The Economics of Suffering

The Running Man

This flow examines how money determines bodily risk, family survival, and public behavior.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

Oldbucks and Hunger Oldbucks and Hunger from "The Running Man". Currency of Desperation A Shrinking Allowance Ben has exhausted his unemployment allotment while Catherine Sarah Richards remains sick.

Oldbucks and Hunger from "The Running Man". Currency of Desperation A Shrinking Allowance Ben has exhausted his unemployment allotment while Catherine Sarah Richards remains sick.

Currency of Desperation A Shrinking Allowance Ben has exhausted his unemployment allotment while Catherine Sarah Richards remains sick. The family’s poverty is measured in missing coins and unavailable care. Medical Need The price of a doctor becomes the force that sends Ben toward death. Money is not greed but the condition of continued life.

Risk for Prizes Risk for Prizes from "The Running Man". Bodies on the Market Contestant Payments The Games offer money for remaining alive and bonuses for surviving or killing. Each payment assigns a price to pain.

Risk for Prizes from "The Running Man". Bodies on the Market Contestant Payments The Games offer money for remaining alive and bonuses for surviving or killing. Each payment assigns a price to pain.

Bodies on the Market Contestant Payments The Games offer money for remaining alive and bonuses for surviving or killing. Each payment assigns a price to pain. Viewers as Labor Citizens also earn money by reporting contestants. The economy extends violence into every neighborhood.

Certificates as Medicine Certificates as Medicine from "The Running Man". Coupons for Survival Killian’s Loan Dan Killian gives Ben Games Certificates that can purchase legitimate medical treatment.

Certificates as Medicine from "The Running Man". Coupons for Survival Killian’s Loan Dan Killian gives Ben Games Certificates that can purchase legitimate medical treatment.

Coupons for Survival Killian’s Loan Dan Killian gives Ben Games Certificates that can purchase legitimate medical treatment. The Network’s charity is carefully tied to the contestant’s future earnings. Gratitude as Debt Ben understands that the money is both help and investment. The family’s survival becomes financially linked to the show’s success.

Blood Money Blood Money from "The Running Man". Payment After Violence Bonuses for Death Ben receives additional money for killing representatives of the law.

Blood Money from "The Running Man". Payment After Violence Bonuses for Death Ben receives additional money for killing representatives of the law.

Payment After Violence Bonuses for Death Ben receives additional money for killing representatives of the law. The Network monetizes each corpse while condemning him as uniquely violent. Moral Contamination He worries whether medicine bought with bounty money would corrupt his family’s survival. The system makes innocence economically impossible.

The Billion Dollar Offer The Billion Dollar Offer from "The Running Man". Wealth Against the Self A Prize Beyond Imagination The Grand Prize promises a billion New Dollars, enough to transform Ben’s family’s material circumstances.

The Billion Dollar Offer from "The Running Man". Wealth Against the Self A Prize Beyond Imagination The Grand Prize promises a billion New Dollars, enough to transform Ben’s family’s material circumstances.

Wealth Against the Self A Prize Beyond Imagination The Grand Prize promises a billion New Dollars, enough to transform Ben’s family’s material circumstances. Yet the offer becomes meaningless after their murder. Value Collapses Ben’s final act rejects the idea that every loss can be compensated. Some debts exceed currency.

opening morning

during Games selection

during Ben’s private confinement

after the first police killings

during the final negotiation