In the world that we live in there has always been a great emphasis on economic success. For some people, success means having an education, a family, being economically stable, and in some cases extremely wealthy. People go to great lengths in order to reach such goals by paying thousands of dollars for an education that will hopefully lead them to be successful later on in life. However that is not always the case. Due to an unstable and capitalistic economy in the U.S. we are now facing a serious imbalance in the class system and many people are falling further into debt because of major conglomerate companies. In Michael Moore’s movie Capitalism: A Love Story, we see how many large scale companies such as Walmart exploit their employees, control the economy, and help create the divide in class systems. This, however, is not only an issue in the U.S., but also in China where due to globalization many American companies outsource their products. Despite the fact that China’s economy practices socialism their class systems are still very much divided and their employees undermined. In the movie Beijing Bicycle the audience gets a glimpse of how people from lower class communities in China suffer from economic distress and how that, like in America, it affects their daily lives. These factors are the reason that many people get stuck in lower class communities and have little hope of getting out of them.
A capitalistic society is defined by an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state. In the U.S. there are hundreds of large companies that control the economy and job market, many of which outsource their jobs in terms of manufacturing and production. Although this takes away from the job market in the U.S. it promotes globalization and world wide trade. In the U.S. major companies such as Walmart like to provide the highest quality products with the cheapest prices they possibly can afford while still making a profit. While this may seem like it’s beneficial to the general public because it helps them save money and live a better quality lifestyle, it is detrimental to employees that work for the company (Moore). Many of Walmart’s employees usually do not make more than minimum wage and live in what is considered nowadays below the property level. They also note that their paychecks go right back into the company because they cannot afford to shop elsewhere (Moore). For someone living comfortably and being considered middle class it a good place to shop, but for it’s employees who don’t have the option it’s a necessity. Walmart also does its best to ensure that their employees have benefits such as medical and dental insurance, unfortunately having those benefits takes money out of their paychecks and makes it even harder for them to survive economically.
Although Walmart may be able to provide, in many cases, a cheaper product it’s only because it has been outsourced somewhere like China and manufactured by people who are desperate for money to survive. What would generally cost a few dollars to make in the U.S. because of our currency takes mere pennies to make over seas, “China [then] becomes a much cheaper and therefore preferred location for many foreign firms looking to employ low-wage labour” (Harvey). By sending business overseas major companies are then also able to make more of a profit off of the product and make more money long term. This is very useful in terms of maintaining and growing a business, but not so good for employees. A good portion of China’s economy comes from factories that are working for other countries. Many Chinese employees work for unreasonably small amounts in order to survive. This example is best seen in the movie Beijing Bicycle by Xiaoshuai Wang where the audience follows alongside two characters: Jian and Guo, who come from relatively different backgrounds, but are both dramatically affected by China’s economic struggle.
In the movie, the audience is introduced to Guo who is a very poor young man who moves from the country side in order to hopefully get a job and be able to survive on his own. He is given an opportunity as a runner and given a bicycle, which then becomes his entire life and means of survival. This bicycle will supposedly lead to his success in the future. Since he comes from extreme rural poverty Guo is very grateful to have a job and will do anything to keep it. When he is faced with losing his bicycle Guo makes it his mission to get it back. He is so poor he can’t afford another one and he doesn’t want to bring shame to his family or himself so he perpetually gets his ass kicked trying to get it back. Jian is a student who lives at home with his family. The family is portrayed as relatively poor and Jian is deprived of things that he wants even though it means that him and his little sister get a good education so that one day they can have better things in life. Jian is portrayed as a good kid for the most part, until we see him stealing money from his family and buying himself Guo’s bicycle. In this movie we see how poverty that’s probably caused by economic disruption and outsourcing can create serious problems and turn good people into criminals because of simple means of survival.
There are no lessons to be learned from this, I'm very pessimistic when it comes to the future of our society and how people will inevitably treat each other so that they can get ahead. Beijing Bicycle can even be connected to our modern day low income areas in Los Angeles with the way people are possessive with their personal belongings and boys are territorial of their space. The movie isn't too far off in showing how many people act when they are faced with economic struggle and what not.
whew.
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