History Main / CapitalismIsBad

* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' plays this on both sides. Capitalism is treated as somewhat appropriate for the player as you need to purchase weapons, shields, and other trinkets to continue forward, however the main villains of the game are corporations. Excluding the Big Bad of Borderlands 3 which is a religious cult, the villains of Borderlands 1 are a mega corporation named Atlas that is so rich it doubles as a paramilitary organization, in Borderlands 2 you have Handsome Jack the CEO of Hyperion (and the entirety of Hyperion which has also become a paramilitary), and the backstory of the series is Dahl (''another'' paramilitary corporation) left all of its workers on Pandora when they abandoned the planet, and those workers went insane while stuck on the planet and became the psycho's and bandits you fight. Even in Borderlands 3, you have Katagawa who uses Maliwan as (you guessed it) a paramilitary and attacks Promethea as a form of company takeover which includes attacking innocent civilians until Atlas is bankrupt.

* ''Series/YourWorldWithNeilCavuto'': Satirized by Stuart Varney, who brings up the irony of anti-capitalist protesters in Seattle, Washington on May Day condemning capitalism while using smartphones and other technological innovations that are the products of companies.
** However, this is arguably also an oversimplification on Varney's part, since a lot of the technology used in smartphones (perhaps most notably, the Internet itself, which evolved out of a U.S. Department of Defense[[note]]More specifically, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA for short, which is an agency of the USDOD[[/note]] project known as ARPANET, and the Global Positioning System (GPS) that enables all smartphones to exist in the first place, which is literally owned by the U.S. government and also grew out of a USDOD project) was ''also'' developed with significant amounts of government funding - i.e., socialism, at least by some definitions. Such technology is probably most accurately understood as either the result of social democracy (i.e., a combination of socialism and capitalism) or of private-public partnerships (i.e., companies working with the government) - [[TakeAThirdOption or both]] - rather than strictly of capitalism.[[note]]A major precursor to GPS, frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology, was co-developed by one Creator/HedyLamarr ([[Film/BlazingSaddles That's Hedley!]]) alongside avant-garde composer/pianist George Antheil, though they were working privately. So, again, there's a mixture of socialism and capitalism here. Lamarr and Antheil's work also served as a building block for Bluetooth and [=WiFi=].[[/note]]

* [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation Arguably]] the central theme of ''VideoGame/BioShock1''. The setting is a laissez-faire capitalist utopia in a city at the bottom of the ocean, built by industrialist Andrew Ryan (explicitly an {{Expy}} of Creator/AynRand). Without proper regulation, Rapture quickly turned into a WretchedHive full of {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s and [[TheSocialDarwinist Social Darwinists]], the poor were dehumanised and seen as "parasites" and everything became commodified and fitted with a price tag, even ''breathable air''[[note]]In a city that's ''underwater'', worth reminding[[/note]]. When someone with even more ruthlessness and business acumen began to outcompete Ryan in the market, Ryan [[{{Hypocrite}} turned to state power to come down on his business rival]], dashing all of his guiding beliefs and sparking a CivilWar with Rapture's other business owners. Ryan won the resulting war, turning Rapture into a tyrannical OneNationUnderCopyright. 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.
** ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'': Plays with this, showing us a corrupt corporate oligarchy using nationalist and religious propaganda to hide their brutal exploitation of the working class and ethnic minorities.
** ''VideoGame/Bioshock2'', by contrast, has a self-proclaimed collectivist fill the power vacuum Ryan's death left behind and rule Rapture with an iron fist just as he had, all for the sake of turning her own daughter into an ultimate leader to rule the world under her "enlightened" leadership.
* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' plays this on both sides. Capitalism is treated as somewhat appropriate for the player as you need to purchase weapons, shields, and other trinkets to continue forward, however the main villains of the game are corporations. Excluding the Big Bad of Borderlands 3 which is a religious cult, the villains of Borderlands 1 are a mega corporation named Atlas that is so rich it doubles as a paramilitary organization, in Borderlands 2 you have Handsome Jack the CEO of Hyperion (and the entirety of Hyperion which has also become a paramilitary), and the backstory of the series is Dahl (''another'' paramilitary corporation) left all of its workers on Pandora when they abandoned the planet, and those workers went insane while stuck on the planet and became the psycho's and bandits you fight. Even in Borderlands 3, you have Katagawa who uses Maliwan as (you guessed it) a paramilitary and attacks Promethea as a form of company takeover which includes attacking innocent civilians until Atlas is bankrupt.
* ''VideoGame/DmCDevilMayCry'': This game helmed by Ninja Theory literally [[{{Demonization}} demonizes]] capitalism as a plot from Hell. Mundus (AKA [[MorallyBankruptBanker banker Kyle Rider]]) along with his demon underlings control the Human world through debt and keeps humanity complacent through [[BreadAndCircuses Virility soft drinks and the Raptor News Network]] in order to use them as livestock.
* ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'': The setting of Disco Elysium is in Revachol, a city on an archipelago that had previously undergone a communist revolution, causing a coalition of capitalist powers to overthrow the revolutionary forces in an invasion that was, at the least, sufficiently destructive that the district of Martinaise is still full of ruins and craters from artillery shells fifty years later, and every character that was present for the invasion recalls it as brutally violent. The capitalist coalition has since kept strict military and economic control over Revachol by designating it a "special economic zone", profiting heavily off the local industry through tarrifs, while only offering the Revacholian population little in the way of civil liberities.

* ''VideoGame/EverydayTheSameDream'': The game has this theme to some degree in that it portrays residing and working in a corporate society is a dreary, repetitive, and mind-numbing way to live. Though it is also an indictment of the monotony and pressure of society as a whole.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'': The background of the games features hundreds of corrupt corporations, an oligarchic US government, and a nuclear war being fought over oil resources. Just think about who consumes oil for a second.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'': Every game in the series has some kind of attack on capitalist society.

* In ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'', [[spoiler: the extinction of all life on earth]] is caused by out-of-control machines mass-produced by a weapons manufacturer whose CEO became the richest man in history. There are references to violent military campaigns carried out in order to secure valuable commodities ("conflict coffee").

* The capitalist Magog Cartel in the ''Videogame/{{Oddworld}}'' franchise is notorious for creating industries that are [[NoOSHACompliance spectacularly unsafe]] and ruinous to Oddworld's natural ecosystem, and for treating the employees little better than slaves (to the point that, when a Cartel abattoir begins making a loss in the first game, the BadBoss decides to butcher the employees and sell their meat as a new product line). Sekto, the BigBad of spin-off game ''Stranger's Wrath'', isn't part of the Cartel, but he is a CorruptCorporateExecutive; he plans to dam the River Mongo and use its water to manufacture Sekto Springs soft drink, which deprives the Grubb tribe that live near the river of their livelihood.
* ''VideoGame/TheOuterWorlds'' hilariously deconstructs the Gilded Age in the same way ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' hilariously deconstructed TheFifties, so every criticism and stereotype of out-of-control capitalism is taken to the logical extreme and PlayedForLaughs. Edgewater, the FirstTown, is run entirely by Spacer's Choice, even the security detail. One of the guards who you meet in a cave outside of town was wounded when his shoddy company-made pistol misfired into his side, and if aided by the PC he will warn them that he'll get reprimanded for accepting medical attention from a non-company source. The town itself has a huge graveyard which is owned by Spacer's Choice and so the families of the deceased have to ''pay rent'' to keep them buried there; if the fees go unpaid then the remains are exhumed and unceremoniously dumped into a nearby ditch.
* ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'': More so the earlier games included some strong satire whereas more recent games starting with ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureToolsOfDestruction'' onwards avert this. While the companies that make the weapons that the protagonist and many other people (including villains) use aren't actively malevolent, they are certainly apathetic in regard to the destruction their customs cause after they've paid for them. In fact, this series is actually the TropeNamer for MegaCorp. Starting in the first game, everyone who is capable of helping the heroes progress on their journey requires bribes to do so, they follow the famous superhero by watching all of the tacky ads he was paid to star in and it turns out that he's a washed up failure helping the bad guy for cash. In the second game, MegaCorp plays numerous ads showing how hilariously uncaring they are about the safety of their customer or employees, and their base is located at the centre of the galaxy, meaning that the entire galaxy literally rotates about this one corporation. The fourth game has the heroes being forced to compete in a gladiator gameshow for cash, while the main antagonists are a former hero who sold out for the money and a CorruptCorporateExecutive more concerned with the revenue he can get for commercials and merchandising of the heroes he is forcing to kill each other.
* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'': Plays with this, showing how the industrial revolution hitting the dying wild west has more than a few consequences.

[[folder:Web Original]]

* ''WebAnimation/OverlySarcasticProductions'': Red's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mshRaY8gTs video on the Robin Hood legend]] opens with her discussing her belief that capitalism encourages those with money to hoard it for themselves rather than spend it in a way that benefits others, creating a system that favors a tiny rich elite at the expense of the poor, using footage of Smaug's DragonHoard from ''Film/TheHobbit'' as an "artist's interpretation".

[[folder: Western Animation]]

* ''WebVideo/MothersBasement'': Geoff caps off "The Roast of ''Film/Dragonball Evolution''" by discussing how the film and its infamously low quality are what happens when a studio produces a movie entirely for capitalistic purposes, with no thought to artistry or creativity. He then points out that the only system that ever could have produced such a terrible film "is the dominant governing force in all of our lives."

[[folder:Western Animation]]

* GreedyJew: In older works that mingled anti-capitalist or anti-plutocratic sentiments with antisemitism, these were naturally the perfect villains, usually presented as corrupt bankers or speculators who profited off the toil of the helpless common people. The type was perhaps especially prominent in [[{{Hypocrite}} entertainment/propaganda in Nazi Germany]], and also (somewhat [[TheHorseShoeEffect ironically]]) in the latter-day Soviet Union (though there the characteristically swarthy, big-nosed profiteers were typically called [[InsistentTerminology "Zionists"]], not "Jews" as such). Ironically, some of the anti-capitalist writers were also [[InformedJudaism Jewish]]. Becomes several dozen times more ironic when one knows that Karl Marx ''himself'' was ethnically Jewish, albeit coming from a non-religious family that converted to Christianity before his birth. Nowadays it is [[DeadHorseTrope rarely seen]], at least in the "Western" world (and also obviously avoided in pro-communist works), and likely to be a source of ValuesDissonance when encountered, for obvious reasons.

** The insurance company, Mine Co, recommends a painkiller known as Pix, but they use to connections to make sure it's overprescribed so that people get addicted to it even if they don't need it, all to make a profit. They then sell additional medicine for the symptoms of Pix, making money off the problem they created.

* GreedyTelevangelist: Televangelists compromise their stated beliefs, exploiting their audience to accrue large personal wealth.

* GreenwashedVillainy: A villain, usually a CorruptCorporateExecutive, presents themselves to the public as ecofriendly while covering up the harm their actions are doing to the environment.

* MorallyBankruptBanker: See DealWithTheDevil above.

* ThereAreNoGoodExecutives: If all wealthy businesspeople are portrayed as being [[CorruptCorporateExecutive irredeemably greedy scumbags]] with no [[HonestCorporateExecutive relatively decent people]] among them. Played straight for pro-communist works.
* ToxicInc: Capitalism being bad for the natural environment is common in [[GreenAesop environmentalist stories]].

* LawEnforcementInc: Private police or security forces may be used by corporations to ruthlessly consolidate their own power and authority, instead of actually maintaining the rule of law.

* HiredGuns: Individuals willing to fight, kill, or do other violent jobs for a simple paycheck.

* PrivateMilitaryContractors: Private armies comprised of hired mercenaries, [[WarForFunAndProfit fighting wars just for the paycheck]].

* ProfessionalKiller: Someone who assassinates people in exchange for a monetary reward.

* ''Literature/{{Docile}}'' has the tagline "There is no consent under capitalism" and purports to show a capitalist dystopia in which debt slavery has returned. However, it has come under criticism for, among other things, presenting only a paper-thin critique of what capitalism even is.

* ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'': The setting of Disco Elysium is in Revachol, a city on an archipelago that had previously undergone a communist revolution, causing a coalition of capitalist powers to overthrow the revolutionary forces in an invasion that was, at the least, sufficiently destructive that the district of Martinaise is still full of ruins and craters from artillery shells fifty years later, and every character that was present for the invasion recalls it as brutally violent.

* This is [[WebVideo/{{Jimquisition}} Jim Sterling]]'s opinion regarding the video game industry (especially the "Triple A" major studios), and capitalism in general, with the industry leaders' insatiable greed resulting in various major problems including:

* Another early example is Creator/JackLondon's 1908 novel ''Literature/TheIronHeel'', which depicts an authoritarian dystopia that takes most of the worst traits of Gilded Age capitalism and exaggerates them as a form of reductio ad absurdum. It is generally considered the TropeCodifier for the modern dystopian sci-fi genre, rendering it OlderThanTheyThink (though it's also subject to SeinfeldIsUnfunny for many modern readers).

* ''Anime/LaSeineNoHoshi'' is a series set in 1780s UsefulNotes/{{France}}, centering on a peasant girl named Simone Rolland. After parents were killed because a wealthy Bourgeoisie was upset that her dress wasn't as glitzy as another aristocrat's, she becomes a heroine and fights against the corrupt, broken system that favours the elites. Many aristocrats are portrayed as {{Spoiled Brat}}s who don't care about the damage they inflict on the peasant populace. They are apathetic to their rioting because the issues they face (such as exhorbitant taxes) don't affect them. [[/folder]]

[[folder: Art]]
* ''Art/TheApotheosisOfWashington'': {{Inverted}}. In keeping with its patriotic nature, The Apotheosis upholds America's economic ideals of free market capitalism by depicting the lively Mercury leading healthy craftsmen, wise scholars, and youthful sailors with his bag of gold in hand.

* ''Anime/LaSeineNoHoshi'': The main characters were killed by aristocrats because a wealthy Bourgeoisie was a petty bitch upset that her dress wasn't as glitzy as another aristocrat's.Many aristocrats are portrayed as {{Spoiled Brat}}s who don't care about the damage they inflict on the peasant populace. They are apathetic to their rioting because the issues they face (such as exhorbitant taxes) don't affect them. No wonder two of the leads of this anime [[HatesRichPeople hate rich people]].

[[folder: Art]]
* ''Art/TheApotheosisOfWashington'': {{Inverted}}. In keeping with its patriotic nature, The Apotheosis upholds America's economic ideals of free market capitalism by depicting the lively Mercury leading healthy craftsmen, wise scholars, and youthful sailors with his bag of gold in hand.
[[/folder]]

* In ''Franchise/StarTrek'' the Federation is post-scarcity communist (DependingOnTheWriter), while capitalism is generally represented by the Ferengi.

* ''Film/JurassicPark'': Ian Malcolm sums this up when criticizing Hammond and his Jurassic Park experiment by pointing out how he created something and the first thing he did was turn it into a business venture
-->'''Malcolm''': And before you even knew what you had... you patented it, and packaged it, and slapped it on a plastic lunch box, and now you're selling it. *''pounds table''*
* ''Film/JurassicWorld'': The director of the film, Colin Trevorrow, has stated this as being one underlying theme in the film. Creator/ColinTrevorrow [[https://ew.com/article/2015/05/25/meet-new/ has stated]] that the ''Indominus rex'' represents the worst of consumer and corporate excess.
-->''"The Indominus was meant to embody our worst tendencies. We're surrounded by wonder and yet we want more. And we want it bigger, faster, louder, better. And in the world of the movie, the animal is designed based on a series of corporate focus groups."''

* Literature/JurassicPark: The entire disaster is caused both by [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Hammond's]] efforts to cut costs and corporate espionage to secure intellectual property rights.
** Literature/TheLostWorld1995: Plays with this, with a nice business owner being a main character, but the evils of [=InGen=] still being explored.

* ''Literature/WhoMovedMySoap'' is narrated by a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive]] who openly talks about how corrupt the world of Wall Street is and frequently encounters fellow businessmen and expects to encounter many more in the years to come.

* Steinbeck's ''Literature/TheGrapesOfWrath'' is about a family that emigrates to California, having been told there's lots of lucrative job opportunities. Once there, they find out that there's a surplus of workers, and their salaries are systematically undercut until they earn barely enough to live to return to work the next day, living "like animals"; they become ''de facto'' slaves. Things get even worse once they start earning even less than that. And while their children are starving, food being destroyed before their eyes to drive prices up. The workers are understandably upset at this state of affairs, hence the title.

* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] at length in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America:_Imagine_the_World_Without_Her 2014 documentary]] ''America''. In addition, it is also brought up that merchants and other businesspeople being considered AcceptableTargets to vilify is OlderThanFeudalism, well before ''The Wealth of Nations'' by Adam Smith was published in 1776. In the documentary is mentioned Tunisian Historian [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Khaldun Ibn Khaldun]]'s observation and condemnation of contemporaries of his time who believed that someone who stole something was more "honorable" than someone who traded for an object as they at least had to "earn" their "right" to keep it to by proving themselves in combat.

* ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'': More so the earlier games included some mild satire whereas more recent games starting with ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureToolsOfDestruction'' onwards avert this. While the companies that make the weapons that the protagonist and many other people (including villains) use aren't actively malevolent, they are certainly apathetic in regard to the destruction their customs cause after they've paid for them. In fact, this series is actually the TropeNamer for MegaCorp.