For decades now, large media conglomerates have been producing movies and television shows that push anti-corporate messaging, often very blatantly. From Disney’s production of “Andor” and other parts of the “Star Wars” universe that portray anti-capitalist and even anti-American government messaging, to Amazon’s production of the “Fallout” TV series, these huge conglomerates seem to love producing anti-corporate media.
Why would they do this? The simple answer is, it makes them a lot of money. Many people, especially younger Americans who tend to consume the most movies and TV, have at least some subconscious hatred towards the wealth gap created by corporations in America. Research shows that audiences 18-35 tend to be the most skeptical of capitalism, and these same audiences are the most likely to watch movies and television through streaming services. So, these people love to see criticisms of these companies, even if they are produced by the company themselves. At the end of the day, it’s a sentiment the viewer agrees with, and they don’t really care who produced the show.
While it may feel like they are harming their reputation by producing these shows, that is generally untrue. For one, getting their name out there by producing a well-liked anti-corporate show benefits them more than the harm that show may do to the reputation of their company, if it does any at all.
Take the “Fallout” TV series, for example: “Fallout” is a beloved video game series to many people, often to whom the gameplay and story transcend the politics of the games. Even though right from the start, the games are pushing anti-corporate messaging, many players of the game do not care for this part, and just love the universe that the game has created. Translating this universe into a show could not have been done well without a large budget and a lot of CGI. That, plus the fact that they have to own the rights to production, makes the task of producing the show fall on a large corporation. And why would they change the messaging? For many people, that might ruin the adaptation, and it is more likely to get pointed out that the political messaging was changed than that a corporation is producing anti-corporate media.
Under capitalism, the ultimate goal of any corporation is to make a profit. It does not matter to a single shareholder of that company how the profit is being made, as long as it is happening. And when companies producing anti-corporate messaging don’t actually have to give up their position in the status quo, and people tend to watch these anti-corporate pieces of media, the question becomes why wouldn’t they produce these shows?
Shows like “Fallout,” “Andor,” and “Severance” give the viewer characters they can relate to. Characters who are discontent with their daily lives or going through struggles that are directly tied to an evil corporation. Many people’s lives are affected a lot more directly by these corporations than they might think, and their negative sentiment towards the wealth gap in America should be directed towards these large conglomerates like Amazon, Disney, and Apple, but so often they are not. That is why these corporations can get away with producing these shows. Simply put, people will watch and agree with the messaging, and then not know where to point the blame in reality. It is made so clear to the audience in the show, but that same clarity isn’t present in our daily lives, so people ignore the consistent harm done by these same corporations who are producing the shows.
