Humanomics on Screen
Films that explore economics, markets, and human freedom
In a previous post, I provided a recommended reading list based on Chapman University’s “humanomics” curriculum, which takes up spontaneous order, markets and norms, exchange, and other classical liberal themes. Readers seemed to like it. So, in this post, I revisited the Chapman site for its film recommendations.
The works below are limited to mentions that I could readily find. It does not include films assigned by individual professors whose syllabi were not posted online. So the recommendations here should only be considered top-level. In general, “humanomics,” developed by Nobel laureate Vernon Smith and Bart Wilson, focuses on works of literature and film to explore how economic behavior intertwines with moral psychology, social norms, and institutional design.
Curiously, only one television program, Deadwood (HBO series, 2004–6, created by David Milch), was mentioned on the Chapman site. I am not familiar with that one, but according to the description, “The series depicts how property rights, dispute resolution, and commercial networks can develop organically when people need to cooperate, challenging both romantic frontier mythology and simplistic views of markets as requiring extensive state infrastructure.” As genres, both Westerns and (zombie) apocalypses uniquely allow writers and directors to isolate human nature and relationships away from the influence of current social and political institutions.
Note that, as with the previous list, the descriptions were supplied by ChatGPT, in an effort to tease out their connections to the Chapman curriculum’s core themes. I vetted the ones I had seen myself, of course. Judging by those familiar films, I take the quality of the rest to be high. I resolve to watch the ones I’ve missed in the coming year.
In the meantime, there are surely many other films that contribute to our understanding and appreciation of the market, individual liberty, limited government, and human flourishing. A more exhaustive list for another time . . .
Happy viewing!
Technology, Markets, and Human Dignity
Blade Runner (1982, dir. Ridley Scott)
A noir vision of corporate dominance asks whether beings created for servitude can claim moral standing. The film explores how market logic—treating persons as property—collides with the reality of consciousness and the hunger for freedom.
Ex Machina (2014, dir. Alex Garland)
Power and deception define the relationship between creator and creation in this unsettling examination of AI development. The film illuminates how information asymmetries and unchecked authority can enable exploitation, even in relationships that appear voluntary.
Gattaca (1997, dir. Andrew Niccol)
Genetic engineering creates a rigid caste system where your DNA determines your destiny. The film champions individual determination against biological determinism, asking whether merit-based systems can remain just when “merit” is purchased before birth.
Her (2013, dir. Spike Jonze)
What happens when intimacy becomes a purchasable service? This meditation on loneliness and connection explores whether authentic relationships can exist within commercial transactions, or whether markets inevitably crowd out deeper human bonds.
WALL·E (2008, dir. Andrew Stanton)
Humanity has consumed itself into helplessness aboard a corporate spaceship. This animated parable examines whether prosperity without purpose leads to flourishing, and whether dependence—however comfortable—erodes the human capacity for creativity and self-governance.
Authority, Surveillance, and Civil Society
Children of Men (2006, dir. Alfonso Cuarón)
When humanity faces extinction, formal institutions crumble and only fragile networks of trust remain. The film demonstrates how societies survive through informal cooperation and moral commitment when official structures fail, illustrating the limits of top-down solutions to existential crises.
The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen, 2006, dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)
In East Germany’s surveillance state, a Stasi officer discovers his humanity while spying on artists. The film reveals how totalitarian control destroys the social trust and voluntary associations essential to genuine community, while showing that moral transformation remains possible even within oppressive systems.
Stalker (1979, dir. Andrei Tarkovsky)
Three men journey into a mysterious Zone where wishes supposedly come true. Tarkovsky’s enigmatic masterpiece asks whether desire can be regulated from above, and whether human aspiration can survive in landscapes—physical or political—where spontaneous action is forbidden.
Institutions, Incentives, and Social Decay
Idiocracy (2006, dir. Mike Judge)
A dystopian comedy traces cultural collapse to its institutional roots. The film suggests that when incentive structures reward short-term thinking and discourage intellectual effort, societies can spiral toward dysfunction—a cautionary tale about how rules shape behavior across generations.
Waco: The Rules of Engagement (1997, dir. William Gazecki) - Documentary
This documentary investigates the 1993 standoff between federal agents and the Branch Davidians. It raises essential questions about when state power becomes illegitimate, how authority justifies violence, and whether citizens can trust institutions that operate beyond transparent accountability.
Labor, Capital, and Human Flourishing
Modern Times (1936, dir. Charles Chaplin)
Chaplin’s Tramp confronts assembly-line automation in a comic critique of industrial dehumanization. The film questions whether efficiency gains justify reducing workers to interchangeable parts, and suggests that human dignity requires more than mere employment—it demands meaningful work and agency.
Moral Learning and Social Formation
Emma (various film adaptations of Jane Austen’s novel)
Austen’s comedy of manners becomes a study in moral education through social feedback. Emma’s matchmaking errors teach her to see beyond her own perspective, illustrating how communities function as learning environments where consequences and corrections refine our understanding of others and ourselves. [I highly recommend the version directed by Autumn de Wilde.]
Jojo Rabbit (2019, dir. Taika Waititi)
A boy in Nazi Germany maintains Hitler as an imaginary friend until encounters with a hidden Jewish girl crack his indoctrination. The film explores how moral sense develops through direct human contact, showing that propaganda cannot permanently suppress the capacity for empathy and moral revision.
The Spirit of the Beehive (El espíritu de la colmena, 1973, dir. Víctor Erice)
A child in Franco’s Spain processes trauma and repression through encounters with fantasy. This haunting film examines how political authoritarianism warps childhood development, suggesting that moral imagination requires freedom to explore, question, and make meaning.