Anti-Capitalist Film

History of Anti-Capitalist Film

Anti-Capitalism is a political ideology that opposes the economic ideology of capitalism. Typically anti-capitalists wish to replace capitalism with another economic system with ones like socialism, communism, or libertarianism.

Early anti-capitalist films such as Battleship Potemkin (1925, Eisenstein) show a rebellion of poor working class sailors against well off tsarist supporting officers. Anti-capitalist films often show the class disparity and divide to set up the ground works for the film. The film’s central theme revolves around strength in numbers and solidarity among the working class. Battleship Potemkin shows revolutionary action against capitalists like that of the Russian Tsars. This film is considered one of the greatest films of all time and consistently on the sight and sound top 100 films.

Battleship Potemkin Theatrical Poster

In 1927 the Fritz Lang film Metropolis was released. This German expressionist film set in a sci-fi dystopia depicts a very large class disparity in which one class controls everything and the other is worked like a machine. After the working class is brutalized and a woman named Maria begins rallying workers, the ruling class creates a robot of her likeness to steer the boiling revolution away. However in the end the working class wins when they rise up and uproot the capitalist class and forge a new future together.

The end of WWII marked a significant moment for anti-capitalist film as American and USSR tensions rose, the fear of communism spread. Anti-capitalist films were now considered taboo. During the 1950’s Mccarthyism made making Anti-capitalist films an impossibility. Should a filmmaker do so they would likely become a part of the Hollywood Blacklist and be barred from the industry.

Hollywood Blacklist

In the late 1940s and early 1950s actors, screenwriters, directors, and musicians were barred from the entertainment industry due to alleged communist party association. During the year of the cold-war any communist sympathy, association, or accusations could get a person barred from the entertainment industry. During this time most people accused were "card holding members" in the Communist Party USA. These allegations and lack of transparency were often referred to as witch-hunts by those prosecuted.

On November 25, 1947 The house of Un-American Activities(HUAC) tried and found 10 people guilty of contempt of congress. They were to serve one year in prison. Many regard their imprisonment as a violation of their first amendment rights.

The Hollywood ten:

Alvah Bessie Novelist, Journalist, and Screenwriter.

Herbert J. Biberman Screenwriter and Director.

Lester Cole Screenwriter.

Edward Dmytryk Director and Editor.

Ring Lardner Jr. Screenwriter.

John Howard Lawson Playwright and Screenwriter.

Albert Maltz Playwright and Screenwriter.

Samuel Ornitz Screenwriter.

Adrian Scott Screenwriter and Producer.

Dalton Trumbo Screenwriter.

Anti-Capitalist Film Theory

The Dramaturgy of Film Form

The Dramaturgy of Film Form written by Sergei Eisenstein uses Marxist theory of dialects. Eisenstein theorizes in his opening statement

“ According to Marx and Engels the system of the dialectic is only the conscious reproduction of the dialectical course (essence) of the external events of the world. (Razumovsky, The Theory of Historical Materialism, Moscow, 1928)

Thus:

the projection of the dialectical system of objects into the brain

-into abstraction creation-

-into thought-

produces dialectical modes of thought- dialectical materialism-

PHILOSOPHY

Similarly:

the projection of the same system of objects- in concrete creation- in form- produces

ART

The basis of this philosophy is the dynamic conception of objects: being as a constant evolution from the interaction between two contradictory opposites. Synthesis that evolves from the opposition between thesis and antithesis. It is equally of basic importance for the correct conception of art and all art forms.

In the realm of art this dialectical principle of the dynamic is embodied in

CONFLICT

as the essential basic principle of the existence of every work of art and every form.

”

The idea is similar to that the origins of one material contains its anti or opposite. That in order for us to make sense of one thing we must understand its relation to the other. If we do not have this understanding then we simply will see images on the screen and not understand the full context. For more information see Soviet montage theory.

The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility

The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility written by Walter Benjamin is essay of cultural criticism based on the idea that mechanical reproduction lowers the value of objects "aura." Benjamin theories that the essence or aura of an object or piece of art comes from the creator who makes it. An example he provides is that cobbler that puts work into a pair of work shoes has therefore given the object an "aura." Benjamin then argues that because of the mechanical reproduction that factories offer we are losing this aura in all objects. He extends this idea further to art and specifically film saying:

“ Film is the first art form whose artistic character is entirely determined by its reproducibility. ”

The Culture Industry

The Culture Industry Co-Authored by Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer is about the idea that as companies monopolize everything becomes the same. The two Jewish men who fled a fascist state, Nazi Germany, likened the Hollywood film industry too that of a fascist state. They likened Pop-culture to that of an industry set to sedate the masses in consumerist bliss unable to stand up and fight despite their economic circumstances. Adorno and Horkheimer perceived that the manufacturing of mass-culture a threat to that of higher art that is thought provoking instead of just surface level.

Films With Anti-Capitalist Themes

Battleship Potemkin (1925) Sergei Eisenstein

Battleship Potemkin(1925) is an early soviet era film based on true events of the 1905 mutiny aboard the Battleship Potemkin. Logline: In the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin mutiny against the brutal, tyrannical regime of the vessel's officers. The resulting street demonstration in Odessa brings on a police massacre.

Metropolis (1927) Fritz Lang

Metropolis is a German Expressionist sci-fi film directed by Fritz Lang and released in 1927. Logline: In a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.

Bugs Life (1998) John Lasseter

A Bug's Life is 1998 animated film directed by John Lasseter. Logline: A misfit ant, looking for "warriors" to save his colony from greedy grasshoppers, recruits a group of bugs that turn out to be an inept circus troupe.

Office Space (1999) Mike Judge

Office Space is a 1999 Comedy/drama film directed by Mike Judge. Logline: Three company workers who hate their jobs decide to rebel against their greedy boss.

Good Bye, Lenin (2003) Wolfgang Becker

Good Bye, Lenin! is a 2003 Comedy/Drama/Romance film directed by Wolfgang Becker Logline: In 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma, a young man must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared.

Sorry To Bother You (2018) Boots Riley

Sorry to Bother you is a 2018 Comedy/Drama film directed by Boots Riley Logline: In an alternate present-day version of Oakland, telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success, propelling him into a universe of greed.

Parasite (2019) Bong Joon-ho

Parasite is 2019 Drama film directed by Bong Joon-ho. Logline: Greed and class discrimination threaten the newly formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan.

See also Pro-Capitalist Film

References

Hollywood 10 (1950, John Berry).

The Dramaturgy of Film Form, Sergei Eisenstein.

The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception From Dialectic of Enlightenment Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/27809424