Re: [Marxism] Political documentaries

[<g.maclennan@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Lou,

Thanks for this link.  My students will be reading it next
semester in my doco course.

What is going on I think is firstly and most obviously a
process of the development of a truly oppositional culture
that demands product - that includes among other things
heroes like Moore and Chomsky, and films that act as the
antidote to the "news" produced by media giants and
corporations.

I also really believe the earth is moving under those who
have been screwing us for so long now. But not in any way
that will celebrate their power over us.

In this context I thought the Reagan funeral was quite
interesting.  It would seemingly show that the ruling class
still have a firm grip on the imaginary of the folk of
America. It was of course appalling to see thousands line up
to say good bye to that evil SOB, but I think that what was
at work was a kind of mindless & unfocussed nostalgia for
other and seemingly better times.  I say unfocussed because
few surely who lined up to see the coffin, would have known
anything about the man or what he really stood for.  Reagan I
think had become the hero of the myth of a successful America
bringing down the Evil Empire of the Soviet Union.

By contrast today's incumbent cannot even manage the Iraq
side show. Instead of staging another triumphant dispaly of ?
American power, he has pitchforked the nation back into the
nightmare of the Vietnam Syndrome. Curiously it was sort of
like the 'giant's robe upon a dwarfish thief" scenario to see
Bush at the funeral desperately hoping for an after glow.

But amidst all the horrible imagery and the sight of the
likes of Gorbachev stroking Reagan's coffin, and the sound of
Thatcher's voice again, is the comfort that out there in the
real world the power of the bourgeoisie to construct reality
in their own image is becoming ever more limited.  They can
stage manage their carnivals of the powerful, but that only
creates a backlash, which provides yet more markets for the
voices (and films) of those who oppose them.

regards

Gary

_______________________________________________
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism