![]() Smick himself says he thinks every person from birth should be made a capitalist and given a loan to start their own business. ![]() Smick asserts that this is not the case under Main Street capitalism, where the American dream can still be realized and success is possible for everyone. The film vilifies corporate capitalism and says that instead, we need to go back to “Main Street capitalism.” Through a series of graphics, Smick makes a case that under corporate capitalism only big corporations get richer while working people never have a chance for upward mobility. Stars and Strife expresses that the system we live under is a crumbling one, but instead of finding an alternative, it wants us to superglue the broken pieces back together again. The documentary falls short when it attempts to explain why things are the way they are, and how concrete change can occur. The film puts forth the idea that this would give us winning candidates more beholden to the people, who would have to put forth policies to truly win the public over. Through a series of eliminations in ranking, it would then leave one candidate who would in theory have the true majority. Ranked voting allows voters to rank their choices, as opposed to picking only one candidate or the other. ![]() A way to do this, as one expert in the film noted, is through ranked voting. A case is made for opening up the political arena so that independent parties have more of a fighting chance on the electoral terrain. It makes the assertion that because of this, these two parties get lobbied by powerful wealthy elites that get to have influence over policy and law. The film makes a point in saying that the current political system is designed to leave room only for a “duopoly” between Democrats and Republicans. It also appropriately brings up the insidious roles that banks have played in growing debt and inflation.Īnother strong point in the documentary concerns political parties and voting. Stars and Strife takes aim at big corporations and what it calls corporate capitalism. It points out how greed and the favoring of corporate profits over human lives have created a tale of two cities in the United States. The film talks about the widening wealth gap between working-class people and the wealthy. The strongest part of this film is the first half, mainly because it makes some valid points on what exactly is going wrong in the U.S. The interviews are vibrant and lively, while the news clippings and graphics do well to explain the ideas that Smick wants to get across. Yet, exactly what kind of system is the film proposing for us to unify under?Īt 97 minutes, the documentary does a good job of keeping the viewer’s attention. The filmmaker states that “our politics value opponents’ demise over dialogue-and our elected officials put party over country.” The idea of unity is a formidable one. Through news clippings and interviews with various professionals in government, economics, and activism, the film attempts to drive home the idea of unity. The crisis it is referring to is the current global pandemic that has already claimed the lives of over 200,000 Americans (roughly one-fifth of all worldwide COVID-19 deaths). Written and directed by financial adviser David Smick, Stars and Strife explores what it believes is an epidemic of hate that has left the U.S. Stars and Strife seemingly has good intentions for a better world, but its skewed take on capitalism may leave many viewers unconvinced. Where it falls short is in its presentation of a solution. It presents a compelling argument regarding the ills of society like poverty, racism, and political corruption. The new documentary Stars and Strife wants you to know that the world, and particularly the United States, is in trouble. ![]() Hawk Newsome, co-founder of BLM Greater NY
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