavorable
Fight Club (1999)	Multiple	Both real and fictional	Unfavorable
Michael Clayton (2007)	Law firm	Fictional	Unfavorable
Edge of Darkness (2010)	Nuclear energy	Fictional	Unfavorable
“Terminator” series	Skynet (IT, weapons)	Fictional	Unfavorable
Philadelphia (1993)	Baker & McKenzie (law)	Real	Unfavorable
“Iron Man” series	Stark Industries (weapons)	Fictional	Favorable (?)
Blade Runner (1982)	Tyrell Corp. (robotics)	Fictional	Unfavorable
Thank You for Smoking (2005)	Big Tobacco	Real	Unfavorable
Syriana (2005)	Multiple (oil industry)	Fictional	Unfavorable
Total Recall (1990)	Rekall Inc. (memory implants)	Fictional	Unfavorable
“Alien” series	Weyland-Yutani (mining, terraforming, robotics)	Fictional	Unfavorable
“Batman” series	Wayne Corporation (weapons, energy)	Fictional	Neutral
“Resident Evil” series	Umbrella Corporation (pharmaceutics)	Fictional	Unfavorable
Soylent Green (1973)	Soylent Corporation (food industry)	Fictional	Unfavorable
“Robocop” series	Omni Consumer Products (weapons, urban pacification, space exploration)	Fictional	Unfavorable
The Game (1997)	Consumer Recreation Services (entertainment)	Fictional	Neutral (?)
“Spiderman” series	OsCorp (weapons, bio-engineering)	Fictional	Mostly unfavorable
Moon (2009)	Lunar Industries (space exploration)	Fictional	Unfavorable
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)	Bailey Building & Loan (banking, finances)	Fictional	?
New Rose Hotel (1998)	Maas, Hosaka (bio-engineering)	Fictional	Unfavorable
Fun with Dick and Jane (1977/2005)	Globodyne (media)	Fictional	Unfavorable (?)
Office Space (1999)	Initech (software)	Fictional	Unfavorable (?)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1971/2005)	The Willy Wonka Candy Company (food industry)	Fictional	Favorable (?)
Monsters, Inc. (2001)	Monsters Incorporated (energy)	Fictional	Unfavorable
A Scanner Darkly (2006)	New Path Corporation	Fictional	Unfavorable
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)	Lacuna, Inc. (psychology)	Fictional	Neutral
Watchmen (2009)	Veidt Enterprises (fashion)	Fictional	Neutral
Documentaries
The Corporation (2003)	Multiple	Real	Unfavorable
Sicko (2007)	Healthcare	Real	Unfavorable
Capitalism: A Love Story (2009)	Banking	Real	Unfavorable
Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992)	Media	Real	Unfavorable

(Special thanks to the redditors that helped expanding this list!) 

As you can conclude, corporations are overwhelmingly shown as bad or plain evil. However, apart from the obvious example of documentaries, few films depict real corporations, although their fictional counterparts could be very easily associated to many famous, real-world companies. I can't help wondering what would happen if movies started depicting real corporations in fictional stories. Would a tempest of lawsuits follow? Or, more radically, would it have the same effect as the crazy act of openly criticizing a totalitarian regime that one is part of...?

Not only movies employ corporations as the main antagonist. Video games do this as well, many of them creating solid backgrounds for the player to learn about, in greater depth than a movie usually can. Some notable examples of such games are the following:

Game Title / Series	Depicted Corporations / domain	Real/fictional	Overall attitude
F.E.A.R.	Armacham (weapons, energy, technology)	Fictional	Unfavorable
Deus Ex	Multiple	Fictional	Mostly unfavorable
Borderlands	Multiple (weapons, mining, terraforming)	Fictional	Mostly unfavorable
Portal	Aperture Science	Fictional	Neutral
Fallout	Multiple	Fictional	Mostly unfavorable
Unreal Tournament	Liandri Corp. (mining)	Fictional	Mostly unfavorable
Resident Evil	Umbrella Corporation (pharmaceutics)	Fictional	Unfavorable
“Crysis” series	Hargreave-Rasch Biomedical, Crynet	Fictional	Mostly unfavorable

Again, I'm certain that I've missed many other notable examples - I included for starters only games that I've played, so feel free to suggest any addition.