The American Ruling Class
Encyclopedia
The American Ruling Class (2005) is a dramatic documentary film written by Lewis H. Lapham
and directed by John Kirby that "explores our country’s most taboo topic: class, power and privilege in our nominally democratic republic." It seeks to answer the question, "Does America have a ruling class?" Its producers consider it the first "dramatic-documentary-musical."
A rough-cut of the film was shown at the 2005 TriBeCa Film Festival
, the final version of the film was shown on the Sundance Channel in July 2007, and it had its theatrical premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music
in April 2008. Currently the film is available for sale by The Alive Mind, veteran film distributor Richard Lorber's new label, and schools colleges, universities and institutions can purchase the film from Bullfrog Films.
, who plays himself as editor of Harper's Magazine
. Lapham opens the film with the question of whether or not America has a "ruling class", a circle of wealthy and powerful families that run the banks, businesses, and government, essentially controlling everything in America.
To answer this question, Lapham devises a fictional scenario following the post-graduation paths of two young Yale
graduates, themselves from opposite economic beginnings. The paths they take gradually clue them, and the audience, into the reality posed by the question.
Caton Burwell plays "Jack Bellami", a recent Yale graduate who comes from a rich family. Unlike his family or his friends, Jack seems unsure of what he wants to do with his life and wonders how he could make a difference in the world. Jack ultimately decides to become a banker, working at Goldman Sachs
. He chooses the job after coming to the conclusion that the banking industry controls the world and that it would be easier and more effective to become a part of the system in order to change it from within.
Paul Cantagallo plays "Mike Vanzetti", another recent Yale graduate who is best friends with Jack Bellami. Unlike his friend, Mike is from a middle-class background, meaning he isn't wealthy like his friend Jack. Mike wants to change the world from outside the system. He decides to become a writer and goes headfirst into the character renting a studio apartment and getting a job as a waiter. He refuses to "sell out" by way of writing for a major newspaper or by pandering to the masses by writing lowest common denominator material.
Mike's story takes center stage in the second half of the film. A run-in with Jack (now a successful employee at Goldman Sachs) leads to Jack offering Mike a job at the company, an offer Mike initially rejects. However, as his student loan bills start piling up, Mike begins to resent his lack of money and low paying job, as well as the inability of his writing to enact change. Mike's girlfriend, Taylor, later invites him to a wealthy friend's party where she encourages Mike to continue his work. A short time after the party, Lapham invites Mike to take a trip to a "space that used to be called, in another age of man, Mexico." This land was Texas. In Texas Lapham shows Mike how the powerful control the government and that money, in the end, trumps any effort by the non-wealthy to change society.
Ultimately, Mike decides to abandon his dream of becoming a writer and takes up Jack's job offer. During a visit to Taylor's mansion home, Mike plays a game of tennis with his girlfriend and they discuss his decision. Taylor is horrified with his new defeatist attitude. Mike lectures his girlfriend on his new worldview: that money is the only thing that matters; as society goes to hell, being wealthy is the only defense one has against the rich's routine abuse of the poor and working class in America.
The film then splits with two endings; the first ending shows Mike during his first day working as a banker. The film zooms in to Mike at an initiation program showing panic and displeasure as he immediately regrets what he has done.
The second ending (which an on-screen graphic claims was filmed after test audiences reacted poorly to the first ending) has Mike sidetracked when he agrees to watch the stage show, that he stumbled upon, being rehearsed by the lead singer of "THE WHATS?" and a group of children. The number they play discusses the themes of the film. The film ends with Mike in the woods and the viewer never sees if Mike makes it to work or if the song changed his mind about how he will live his life.
Kurt Vonnegut and Robert Altman both died before the final cut of the film was aired on Sundance Channel.
Lewis H. Lapham
Lewis H. Lapham is an American writer. He was the editor of the American monthly Harper's Magazine from 1976 until 1981, and from 1983 until 2006. He also is the founder of the eponymous publication about history and literature entitled Lapham's Quarterly. He has written numerous books on...
and directed by John Kirby that "explores our country’s most taboo topic: class, power and privilege in our nominally democratic republic." It seeks to answer the question, "Does America have a ruling class?" Its producers consider it the first "dramatic-documentary-musical."
A rough-cut of the film was shown at the 2005 TriBeCa Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
, the final version of the film was shown on the Sundance Channel in July 2007, and it had its theatrical premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Academy of Music is a major performing arts venue in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, United States, known as a center for progressive and avant garde performance....
in April 2008. Currently the film is available for sale by The Alive Mind, veteran film distributor Richard Lorber's new label, and schools colleges, universities and institutions can purchase the film from Bullfrog Films.
Plot
The film stars Lewis H. LaphamLewis H. Lapham
Lewis H. Lapham is an American writer. He was the editor of the American monthly Harper's Magazine from 1976 until 1981, and from 1983 until 2006. He also is the founder of the eponymous publication about history and literature entitled Lapham's Quarterly. He has written numerous books on...
, who plays himself as editor of Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
. Lapham opens the film with the question of whether or not America has a "ruling class", a circle of wealthy and powerful families that run the banks, businesses, and government, essentially controlling everything in America.
To answer this question, Lapham devises a fictional scenario following the post-graduation paths of two young Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
graduates, themselves from opposite economic beginnings. The paths they take gradually clue them, and the audience, into the reality posed by the question.
Caton Burwell plays "Jack Bellami", a recent Yale graduate who comes from a rich family. Unlike his family or his friends, Jack seems unsure of what he wants to do with his life and wonders how he could make a difference in the world. Jack ultimately decides to become a banker, working at Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients...
. He chooses the job after coming to the conclusion that the banking industry controls the world and that it would be easier and more effective to become a part of the system in order to change it from within.
Paul Cantagallo plays "Mike Vanzetti", another recent Yale graduate who is best friends with Jack Bellami. Unlike his friend, Mike is from a middle-class background, meaning he isn't wealthy like his friend Jack. Mike wants to change the world from outside the system. He decides to become a writer and goes headfirst into the character renting a studio apartment and getting a job as a waiter. He refuses to "sell out" by way of writing for a major newspaper or by pandering to the masses by writing lowest common denominator material.
Mike's story takes center stage in the second half of the film. A run-in with Jack (now a successful employee at Goldman Sachs) leads to Jack offering Mike a job at the company, an offer Mike initially rejects. However, as his student loan bills start piling up, Mike begins to resent his lack of money and low paying job, as well as the inability of his writing to enact change. Mike's girlfriend, Taylor, later invites him to a wealthy friend's party where she encourages Mike to continue his work. A short time after the party, Lapham invites Mike to take a trip to a "space that used to be called, in another age of man, Mexico." This land was Texas. In Texas Lapham shows Mike how the powerful control the government and that money, in the end, trumps any effort by the non-wealthy to change society.
Ultimately, Mike decides to abandon his dream of becoming a writer and takes up Jack's job offer. During a visit to Taylor's mansion home, Mike plays a game of tennis with his girlfriend and they discuss his decision. Taylor is horrified with his new defeatist attitude. Mike lectures his girlfriend on his new worldview: that money is the only thing that matters; as society goes to hell, being wealthy is the only defense one has against the rich's routine abuse of the poor and working class in America.
The film then splits with two endings; the first ending shows Mike during his first day working as a banker. The film zooms in to Mike at an initiation program showing panic and displeasure as he immediately regrets what he has done.
The second ending (which an on-screen graphic claims was filmed after test audiences reacted poorly to the first ending) has Mike sidetracked when he agrees to watch the stage show, that he stumbled upon, being rehearsed by the lead singer of "THE WHATS?" and a group of children. The number they play discusses the themes of the film. The film ends with Mike in the woods and the viewer never sees if Mike makes it to work or if the song changed his mind about how he will live his life.
Interviews
The following people are interviewed:- Robert AltmanRobert AltmanRobert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
- James A. Baker III
- Bill BradleyBill BradleyWilliam Warren "Bill" Bradley is an American hall of fame basketball player, Rhodes scholar, and former three-term Democratic U.S. Senator from New Jersey. He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party's nomination for President in the 2000 election.Bradley was born and raised in a suburb of St....
- Harold BrownHarold BrownHarold Brown may refer to:*Harold Brown *Harold P. Brown, builder of the first electric chair*Harold L. Brown, Pennsylvania politician*Harold Brown , American physicist, U.S...
- Hodding Carter IIIHodding Carter IIIHodding Carter, III , is an American journalist and politician best known for his role as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs in the Jimmy Carter administration.-Biography:...
- William T. Coleman Jr.
- Walter CronkiteWalter CronkiteWalter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
- Barbara EhrenreichBarbara Ehrenreich-Early life:Ehrenreich was born Barbara Alexander to Isabelle Oxley and Ben Howes Alexander in Butte, Montana, which she describes as then being "a bustling, brawling, blue collar mining town."...
- Martin GarbusMartin GarbusMartin Garbus is an American attorney. He has tried cases throughout the country involving constitutional, criminal, copyright, and intellectual property law. He has appeared before the United States Supreme Court as well as trial and appellate courts throughout the United States...
- Vartan GregorianVartan GregorianVartan Gregorian is an Armenian-American academic, serving as the president of Carnegie Corporation of New York. He is an ethnic Armenian, born in Iran....
- Doug HenwoodDoug HenwoodDoug Henwood is an American journalist who writes frequently about economic affairs. He publishes a newsletter, Left Business Observer, that analyzes economics and politics from a left-wing perspective, and is a contributing editor at The Nation.- Early years :Henwood was born in Teaneck, New...
- Mike MedavoyMike MedavoyMorris Mike Medavoy is an American film producer and executive, co-founder of Orion Pictures , former chairman of TriStar Pictures, former head of production for United Artists and current chairman and CEO of Phoenix Pictures.-Early life and career:Medavoy was born in Shanghai, China in 1941 to...
- Joseph S. Nye Jr.
- Samuel Peabody
- John Perkins
- Peter G. Peterson
- Peter Seeger
- Lawrence H. Summers
- Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr.Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr.Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr. became the publisher of The New York Times in 1992 and chairman of the board of its owner, The New York Times Company, in 1997, succeeding his father, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger...
- William Howard Taft IVWilliam Howard Taft IVWilliam Howard Taft IV is an attorney who has served in the United States government under several Republican administrations. He is the son of William Howard Taft III and the great-grandson of U.S. President William Howard Taft....
- Kurt VonnegutKurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...
- Howard ZinnHoward ZinnHoward Zinn was an American historian, academic, author, playwright, and social activist. Before and during his tenure as a political science professor at Boston University from 1964-88 he wrote more than 20 books, which included his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United...
Kurt Vonnegut and Robert Altman both died before the final cut of the film was aired on Sundance Channel.
External links
- Official Website
- Movie Clip on YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
(authorized on the Official Site) - Review: Yale Alumni Magazine
- Review: Brooklyn Reviews
- Review: The Brooklyn Rail
- Fashion & Style review: The New York Times
- Business review: The New York Times
- Review: New York Press
- Purchase The DVD
- See more reviews at Bullfrog Films