TV Capital: Marxism and Hegemony

Marxism & hegemony: blog tasks

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?

The white British characters/ government and authority are presented as bad and the minority characters are presented as victims or survivors of it.

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 crime was handed from one cardboard character to the next."

"A Muslim man whose only crime was to burn the odd Union Jack (he fell in with the wrong crowd, m’lud) was dragged off to the cells by anti-terror police who were, naturally, bigoted and faceless."

"Everything British came in for a dose of loathing."

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

The hard working representation of the asylum seekers and Muslims and Immigrants could be considered as subversive of their right-wing counterparts and therefore more left-wing. However the fact that the representation of the minorities is good wouldn't be enough to upset people. It's because in contrast Capital tried demonizing the traditional white British values, clearly showing a political bias.

4) What about the other side of the argument - are there any aspects of Capital that reinforce the status quo in capitalist London?


The bankers are presented as powerful and have a lot of reward for their jobs.

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\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 belongs to a wealthy minority, who can then create hegemonic narratives for ordinary people to follow and abide by.

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

Because it's about people trying to thrive in a capitalist society, making viewers at home respect the hustle more.

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'.)

-Yorkie bars make working class man super masculine
-Coronation street
-Polish people eating swans in the daily mail


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 shows the rich to be spoiled, with very little moral code. Therefore they subvert this.

-The minority characters do get hurt by the system and not much is done to change it.

-The poor people actively work to better their position

-Shows Roger's values to be superficial and wrong

-Shows that being a member of the mass isn't always easy if you're a minority

-Shows an asylum seeker gracefully working as hard as she can until Britain pulls one on her

-does not show the elite's issues as important 

Task 3: Media Magazine feature on BBC drama The Casual Vacancy and ideology

Finally, go to our Media Magazine archive and read the feature 'The Beeb, The Mail and JKR' in MM53 (page 20). This focuses on the politics of The Casual Vacancy, another BBC three-part drama based on a book by JK Rowling.




Answer the questions below:

1) Why did the Daily Mail suggest The Casual Vacancy promoted a left-wing ideology?

The country people are viewed as bigoted and closed minded.

2) How does the article suggest characters, narrative and setting are used to promote a left-wing ideology?

"ridiculing the wealthier
residents"

She has stereotyped her racist characters very well.

3) What research is quoted regarding BBC bias and what did it find? Do you think the BBC is biased?

Dr Mike Berry of Cardiff university found the BBC, if anything, had more of a right-wing bias.

4) Gramsci's theory of hegemony suggests people are kept under control through active consent - the control of 'common sense'. How could you apply the Daily Mail or the BBC to the idea of hegemony and dominant ideologies in the UK media?

The daily mail presents a dominant fear-mongering view that keeps the lower classes from questioning certain ideals they actively read.