Can You Translate Nightcrawler into Corporate Speak?
How Lou Bloom is epitome of the toxicity of corporate America
Nightcrawler (2014) is turning ten this year. Personally, I found there to be something special about this movie, specifically with how it handled the rise of fear mongering media. However, one can also find an interesting comparison between Nightcrawler and the culture of corporate America.
I like to think of Lou Bloom as an exaggeration of the average worker in America. Underneath the thrilling car chases and disturbing crime footage, there’s a startling reality of what the “American Dream” is in corporate speak.
“What Do You Do For A Living?”
American culture has a heavy emphasis on career. That may be because these large corporations we get jobs at basically run the country, but that’s for another time. But let’s think about it, I mean really think about it…
Typically, one of the first things you ask someone when you first meet them is what they do for a career. I’m not sure why we do this, maybe none of us do, because a job doesn’t necessarily reveal anything about someone’s personality. Sure, you may occasionally get something cool like “doctor” or lawyer” or hell, maybe even “content creator” but most people don’t exactly like their job.
In 2022, 60% of people said they were emotionally detached from work, and 50% said they were feeling stressed from their work daily. And to be honest, most of us know this, because most of us feel this, yet we still ask someone where they work as a way to get to know them first.
Because of the emphasis on job culture (and, ya know, being there all day), many people’s lives are centered around where they work, so it’s no surprise that the whole “you make your job your entire personality” thing comes into play.
That’s where Nightcrawler comes in. Lou Bloom gets a camcorder and becomes a stringer, chasing after crime to record and sell the footage to news outlets.
Bloom becomes obsessed with the work, considering its offering him some pretty hefty payouts… but the money isn’t really why he’s so obsessed with it.
Bloom’s character is shaped as a lonely, unsuccessful guy with no real ambitions. Becoming a stringer gives him a sense of worth and achievement, and there’s thrill within that mental clarity.
As the film progresses, we see Bloom’s personality become more and more obsessive. He becomes possessive over certain aspects, threatens individuals who stand in his way, and is willing to drive over 100 MPH for a good story.
Bloom isn’t just a “nightcrawler,” his entire existence is being a nightcrawler.
How many times have you heard of parents being too busy with their work to be with their kids? People missing big events due to work? People with no time to workout, eat healthy, or have self care because they’re exhausted from work? Individuals literally becoming workaholics because it’s the only thing that gives them purpose?
The percentage of Americans who consider themselves workaholics vary, but according to the New York Post, a survey conducted by OnePoll concluded that almost 48% of Americans identified as such. Of course, surveys can be tricky, but there’s no denying that there certainly are a lot of work addicts in the country.
Hell, most people spend all of their time at work. Some work the typical eight hours, others work overtime, and in recent years, there’s been multiple people reporting that they’re working more than two jobs to keep up with inflation. And on top of that, hustle culture has become extremely popular, making people bring even more work home.
Bloom is the personified hyperbole of all this. He’s on call 24/7, ready to drop everything, and doesn’t have any kind of life outside of his work.
“You’re A Minute Late.”
There’s no denying that certain workplaces have toxic environments. This has only been recently highlighted by The Great Resignation and the quiet quitting movement, in which we saw a rise of more people putting themselves first before their work. The pandemic made people realize that life is short—people were lost, tears were shed—and in turn, employees began to embrace the idea of work-life balance.
However, employers have “shot back” with the idea of quiet firing. Essentially, the employer makes work so miserable that it forces the employee to quit. Yeah, the work culture in 2024 is weird.
There have always been bad bosses though, from micromanagers to the ones who lash out about everything. For as long as work culture in America has existed, there have been such things as bad work environments. Remember how many labor strikes there were during the 1800s and early 1900s?
Usually, employees could lean on unions and strikes for advocation of better worker rights, but recent years have proved this near impossible. The job market is terrible right now, as proven by the thousands of accounts from people actively searching for a job. Interviews now have five steps, hiring managers ghost you, and some job positions aren’t even real to begin with. Plus, layoffs have been crazy.
With such a scary market, employees don’t exactly want to lose the jobs they do have. Thus, people are willing to break their backs to keep their positions. That might mean working a ridiculous amount of overtime or even speeding through morning traffic to not be late.
In comparison, Lou Bloom has proven this same philosophy. Just take a look at the car chase scene in Nightcrawler, in which Bloom is willing to endanger both Rick and himself for a “good shot.” Driving like a madman, Bloom is willing to do anything for the job, even if that means death.
Further, we see Bloom do other disciple practices for his work. He moves the victim of a car wreck for a better shot, he enters a fresh crime scene and films the victims of a home invasion, and he sabotages a competitor to further his own career. Bloom doesn’t really care what he has to do to climb the ladder as long as he is successful, and it’s proven time and time again throughout the film. Plus, he knows if he doesn’t continue doing so, he may have to go back to being a petty theft.
“For the love of money is the root of all evil.”
The love of money and power only lead you down bad paths. In the U.S., around 18% of CEOs are considered to be narcissists. In comparison, about 5% of the population are also considered to be narcissists, meaning that narcissism is more common within CEOs. While that is a small percentage, it’s an interesting statistic to look into, especially when we begin to look at other high-power positions.
Take a look at police officers, in which a study concluded that about 94% of police had moderate levels of narcissism. Granted, this was a group of 1,173 participates, all of which who served in Finland police forces. This may be different to those in America, but I still find it fascinating.
This isn’t to say that all CEOs and policemen are narcissists, of course, but rather an observation that certain jobs attract certain people sometimes. As many bad people there are in these positions, there are certainly some amazing people as well! CEOs and policemen come in all personalities, after all, just like anybody else.
But it would be silly to deny that greed and power can affect people, rather that be through selfish desires or immense stress. In Lou Bloom’s case, we see that the power he gains from being a stringer gives him the confidence to do whatever he wants.
For instance, we see Bloom take advantage over Nina during dinner, in which he threatens to quit working with her unless she has sex with him. But it isn’t until last bit of the film that we see what Bloom is truly willing to do for the power he had gained.
Bloom’s partner, Rick, is shot while trying to get footage. While he lays on the ground dying, Bloom films him, explaining that he can’t work with people who are willing to extort him for withholding evidence. There are no calls made to the police, no efforts to help save Rick’s life… only video evidence of his death.
Bloom then sells the footage, profiting off Rick’s death. And, in the end, he expands his business, hiring a slew of interns. Interns that he says he would never ask to do something he wouldn’t do himself.
He becomes more successful than ever, all while evading the law and morals. He has no need to do the right thing, because doing the right thing would be too slow.
Nightcrawler is a special film. One that could be analyzed in a multitude of ways due to the subject manner.
I think the comparison to the modern day corporate ladder is one that’s quite captivating.
And this isn’t me saying 9-5 jobs are evil or that all of corporate America is despicable. Sure, that can be true to some extent, but there are some companies that actually care for their employees. It’s a gray area, much like everything else, but I do believe there are parts of corporate culture that certainly need to be modernized.
There’s good and bad to the corporate world, just like any other job, but the main thing you should take from any of this? Live your life first. A job can replace you, the people you love can’t.
I would suggest that many of those narcissistic CEOs run entertainment companies.