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4 Films That Stick It To The Man
Everyone likes an underdog story, especially when it involves the destruction of an evil corporation with millions of dollars on their side! Below are 4 examples of the little man overcoming the powers that be...
1) Avatar - dir. James Cameron (2009)
Without getting into the whole biological warfare/ alien loving/ militaristic plot of James Cameron’s hit 3D blockbuster, it is still blatantly obvious that this is a story about the little man rising up against the oppressor and winning.
After transferring his body into an Avatar, a clone of a Na’vi - a big blue species that live on the planet ‘Pandora’ - young paraplegic Jake realises that the humans, having destroyed their own planet, are exploiting nature on another one. He turns his back on the Resources Development Administration, the corporation who hired him to infiltrate the indigenous species, and joins the natives in fighting back against ‘the man’, and of course, they win.
2) The Big Short - dir. Adam McKay (2015)
Based on a true story, The Big Short focuses around three separate yet parallel stories of men who decided to take on the big banks before the 2005 financial crisis and won.
Four different high-flyers in the world of finance managed to predict the credit and housing collapse in the mid-2000s. Instead of warning the world, they decide to take on the big banks of America, betting against them due to their lack of foresight and immense greed. Despite the protest of multiple investors, the men make deals with various juggernauts of the banking world, and of course, the banks happily take the bets, ‘safe’ in the knowledge that such an event had never happened in the history of America before; how foolish they were.
3) District 9- dir. Neil Blomkamp (2009)
Neil Blomkamp’s sci-fi epic, District 9 is so clearly based on the ideas of apartheid in South Africa, however, just as obvious is the idea of anti-corporationalism. Aliens have landed on Earth, however, instead of being intergalactic, blood-thirsty tyrants, they are a race of insectoids who become segregated to a ghetto called District 9.
Multi- National United or MNU (what a creative name!) for short, are an arms company keen on discovering the secrets behind alien technology; it is they who enforced segregation upon the alien race to marginalise them, whilst also secretly kidnapping them for illegal experiments and target practice. After becoming an alien by accidentally spraying a fluid in his face, our hero, Wikus van de Merwe realises the horrors being committed against the extra-terrestrials and plots to take down MNU and help the visitors escape, in return for being made human again.
4) The Island - dir. Michael Bay (2005)
Did you know… Michael Bay used to actually make good movies! The Island is a clear example of corporate exploitation of human beings, in a very obvious way… cloning and body part harvesting.
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A private corporation is selling an organ and body part replacement service, claiming that they grow the parts in a laboratory, however the reality is far more sinister… creating living, breathing, feeling clones and harvesting their bodies. After realising that there is more to life than living in a ‘contamination-free’ bubble (created by the head of the corporation, Dr. Merrick in order to keep the clones in order), Lincoln Six Echo escapes with fellow clone Jordan Two Delta, and learns of the horrific ordeal he was once involved in. The pair decide to head back to the facility in order to liberate their fellow clones, overthrowing the evil Dr. Merrick along the way.
