History Main / SuitWithVestedInterests

If you've seen a DisasterMovie or Monster Movie, you've seen this trope. There's an oncoming disaster and TheHero is trying to get everyone to see the CassandraTruth. Problem is that there's this one Suit with Vested Interests in something that's going to suffer if the disaster comes about. He'll argue against people believing the hero or an IgnoredExpert, he'll try to convince people that they are safe with ''his'' product, [[JustThinkOfThePotential he'll focus on the potential]] [[NoOSHACompliance rather than the safety]], and [[WhileRomeBurns he'll try to stop word from getting further so that the stock prices don't sink, all while the boat does]].

The vested interest varies. He could be the owner of the project that is actively causing the disaster or whose destruction is the disaster. On the other hand, it could just be that they would lose a lot of money from the AttackOfTheTownFestival. In fact, in the Attack of the Town Festival, expect this role to be played by the mayor. Finally, the best way to really up their villainy and corruption is for them to actually try to ''profit'' off the disaster when faced with the truth, with the disaster itself becoming the vested interest.

* Burke in ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' puts a higher value on getting a sample of the creature than he does on the crew. As does Weyland-Yutani as a whole.

* ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'': In "Subway", a man is shoved into the path of a train and is left pinned between the train and the subway platform, and Pembleton and Bayliss investigate to try and find out who pushed him. While they do this, a transit official repeatedly hounds them to get them to move the man out, even though this would kill him, because the trains are being held up because of this.

He'll often be the DoomedContrarian and get finally called out with "WhatAnIdiot". Compare DeathByMaterialism.

If you've seen a DisasterMovie or Monster Movie, you've seen this trope. There's an oncoming disaster and TheHero is trying to get everyone to see the CassandraTruth. Problem is that there's this one Suit with Vested Interests in something that's going to suffer if the disaster comes about. He'll argue against people believing the hero or an IgnoredExpert, he'll try to convince people that they are safe with ''his'' product, and [[WhileRomeBurns he'll try to stop word from getting further so that the stock prices don't sink, all while the boat does]].

He can be either an old set-in-his-ways businessman, or a young, up-and-coming-with-a-lot-to-prove, charming guy. Pretty much AlwaysMale due to the age of these movies, the characters, the nature of the flaw, and the LoveInterest occasionally starting off as his and then [[HighheelFaceTurn changing over to the hero]]. By the way, the old guy vs. young buck choice tends to work as a foil to the hero.

* ''ComicBook/TheBoys'': It takes a while for Stilwell to get it through his head that the CorporateSponsoredSuperhero is a ''bad idea'', even if Vought try to run damage control for their worst excesses. "Mount a coup and murder [[spoiler:the President of the United States]]"-bad. When he's seen again in "Dear Becky", he's gone nuts, and spends his days growing pineapples while quoting economic theory.

** The mayor is slightly more proactive than most in ''causing'' the disaster - Flint returns to his laboratory to find that the [[VillainousGlutton now-gigantic]] mayor has somehow gotten in there first and has programmed the device to produce a "Vegas-style all-you-can-eat buffet". Cue Food-A-Geddon...

* ''Film/DantesPeak'' actually has this trope ''invoked'' -- the initial reaction of the town council was to take the threat quite seriously.

* ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' has the mayor, who's more of a Politician with Vested Interests, but with a focus on all of the town's businesses and how they'll suffer if everybody avoid the place due to a shark panic on the Fourth of July. In the movie, the portrayal is of a man who just can't grasp the seriousness of the situation until a shark attack finally occurs in broad daylight while his grandchildren are at the beach (though in his defense, he ''does'' [[JerkassHasAPoint have a point]] - a summer community like Amity needs tourists, or they go on welfare at best, out of business entirely/bankrupt at worst). In [[Literature/{{Jaws}} the book]], however, he is just a puppet of the local Mafia, who profit from the town's businesses and just don't care whether there is a shark or not.

* ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' has the mayor, who's more of a Politician with Vested Interests, but with a focus on all of the town's businesses and how they'll suffer if everybody avoid the place due to a shark panic on the Fourth of July. In the movie, the portrayal is of a man who just can't grasp the seriousness of the situation until a shark attack finally occurs in broad daylight while his grandchildren are at the beach. In [[Literature/{{Jaws}} the book]], however, he is just a puppet of the local Mafia, who profit from the town's businesses and just don't care whether there is a shark or not.

* ''Film/KingCobra1999'': When the main characters go to the mayor with claims of a giant cobra hunting people throughout the town, he refuses to cancel an upcoming town carnaval because of the bad publicity. It takes the death of one of his closest friends for him to call in back-up.

He can be either an old set-in-his-ways businessman, or a young, up-and-coming-with-a-lot-to-prove, charming guy. Pretty much AlwaysMale due to the age of these movies, the characters, the nature of the flaw, and the LoveInterest occasionally starting off as his and then changing over to the hero. By the way, the old guy vs. young buck choice tends to work as a foil to the hero.

Similarly, his portrayal and motivation varies. He could be an outright CorruptCorporateExecutive who believes the disaster and just doesn't care, or simply so emotionally invested in what he has that he can't bring himself to face the truth. The latter tends to resonate better and appear more realistic to audiences, as well as having a natural connection to the common theme in disaster movies of Mankind vs. His Folly.

* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window Parable of the Broken Window]] was created by the French classical liberal economist Frédéric Bastiat, to explain why destroying things (be it through war, planned obsolescence, or otherwise) was not a productive way of boosting the economy.

* ''Film/ExecutiveDecision'': One of the passengers aboard the OceanicAirlines plane that was taken over by terrorists is a U.S. Senator named Mavros, who late approaches the terrorists to try to help them negotiate with the Pentagon because his aide convinces him that if he succeeds in calming things down he will get brownie points with his constituents as a hero that he may ride into a presidential ticket. In a similar fashion to Ellis in ''Film/DieHard'', [[BigBad Hassan, the terrorist leader]], puts Mavros on the radio and then blows his brains out [[ProveThatImNotBluffing to prove to the Pentagon that he's not bluffing]] about his threat to kill all of the passengers unless his demands are met.

* ''Film/ExecutiveDecision'': One of the passengers aboard the OceanicAirlines plane that was taken over by terrorists is a U.S. Senator named Mavros, who late approaches the terrorists to try to help them negotiate with the Pentagon because his aide convinces him that if he succeeds in calming things down he will get brownie points with his constituents as a hero that he may ride into a presidential ticket. In a similar fashion to Ellis in ''Film/DieHard'', [[BigBad Hassan, the terrorist leader]], puts Mavros on the radio and then blows his brains out [[ProveThatImBluffing to prove to the Pentagon that he's not bluffing]] about his threat to kill all of the passengers unless his demands are met.

Similarly, his portrayal and motivation varies. He could be an outright CorruptCorporateExecutive who believes the disaster and just doesn't care or, and it tends to be this way in the better works, he is simply so emotionally invested in what he has that he can't bring himself to face the truth. The latter way tends to resonate better and appear more realistic to audiences, as well as having a natural connection to the common theme in disaster movies of Mankind vs. His Folly.

The age can be either old set-in-his-ways businessman or young, up-and-coming-with-a-lot-to-prove, charming guy who will usually AlwaysMale due to the age of these movies, the characters, the nature of the flaw and the LoveInterest occasionally starting off as his and then changing over to the hero. By the way, the old guy vs. young buck choice tends to work as a foil to the hero.

If you've seen a DisasterMovie or Monster Movie, you've seen this trope. There's an oncoming disaster and TheHero is trying to get everyone to see the CassandraTruth. Problem is that there's this one Suit with Vested Interests in something that's going to suffer if the disaster comes about. He'll argue against people believing the hero or an IgnoredExpert, he'll try to convince people that they are safe with ''his'' product and [[WhileRomeBurns he'll try to stop word from getting further so that the stock prices don't sink all the while the boat does]].

* ''Film/KingCobra1999'': When the main characters go to the mayor with claims of a giant cobra hunting people throughout the town, he refuses to cancel an upcoming town carnaval because of the bad publicity.

* ''Film/KingCobra1999'': When the main characters go to the mayor with claims of a giant cobra hunting people throughout the town, he refuses to cancel an upcoming town carnaval because of the bad publicity. [[spoiler:He's later attacked and eaten by the cobra.]]

He'll often be the DoomedContrarian and get finally called out with "WhatAnIdiot!". Compare DeathByMaterialism.

The age can be either old set-in-his-ways businessman or young, up-and-coming-with-a-lot-to-prove, charming guy. Gender nearly {{always male}} due to the age of these movies, the characters, the nature of the flaw and the LoveInterest occasionally starting off as his and then changing over to the hero. By the way, the old guy vs. young buck choice tends to work as a foil to the hero.

!! Examples:

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder: Literature]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

* Richard Pritchard, the Vector Petroleum executive in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Under the Lake", insists on keeping the craft underwater so he can claim both the oil he thinks is there and the alien artifacts. This after a ghost kills Captain Moran. [[spoiler: Pritchard himself is next.]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* The sheriff acts the role of the mayor in ''Jaws'' for the same reason in the ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' arc "Kitten". Parodied when the doctor trying to send out warnings points out that the 'tourist industry' that the sheriff doesn't want disrupted consists of a couple cabins that the town rents out to vacationing college kids and that she could cover the town's losses out of her own pocket.

* In more recent years, a similar concept known as disaster capitalism was coined by alter-globalist writer Naomi Klein in her book ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shock_Doctrine The Shock Doctrine.]]''

He'll often be the DoomedContrarian and get finally called out with "WhatAnIdiot!".

* ''Film/KnightMoves'': After the first murder, the Mayor visits the Sherrif's office to suggest that he pin the murder on some random criminal to avoid any more bad publicity for their town during the international chess tournament that is taking place. The sheriff curtly rejects her idea.