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 talk about how the show includes immigrant characters and ethnic people and how they are viewed more positively than the white British characters.
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?
-With a fizzle like a firework on a wet night, Capital (BBC1) dribbled to a soggy ending.
-The last 20 minutes contained no plot
-the finish we were left staring at the proverbial damp squib.
3) What scenes or characters from Capital could be read as promoting left-wing ideology?
You could argue that Petunia could be a form of left wing ideology as she appears to be more progressive than there husband used to be as she mentions that "Albert didn't quite like change" and when she accidentally says that Ahmed was an Indian she immediately apologises to him. You can also see that Quentina can be portrayed as a hard working individual despite not being to be legally allowed to work.
4) What about the other side of the argument - are there any aspects of Capital that reinforce right-wing or capitalist viewpoints?
Another argument you can mention is that Roger could appear to be more right winged as when he forgets his parking permit she just dismisses Quentina. Another moment you could possibly mention is when the police came over asking about the letters, he immediately put Quentina under the suspicion of the police.
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?
He suggest that power was held by only a minority of people who had access to money and could use that money in place of power. He also mentioned how the majority of the population had only work and time in order to make a living making them more inferior to the one with more money.
2) Why is The Apprentice a good example of the media reinforcing capitalist values and ideologies?
3) What scenes or characters from Capital could be read as promoting left-wing ideology?
You could argue that Petunia could be a form of left wing ideology as she appears to be more progressive than there husband used to be as she mentions that "Albert didn't quite like change" and when she accidentally says that Ahmed was an Indian she immediately apologises to him. You can also see that Quentina can be portrayed as a hard working individual despite not being to be legally allowed to work.
4) What about the other side of the argument - are there any aspects of Capital that reinforce right-wing or capitalist viewpoints?
Another argument you can mention is that Roger could appear to be more right winged as when he forgets his parking permit she just dismisses Quentina. Another moment you could possibly mention is when the police came over asking about the letters, he immediately put Quentina under the suspicion of the police.
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?
He suggest that power was held by only a minority of people who had access to money and could use that money in place of power. He also mentioned how the majority of the population had only work and time in order to make a living making them more inferior to the one with more money.
2) Why is The Apprentice a good example of the media reinforcing capitalist values and ideologies?
The idea of 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" This shows that Alan appears to be the one in power as people are competing against each other just to work for him, you can further see this as he is described as the "capitalist elite".
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.
For example we can see that Eastenders shows how the "notion of the underclass" is fetishised as they mainly focus on the character who appear to be in the working class and lower classes and how they turn all of their struggles and problems into a show in which people enjoy watching, however not all of the shows aspects of London may be as accurate which also makes it seem worse in certain cases.
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.
For example we can see that Eastenders shows how the "notion of the underclass" is fetishised as they mainly focus on the character who appear to be in the working class and lower classes and how they turn all of their struggles and problems into a show in which people enjoy watching, however not all of the shows aspects of London may be as accurate which also makes it seem worse in certain cases.
On the daily mail we can see that they say that "£500 a week household benefits cap is immoral and demonizes the jobless claims former minister". We can see here from this post that they do not seem to like it when people are on benefits, it makes them seem as if they are saying that people who require them do not deserve it.
Source link: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2234676/500-week-household-benefits-cap-immoral-demonises-jobless-claims-minister.html
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 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
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.
- We can see Roger with his money and job and how his house is big and how he mentions all of his other luxuries.
- We can see that Roger's bonus is £30K instead of his other higher valued bonus
- We can see this when Quentina goes to the church and makes a new friend in which they met in a very welcoming community.
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