TV: Capital - Marxism and 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?

They portrayed the police and bigoted and useless when it came to figuring out who the perpetrator was. And how they presented l immigrant as the hardest working character on the street whist being an illegal immigrant

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 residents were bemused not scared.' - I agree that the plot was not front and centre in the series and that there was no real urgency to find out who the perpetrator was
• 'Everything british came in for a dose of self loathing' -  I agree that Roger and Arabella were hateful but Petunia was  someone an audience could like and be sympathetic to
• 'Thats not a whodunit, that's a cop out' - the mystery plot did not leave as much of a mark as it should've. They could have really pushed this part of the story

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

Quintina working overtime and teaching the 'saints' in the detention centre English

The polish builder and his Hungarian girlfriend 'as honest as mother Teresa'

4) What about the other side of the argument - are there any aspects of Capital that reinforce right-wing or capitalist viewpoints?
When Roger only gets 20 grand as a bonus and says 'this isn't how it works.' This reflects white privileged and that his receiving that low of a bonus is not how the it should be 

Task 2: Media Factsheet - 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 or online here (you'll need your Greenford Google login to access). 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 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 two 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'.) Explain what meanings these texts communicate to their audiences.

Shameless -  fetishises working class life and continuously presents the working class as a close knit community and utopia

Downton Abbey- fetishes working class and presents the workers to have a close relationship with the lords and lady's they serve

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.

Capital does not show the values of the power elite to benefit the mass and instead does the opposite. I don't think capital reflects capitals ideals and actually holds the banks accountable and places them as villains instead of getting the audience to understand their 'point of view.