Marxism and the Movies: Critical Essays on Class Struggle in the Cinema

While it is certainly the case that the work of Karl Marx has a revered place in the realm of social philosophy, political science, and literary criticism, there is a place in which Marxism seems to have been forgotten. This place is the study of popular culture, where Marxism provides a lens through which many seemingly disparate films are brought together through philosophical exploration of theme, social and political hierarchies, and questions of power.

Essentially, this text seeks to bring to popular culture studies the same sort of scholarly weight that attends the work of Aristotle or Plato or Derrida and, at the same time, to present that scholarship in a readable style that allows both laypeople and scholars to read and enjoy. Often popular culture studies is not taken seriously because the work in discussion is seen as an example of some other great work - for example, one might see a philosopher use an episode of The Simpsons to explain a concept related to Kant’s Categorical Imperative. Notice, it is Kant that is under discussion there, not really The Simpsons. This robs the popular work of its own voice. Thus, this text seeks to engage Marxist critical theory from a variety of scholarly angles emphasising the interplay of visual text and critical interpretation. The premium is placed in two areas - critical analysis and readability.