Mr. Robot and the Banality of (Corporate) Evil

The average big company is apparently now considered evil enough to make exaggeration unnecessary for dramatic purposes. In the commentary linked below, the writer discusses the fictional company, E Corp, which plays a central role in the TV show Mr. Robot. The company is depicted as evil, but not evil in the way that evil corporations are typically evil in science fiction. There’s no plot to dominate the world or build killer robots. It’s just, you know, another company like Amazon or something. >>>

LINK: Mr. Robot‘s Chilling Message: Every Corp Is E Corp (by Jackson McHenry for GQ)

…it’s harder to call E Corp an “evil” corporation in the traditional sense. There are no off-the-books R&D or plots to bribe world leaders, no villains cackling about their next transhuman innovation. E Corp holds a ton of consumer credit debt; that it was once responsible for a chemical spill; that its CEO Phillip Prince speaks with the charismatic fervor of a Jeff Bezos or a Steve Jobs. In one episode, a few male executives joke about how women only get ahead by sleeping their way to the top. In other words, look closely and you’ll find E Corp has its ethical slipups, but it’s only about as evil as any real-life company that sells you phones, loans, eggplants, or Elsa dolls. Elliot doesn’t distinguish between the traditional sci-fi “evil corporation” and a place like E Corp. Mr. Robot asks why we do…..

What do you think?

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