Blog Post #4

Marxism is described as exposing how popular culture texts reinforce status quo and other power structures as normal and common sense.  Marxism has many different aspects including materialism, false consciousness, ideology, class conflict, alienation, and the consumer society.  In media Marxism focuses on the social structures, popular beliefs, and how people become sectioned into groups based on their beliefs and actions. The ruling class uses popular culture and mass media to force its ideologies onto the viewers.  To critique media through a marxist lens one must be aware of these factors.  An example comes from the hit television show Modern Family, where a family is followed through its good and bad times.  The family consists of multiple stereotypes and pushes the boundaries of what is normal to society.  The gay couple Mitchell and Cam depict two people in love and married trying to start a family.  The traditional husband and wife Claire and Phil have three children and deal with daily chaos as they try to keep their family in check.  And the father Jay who is an older man and his wife Gloria who is a younger woman.  All of these types of families display how the ideology of modern society has changed over time and come to accept them as the new "normal".  As opposed to shows from the 70's or 80's such as the television show All in the Family where the father is seen as racist and has very old traditional values. We use marxism to analyze media and popular culture to identify what the common norm is in society.