Okay, so I’ve been thinking a lot lately about whether Marxism shows up in movies and TV shows. You know, the whole idea of class struggle, workers versus the rich, and all that stuff. I decided to dive into it and see what I could find. I wasn’t looking for anything super specific, just wanted to watch some stuff and see if these themes popped up.
First, I started with some reading. Just some simple web pages. I found out that Marxist themes are in a lot of media. Like, it’s not just in boring documentaries or history stuff, it is in movies and stuff we watch. I came across this thing called “Marxist film theory.” It was not super hard, but it sounds complex, but it’s basically about how movies aren’t just for fun, they also push certain ideas about society, what’s right and what’s wrong. And that idea about movies is a way for the ideas of people to be shown.
Then I watched some movies that people said had Marxist ideas. One of them was “Weekend” by Jean-Luc Godard. Apparently, this director was all about putting Marxist stuff in his movies. I watched it, and yeah, I could see it. There were parts about rich people being selfish, and ordinary folks getting screwed over. It wasn’t just in the story, but also in how the movie looked. Some scenes were filmed in a way that made you feel uneasy, like something was wrong with the world. There was a really long shot of a car crash that seemed to go on forever. And then I watched “The Night of the Living Dead” because someone said it was a Marxist movie, because the zombies represented capitalism. I guess I can see that, but it seemed like a stretch. And I watched some other movies, too. Some were old, some were new. I saw a lot of the same ideas over and over again. Poor people struggling, rich people being greedy, the system being unfair.
- Started by reading about Marxist themes in media.
- Learned about “Marxist film theory” and how movies can push certain ideologies.
- Watched “Weekend” by Jean-Luc Godard and saw how he used Marxist ideas in the story and visuals.
- Also watched “The Night of the Living Dead” and other films to see if they had similar themes.
I also thought about some of the examples people gave for Marxism in real life. Like, how a worker might get paid very little, while the owner of the company makes a ton of money without doing much work. That’s a Marxist idea, right? It seemed like it connected to the movies I watched. I started noticing these things in other shows and movies too. Like in some superhero movies, the villain is often a rich guy trying to take over the world. That seems a bit like Marxism to me. I saw a Disney movie called “Cinderella” and the person who wrote about it said that it had Marxist themes. Something about Cinderella being poor and the stepmother being rich and evil. I could see that, too. I was a bit surprised, but I could see it.
What I Realized
After all this watching and thinking, I realized that Marxist ideas are everywhere in entertainment. It’s not always obvious, but it’s there. Movies and shows often show us stories about people fighting against unfair systems or greedy rich people. It makes you think about who has power and who doesn’t in the real world. It is cool to watch movies and think about the meaning. It felt like I was unlocking secrets or something. I’m not saying every movie is a Marxist movie, but these themes show up a lot more than I thought.
It was a fun little project. It made me look at movies and TV shows in a new way. I feel like I learned something, even though I wasn’t really trying to. It’s like, now I have these special glasses that let me see the hidden messages in things. I might keep doing this, watching stuff and seeing if I can spot the Marxist ideas. It’s kind of addictive, in a way. But it is fun and that is all that matters.
