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The Economics of Happiness

Name: The Economics of Happiness
Director: John Page, Steven Gorelick, Helena Norberg-Hodge
Released: 2011
Duration: 67 min

Representation Score

4.4/10

Fair

2011

Director

John Page, Steven Gorelick, Helena Norberg-Hodge

Runtime

67 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

The Economics of Happiness effectively critiques global economic models by centering voices from six continents. It challenges the dominance of corporate power and highlights underrepresented populations from the Global South. While the film offers a sophisticated post-colonial perspective, it remains limited in its social scope. It does not engage with LGBTQ+ identities or disability representation, focusing instead on geographic and socioeconomic shifts. The documentary's strength lies in its critique of neoliberal capitalism. It promotes a paradigm of localization and community empowerment.

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Category Breakdown

Does The Economics of Happiness have LGBTQ+ representation?

Minimal

The film does not include any explicit LGBTQ+ characters or stories. It does not use queer theory or gender-identity politics as a lens for its analysis.

How does The Economics of Happiness portray gender?

Fair

Women are shown working within traditional agrarian and subsistence economies. The film highlights their important roles in local economic structures.

How racially and ethnically diverse is The Economics of Happiness?

Excellent

The documentary features indigenous communities and rural populations from the Himalayas and India. It provides significant roles to people of color through a post-colonial lens.

How does The Economics of Happiness represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The film focuses on preserving diverse cultural traditions against the influence of global markets. It criticizes Western consumerism as a threat to cultural integrity.

Does The Economics of Happiness include disability representation?

Minimal

There is no significant focus on visible or invisible disabilities. These identities are not used as central elements within the documentary's narrative.

Present on Screen

Highlights the importance of indigenous and non-Western populations.
Challenges the dominance of Western economic models.
Promotes the preservation of diverse cultural traditions.

Limited or Absent

Could include more representation of LGBTQ+ characters.
Should address disability and neurodivergent identities.
Could explore the subversion of gender hierarchies.

Official Synopsis

'The Economics of Happiness' features a chorus of voices from six continents calling for systemic economic change. The documentary describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On the one hand, government and big business continue to promote globalization and the consolidation of corporate power. At the same time, all around the world people are resisting those policies, demanding a re-regulation of trade and finance - and, far from the old institutions of power, they're starting to forge a very different future. Communities are coming together to re-build more human scale, ecological economies based on a new paradigm - an economics of localization.

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