Marxism & hegemony: blog tasks

 Marxism & hegemony: blog tasks

Task 1: Mail Online review of Capital

1) Re-read the Mail Online review of Capital. Why does it suggest that Capital features a left-wing ideology?

The article highlights how we are placed in a perspective to feel bad for a character who is an immigrant seeking asylum which follows the left wing ideology - "The hardest worker on the street was an illegal immigrant, determined to pay her way and not touch a penny of benefits. She was deported, though she did find time to teach English to some of her fellow saints at the detention centre."  

2) Choose three quotes from the review that are particularly critical of Capital and paste them into your blogpost. Do you agree with the criticisms? Why?

"The hardest worker on the street was an illegal immigrant, determined to pay her way and not touch a penny of benefits. She was deported, though she did find time to teach English to some of her fellow saints at the detention centre."

"The last 20 minutes contained no plot. Whatever story there had ever been was over. We just watched all the characters saying goodbye to each other, including an excruciating round of farewells as Mrs Kamal kissed her sons outside the corner shop, with a banal word for all of them."

"But that concept went nowhere. The residents were bemused, but not scared. The police were clueless, but they still got to the bottom of it. And there wasn’t just a single perpetrator: the crime was handed from one cardboard character to the next. That’s not a whodunnit, it’s a cop-out."

I don't agree with these criticisms as the whole point of Capital is to reflect the real London, a place with many problems that have the clueless people trying to solve, all these criticisms only highlight the main points of Capital.

3) What scenes or characters from Capital could be read as promoting left-wing ideology?

The scene of Roger's bonus being reduced may be read in this way as we are placed in Rogers perspective and sadness of the situation which allows us to view capitalism as wrong and greedy.

4) What about the other side of the argument - are there any aspects of Capital that reinforce right-wing or capitalist viewpoints?

The show revolves around the priority of owning expensive houses suggesting that buying and investing in property is one of the main goals of life.

Task 2: Media Factsheet - Applying Marxism 

Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet #66: Applying Marxism. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level or online here (you'll need your Greenford Google login to access). Read the factsheet and answer the following questions:

1) What does Marxism suggest regarding power in society?

Power is held by a minority of the elite.

2) Why is The Apprentice a good example of the media reinforcing capitalist values and ideologies?

It features contestants competing to be chosen for a job working for entrepreneur Lord Alan Sugar who is shown in this superior light which reflects his capitalist power as being elite.

3) Come up with two examples of media texts (e.g. TV programmes, newspapers etc.) that either fetishise working class life (e.g. EastEnders presents quite a harmonious East End community which probably doesn't accurately reflect East London life) or demonise working class life or poor people (e.g. The Daily Mail and The Sun newspapers regularly demonise people living on benefits with headlines referring to 'scroungers'.) Explain what meanings these texts communicate to their audiences.

One media text that can be interpreted as fetishizing working/lower class life is Bridgerton as we see how maids, who are of lower class, experience positive situations despite their significant difference in class compared to others. This could be communicating to the audience that working/lower class life is humble and enjoyable although in reality it isn't. In contrast, a media text that can be seen as demonizing the working class could be The Daily Mail which focuses on right winged news that presents the lower/working class as a threat to British values.

4) Look at the bullet points on page 4 of the factsheet:

When making a Marxist reading of a text, look out for representations that:

• show the values of the power elite as beneficial to the mass
• show queries or challenges to the base as meaningless, foolish or anti-social via ‘failed revolt’
• show the subdominant position of the masses as a naturalised idea
• show the values of the power elite as ‘natural’ or ‘right’
• show that being a member of the mass is a good thing
• show the masses accepting the values of the power elite
• show the values of the power elite as being ‘for the good of the masses’ (even when unpleasant)

Now try applying those bullet points to Capital. Think about the setting, characters and narrative strands - how many of the bullet points apply to Capital? Does Capital reinforce or challenge the values of capitalism? Give examples from episode 1 to support your points.

I believe that Capital challenges the values of capitalism as we see how Rogers bonus is decreased which reflects the elites power over people who work under them. Furthermore. Capital shows how the people reject the stereotypical values of the elite as we see how families on the street sign the petition to free the son of the Muslim family from jail. Capital challenges many of these points such as the fact it shows how the power of the elite is in fact not good for the masses as we see how the police put in little effort in order to help the street with the problem they face.