A Comparison Of First Cow And A Manifesto Of Equals

The commodity of the cow in John Raymond and Kelly Reichardt’s historical fiction film, First Cow, is a physical representation of two clashing beliefs: that “the land belongs to no one [and] the fruits belong to all,” as well as the idea that land in itself is a commodity to be bought and sold and its fruits belong to whoever purchases it. Despite multiple perspectives put on display in the film, the second belief is what comes out on top due to the capitalist systems our society runs on.
Both Sylvain Maréchal’s “A Manifesto of Equals” and John Raymond and Kelly Reichardt’s film First Cow display the perspective of “the land belong[ing] to know one” and “the fruits belong[ing] to all.” In First Cow, protagonists Cookie and King-Lu are pioneers

King-Lu’s desire to pounce on the opportunity and profit off of this cow contrasts with Cookie’s reluctance throughout the film; King-Lu believes that Cheif Factor, the cow's owner, shouldn’t be the owner at all. Meanwhile, Cookie is more aligned with the system of the society they live in. Chief Factor is a rich, upper-class man who paid for the cow, therefore it is his. To Cookie, it doesn’t matter that the Cow is a part of nature; the cow does not belong to everyone. This isn’t to say that Cookie disagrees with the message of “A Manifesto of Equals,” though. At the beginning of First Cow, we find Cookie alone in a

He is a wealthy Englishman, not from the area and yet somehow he owned the largest plot of land, the biggest house, the first cow, and the title of ‘chief’. This is because Chief Factor does not have the same moral compass as Cookie; he believes the land is a commodity to be bought and sold so he buys up as much as he can. Where Chief Factor’s and Cookie’s beliefs align is with the idea that the owner of the land also owns and has the right to sell its fruits. In this situation the cow, who is of, according to Chief Factor, “a good line. Half Alderney, of Isigny, half Froment du Leon, from the province of Brittany,” is the fruit of another land (52). But, since Chief Factor was wealthy enough to purchase the cow from another land owner, and he owns the land the cow resides on, he now owns the cow, thus owning the cow’s fruit: its milk. If Chief Factor believes he owns the milk, and so does Cookie and many others, why shouldn’t he have the right to protect “his” property? Although the native people of the area and King-Lu would rather have it another way, due to the system set in place in this frontier village, Chief Factor can own whatever he wants. He can send a servant to hold one of the most valuable, desired items on the market (an oily cake from Cookie and King-Lu) for no extra cost and actually get the price of it discounted just because of how much he owns. And King-Lu knows this. Although their beliefs