The Fall of the House of Usher and the Corruption of Family

The moral case for recognizing that your family can be corrupted.

Author’s Note: A poll is coming out on Friday. I’m looking forward to finding out what wins.

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Family is something you're supposed to be able to count on.

They're the first people you learn to trust in the world. Mainly because they're around you all the time and you do so many important things with them. Your family is there when you have a lot of your first experiences which make up who you are and determine the direction of your life. It gives you a reason to trust them. People you can count on when you need them. Unfortunately not everyone gets that experience with family. For some it's because of who they are as people, for others it's who they become. One of the biggest things which can cause problems in a family is money and the power that comes along with it. Money and power are corrupting influences.

However, corruption doesn't happen all at once. Like money and power, it takes time to develop and maintain. When it gets into your system though, it's very hard to get it out. Particularly because when you have it, you want more. You begin to crave it in a way that you go through withdrawals if you can't find some type of fix. Most people would be willing to do almost anything to get more including whoever you have to betray. Not even your family is beyond the possibility of betrayal if it gets you what you need. Of course, the problem with this is that you don't just impact yourself when you're addicted to money and power. Anyone you touch becomes corrupted as well. Especially if you find a way to get them a taste of what it can give you.

Your own family will end up turning on you in order to get it. Including selling you or anything you can give away for the pleasure it might give you for that next fix. They will exploit you and the connection you have to them. Use your emotions against you. Sadly, most people will fall for it. After all, these people are your family. They only want what's best for you. Family is worthy of trust, isn't it?

The Fall of the House of Usher is very much about the way in which family can be corrupted. The Usher family of Roderick, Madelaine, Fredrick, Camille, Napoleon and the others, as played brilliantly by Bruce Greenwood, Mary McDonnell, Henry Thomas, Kate Siegel and Rahul Kohli among the rest of the cast, have managed to acquire a huge amount of money and power. Largely because of a deal that was made a long time ago. Yet this deal never completely left them. It got into their system and as a result they were willing to do pretty much anything to get more. They aren't even above the idea of marketing a terrible drug that destroys people's lives, all to maintain the money and power they've acquired.

Although the corruption began with Roderick and Madelaine, it didn't stop with them. It spread through their entire family. None of them were safe from the influence of money and power. When they realize the truth of what they've done, there's at least some attempt to get out, but it's already in their system.

There's no way to get it out... well, perhaps one.

Do yourself a favour and explore the corruption of family by checking out The Fall of the House of Usher as soon as you can.

The Fall of the House of Usher is available on Netflix.

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