Sunday, February 4, 2007

The Dream Machine

My friends and I love to watch movies. Part of our political work together is critiquing the content of mainstream Hollywood films---yes, your Jaws, your Beverly Hills Cops parts one through three, and your Titanics. You see, many leftists watch films and profess a love and respect for the art form, but usually these folks are talking about "sophisticated" cinema, like arthouse features and political/historical documentaries. Going unspoken in this dialogue is a false division between high art and "low-brow" mainstream culture.

But here's the thing---all culture is political, because all culture is produced by human beings in human societies. Any culture that is produced by any person in a society will reflect the given political reality and consciousness of that person's time. In our time, our political reality is white supremacist capitalist societies, the so-called "First World" of Canada, the United States, and other Western countries. As a result, our entire cultural expressions reflect this reality, especially the mainstream entertainment industry. As the phrase demonstrates, this is an industry, a huge arsenal in Western capitalism-imperialism. High art, low art, and the false division between the two are deeply entrenched within the political reality of Western imperialism.

And let's be honest here---most people watch mainstream movies and TV shows. In fact, most folks' perspective of the world around them are heavily shaped by mainstream culture, those relentless data streams that are pumping daily out of plasma screens, speakers, and LCD monitors from coast to coast. Through movies, television, sports, and music, young people learn what is family, what is normalcy, what is sex, and what is love. These programs shape our desires and our dreams---hell, they don't call Hollywood the "dream factory" for nothing. Mainstream media doesn't merely reflect the popular consciousness; it molds it into being. That's the power of ideology for you.

9 comments:

AradhanaD said...

Thanks my friend for doing this!! it rocks!

As posted in the intro on LLL:

Many times we ask ourselves what's the difference between a crap movie and a 'good' one. I guess the answer to that would be that 'crap' movies (usually referred to as 'mainstream') offer you 'entertainment', i.e. a time to relax and have your own preconceptions of the world proven - central to such a movie is the reliance on plot/character/graphics. However, what a GOOD movie will do - is ALTER/CHALLENGE those very preconceptions. Unlike the peripherals of plot/character/graphics - the central element of a GOOD movie is a "challenging IDEA".

spotted elephant said...

I'm really excited about this blog. Thanks to both of you for doing this!

AradhanaD said...

Spotted ele - make sure you contribute whenever you feel like it!! I am happy to send 'temporary contributor links' so you can post the review yourself if you like. Also if you have suggestions for media literacy tools - please feel free to send them my way.

I am excited too, I have two reviews sitting in draft form at LLL... :(

Anonymous said...

Hey Yolanda and Aradhana,
Count me in. I 'm not sure to what extent I can be prolific but will try my best to contribute. And thanks, my friends, for doing this.

You two are awesome.

--Zooey

La Otra said...

Look for my first official review in the next couple of days, folks. And Aradhana---thanks for cross-posting the "Coal Black" review! I was planning on doing that too!

Anonymous said...

Hey Yolanda and Aradhana,
Are you two also interested in reviews of TV shows too?

AradhanaD said...

Sure zooey!!! why not?

Send it this way!

La Otra said...

I would like the Movie Review Query Engine to be added to the movie review database list.

AradhanaD said...

That's an amazing tool Yolanda - thanks! I think there are limited 'admin' options in this free blogger. Let me know if you know how to alter that!