Chase Powell
4/28/10
Bleck
Essay #2

America: The Perfect Mixture of Corruption and Ignorance

American citizens have been oblivious to the corruption within their politics for years. American politics is full of backstabbing and slander though it is considered unconstitutional; many politicians have their names destroyed in one form or the other by the opposition. The ignorant voters focus mainly on what a candidate will do rather than what they can do. Such is the case with president Obama when he won the Nobel Peace Prize for an idea rather than any substantial actions. Politicians are corrupt in so many ways due to the fact that they are in every facet of the economy and many people are scared that “big brother” will step in. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle is a prime example of one politician running the entire community, he is the “ruler of the district” and “therefore Democratic boss,” who “held an important party office in the state, and bossed even the mayor of the city, it was said; it was his boast that he carried the stockyards in his pocket.” This corruption within the government and ignorance within the voting community is displayed in “Oligarchy in us” through the use of many devices.

The first and possibly most prominent device used within the video is the emotion-communicating faces within the film. There are so many emotion-communicating faces throughout the video one could not possibly list them all. Some of the more noticeable faces are the ones of the politicians. All of the politicians have either a happy, complacent or evil face within the video. This shows that the government could care less about what happens to the country and its citizens. All of the average people portrayed are either in what looks like an extreme amount of pain or are disheartened by the circumstances they are in. One of the first things you see in the video is George W. Bush water boarding a prisoner and the expressions on his and the other two politicians in the room’s faces were pure evil. You also see “puppets” of three political candidates on stage with huge smiles on their faces putting on a show for sheep which represent the average American citizen. The pain expressed in people’s faces show the pain that they are experiencing through the corrupt government. The best example of this is the image of John McCain sitting on George Bush’s lap while both smiling and in the background you see people screaming and some fire which gives you the sense that the government is literally putting them through hell. The vacant looks on other people’s faces show how they are oblivious to the corruption within the government, how controlled they are and that they won’t notice it until it is too late.

A close second to emotion-communicating faces would have to be actions depicted within the video. Throughout the video there are scenes of ignorance among Americans such as a crowd of people praising former president George W. Bush while his eyes are glowing red and he has swat members aiming guns into the crowd. Also, the video has a scene of a typical American family sitting at home watching a television that says obey to show the brainwashing of society. The video shows people pulling the strings of the presidential corruption portrayed through President Bush and other political figures using torturous techniques on a prisoner. Another thing to look at is a group of homeless people holding signs that explain why they are homeless and all of the explanations are due to the housing crisis we are faced with.

Another tactic employed throughout the video is the use of information in the background. Corruption is shown through signs held up in a prison and above each cell is the reason for the person’s imprisonment. The reason for one person was that they had asked for proof of the 6 million people who were gassed during the holocaust. The obliviousness of Americans is shown through a part where an unhealthily skinny person is sitting in a pool of filth while many fat people are walking around him without even noticing. To further show the conformity of Americans the video has pictures of vaccines with needles and a baby behind it and further behind that is more needles and sculls. There is also a depiction of George W. Bush in a courtroom and a sign behind the judge that says Bush is guilty of “crimes against humanity.”

The use of “supers” throughout the video is an immense help for getting their point across. The video shows how the people are controlled by drugs in America which is a suggestion that the government is behind this in order for society to not find out about the corruption. There is a super when there are a bunch of vials of medicine that say what they contain but it is in technical terms so the super tells the viewer what it is such as “mercury.” There is another super which says “fluoride” when the skeleton is drinking from the water fountain. A super is used on the television when the family is watching it which says obey with a pattern behind it to brainwash the viewer. There are supers in the scene of the family grocery shopping on almost all of the food which is “msg” added to everything. “Ritalin” is a super within the scene where a kid with a blank stare looks at you and has a bunch of pills in the background which you can only assume are Ritalin. The supers mainly explain how the government controls people with drugs or media devices.

All in all, “Oligarchy in us” uses many tactics to sway the reader in the direction of the main point. This main point is that the government is corrupt and the average American is oblivious not only to this but most of what is happening around them. The video portrays through words, actions, and depictions the reasoning behind their argument. The argument is powerful and relates to how politicians and Americans have and most likely always will be. Politicians seem to be portrayed in a negative light and stereotyped as is shown in Sinclair’s book The Jungle through the passage about a character named “Mike.” Mike is a politician and has his hand in every business in the district which is how government works today and though the people in the book are aware of this as are some Americans to the current problem nobody can or wants to try and fix it which leaves them ignorant.