Capitalism: A Love Story Movie Analysis

A capitalistic society is glamorous. People get rich and make a lot of money. That’s why we love it, right? You may think that Capitalism: A Love Story is a documentary that supports this economic system, but the title is only a façade of the actual content of the film. This blockbuster documentary by Michael Moore discusses the disastrous impact of capitalism in the United States of America. Moore tries to convince the audience that capitalism affects the USA economy, separating the wealthy and poor by colossal margins. Moreover, he is trying to deliver the crucial message that capitalism has changed our economic system negatively, criticising Wall Street and major CEOs as both the symptoms and cause of the economic collapse. In this documentary, the film splits into three main segments: religion, inequality and socialism. I will then discuss the structure and sequence, documentary and cinematography techniques and stakeholders that are incorporated in each.

Big companies like Amegy Bank and Walmart have certain life insurance policies for their employees and expect them to die. As a result, religious people believe that this kind of thinking is ungodly and sinful. In order to portray this, Moore utilises the wallpaper technique, which is the use of wallpaper to make one look more knowledgeable than they really are. The more authoritative someone looks, the more likely the people will trust what you say. By positioning a professional attorney and priests in their respective working environment immediately makes the audience think that this person is knowledgeable and hence, he must be telling the truth. Another persuasive technique utilised by Moore is religion, which is an extremely powerful device. Many people are religious since they value similar attitudes that are present in a specific religion.  "Give to the poor" is a common phrase in multiple religions that is preached. This strong statement juxtaposes capitalism completely, causing people to see capitalism as evil and destructive as it disobeys religious beliefs. As a result, Moore's views have been accepted by the audience through the use of these two techniques.

Now, the inequality of money between the wealthy and poor. The wage gap between the rich and the poor in America is currently disturbing the vast preponderance of American citizens, resulting in thousands getting evicted and sacked from their job. In order to convince the audience of his beliefs, Moore utilises structure and sequence, which is editing to arrange certain clips in a concatenation that makes the narrator seem informative. The exposition of this montage is a bank robbery, showing the desperate people who must steal to survive. Moore relates bank robberies with capitalism, instantly stigmatising this economic system, influencing the audience to believe that capitalism is corrupt. With this concept fresh in their mind, Moore decides to show clips of citizens getting evicted, utilising pathos to further prove his views, building up this belief in the viewer's mind. Finally, a detailed explanation of the wage gap is presented to the viewers.  This is the finishing touch on converting the audience to followers as the usage of logos is present, forcing the audience to accept the views presented. These fragments pieced together creates a reverse cause and effect sequence as the audience now sees that the wage gap causes the high eviction rates, which results in bank heists. Consequently, Moore justifies his beliefs by presenting this montage to the audience, persuading them to agree with his view on capitalism.

Moore has presented issues regarding capitalism, but he doesn’t want to stop there. He decides to take it a step further and introduce socialism to the audience. To promote this new system, Moore utilises archival footage and renowned figures in society. Barack Obama was an extremely influential individual. He employs this technique as he understands that people are more likely to listen to Obama than him. Barack Obama is one of the most influential celebrities for being the one who started the push of socialism. Utilising this technique grabs the audience’s attention instantly as the archival footage in the documentary is of Obama presenting speeches to humungous crowds. The horde of people reflects Obama's popularity and hence, Moore decides to utilise this weapon to convince the viewers. Moore elaborates on his case, but he does this indirectly. Obama is definitely more influential than Moore as he is authoritative. As stated before, the more authoritative you are, the more likely people believe what you say. Therefore, Moore presents his beliefs by utilising archival footage. He continues to do this through an extremely authoritative and knowledgeable individual.

Capitalism is an issue and there needs to be a change. By presenting religious and inequality reasons, as well as providing a solution to this problem, socialism, Moore has successfully presented his perspective on capitalism. With the utilisation of persuasive techniques such as the wallpaper technique, structure and sequence and archival footage, as well as religion and popularity, Moore’s invited reading is well-portrayed throughout the documentary.