Marxism & Hegemony

Task 1: Mail Online review of Capital

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

Capital features characters who are working class, struggling for equality and focuses on the mass population in London. 'The hardest worker on the street was an illegal immigrant, determined to pay her way and not touch a penny of benefits. She was deported, though she did find time to teach English to some of her fellow saints at the detention centre. A Muslim man whose only crime was to burn the odd Union Jack (he fell in with the wrong crowd, m’lud) was dragged off to the cells by anti-terror police who were, naturally, bigoted and faceless. The crusading lawyer (a woman, of course) who had him freed was fuming about the Terrorism Act, which she called ‘deplorable’. While the English residents of Pepys Road were grasping (Lesley Sharp) or deceitful (Robert Emms) or just plain awful (Stirling), the Polish builder had a heart of gold and his Hungarian girlfriend was as honest as Mother Teresa.'

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?

'The last 20 minutes contained no plot.'- I disagree with this criticism as I believe the ending of the series was a good ending to the show as we almost said goodbye to the characters such as the Kamal's family mother leaving, Roger and Arabella moving house it almost is like a farewell to these characters and their lifestyles, in addition the ending contained a cliffhanger as someone is sending the postcards again which leaves the audience in a sense of enigma.

'Capital started with an intriguing idea'- I agree with this criticism as it is true I believe Capital did start off with a very good idea of a mystery of who is sending these postcards and why as well as why are they taking pictures, what do the characters lives revolve around, what are their lifestyles like, it was an intriguing idea. 

'The residents were bemused, but not scared.'- I disagree with this criticism as I believe the residents were scared, the fact they would call the Police all the time in order to get any updates as the postcards and photos kept on being sent to them as well as the characters expressions when the matter got worse and they started sending photos along with the postcards I believe they were terrified. 

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

You could say Quentina's character promotes a left-wing ideology as she is a black, female immigrant who works illegally in the UK and is taken advantage of. She's seen as very brave, independent, hardworking and innocent which challenges the right-wing, conservative view of immigration being seen as a bad thing. 

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

Characters like Roger and Arabella promote the right-wing/capitalist views as we see the rich, white privilege such as in the scene when Roger is naming a list of things the couple need to pay for, Arabella says 'Name one of these things which isn't absolutely essential' This just highlights how luxurious lifestyles the upper class leads, and how to the working class those items/lifestyle as luxurious whereas to characters like Roger and Arabella it's seen as day to day life.   

Task 2: Media Factsheet - Applying Marxism 

1) What does Marxism suggest regarding power in society?

Marxism suggested that 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.

Industrialisation 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 maximise profits, the elite needed to get as much labour from the mass for as little cost as possible

The elite needed the mass to accept their position as powerless workers.

2) Why is The Apprentice a good example of the media reinforcing capitalist values and ideologies?

The Apprentice is a prolonged job interview where contestants compete against each other to be chosen for a job working for the entrepreneur Lord Alan Sugar. 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. All of the contestants are dependent on him for their survival in the show (and implicitly, beyond). The contestants are challenged each week to complete tasks that have some relationship to the world of

business.The prize for the winner is a well-paid job and the winner will need to display the qualities that identify him / her as a potentially successful businessperson.

3) Come up with two examples of media texts (e.g. TV programmes, newspapers etc.) that either fetishize 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.

EastEnders- A soap opera set in the East End of London and follows the stories of local residents and their families, EastEnders presents real life struggles of working class families however since it is a soap opera it dramatises and exaggerates certain aspects for entertainment purposes. EastEnders also creates a visual of East London being a friendly, close knit community however that representation is not accurate at all of East London. 

The Daily Mail- The Daily Mail tends to write stories about 'feral youth' and demonises working class life as they see that children from poorer backgrounds are shown to be threats to the middle class. These children are assumed to be products of poor backgrounds but their poverty is rarely considered as a casual factor to their behaviour. The class itself is blamed without identifying that the class is a by-product of the capitalist economic structure. 

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.

Show that being a member of the mass is a good thing:

This could be linked to the Kamal family as even though they are working class we see that the family is much more close together, friendly, they support each other, help one another out by running the shop together as a family business whereas with Roger and Arabella we see how distanced they are from their family, we see a loveless marriage, a nanny having to look after their kids and in general a very materialistic family who seems to only care about that. Therefore sometimes being a member of the mass is a good thing due to the love you give and receive and how close you are as you don't let the money get to your head. 

Show the values of the power elite as 'natural' or 'right':

This can be linked to Roger and Arabella as they are so used to having such luxurious items and rooms in their house that they classify it as essential to now have these things built in their house whereas a working class family would see it only as luxurious items and rooms. In addition when Roger got his bonus he said 'What use is 30 grand' which portrays how privileged and materialistic the power elite is and how they expect more whereas a working class family/individual would be very pleased to receive a 30 grand bonus however the power elite expect more therefore earning more is more 'natural' for them.