Applying Marxism

Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet #66: Applying Marxism

1) What does Marxism suggest regarding power in society?

Marx was interested in the impact of capitalism on society. Through observations of industrialised Victorian society he noted a number of things:

• 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 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.

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'.)

-Capital- favours working class people and their values and demonises middle class values

-Dynasty- favours middle class values and disregards working class

-Fox News- demonises the working class and promotes conservative/republican views

5) 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 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.

I think that Capital does reinforce some of the representations suggested by Marxism. One of the concepts reinforced by Capital, is the idea that "challenges to the base are eaningless, foolish or anti-social." I feel that this idea is shown through the story of Quintina. In her story, Quintina is the immigrant character, who is illegally working and staying in London. Her actions of working as a traffic warden and cashing her cheques, show her as challenging typical conventions and constructs. However, by making a Marxist reading, it is clear to see that her deportation back to her home country, represents a "failed revolt" - which suggests that attempting to go against the base is foolish and futile. This idea is also reflected through the initial concept of the mysterious postcards that are posted through the letterbox of each fresident. This attempt to challenge the elite, proves to be "meaningless" and "foolish", as the person behind the postcards is eventually caught and arrested.