The Fund for American Studies released a short educational film aimed at young adults on Oct. 17, titled “It’s a Wonderful Life! (with capitalism),” to show what a world without capitalism would look like.
The film, written and produced by Steve Andrus of Freethink Media, follows a young activist, played by actor John Crowley, who is at first against capitalism. In the morning, he shuts off his iPhone alarm clock, gets out of his comfortable-looking bed, chooses between various hair products and shirts, eats two types of cereal for breakfast and video chats a woman on his iPad who asks him if he is heading out to the protest.
He waves at two neighborhood children selling lemonade before driving to the protest. “People, not profits!” he yells. “Life would be so much better without capitalism.”
The activist is then knocked in the head and the scene switches dramatically. He wakes up with his wish fulfilled—a world without capitalism. A sparse and dingy-looking apartment with exactly one, substandard hygiene product, one choice of cereal and one outfit have replaced his previous luxuries in a capitalism-filled world. He uses public transportation, spots a long line for coffee rations, gets his belongings stolen by children and runs from a policeman in a gas mask holding a raised baton.
TFAS executive vice president Steve Slattery said the video is a clever and interesting take on the concept of ‘be careful what you wish for.’
“We want to educate young people about the benefits of capitalism, because so often they’re misinformed about what capitalism brings them in terms of quality of life,” Slattery told The Daily Caller.
Slattery said young people are not being taught enough about the benefits of capitalism, especially since economics is not a required course in many colleges and high schools.
“As a result, you have a lot of anti-Wall Street demonstrations that are largely populated by young people, and we find it ironic because they’re the very ones who take advantage of a lot of the products of capitalism such as the internet, cell phones, YouTube, et cetera,” Slattery said to TheDC. “We’ve done another video that asks young people if they would give up the internet for a million dollars, and overwhelmingly they said no.”
Slattery said he hopes the video generates discussion about capitalism and inspires young people to explore relevant topics on their own.
TFAS will be releasing another video later this year about the benefits of capitalism.