Marxism & hegemony

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?
Capital features a left-wing ideology as it shows the different characters from different cultural backgrounds as positive, and as the audience we are made to feel sympathy for them, instead of hating them. Capital included issues that happen in real life, such as immigration.

2) Choose three quotes from the review that are particularly critical of Capital and paste them into your blog post. 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."-- This only further demonstrates how immigrants are viewed as the most ambitious people, driven to work hard and be paid regardless of whether they do so illegally in order to support their family.
• "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."-- 
• "The cards simply said, ‘We want what you have’. 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."-- 

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

Petunia is accepting of the Kamal family, accepting immigration. The character of Quentina makes the audience feel sympathetic for her as she's an immigrant working hard for her family.

4) What about the other side of the argument - are there any aspects of Capital that reinforce right-wing or capitalist viewpoints?
The characters of Rodger and Arabella, his spouse. This is because it portrays white people as being wealthy and well-off. For example, Rodger, a middle-aged white man, works in an office by himself with no other people of race present. This suggests that white people rise to the top, hold high positions, and receive large salary checks, while people of colour, like Quentina and the Kamal family, struggle to make ends meet.

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?

His ideas deal with social and economic power relationships and have been influential in economics, politics and sociology and can be very useful for media students.

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

The fact that Sugar has all the power reinforces the ‘superior’ position of the capitalist elite. He has power as he has used the system to create wealth and he is shown using this power to provide a livelihood for the winner of the competition.

3) Come up with two examples of media texts (e.g. TV programmes, newspapers etc.) that either fetishize 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.

• Penthouse-- 
• Pretty Little Liars-- 

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.

• show the values of the power elite as beneficial to the mass - The power of the white people in power working in big jobs such as banking (Rodger and Lother) and them losing control of what was going on around them
• show that being a member of the mass is a good thing - Good example of this will be of the Kamal family even though they are on a street and receiving the postcards they still stay together and stay strong and work through the problem.