If you want to win the lottery...

In the 2014 film Nightcrawler, Lou Bloom is a down-on-his-luck hustler who stumbles upon the world of nightcrawling, or freelance crime journalism. He sees an opportunity to make money by selling footage of accidents, fires, and other newsworthy events to local news stations. The scene where Lou first encounters nightcrawling is a pivotal moment in the film, as it marks his transformation from a desperate nobody into a ruthless opportunist.

The scene opens with Lou driving aimlessly around Los Angeles at night. He is lost and alone, and he seems to be at the end of his rope. Suddenly, he sees a car accident on the side of the road. He pulls over and gets out of his car, eager to see if he can get some footage of the crash. As he approaches the scene, he sees a group of other nightcrawling journalists already there, setting up their cameras and microphones. Lou is initially intimidated by these experienced professionals, but he quickly realizes that he has something they don't: a willingness to do whatever it takes to get the story.

Lou begins to film the accident, and he quickly shows that he has a natural talent for capturing the chaos and excitement of the moment. He is not afraid to get close to the action, and he is not afraid to ask the tough questions. The news stations are impressed with Lou's footage, and they start to give him more assignments. As Lou's success grows, so does his ambition. He becomes increasingly ruthless in his pursuit of the perfect story, and he is willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead.

The scene in Nightcrawler where Lou first encounters nightcrawling is a parallel moment of revelation to the scene in the 2016 film The Founder where Ray Kroc first encounters the McDonald's Speedee system. In both scenes, the characters are in a state of desperation and they are looking for a way to change their lives. In Nightcrawler, Lou is a nobody who is desperate for money. In The Founder, Ray Kroc is a struggling salesman who is desperate for success. Both characters see an opportunity in the systems they encounter, and they both seize that opportunity with ruthless determination.

Lou and Ray are both ultimately successful in their respective endeavors. Lou becomes a successful nightcrawling journalist, and Ray Kroc becomes the founder of McDonald's. However, their success comes at a price. Lou becomes increasingly detached from reality, and he eventually loses sight of what is important in life. Ray Kroc becomes ruthless and exploitative, and he eventually alienates the McDonald brothers who originally gave him the opportunity to succeed.

The scenes in Nightcrawler and The Founder are both cautionary tales about the dangers of ambition. They show how desperation can lead people to make bad decisions, and how success can corrupt even the best of intentions. However, the films also show that it is possible to achieve success without sacrificing one's humanity. Lou and Ray are both flawed characters, but they are also ultimately sympathetic figures. They are both driven by a desire to make something of themselves, and they both find success in their own way. The films suggest that it is possible to achieve success without becoming a monster, but it takes a great deal of self-awareness and discipline.

The parallel depictions of Lou Bloom and Ray Kroc in Nightcrawler and The Founder can be seen as a reflection of Marxian economic reality. In Marxian theory, the capitalist system is characterized by a class struggle between the bourgeoisie (the owners of the means of production) and the proletariat (the workers). To conceptualize this in the Marxian vernacular: The bourgeoisie exploits the proletariat by paying them less than the value of their labor, which allows the bourgeoisie to accumulate wealth and power– this is the system Lou experiences an advanced form of, while Kroc is an active participant inhe expansion of an economy built on this relationship.

In Nightcrawler, Lou Bloom is a member of the proletariat. He is a desperate nobody who is willing to do whatever it takes to make money. He sees an opportunity to exploit the misfortune of others by selling footage of accidents and crimes to news stations. Lou's success in this endeavor is a testament to the power of capitalism to reward those who are, primarily and necessarily, willing to exploit others.

In The Founder, Ray Kroc is also a member of the proletariat, albeit one with his ambitions in management, in leadership, as a guru of business (hence his mixer business, where he's a salesman, but not the top dog). He is a struggling salesman who sees an opportunity to exploit the McDonald brothers' Speedee system. Kroc is able to convince the McDonald brothers to give him the rights to franchise their restaurants, and he quickly becomes wealthy and powerful. Kroc's success is a testament to the power of capitalism to reward those who are willing to exploit others.

The films through narrative and characterization of approximately 1.5 ways to be an individual under capitalism how the capitalist system can reward those who are willing to exploit others, even if it means sacrificing their humanity; this is to suggest that it is possible to achieve success in a capitalist system without becoming a monster, but it takes a great deal of self-awareness and discipline. A secondary theme emerges. Alienation refers to the estrangement of workers from their labor, from the products of their labor, and from their fellow workers. In Nightcrawler, Lou is alienated from his labor. He sees his work as a means to an end, and he has no interest in the suffering that he causes in order to get his footage. Lou is also alienated from the products of his labor. He does not care about the news stories that he sells, and he only cares about the money that he makes from them. Lou is also alienated from his fellow workers. He sees them as competitors, and he is willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead, even if it means hurting them.

The alienation of Lou Bloom is a reflection of the alienation that is inherent in the capitalist system. In a capitalist system, workers are forced to sell their labor to the bourgeoisie in order to survive. This means that workers have no control over their labor, and they are not rewarded for the value of their work. As a result, workers become alienated from their labor, from the products of their labor, and from their fellow workers.

Let's talk about what this does to man, not just as a worker, but a being: Thomas Merton was a Trappist monk and writer who wrote extensively on the spiritual life, particularly interested in the relationship between faith and work, and he often spoke about the importance of finding a vocation that is aligned with one's spiritual values. The parallel depictions of Lou Bloom and Ray Kroc can be seen through the spiritual lens of Thomas Merton as a cautionary tale about the dangers of pursuing a vocation that is motivated by greed and ambition; a theme we're by now familiar with. In both films, the characters are initially drawn to their respective vocations because they see them as a way to make money and achieve success. However, as they become more successful, but beyond the material, they become increasingly detached from their spiritual values and they are ultimately corrupted by their own ambition.

The parallel depictions of Lou Bloom and Ray Kroc in Nightcrawler and The Founder can be seen as a spiritual warning about the dangers of pursuing a vocation that is motivated by greed and ambition when understood from the perspective that Merton believed that a true vocation is one that is aligned with one's spiritual values, and that it is important to find a way to make a living that does not compromise one's integrity– this is the metaspiritual narrative contra alienation, why we do what we do as much as what it produces and to whom the benefit is afforded, and at whose expense it is derived.

In addition to the spiritual lens of Thomas Merton, the parallel depictions of Lou Bloom and Ray Kroc can also be seen through the lens of existentialism. Existentialism is a philosophical movement that emphasizes the individual's freedom and responsibility to create their own meaning in life. In Nightcrawler and The Founder, the characters are both faced with a choice: they can either choose to pursue a vocation that is aligned with their spiritual values, or they can choose to pursue a vocation that is motivated by greed and ambition. The films suggest that the characters ultimately make the wrong choice, and that they are ultimately corrupted by their own ambition.

These moments in the respective films can be interpreted as a revelation that eases desperation but is purely a gateway to do harm, where the former ameliorates the latter, the anodyne permission to exploit in the name of individual subsistence and prosperity. In both films, the characters are in a state of desperation and they are looking for a way to change their lives. Both characters see an opportunity in the systems they encounter, and they both seize that opportunity with ruthless determination; this is not a virtue, it is a personality defect– Kroc arguably to productive, but no less sociopathic, ends.

However, the revelation that they experience is ultimately a false one. It eases their desperation in the short term, but it leads them down a path of harm in the long term of society; the normalization of alienation as trade as an extension of the sort of systemic holistic harm of corporatism to society and the planet supporting the agribusiness, for example, required of a McDonald's or the labor culture necessary to sustain it. This is, chiefly, a cautionary tale about the dangers of false revelations. They show how false revelations can lead people down a path of harm, even if they are initially motivated by good intentions. The films suggest that it is important to be critical of any revelation that promises to solve all of your problems, and that it is important to think carefully about the potential consequences of any decision that you make.

This desperation leads to a willingness to become extraordinarily and increasingly manipulative to satiate desire, consumptive greed.

The films suggest that desperation can be a powerful motivator, but it is important to be aware of the dangers of desperation. Desperation can lead people to make bad decisions, and it can lead people down a path of harm. It is important to find healthy ways to cope with desperation, and it is important to make decisions based on reason and compassion, rather than on desperation.