How Do Marx and Engels Tell You Something About Downton Abbey?
The writings by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels are not simply manifested in the servant actors at Downton Abbey. Apart from the initiation of new developments from time to time, Downton Abbey’s servants are mainly sheltered on parkland in the countryside, separate from the daily impacts of the industrial practices on town life, such as increased factory operations. In Downton Abbey, the desire of the youthful characters to depart from service underscores the fact that they do not find their work valuable (Marx & Engels, 2012). Ethel, Thomas, and Gwen do not hold as much respect for their job as Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes who started working earlier at a time that service jobs in the estates were deemed among the most prestigious positions, which were also very competitive.
The youthful servants’ attitudes disclose a major shift occurring in the service sector. Conflicts arising amid different servants show a picture of how the economy, as well as the status of becoming a servant in an upper-class home, had faded over time. Attributable to many servants being entangled in an old-fashioned mentality, their views appear to oppose the necessity of the reforms that Engels and Marx advocate (Marx & Engels, 2012). At Downton Abbey, there are numerous powerful but intricate connections between people both in and across social categories.
What Does Thinking About The Simpsons Through the Lens of “the Popular” Tell You About the Series and Its History?
Through the lens of popular culture, the notion of upholding The Simpsons as a segment of the civilization that lingers in people’s minds all through a nuclear apocalypse appears strange and ironic. This is what transpires in The Simpsons when the electric network in Mr. Burns’ play gets damaged, and people are compelled to live in a world that has no phones, radiators, TV, or electric cookers. People resort to traditional practices of engagement, such as storytelling, although rather than higher writings, they ponder concerning practices of popular culture that each person recalls (Hall, 1981). During its first episodes in 1990, the major objective of The Simpsons was perhaps to polarize the audience.
The maker of the show could have desired to create a cartoon that addresses what he referred to as superior concerns, such as love, sex, or bereavement, which set the series apart from other animation episodes that only tackle light matters. Through the application of satire as a way of storytelling, this cartoon series does not just evoke positive sentiments that draw extreme censure in social media platforms, but also elicit exceedingly high resonance when judged against other TV programs (Hall, 1981). As evident in The Simpsons, resonance helps in differentiating a long-lasting popular culture from temporary trends.
What Struck You About the Lecture, Reading, Media for These Weeks?
What particularly struck me is the realization that The Simpsons is a real popular culture representation. Being a major animated series, The Simpsons has received numerous awards over and above earning its affiliates billions of US dollars. Apart from the monetary gains, it is striking how the cartoon series managed to infiltrate all possible segments of popular culture (Hall, 1981). In addition, apart from its material gains, The Simpsons has risen to a significant status of the US (and international) culture. The catchwords employed by Simpsons characters have been forming a segment of the English vocabularies, and the series has transformed the way people appreciate satire and comedy.
What Concepts Were Useful to You?
The concepts that were useful to me encompass the popular culture and Marx’s theory of alienation. The idea that popular culture reaches out to a broad audience enables it to reflect societal occurrences. In the present times, popular culture has gone through numerous changes attributable to improved technology. Marx’s theory of alienation portrays the social isolation of individuals from facets of their human qualities by means of residing in a community of stratified social groups.
How Can You Explain Them to Others?
Popular culture may be explained as a fundamental component of each person’s daily life, whether directly or indirectly. It might be underscored in numerous approaches since it is a wide subject in which most themes of society and lifestyle thrive; for instance, films, music, and toys, and this makes it influence nearly all segments of civilization. Throughout the years, popular culture has become a vital segment of interconnectedness across the globe in modern times (Hall, 1981). In the explanation, it would be beneficial to state that popular culture reveals variations in morality, principles, and sentiments over time.
The world is in a period typified by diverse, addictive, awesome, and incessant entertainment in the realm of popular culture. This has made popular culture represent a blend of attitudes, thoughts, images, and standpoints that epitomize people’s civilization and are followed by the mainstream population. Some major classes of popular culture encompass entertainment (for example, music, movies, TV shows, and games), politics, news, sports, and fashion. Most of the notions regarding popular culture are propagated through different channels, such as smartphones (Hall, 1981). It is indisputable that popular culture is progressively advancing beyond television series and including the generation of personal relationships among peer groups while making them interrelate with one another.
Alienation from self is an influence of being a member of a social group, a situation that estranges an individual from their civilization. The theoretical foundation of alienation in the capitalist situation is that an employee invariably lacks the capacity to control their destiny and aspects of life (Marx & Engels, 2012). This occurs when they are divested of the right to consider themselves as having the ability to decide their actions, establish possible effects, define their connections with others, possess valuable items, or produce beneficial labor. Despite being independent, workers are diverted to activities and objectives set by the bourgeoisie, the owner of the channel of production, and the utmost value is obtained from them.
What Does Looking at Theory Encourage Us to See in Media and Communication?
Looking at the theory of alienation encourages one to establish that the present stance between employees and owners of the means of production is guaranteed. Similarly, the proletariat’s failure and the accomplishment of the bourgeoisie is evident in media and communication as portrayed in the theory of alienation (Gramsci, 2006). So far, history, media, and communication are yet to underscore the victory of the proletariat despite the existence of hope. This hope convinces the proletariat that existing anticipations will materialize. It also stirs them to remain united and liberate one another from ties of wage-oppression. The realization of a well-thought-out judgment on alienation issues necessitates intricate factual evaluation of the alignment and operations of human nature besides the overriding social classes.
References
Gramsci, A. (2006). History of the subaltern classes; (ii) The concept of “ideology”; (iii) Cultural themes: Ideological material. In M. G. Durham, & D. M. Kellner (Eds.), Media and cultural studies: Keyworks (2nd ed., pp. 34-37). John Wiley & Sons.
Hall, S. (1981). Notes on deconstructing “the popular”. In S. Duncombe (Ed.), Cultural resistance reader (pp. 185-192). Verso Books.
Marx, K., & Engels, F. (2012). 1 The ruling class and the ruling ideas. In M. G. Durham, & D. M. Kellner (Eds.), Media and cultural studies: Keyworks (2nd ed., pp. 31-33). John Wiley & Sons.