Blog #4

Many times when Marxism is brought up in conversation or into a person’s thought, the reference to Karl Marx is made. However, in this system of Marxism which pertains to literature and the media, it’s essentially a perspective revolving around the economy and social status/beliefs. The entire point or better yet goal of Marxism is how media emphasizes existing social/power establishments as a norm to society. To give a better understanding, I’d like to highlight a few essential terms within Marxism such as: ideology, hegemony, and false consciousness. These terms help shape Marxism, and help with the way a viewer/reader establishes their ways of thinking to conform to the system. To begin with ideology deals with beliefs and way of thought and values of a group of people. Next there is the term hegemony which refers to the favoring of a main crowd’s ideology over that of another crowd’s. For example, men tend to be seen as more empowered the women, wealthy override the needy, or those whole look even the slightest amount of different are less empowered than those who are seen as “normal”. It’s basically saying one group beliefs matter more than the other’s. False consciousness, I feel is a major term to highlight, especially with the society we live in today. It makes people believe that “whatever it is, is right”. We see this today because people feel like if we don’t look like the people we see on television, magazines, or wherever within the media then we don’t meet the status quo of “beauty”. Marxism is a perspective that I feel is important due to the media’s portrayal.