Marxism & hegemony: blog tasks

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

The review says Capital is packed with left-wing ideas, like sympathy for immigrants, criticism of the rich, and themes of social justice. It claims the show makes wealthy white men look bad while portraying minorities as struggling heroes.

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?

"Like Jeremy Corbyn’s diary, it was stuffed with PC causes."

"Every possible minority was represented and shown to be suffering saintly hardship."

"All the wealthy white males were heartless or hopeless."

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

Quentina – A hardworking immigrant who faces deportation, showing how tough immigration laws are.

The Kamal family – Hardworking shop owners, promoting multiculturalism.

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

House prices – The focus on property values reinforces capitalist ideas about wealth.

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?

Marx was interested in the impact of capitalism on society. Through observations of industrialised Victorian society he noted a number of things:

• Power was held by a minority (the elite or bourgeoisie) who had access to capital and could use their money and power to generate more wealth

• The majority of the population (the mass or proletariat) had only their Labour (strength and time) to help them make a living

• Industrialization had meant that the elite were the only ones who had access to the means of production

• Without the ability to produce for themselves, the mass were dependent on the elite for survival

• To maximize profits, the elite needed to get as much Labour from the mass for as little cost as possible

• The elite needed

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 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.

The Royle Family- portrays the working class badly by showing them drinking  and doing drugs 

EastEnders,- community, working hard with each other.

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 think that capital does both it reinforces and subverts  challenges and  values of the working class there are 2 points that reinforce which is  that Quintenna  still want to work  despite being legally not allowed to  and Roger  working hard for his bonus both of those things  reinforce capitalisms