History Main / CapitalismIsBad

* {{Anvilious}}: Not all works may have this effect on viewers, but some [[PrinciplesZealot authors]] using this trope tend [[KnightTemplar to believe in the righteousness of their cause with every fiber their being]]. Though some well written works that employ a [[GrayAndGrayMorality nuanced view of society]] can also avert this and achieve an effect of SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: A position that plutocrats will almost always hold and in many ThereAreNoGoodExecutives. Though more nuanced works, particularly those that want to make the point that capitalism [[DarkIsNotEvil in and of itself is not evil]], may also feature an HonestCorporateExecutive as a counter balance.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: A position that plutocrats will almost always hold. In more nuanced works, particularly those that want to make the point that capitalism [[DarkIsNotEvil in and of itself is not evil]], may also feature an HonestCorporateExecutive as a counter balance.

* UsefulNotes/TheGildedAge: Sometimes used as a setting.
* {{Greed}}: When self-interest becomes excessive and exceeds the limits of moral boundaries.

* LibertyOverProsperity: Some works may present liberty in terms of personal freedom even if it means it giving up economic comfort. [[note]]Though supporters of capitalism will [[AlternativeAesopInterpretation present]] liberty in terms of the ability to pursue goals related to self-improvement. Though keep in mind about [[ValuesDissonance different culture's values]] as one's free market paradise will be another person's industrialized slave plantation and vice versa-one's collectivist utopia will be another's [[KnightTemplar unnecessarily burdensome, intrusive]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanny_state nanny state]], or worse, totalitarian nightmare.[[/note]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie'': This trope is played with. [[CorruptCorporateExecutive President/Lord Business]], whose name by itself invokes this trope, has several posters/screens emphasizing obeying President Business (particularly buying products made by his company), as well as the surprising suppression of creativity, or then at least [[ThePerfectionist his standards of perfection]]. The city of which Emmet is a resident of are portrayed as [[WorkingClassPeopleAreMorons sheeple]] [[BreadAndCircuses who blindly accept such a plutocratic society]], which would be consistent with Socialist and other Anti-capitalist propaganda. However, it is actually {{invoked}} [[spoiler: in-universe by Finn, of which business is an {{Expy}} of his father (AKA The Man Upstairs) and is a criticism of the latter stifling the former's creativity due to conflicting with Finn's father's perfectionist ideals]].

Compare and Contrast with AristocratsAreEvil and DemocracyIsBad (the latter of which some believe can strengthen people's property rights, and thus enforce Capitalism, in certain situations). Also keep in mind that not every work of fiction that features a CorruptCorporateExecutive is necessarily playing this trope. For example Rufus Shinra from FinalFantasyVII and David Xanatos from WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}} are both unscrupulous businessmen, but the nature of capitalism is never explored in any detail and therefore those works would not count for this trope. Not to be confused with AdamSmithHatesYourGuts which is a video game mechanic.

* ''ComicBook/TheBoondocks'': Capitalism is portrayed as detrimental force on the lives of everyone, with the exception of [[WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant a white elite]], especially on the Black Community in keeping it in perpetual poverty unless one decides to go "[[CategoryTraitor Acting White]]" (though "Acting Black" isn't seen as being wise either). To add to this, [[TheProtagonist Huey Freeman]] frequently quotes Karl Marx to back up his opinion.

** The necessary condition towards upwards mobility isn't "acting white" ("acting black" is perpetually shown to be synonymous with "acting like a damned fool") so much as "affecting a very narrow set of status-quo-abiding behaviours and beliefs". Successful lawyer Tom Dubois needs to act a very specific kind of white; he can't act [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney like any of the Wunclers]] (especially not the one who "[[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy acts black]]"), or like a redneck, or anything like that. The criticism against him doesn't seem to be that he's a CategoryTraitor, but that's he's fettered, impotent, and perpetually insecure.
* ''ComicBook/IronMan'': The comics play with this on some occasions. StanLee and Larry Lieber noticed that all the businessmen in the Marvel Universe, and for that matter comics in general, were those of the CorruptCorporateExecutive type, and thus decided to create a superhero who averted this trope in the form of Tony Stark (AKA Iron-Man) to demonstrate that [[DarkIsNotEvil Capitalism was not inherently evil]]. Some of the villains that he faces, most notably Obadiah Stane, lack any of Stark's integrity and [[WarForFunAndProfit take advantage of armed conflicts to make a profit]]. Thus the beneficial and detrimental effects of Capitalism can be played up in certain storylines.

* ''Film/{{Brazil}}'' by TerryGilliam is a Downplayed example. It is more a satire of consumerism than capitalist economics as a whole, though according to Gilliam in an interview it hasn't stopped some [[EagleLand conservatives in the United States]] (who are more likely to be pro-capitalist) [[PeripheryDemographic from genuinely enjoying it]] and [[MisaimedFandom misinterpret its intended messages]].
* ''Film/CapitalismALoveStory'' by Creator/MichaelMoore sets out to argue against Capitalism as its writers understand it going as far as to equate it with sin. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement Please leave it at that]].
* ''Film/CitizenKane'' by Creator/OrsonWelles is often seen as an attack on the AmericanDream, featuring a highly unsympathetic, though not one-dimensional or caricatured, portrayal of the American Tycoon. It apparently struck a nerve with William Randolph Hearst, one of its inspirations, who managed to upset its distribution and make it a box-office flop.

** ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' [[SnarkBait has been mocked]] as an example of both anti-capitalism and anti-anti-capitalism, with Jonathan Chait writing in ''New York'' that "What passes for a right-wing movie these days is ''The Dark Knight Rises'', which submits the rather modest premise that, irritating though the rich may be, actually killing them and taking all their stuff might be excessive."

* ''Film/InTime'': Connects capitalism with Social Darwinism in an {{anvilicious}} way. Wages are decreased and prices are increased by fiat, meaning the purpose of the system is to ''[[KillThePoor Work The Poor To Death]]'' at a controllable rate.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie'': This trope is played with. [[CorruptCorporateExecutive President/Lord Business]], whose name by itself invokes this trope, has several posters/screens emphasizing obeying President Business (particularly buying products made by his company), as well as the surprising suppression of creativity, or then at least [[ThePerfectionist his standards of perfection]]. The city of which Emmet is a resident of are portrayed as [[WorkingClassPeopleAreMorons sheeple]] [[BreadAndCircuses who blindly accept such a Plutocratic society]], which would be consistent with Socialist and other Anti-capitalist propaganda. However, it is actually Invoked [[spoiler: in-universe by Finn, of which Business is an {{Expy}} of his father (AKA The Man Upstairs) and is a criticism of the latter stifling the former's creativity due to conflicting with Finn's Father's Perfectionist ideals]].
* ''Film/MotherIndia'' is a critique of usury: a family of peasants goes into debt to pay for a wedding, and the moneylender later [[StarWars alters the terms of the deal]] so that they only ever make enough money to pay the interests. Then things get worse.

* ''Film/ThePurge'' and its sequel ''The Purge: Anarchy'' show this in an oblique way, with the rich being the only ones that can afford proper security during the titular event (although one needs beware of being ''[[TallPoppySyndrome too rich]]''), and the rich paying for hitmen to do the Purging for them (and even ''auctioning people to kill'') in the sequel.

* Much of the propaganda of the UsefulNotes/SovietUnion employed this trope. The Creator/SergeiEisenstein film ''Film/{{Strike}}'' is about how the evil capitalists who own a factory oppress and victimize their workers. After a worker commits suicide when being falsely accused of theft, the workers go on strike. The evil capitalists call in the police and the army, and the film ends with the workers being massacred.

* ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'': Deconstructed, and if not this trope itself then certainly the mindset of people who believe that Capitalism is evil. While only glimpses of pre-Ingsoc ruled Britain are revealed via flashbacks, but it is recounted in some detail in the book known as ''[[ShowWithinAShow The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism]]''. In it, Emmanuel Goldstein, the author[[spoiler: who may or may not still be alive, or may not have even existed in the first place]], examines Capitalism and other features of Human civilization, leading to the ultimate conclusion that Ingsoc was NotSoDifferent and [[HeWhoFightsMonsters had become like the very people they wished to destroy]].
* Nikolai Nosov's series of children's books ''Adventures of Dunno and his friends'' has little liliputians - Mites - living in a GhibliHills -esque MouseWorld. That's Earth Mites from the first two books. In the third book, they travel to the Moon and find out that the local Mites are capitalists who live in a WretchedHive; the book is basically the Soviet children's tour of why exactly is capitalism bad.

* Literature/JenniferGovernment: In many ways the Anti-1984 (read about that one above), in which a dystopia exists by way of [[MegaCorp powerful corporations]] seeking to aggrandize themselves and have turned the United States government into a puppet to serve their own purposes. Its condemnation of Libertarianism is [[{{Anvilicious}} so over the top]] (especially going out of its way to present [[CorruptCorporateExecutive John Nike]] as the worst kind of person in existence [[HitlerAteSugar to make readers come to a conclusion]]) that it seems like self-parody.
* Possibly the Ur-example is Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel ''Literature/TheJungle''. Sinclair had intended it to be an indictment of the capitalist system, but it [[MisaimedFandom was taken by the broad public as a public health and safety expose]].
* Robert Tressell's ''The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists'' published in 1914, but written before his death in 1911, looks at the workings of unrestrained free-market capitalism through the lives and trials of a group of building labourers, the sort who are hired and fired at will and as needed. The boss routinely cheats customers, baiting with expensive materials and then switching to inferior grade once the contract is signed; employees are treated like dirt; in the absence of a welfare state it is easy to slip into absolute poverty; and a new hire teaches the rest the shortfalls of capitalism and the superiority of socialism as working system.
* Anything written by Creator/AynRand will be an deliberate inversion of this trope to attack anti-capitalist ideologies as being [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans absolute conformism]] and [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill suppressing individual rights]]. The only time she invokes this trope is when criticizing [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crony_capitalism Crony capitalism]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_welfare Corporate welfare]] which she [[NoTrueScotsman considered not to be legitimate forms of capitalism]].

* NealStephenson's ''SnowCrash'' is ambivalent; the entire world is a MegaCorp owned WretchedHive, the USA are fractured into independent, privately-owned states, down to the neighbourhoods. Even the Federal Government have become a private company... yet they still "do the work that no-one else believes is worth doing". Violence is common and life is extremely dangerous. It's also very colourful and exciting, especially as seen through the eyes of the BadAss protagonists. To give you an example, pizza delivery men work for the Italian Mafia, have gone to specialized universities to acquire their qualifications, and ''will'' deliver the pizzas in time, no matter what insane stunt driving they have to do, '''on pain of death'''. Teenaged couriers carry messages, armed to the teeth, on motorized roller-blades, via highway, at speeds exceeding 60 mph. Walled neighbourhoods have domestic robot guard dogs that run faster than cars and pack mini-guns. '''And so on.'''

* ''Series/TheMenWhoBuiltAmerica'': This History Channel miniseries that focuses on the history of the United States from the late Nineteenth to the first decade of the Twentieth Centuries known as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilded_Age Gilded Age]]. While it recounts the innovations that came about from the enterprises of Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J. P. Morgan, it also shows the social unrest of the workers of those companies who endured economic hardships. The Captains of Industry are apathetic towards the plights of their workers and viciously sought to assimilate as many smaller companies as possible to [[KickTheDog snuff out competing businesses]]. They also certain had no problem, to paraphrase J.P. Morgan, [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney "buying a president"]] referring the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1896 Presidential election of 1896]].
** However the last episode of the miniseries subverts this by portraying the beneficial effects of capitalism when it focuses on Henry Ford successfully challenging the legality of the [[MegaCorp Trust's]] claims that his attempt to start his own automobile company infringed on their rights in court and his creation of the Model T, an automobile that middle class consumers could afford.

* Series/{{Supernatural}}: The [[EldritchAbomination Levia]][[IAmAHumanitarian than]] arc that makes up the entirety of the seventh season (which ran from 2011-2012) is devoted to [[AuthorTract criticizing]] Capitalism. It portrays corporations as being like parasites who enrich themselves at the expense of the rest of the population and [[BreadAndCircuses keep them ignorant while doing so]]. It even includes an [[{{Anvilicious}} unsubtle]] {{Expy}} Of 2012 Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney, [[WriterOnBoard of whom the writers were not fond of]] to put it lightly, in the form of the [[BigBad King Leviathan Dick Roman]].
* YourWorldWithNeilCavuto: Satirized by Stuart Varney who brings up the irony of Anti-Capitalist protesters in Seattle, Washington on May Day condemning Capitalism while using smart phones and other technological innovations that are the products of companies.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Monopoly}}'' is a classic example, by portraying capitalism as inevitable wealth inequality. Capitalism there progresses by the accumulation of wealth in fewer and fewer hands, and the progressive and inevitable bankruptcy of each player, and that the winners owe much more to chance than to strategy or personal industry. Also worth mentioning that the original creators of the game [[WordOfGod have stated]] that criticism of the contemporary Laissez-faire that existed when it was originally released was its intention. Though people who did not live through the Great Depression [[MisaimedFandom tend only to see Monopoly as an escapist game about being able to fantasize about being wealthy businessmen]].

* ''Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors'': The creators of this off-Broadway musical have said that it is about how "power, greed, and the pressure of Capitalism corrupt" society as represented by the Audrey II plants claiming to offer fame and fortune in exchange for being fed human blood. The 1986 film based on the musical makes it LighterAndSofter by downplaying this message and omitting the ending of the musical in which [[spoiler: The Audrey II plants grow out of control and consume everyone in the city of Skid Row, New York and with the rest of the world eventually following in this fate]].

* ''Franchise/BioShock'': This is possibly one of the central tropes of [[VideoGame/BioShock the first game]], [[AlternateAesopInterpretation depending on how one views it]], as represented by the city of Rapture. It is shown that the Laissez-faire (or [[AccentuateTheNegative Unfettered]]) capitalist society that Andrew Ryan (Whose philosophy [[{{Expy}} is based on]] AynRand's) has turned into a WretchedHive where merchants shamelessly charge people for weaponry to defend themselves during a civil war waged by TheUnfettered Atlas [[spoiler: (AKA Frank Fontaine)]]. Though Ryan is presented as being a [[WellIntentionedExtremist well meaning]] AntiVillain, in contrast to [[CardCarryingVillain others]] mentioned in this article who are [[ItsAllAboutMe blatantly selfish]] and [[ManipulativeBastard deceptive]], who genuinely sought to create a utopia based on [[UsefulNotes/{{Objectivism}} Objectivist principles]]. Though it should be noted that Ken Levine [[WordOfGod has said]] that the theme of the game was more that HumansAreFlawed and [[KnightTemplar extremism]] of any kind is not beneficial.

* WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic in his review of the 1997 film Film/{{Congo}} criticized this trope. While the CEO of the company who sent the protagonists on their mission may have been a profit motivated Jerkass, but [[DesignatedVillain he for the most part neither violated the law nor knowingly left them unprepared]]. When one of the protagonist shoots down a satellite owned by the company, the Critic replies that regardless of what one thinks of the CEO, it was unfair for her to potentially cause employees of the corporation to lose their jobs just so she could make a political statement. Considering that Doug Walker himself is also businessman as the owner of Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses he also takes some movie creators to task for [[ArtisticLicenseEconomics misrepresenting]] what businesspeople encounter in the process of running their businesses. Though he has also taken occasional [[TakeThat potshots]] at certain companies, most notably [[Creator/FoxNewsChannel Newscorp]], but in a downplayed fashion that isn't condemning of capitalism in general considering that Doug Walker himself is also a businessman as the owner of Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.

* Environmental Destruction: Sometimes also used in some works in an effort to broaden its message in portraying Businessmen as blatantly irresponsible in harming the planet in order to make a profit. Sometimes may overlap with ScienceIsBad in certain situations.
* Religious Criticism: Works that have this sort of angle will seek to present capitalism as incompatible certain religions and in some cases argue it as being a Sin against it's god(s) and/or basic principles. At the very least, it will present it as amorally "Incentivizing sin" by supplying material that is prohibited by that religion's guidelines (e.g. Alcoholic beverages, pornography, certain prohibited foods, (i.e. pork) etc.).
* Racial and Ethnic oppression: Somewhat of an out growth of the first variety, but with an especial focus on the effects of capitalism on certain races and ethnic groups in the forms of slavery, segregation, imperialism, and/or colonialism.

Other tropes that are featured in works using this theme frequently include
* ArtisticLicenseEconomics: Not all works necessarily have this problem, but certain [[ShallowParody Juvenile works of "Satire"]] will likely have this in terms of their solutions, ("Why can't the [[DesignatedVillain mean evil people]] print more money for everyone to have? [[CriticalResearchFailure That'll definitely work]]."), and thus end up inadvertently proving that [[StrawmanHasAPoint capitalists have some valid points]].
* BreadAndCircuses: Products and Services that are provided by companies are portrayed as a method to keep buyers in a sort of consumerist slavery.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: A position that Plutocrats will almost always hold. In more nuanced works, particularly those that want to make the point that Capitalism [[DarkIsNotEvil in and of itself is not evil]], may also feature an HonestCorporateExecutive as a counter balance.

* {{Dystopia}}: Works using this trope tend to portray the governments in such societies as being Plutocracies whether de jure or de facto.

* {{Greed}}: When Self-Interest becomes excessive and exceeds the limits of moral boundaries.

* LibertyOverProsperity: Some works may present liberty in terms of personal freedom even if it means it giving up economic comfort. [[note]]Though supporters of Capitalism will [[AlternativeAesopInterpretation present]] Liberty in terms of the ability to pursue goals related to self-improvement. Though keep in mind about [[ValuesDissonance different culture's values]] as one's Free Market Paradise will be another person's Industrialized Slave Plantation and vice versa one's Collectivist Utopia will be another's [[KnightTemplar unnecessarily burdensome, intrusive]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanny_state Nanny State]].[[/note]]
* MegaCorp: Works using this trope tend to portray Corporations as being modern-day Monopolies.

* TheUnfettered: In that businesspeople are portrayed as having no sort of moral restraint. In addition, Laissez-faire Capitalism is dubbed "Unfettered" by some critics.

* WorkingClassHero: The most likely people to be in opposition to Plutocratic villains.

Before [[SnarkBait snarking]] about some writers and actors employing anti-capitalist messages while profiting from them as being {{Hypocrite}}s, keep in mind that narrative fiction creators are more likely to identify as artists than as businesspeople. Though some cases of this may overlap with TheManIsStickingItToTheMan, particularly works that had substantial funding from Big Business.

Compare and Contrast with AristocratsAreEvil and DemocracyIsBad (the latter of which some believe can either strengthen people's property rights, and thus enforce Capitalism, in certain situations). Also keep in mind that not every work of fiction that features a CorruptCorporateExecutive is necessarily playing this trope. For example Rufus Shinra from FinalFantasyVII and David Xanatos from WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}} are both unscrupulous businessmen, but the nature of capitalism is never explored in any detail and therefore those works would not count for this trope. Not to be confused with AdamSmithHatesYourGuts which is a video game mechanic.

** The necessary condition towards upwards mobility isn't "acting white" ("acting black" is perpetually shown to be synonymous with "acting like a damned fool") so much as "affecting a very narrow set of status-quo-abiding behaviours and beliefs". Successful lawyer Tom Dubois needs to act a very specific kind of white; he can't act like any of the Wunclers (especially not the one who "[[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy acts black]]"), or like a redneck, or anything like that. The criticism against him doesn't seem to be that he's a CategoryTraitor, but that's he's fettered, impotent, and perpetually insecure.

* ''Literature/AmericanPsycho'' is about very young investment bankers that live a carefree, ''extremely boring'' life while putting on a façade of work. Their entire existences revolve around status symbols like designer clothes, expensive watches, and getting reservations in highly fashionable restaurants. They are so conformist and same-looking that they keep confusing each other for others. The protagonist uses his money, his resources, his connections, and his anonymity to brutally abuse and murder people, especially of the DisposableSexWorker and DisposableVagrant types ([[InTheMouthOfMadness probably]]).

* WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic in his review of the 1997 film Film/{{Congo)) criticized this trope. While the CEO of the company who sent the protagonists on their mission may have been a profit motivated Jerkass, but [[DesignatedVillain he for the most part neither violated the law nor knowingly left them unprepared]]. When one of the protagonist shoots down a satellite owned by the company, the Critic replies that regardless of what one thinks of the CEO, it was unfair for her to potentially cause employees of the corporation to lose their jobs just so she could make a political statement. Considering that Doug Walker himself is also businessman as the owner of Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses he also takes some movie creators to task for [[ArtisticLicenseEconomics misrepresenting]] what businesspeople encounter in the process of running their businesses. Though he has also taken occasional [[TakeThat potshots]] at certain companies, most notably [[Creator/FoxNewsChannel Newscorp]], but in a downplayed fashion that isn't condemning of capitalism in general considering that Doug Walker himself is also a businessman as the owner of Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.

* YourWorldWithNeilCavuto: Mocked by Stuart Varney who brings up the irony of Anti-Capitalist protesters in Seattle, Washington using smart phones and other technological innovations that are the products of Capitalism while condemning it.

* ArtisticLicenseEconomics: Not all works necessarily have this problem, but certain [[ShallowParody Juvenile works of "Satire"]] will likely have this in terms of their solutions, ("Why can't the mean evil people print more money for everyone to have? [[CriticalResearchFailure That'll definitely work]]."), and thus end up inadvertently proving that [[StrawmanHasAPoint capitalists have some valid points]].

* {{Dystopia}}

* In ''Comicbook/SinCity'', Basin City is terribly corrupt and in the hands of a minority of political and economical elites, especially the Rourke family, who use their power to get away with regular [[KickTheDog dog-kicking]] so [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil base]], so [[SlidingScaleOfAntagonistVileness vile]], so monstrous, they don't even know what a MoralEventHorizon ''is''. They get away with most of it, too, until eventually the working-class, downtrodden, impoverished underdog {{Anti Hero}}es defeat or murder them.

* ''Film/{{Brazil}}'' by TerryGilliam is a Downplayed example. It is more a satire of consumerism than capitalist economics as a whole, though according to Gilliam in an interview it hasn't stopped some [[EagleLand conservatives in the United States]] (who are more likely to pro-capitalist) [[PeripheryDemographic from genuinely enjoying it]] and possibly [[MisaimedFandom misinterpret its intended messages]].

* ''Film/AmericanPsycho'' is about very young investment bankers that live a carefree, ''extremely boring'' life while putting on a façade of work. Their entire existences revolve around status symbols like designer clothes, expensive watches, and getting reservations in highly fashionable restaurants. They are so conformist and same-looking that they keep confusing each other for others. The protagonist uses his money, his resources, his connections, and his anonymity to brutally abuse and murder people, especially of the DisposableSexWorker and DisposableVagrant types ([[InTheMouthOfMadness probably]]).

* ''Film/{{Flakes}}'' features a homegrown cereal bar with it quirky sensibilities versus the sterile corporate copycat installation across the street. As far as the Flakes employees are concerned, the trope is true. The actuality is that both sides come to realize the other has a point.

* Literature/NineteenEightyFour: Deconstructed, and if not this trope itself then certainly the mindset of people who believe that Capitalism is evil. While only glimpses of pre-Ingsoc ruled Britain are revealed via flashbacks, but it is recounted in some detail in the book known as ''[[ShowWithinAShow The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism]]''. In it, Emmanuel Goldstein, the author[[spoiler: who may or may not still be alive, or may not have even existed in the first place]], examines Capitalism and other features of Human civilization, leading to the ultimate conclusion that Ingsoc was NotSoDifferent and [[HeWhoFightsMonsters had become like the very people they wished to destroy]].

* In ''Comicbook/SinCity'', Basin City is terribly corrupt and in the hands of a minority of political and economical elites, especially the Rourke family, who use their power to get away with regular [[KickTheDog dog-kicking]] so [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil base]], so [[SlidingScaleOfAntagonistVileness vile]], so [[CompleteMonster monstrous]], they don't even know what a MoralEventHorizon ''is''. They get away with most of it, too, until eventually the working-class, downtrodden, impoverished underdog {{Anti Hero}}es defeat or murder them.

* Literature/JenniferGovernment: In many ways the Anti-1984 (read about that one above), in which a dystopia exists by way of [[MegaCorp powerful corporations]] seeking to aggrandize themselves and have turned the United States government into a puppet to serve their own purposes. Its condemnation of Libertarianism is [[{{Anvilicious}} so over the top]] (especially going out of its way to present [[CorruptCorporateExecutive John Nike]] [[CompleteMonster as the worst kind of person in existence]] [[HitlerAteSugar to make readers come to a conclusion]]) that it seems like self-parody.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Both Mr. Burns and Mom are caricatures of evil businesspeople without any morals and are effectively both the main antagonists in these series, both created by Creator/MattGroening.

* WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers: This show used the third type of this trope to portray the endeavors caused by Unfettered Capitalism to detrimentally effect the environment.
* WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons and WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}: Both Mr. Burns and Mom are caricatures of evil businesspeople without any morals and are effectively both the main antagonists in these series, both created by Creator/MattGroening.

* WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers: This show used the third type of this trope to portray the endeavors caused by Unfettered Capitalism to detrimentally effect the environment.

* ''Series/TheMenWhoBuiltAmerica'': This History Channel miniseries that focuses on the history of the United States from the late Nineteenth to the first decade of the Twentieth Centuries known as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilded_Age Gilded Age]]. While it recounts the innovations that came about from the enterprises of Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J. P. Morgan, it also shows the social unrest of the workers of those companies who endured economic hardships. The Captains of Industry are apathetic towards the plights of their workers and viciously sought to assimilate as many smaller companies as possible to [[KickTheDog snuff out competing businesses]]. They also certain had no problem, to paraphrase J.P. Morgan, [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney "buying a president"]] referring the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1896 Presidential election of 1896]].\\
\\
However the last episode of the miniseries subverts this by portraying the beneficial effects of capitalism when it focuses on Henry Ford successfully challenging the legality of the [[MegaCorp Trust's]] claims that his attempt to start his own automobile company infringed on their rights in court and his creation of the Model T, an automobile that middle class consumers could afford.

Laconic/CapitalismIsBad

-> ''"I think I see the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_hand Invisible Hand]]. It's giving us the finger."''

* ''Film/ThePurge'' and its sequel show this in an oblique way, with the rich being the only ones that can afford proper security during the titular event (although one needs beware of being ''[[TallPoppySyndrome too rich]]''), and the rich paying for hitmen to do the Purging for them (and even ''auctioning people to kill'') in the sequel.
* ''Film/RoboCop'' and its remake share this theme, featuring typical CyberPunk MegaCorp organizations that are very unscrupulous about how they employ their power.

* Film/TheyLive: This film was made by JohnCarpenter to criticize the effects of the Reagan Administration on American society in regard to the increase of materialism.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Shop_of_Horrors_(musical) Little Shop of Horrors]] (Not to be confused with the 1960 Roger Corman film of similar name): The creators of this off-Broadway musical have said that it is about how "power, greed, and the pressure of Capitalism corrupt" society as represented by the Audrey II plants claiming to offer fame and fortune in exchange for being fed human blood. The 1986 film based on the musical makes it LighterAndSofter by downplaying this message and omitting the ending of the musical in which [[spoiler: The Audrey II plants grow out of control and consume everyone in the city of Skid Row, New York and with the rest of the world eventually following in this fate]]. Don't Feed the Plants indeed.