In this essay I intend to carry out a study on the
significance of Marxist theory within the film industry. Firstly, the definition
and interpretation of Marxism needs to be outlined to further better understand
“Because every film is part of the economic system it is also a part of the
ideological system, for ‘cinema’ and ‘art’ are branches of ideology.”(JEAN-LUC).
Pre-occupied with the concept of
cultural materialism, a social class is defined, by the relations of the means
of production to the members within. Under a capitalist society the working
class own their capacity to work, by the ability they have to sell their own
labour.
Marxist theory emerged during the 19th Century.
First started by the works of a philosopher named Karl Marx. Marxism is defined
solely as a theory that highlights the struggle within the social/ financial
class system and how it shapes the western society. Marxism is a social system
which has a dominant feature, of the public ownership based on the means of
production, exchange and distribution. The working class also known as the
Proletariat, have only a capacity to work by which they can only sell their own
labour. This can further be backed by the stated by Worsley (Worsley, 1982, p.
63) “leaving aside these ‘extra – economic’ differences, the ‘sectional’ bonds
that divide the working class – levels of skill, difference of industry, degree
of monopolistic ‘job – control’ , I.e. via the ‘closed shop’”. This expands on
the notion that a person’s class is defined by their ability to work within a
particular field of work, if they cannot work within this particular field then
they would find it hard to work elsewhere based on the higher class controlling
which jobs people can or cannot do. Marx also defined that the class of a
person is solely based on the relations of the people in a family and by the
ability that family has in means of production.
Most of Marxism today has a particular concern surrounding
the internal economics based within the socialist government, and also around
how the proletariat taken advantage of by the upper classes to satisfy their
own gain. Religion is another cause for concern under with Marxism. As mentioned by Raymond William (William,
R. 1995, p.64) wrote that “Religion is the sign of the oppressed creature, the
feeling of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless circumstances.” Based on
this, you can see religion as a form of reaction to human suffering within a
unfair society.
Since the time Karl Marx brought about the Marxist theory, it
has also spread into films that are shown globally for the mass audience. Going
back to some of the earliest Marxist filmmaker’s, people such as Sergei
Eisenstein, would use the form of film media to criticise the ideology and the
traditional structure of Hollywood. As the world progresses in the technology
used within society the different ways in which industries such as Hollywood
can adapt and use the working class to work changes as stated by Christine “As
technology and skills progress, society adapts to cater for such advances. This
leads to a complete restructuring of the economic class relations because the
‘Forces of production’ determine the relations of production” (Christine, E. 2011,
p.85). Filmakers like Sergei would argue that Hollywood films ideologies are
used to promote the idea of the middle class also known as bourgeois based in
America, Filmakers like Sergei intentionally purposely separated themselves from
the Hollywood narrative structure, so they could show to the mass audience how
they saw the film industry and the political indoctrination spread globally.
The means in which society produces its ‘existence’ is
ultimately determined by the shape of the society by political, cultural and
social forms. It is also by this that future
development is also affected. It is this based relationship that brings out the
notion of a ‘base’ and ‘superstructure’, the base is made up of the people who
sell their work through labour whereas the superstructure is defined by the political,
education, legal areas“. In order to apply the idea of the ‘base and the
superstructure’ to the field of film, all cultural artefacts must be examined
in relation to their historical mode of production. Marx and Engels believed
that the dominant thinking of any specific time would display the ideas of the
ruling class. It is those in positions of power who attempt to make the workers
conform to their ideas.” (John, S. 1997, p.60)
The film I am using to discuss about the significance of
using the Marxist theory is going to be Children of Men (2006) directed by
Alfonso Cuaron. The film itself has a vast symbolist story, it portrays a world
in which the female population has become infertile and only the United Kingdom
remains as a society while the rest have descended into anarchy. Due to the
chaos around the globe, there has been an influx of immigration to the point
where it has become unsustainable, causing the British government to pursue
extreme methods to holt the immigration influx, even if they are arriving
illegally or by legal means. The film
brings about the concern of an oppression and abuse of the masses from a
centralised government fixated on the power to control. It takes a cultured examination
of society, showing that societies everywhere are made up from a variety of
different cultures. This is aiming to present that parts of society accumulate
unbalanced amount of representation within the media and in the process shaping and defining consensus to obscure the roots
of genuine conflict.
The world in which is presented by Children of Men (2006),
the middle class mass have accumulated more power in Britain since the 19th
century, the unprecedented powers the bourgeois have gained allow them to
invade the privacy of the proletariat. The immigrants that have swarmed to
Britain are rounded up and crammed into cages to be transported to ‘Bexhill’ –
which is a prison camp to hold the immigrants, because of the fall with women
fertility due to the fall the government forces women to have a fertility test
which is deemed illegal to avoid, and the basic of human rights such as privacy
and transports are restricted by the government so they can hunt illegal
immigrants. A notion stated by Paul “The ability of individuals to think and
act freely, imaginatively and creatively – to be human, as the Frankfurt
theorist saw it – was being crushed by a relentless all – encompassing
capitalist machine” (Hodkinson, P. 2011, p. 108) it emphasises the concept of a
capitalist state forcing the working class to bend to their will. The film’s
opening scene presents the main character bearing witness to a supposed
terrorist bombing by a fringe group
called 'The Fishes'. As the film progresses it is later known that the
terrorist attacks are actually caused by the government to cause fear to spread
among the populace about a group representing themselves as a section of the working
class living up to a different ideology.
Children of Men (2006) also hold a large amount of religious
imagery and language. Theo Faron (the main character) has been dragged into a
plot to safe guard and transport an unborn child, the significance of this
unborn child would cause hope to come back to the masses who for years had
lived in depression in the notion that there would be no new-borns, he would
have to take the unborn to a safe haven only known as the ‘The Human Project’
but it is unknown at the time if such a place actually exists or not. The name
Theo does have a religious meaning being ‘God’s gift’. Also the very scene in
which Theo finds out that the Kee (the pregnant woman) is carrying a child, is
when they are on a farm and she is standing in the barn surrounded by the
animals. It is also during this scene when one of the corrupt group members,
also becomes aware of Kee being pregnant and repeatedly shouting ‘Jesus
Christ’. It is up to this point that
there has been no presence of religion this can be viewed as a alienation based
on religion “Religious alienation as such occurs only in the sphere of
consciousness, in the inner life of man” (2002, p.136) While not as obvious it
is also seen during several scenes where there are characters shown washing
their feet, while to most that would seem ordinary but it is also is seen as a
religious exercise within certain aspects of Christianity and Islam. It is due
to these noticeable and subtle parts that are shown to the audience that
present an extra dimension of
importance on the existence of this unborn child.
The film is immersed with the concept of class struggle,
which is the main aspect within the Marxist theory. The fishes Don’t want to make the pregnancy
known to the public as they believe that the government would refuse to admit
that after 18 years the first baby to be born is to an illegal immigrant, it is
believed that the government would prefer to present to the public that the
immigrant’s child is to instead a ‘rich black lady’. Although as the film progresses it is shown
that the character Julian’s death is actually caused by the Fishes, this was
done so they could use the baby to become a political pawn for the uprising. Marxist
theory analyses a society in the progression it makes towards Communism. By
this stage of the film the Fishes are now aware of their loss, of their
alienation.
While there is class struggle present in the film it stems
towards democracy, there can be a comparison made between this struggle and
hypothetical one towards Communism. It is only when specific parts of society’s
situation gets to the stage where people become desperate and then attempt to
start a revolution. During the closing scenes it is shown that fighter jets fly
overhead giving to the impression that the current revolution will fall as the
jets bomb the camp. Despite this, Theo and Kee are shown escaping this brings
out the signification that there is still hope. There is shown a boat, which
will take Theo and Kee to the proclaimed ‘Human Project’ location, the boat
itself is called ‘The Tomorrow’ with these two combined it presents the
audience with a sense of hope, as it shows the potential end towards the
anarchy swarming the world this in turn could lead towards an end to class
struggle for a time, but it could also in turn form a different form of class
struggle.
In conclusion, the analysis of Marxism
within the film industry, can be used to provide relevant and practical to
perform a deeper form of understanding within the text. The film Children of
Men (2006) is immersed with political agendas such as class struggle and a
central focus with the mass media, this film is ideal to be used to analysis
and criticised, but this theory would not be able to be used on the vast
majority of films presented to the world either from Hollywood or by an
amateur. Within the film industry it
would be better to apply a semiotic analysis and criticism as it can be applied
to any type of story of mode of storytelling in a film.
Bibliography
BUFORD, T. O., & OLIVER,
H. H. (2002). Personalism
revisited: its proponents and critics.
Amsterdam, Rodopi.
Christine, E & Ruth, D (2011)
Understanding film theory, Palgrave Macmillan
Cuaron, A. (2006) Children of Men Directed by Alfonso Cuaron
UK: Universal.
Hodkinson, P (2011) Media, Culture and society an
introduction. Sage Publications Ltd
JEAN-LUC COMOLLI AND JEAN NARBONI,
"CINEMA/IDEOLOGY/CRITICISM" from: Braudy/Cohen 1999 http://faculty.washington.edu/cbehler/teaching/coursenotes/camideolcrit.html
(accessed: 2/05/14)
Storey, J (2012). Cultural Theory And Popular Culture. 6th
ed. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
Wayne, M (2003) Marxism and media
studies key concepts and contemporary trends. Pluto Press
William, R (1995) Religion: A Humanist
Interpretation. Routledge
No comments:
Post a Comment