TV: Applying Marxism

Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet #66: Applying Marxism. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets - you'll need to save the factsheet to USB or email it to yourself in order to complete this at home. Read the factsheet and answer the following questions:

1) What does Marxism suggest regarding power in society?

"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".

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

The apprentice is a good example because the purpose of the TV is too invest large amounts of money into people Alan Sugar decides are able to start up and run a successful business. 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. In addition, the ‘rightness’ of capitalism and a desire to work within businesses where profit is the only motivation is implicit throughout the programme.

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

1. Programmes such as Eastenders fetishise working class life because the characters within the show are of which nearly everyone can relate to, whether its only one or more than one. For example, there are representations of family, friends, lovers and enemies; however, representations are of working class people who have normal jobs such as a shop keeper or an office job, and live is a small neighbourhood where they all pretty much know each other. However, Eastenders fetishises the working class because they like to present the the character to have problems just as everyone else, but at the end of the day, there is always a solution and a harmonious ending to each episode.
2. On the other hand, programmes such as Empire demonise working class life or poor people; this is because the main character Lucious and is wife Cookie have built a multi-million record label, Empire, although the first investment of £40,000 was drug money. Within the programme, they do no associate themselves with the working or lower class; they are made out to be less worthy of their attention and are portrayed very negatively. For example, Tiana who is a lead singer, got robbed outside of the recording studio and they people who were shown to rob her were lower class. Lucious and Cookie brought themselves up from the hood and built their Empire, and you would expect them to show their struggles and put a positive spin on it as to how they turned their life around through hard work. However, all of the flashbacks to their childhood and early years of their relationship, they are presented very negatively.
3. Another example that fetishises the working class life and demonises it at the same time is the TV series Riverdale; this is because the there are three main families within the series, the Cooper family, the Andrews family and the Lodge family. The Cooper's and the Andrews' are presented as the more working class families, with an average lifestyle and a decent house; Mr and Mrs Cooper own a news article and Mr Andrews works in the construction business. On the other hand, Mr and Mrs Lodge are multi-billionaires and Mr Lodge is one of the richest men in the world. He's an industrialist and the CEO of his multi-billion dollar company, Lodge Industries. Hiram is also the richest man in Riverdale. Throughout the series, there are clear representations of all three families and their different lifestyles.

5) Look at the bullet points on page 4 of the factsheet:

Apply 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. 

When making a Marxist reading of a text, look out for representations that:

1. Show the values of the power elite as beneficial to the mass - The banker getting his bonus and them governing the market makes their house prices go up and keeps people employed. The hard-working culture in the show is shown as beneficial to the majority in the show
2. Show queries or challenges to the base as meaningless, foolish or anti-social via ‘failed revolt’ - The banksy painters assistant puts the last of the postcards through the door, was arrested for the harassment caused. 
3. Show the subdominant position of the masses as a naturalised idea - The banker having some power or influence in the market is non-existent. His assistant putting the money in the stocks trying to help the mass and the banks fails as the stocks go down.
4. Show the values of the power elite as ‘natural’ or ‘right’ - The banker leaves his bonus with his bosses who control a lot of things, they are the elite. This is natural to him as he has always done this.
5. Show that being a member of the mass is a good thing - As the people leave the power to the banks their house prices go up so they are better off.
6. Show the masses accepting the values of the power elite - Everywhere the banker commutes there is no trouble, no ones causing problems on the train as they are all going to work. They are following the rules to maintain order which is what the elite want to maintain control of the masses.
7. Show the values of the power elite as being ‘for the good of the masses’ (even when unpleasant) - Quentina has to wait for her letter to see if shes being deported or not, the austerity cuts and the pressure the councils are under may overlook her case. The cuts are put in place so dept could be payed off.