Blog Post #4: marxism

Analyzing media in a marxist perspective requires attention to hierarchical structure within characters as well as how characters impact the way in which media conforms or does not conform with societal standards. An important thing to note when analyzing with a socioeconomic mindset is societal evolution with regards to the historical context because social norms are constantly changing, depending on political, economic, environmental (etc) events occurring at the time.

The marxist method of analysis focuses on power levels between characters. Who establishes dominance, and who does not? We can see evidence of this from dialogue between certain characters, actions that infer power or lack thereof, and a character’s status based on their views and opinions, as well as how their ideas influence their intentional or unintentional behaviors.

In terms of characterization, certain types of characters are identified via Grid-Group Analysis. There are four types of characters: the hierarchical elitist, the egalitarian, the individualist, and the fatalist. The hierarchical elitist believes in stratification and the typical traits of dominant responsibility over lower classes. Egalitarians promote the individual differences in people and how those differences affect their behavior. Individualists are interested in their own lives and expect a right to their fair share. Fatalists are ignorant to this kind of political structure and system. All of these types coexist to make up political order.

When analyzing media with a marxist mindset, pay attention to storyline events that show cause and effect based on interactions between characters. How does a character’s social status affect their behavior and, as a result, their actions as it is developed in the story? And most importantly, why is this power structure important? All stories revolve around a hierarchical structure because that is how humans have naturally built the society we live in.

Blog Post #4

To use Marxism to evaluate media, you must first be aware of the essential concepts that Marxism entails. The most essential concept is that everything is shaped by the economic system of society. This system determines who gets to have power and who doesn't. Power, in this case, means that a powerful person's ideas become other people's ideas. So, in short, people with the most power shape how we view the world. Thus, our ideas are not entirely our own. The ideas people have are those the ruling class wants them to have. Even though we do filter through these ideas and are not mindless followers, some ideas are less heard than others so we have less to filter through. This also builds upon the concept that knowledge is social. Obviously, one person can't know everything; so we each know bits and pieces and put our knowledge together to see the bigger picture. Some Marxists such as Enzenberger have a more cynical perspective on media, believing that all media manipulate. Or the Frankfurt School, that believes all media is controlling, therefore it is evil. Henri Lefebvre said that we are living in a "state of terror" because compulsion and the illusion of freedom have converged; so we think we want something out of our own free will, but we are actually being manipulated into wanting it. Another basic Marxist perspective is that our media preferences are shaped by the desire for our beliefs and values to be reinforced and not challenged. We consume media that does not conflict with what we believe in, to prevent cognitive dissonance. We see messages that reinforce the status quo as normal, and messages that challenge the status quo as abnormal or undesirable. Though the "status quo" is constantly shifting and changing as our beliefs and values change. Media that challenge the status quo become accepted later on.

Blog Post #4

          To understand the meaning of the word Marxism think of keywords like  “high school” and “hierarchy”. These words help paint an outline to Marxism. There are different schools of Marxism and Marxist thought is constantly changing with the times. In every social situation there is a hierarchy and when reading through the textbook about Marxism I discovered that it has its own special terms to describe each type of person in any group of social beings. To sum it up, there’s a leader (elitist), the individualist, the equal rights person, and the person that believes in luck and opts out of the political system. Celebrities, for example, are the elitist (the ruling class) of the social food chain. Their ideas are the ruling ideas of their years. They set the status quo, or ideology, and shape the ideas of the general public. That being said, the ruling class, to some degree, controls the media and the media influences the consumer society. The consumer society must be driven to consume by the media because their consumption is what maintains the economic system.

          As an art major I, of course, thought to apply this Marxism concept to the art world. This is what I came up with- artists like Jackson Pollock didn’t necessarily have the most aesthetically stunning artwork but he coined a specific style of art. In his time, this was a bold move that made him famous (which made him an elitist) and it shifted the ideology for art at that time. Change is part of Marxist thought and it is the elitists, like Pollock, who make these changes come about. 

Blog Post #4

Marxism, named after the infamous Karl Marx, is a concept that concerns itself with the notion that material conditions and economic practices shape the dominant ideology about who ought to have power. Taking on a Marxist point-of-view on the media would mean to expose how popular culture texts reinforce the status quo power structures so as to have the masses perceive them as normal and based on common sense. One way in critiquing a piece of media through a Marxist analysis involves the question of "who is in charge". This leads us, under the light of materialism, to the idea of the base (economic system) and the superstructure (institutions and values of a society), in which Marxism both emphasizes and criticizes the two and are both linked to each other through the media. In Marxist terms, ideology is a concept that refers to the collective beliefs, attitudes, and values of a certain people from small groups, tribes, and small communities to an audience or an entire nation. One of the major concepts of Marxism involves placing each person into one of four main ideology groups: hierarchal elitist, competitive individualist, fatalist, and egalitarian. The hierarchal elitist (ex. Zachary Comstock from Bioshock Infinite) is one who believes in stratification and in the responsibility of those of the top to rule over the masses. The competitive individualist maintains interest in one's self and desires the freedom to compete fairly and be protected by the government. The egalitarian (ex. the Amish) detest social differences between people as unnatural stress that people are equal in terms of their needs. The fatalists (ex. Calvinism) believe only in luck and opt out of the political system. With the use of the grip-group theory made by Aaron Wildavsky, one can see that group boundaries in elitists and egalitarians are strong whereas those in individualists and fatalists tend to be weak. The number and kinds of prescriptions in elitists and fatalists are numerous and varied while the number and kinds of prescriptions in individualists and egalitarians tend to be few. Then there is the concept of hegemony, which is the privileging of a dominant group's ideology over all other groups. According to Marxism, it comes in the form of class struggle, which divides society into the empowering, wealthy Bourgeoise and the more populous Proletariat, who are the working class. Due to a wealth gap and differences in terms of status between them, Marxism contends that the Bourgeoise exploits the Proletariat as the "ruling class" and engage in deception in order to manipulate the masses and prevent any conflict to preserve the status quo. It also suggests that an empowered group would use the media to spread false consciousness as a means of leading people into thinking, whatever it is, is right while perceiving challenges against it as abnormal, undesirable, and wrong (ex. Gay Rights, Women's Rights, obesity). People who use a Marxist analysis evaluate the message offered by the media in terms of potential implications it may have on individuals or society, one example being Will and Grace showing gay couples as normal people instead of mere stereotypes, which therefore inspire the Gay Rights movement. Another example is when one sees violence in a movie or TV show, he/she would rarely see the implications after people are killed such as family members mourning. However, much debate over using Marxist criticism to analyze the world exists and it is clear that such an approach would create a dangerous polarization of perception, which would then cause social disunity and discrimination.

Blog Post #4 - Marxism

            Marxism is the idea of power between ideas communities has. An idea that a lot of people have and believe it could be call an ideology. An ideology could be something religious, cultural, or social that people share. One common ideology in America is the marriage between a man and a woman. For the past decade or more, the LGBT society has fought very hard against this ideology. But there have been a lot of resistance against changing the present ideology. This is called hegemony, when one ideology has dominance or power against another one.

            When we analyze media artifacts, TV shows, movies, news, etc, trough a Marxist lens we are looking for these ideologies, and dissecting them.  In other words, we are digging deeper to analyze how every character believes and actions portrays our society believes, also called ideology. TV shows will use ideologies to appeal better to the audience. Whenever you are consuming media artifacts, think about the social dilemmas that were happening when the movie was on production. This will help you understand better the agenda and ideologies pushed in the show.

            Every character in every show portrays a certain role. These roles become very useful when you do a Marxist lens, because it will help you found out the true agenda of the character. If the main character is a strong independent woman who is very successful in life, the show is demonstrating a gender equality ideology. Director’s uses stereotypes to convey better characters ideas and roles, which will make the user, understand the ideology behind the show better.

Blog Post #3 - Media Consumption

This class has taught how to critically think and analyze any piece of media created. The most notable thing I have been noticing is all the semiotics characteristics used in every show I watch. Before this class, I watched a movie and show and understood the drama and climax of the movie. Which I wasn’t realizing was all the hints the director and creator of the shows were putting in camera for me to pick up and be able to make easily assumption about characters and environment personalities.

Last week, I went to see The Visit (2015) in a movie theater. The Visit is a horror movie that follows the story of two siblings who visit their grandparents to revive the long lost relationship. It was an OK movie, with some inconsistencies in the story. One thing I really like was the twist ending of the movie. I do not want to make any spoilers, but I would like to comment that if you really pay attention to details, you will notice that the director put hints all over the movie that point out to the final piece of the story. It was a great use of semiotics to convey a creepy and horror story.

I also watched Narcos (2015). Narcos is a Netflix original drama series that follows the story of famous drug king, Pablo Escobar. It is a wonderful and very well done series, which ends up being very entertaining.  I would like to comment the heavy use of intertextuality on the series, which brings richness to the story. The story evolves around a true story from the last decade. The directors use real old footage and newsprints of Pablo’s life, which bring a piece of truth to the viewer, making the story more believable. I highly recommend this show to anyone who enjoys drama series.

            

Blog Post #4

Marxism is a school of analysis that may be applied to criticizing society, media, or both. Marxism emphasizes and criticizes two main concepts that govern society: the base and the superstructure. Both concepts are viewed in the light of “materialism”, which suggests that everything is shaped by the economic system of a society, from individual thoughts to a culture’s identity. Under this umbrella concept is where the base--the economic system, and the superstructure--the institution and values of a society exist. The two go hand in hand, for one does not solely dictate the other and both work to shape society on different levels. Because of this structure, media serves a vital role in society, for it provides a link between the base and the superculture. One idea central to Marxism is the distinct separation of classes, and the conflicts that arise from the gap that they demonstrate. Two specific classes that can be used to assign citizens are the Bourgeoise and the Proletariat. The Proletariat is made up of what we refer to as the “working class”, or the large mass of workers who are exploited by the “ruling class”.  In contrast, the Bourgeois, or our idea of the “upper class” consists of individuals that own factories and corporations, as well as the larger portion of wealth. Because of this disparity in wealth and status, Marxism contends that the Bourgeois class is the “ruling class” and constantly engages in deceitful tactics in order to manipulate the masses and thus avoid any conflicts that may disrupt the status quo. This idea is expressed in many facets of Marxism, such as the media’s tendency to alienate the Proletariat and result in a “false consciousness” in which their thoughts, while seemingly their own, are made into nothing but a product of commercialism, consumerism, and the desired existing order of the Bourgeoise. However, Marxist criticism is a heavily debated device through which to analyze the world, and can oftentimes result in a dangerous polarization of perception.