Some critics have already argued that The Long Walk, the new film based on an old Stephen King novel, is a metaphor for the brutal chains of capitalism.
You can sort of see why: It's a story about young men picked from a lottery to go on a long, apparently televised walk. If they stop too often or for too long, they die. The last one standing wins a prize—cash, plus a granted wish. An opening text explains that the walk is understood as an opportunity to escape economic deprivation. An overseer explains that the walk provides a boost to national productivity, a boost to gross domestic product. Early in the walk, the boys dismiss the idea that they are there by choice. In theory, the lottery is optional. But they don't know anyone who hasn't signed up. Capitalism, in this metaphorical schema, is a cruel taskmaster that provides the illusion of free will and demands that young men march forever toward their pointless, inevitable deaths.
But the movie is at least as much a brief against government power as it is a critique of the market. Over and over again, the movie makes clear that the boys marching towards their end aren't doing so at the behest of corporations or private actors, but a cruel and autocratic public authority. It's a harrowing take on the horrors of an authoritarian state.
