Sorry to Bother You and Capitalist Ideology | Comolli and Narboni Part 2

Film & Media Studies
22 Jan 202116:23
EducationalLearning
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TLDRThis video analyzes the film Sorry to Bother You through a leftist lens, examining how it attacks capitalist ideology on multiple fronts. It looks at concepts like meritocracy, capitalism as 'natural', capitalism as rational, individualism, and capitalism providing life purpose/meaning. Concrete examples from the film illustrate these concepts, like the promotion undermining worker solidarity and Steve Lift's 'horse people' defense. The video explores how capitalism erodes selfhood and personhood, literally in Cash's physical transformation. It suggests interesting avenues for further analysis around form, story structure and how the film creatively attacks ideology on symbolic and narrative levels.

Takeaways
  • 😀 The video analyzes the film Sorry to Bother You through the lens of political cinema categories defined by film theorists Cuomo and Narvoni
  • 😮‍💨 The film attacks capitalist ideology on multiple fronts, including meritocracy, the naturalization of capitalism through evolutionary psychology, the valorization of instrumental rationality, hyper-individualism, and the provision of existential purpose through labor
  • 😑 The concept of meritocracy ignores privilege and serves to disrupt worker solidarity by promoting competition
  • 🐎 The film lampoons the use of evolutionary psychology to justify capitalism as the natural economic system akin to human evolution
  • 🤓 Steve Lift's plan to create horse-human hybrids is presented as rational rather than ethical
  • 👤 Cash's individuality and sense of selfhood are erased through his objectification and transformation into a horse-person
  • 🔨 The film links capitalism's tendency to provide existential purpose while also erasing personhood, which is compounded by other forms of oppression like racism
  • 😞 Workplace micromanagement and performance pressure show how labor can subsume personal identity under capitalism
  • 🎥 The film attacks ideology through form and story structure in addition to its political subject matter
  • ⏩ More analysis is needed to apply Cuomo and Narvoni's framework regarding how the film functions formally and narratively
Q & A

  • What is category B of political cinema and how does it relate to Sorry to Bother You?

    -Category B films attack ideological assimilation on two fronts: through direct political action on the level of the signified by dealing with a political subject, and through form/story structure. Sorry to Bother You seems to fit this category by critiquing capitalism on multiple levels.

  • How does the film critique the capitalist ideology of meritocracy?

    -It shows how meritocracy is used to disrupt worker solidarity by promoting Cash and making him feel special and talented, ignoring how privilege and societal factors also enable success. The film also literally depicts the problem with meritocracy through the tree-climbing exam cartoon.

  • How does the film present capitalism as 'natural'?

    -Through the horse-people video that bases the logic of human modification on evolutionary psychology and depicts it as just another step in natural human technological evolution.

  • In what way is Steve Lift's plan to create horse-people presented as 'rational'?

    -The film associates rationality with virtue and common sense to critique how the valorization of reason and logic can justify monstrous outcomes. So it first depicts horse-people as clearly unethical before presenting a 'rational' defense of it.

  • How does the film explore capitalism providing 'purpose' in life?

    -It shows Cash finding existential fulfillment through work success, but also losing his sense of self and humanity in the process, especially as a marginalized black man. So it gives purpose but erases personhood.

  • How does the film structurally critique capitalism?

    -Formally, it progresses from satire to more unrealistic, surreal scenarios to metaphorically depict capitalism's dehumanizing effects. The ending also symbolically turns Cash into an unrecognizable part of a collective.

  • What is the significance of Cash having to use a 'white voice'?

    -This demonstrates how capitalism forces marginalized groups to assimilate to norms of privilege to succeed. It also shows how investing in capitalist work erases Cash's black identity and personhood.

  • How does capitalism impact interpersonal relations in the film?

    -Cash becomes selfish, competitive and uncaring in relationships due to his work success, showing how capitalism can corrupt social bonds and community.

  • What is the role of unions and labor rights in the film?

    -Worker strikes and unionization efforts demonstrate collective action against exploitation. But Cash's promotion disrupts this, showing how capitalism divides solidarity.

  • How does the ending metaphorically encapsulate the film's message?

    -By literally dehumanizing Cash and fusing him with horse-people, it depicts capitalism's utter erosion of personhood and identity in the most vivid, surreal fashion.

Outlines
00:00
😀 Meritocracy and the problems with personal responsibility

This paragraph discusses the concept of meritocracy, which ties success to individual talent and effort while ignoring privilege. The film attacks this capitalist ideology by showing how meritocracy disrupts solidarity and is used against unionizers. A key problem is conflating equality and equity, as privilege is not accounted for with a pure merit system.

05:05
😃 Capitalism presented as inevitable nature through questionable evolutionary arguments

This paragraph analyzes how the film lampoons justifications of capitalism's 'naturalness' through questionable evolutionary psychology arguments. Specifically, it examines the rhetoric around cave people and technology in the WorryFree video, which reduces competition and 'survival of the fittest' as inherent to humans.

10:06
😞 The rationality of capitalism contrasted with its clear injustice

This paragraph looks at how the film undercuts presenting capitalism as inherently rational by first showing the clear exploitation involved in creating horse-people. It ties this to critiques of Enlightenment rationality as not ensuring ethical outcomes, with Steve Lift's defense showing the limitations of using rationality to justify capitalism's excesses.

15:10
😢 Capitalism's paradox of providing meaning while erasing selfhood

The last paragraph focuses on how capitalism attempts to provide meaning and purpose in life as traditional religious frameworks decline in modernity. However, as seen in the film, overinvestment in work to find meaning can erase selfhood, especially when already marginalized. This manifests in Cash's white voice taking over his entire personality against his will.

Mindmap
Keywords
💡meritocracy
Meritocracy is the idea that economic goods and power are distributed based on talent and achievement rather than wealth or class. The film portrays meritocracy as an ideological myth that ignores privilege and serves to disrupt worker solidarity. For example, Cash is promoted to 'Power Caller' based on his talent, right after the unionization attempt, to incentivize him to cross the picket line.
💡capitalism as nature
The film criticizes attempts to justify capitalism as the natural, evolved system by human nature. For example, the WorryFree video uses evolutionary psychology logic to argue that horse-human hybrids are just the next step in technological self-modification that began in prehistoric times.
💡rationality
The film satirizes the view of capitalism as an inherently rational system. When Steve Lift introduces the horse people plan, he feels the need to clarify it is not irrational. Yet the film makes clear the plan is monstrous, critiquing the overreliance on technical rationality.
💡individualism
The film explores how capitalism's emphasis on individualism and self-reliance often comes at the cost of collective solidarity and shared struggle. While Cash is the protagonist, the ending shows his individuality erased, suggesting individualism has limits.
💡purpose
The film shows how capitalism tries to provide existential purpose in work and making money. Cash is originally motivated by wanting purpose and meaning in life. But his investment in work also erases his selfhood, showing how capitalism's 'purpose' can diminish freedom.
💡ideology
The film attacks capitalist ideology - the system of values, beliefs, assumptions that naturalize and legitimize capitalism. The film reveals meritocracy, individualism, rationality as myths that ignore privilege, prevent solidarity, and rationalize injustice.
💡commodification
The film vividly depicts how capitalism turns everything, even people's identities, into commodities for profit and exploitation. For example, Cash is forced to literally sell his blackness to white partygoers who fetishize stereotypical performances of blackness.
💡false consciousness
The film shows how capitalist ideology obscures the underlying realities of exploitation and constructs a 'false consciousness', particularly for Cash. His belief in meritocracy and investment in work prevents him from recognizing his own oppression.
💡solidarity
The film suggests collective solidarity and struggle are required to challenge capitalist exploitation. The unionization attempts show early stirrings of this, while the ending implies more radical rebellion is needed.
💡satire/allegory
As a dark satire and allegory, the film uses outlandish scenarios like human-horse hybrids and selling one's blackness to sharply critique real absurdities and injustices under racial capitalism.
Highlights

The film attacks capitalist ideology through its portrayal of meritocracy, which denies equality by rewarding talent and effort over circumstance.

Meritocracy disrupts solidarity by playing on the wish for personal success, ignoring privilege and circumstance.

The film criticizes justifications of capitalism based on evolutionary psychology and survival of the fittest.

The defense of capitalism as rational is presented as ridiculous when the inhumane creation of "horse people" is first revealed.

The critique links capitalism's valuing of reason and progress to the problems outlined by Adorno and Horkheimer in Dialectic of Enlightenment.

Although protagonist-driven, the film shows the erasure of individuality under capitalism when Cash becomes part of the horse person collective.

Capitalism is shown to supply purpose in Cash's existential quest for meaning through work, while also erasing his personhood.

Cash's exploitation based on his race compounds the harms capitalism does to individuals.

Capitalist ideology is attacked through the literalization of wage slavery at WorryFree and the loss of personal freedom this entails.

At the formal level, the absurdity and exaggeration of the premise underline the ideology critique.

The use of speculative fiction allows an imaginative attack on capitalist assumptions.

The story structure moves from focusing on Cash's individual development to the collective activism needed for change.

The open ending avoids easy resolution, keeping the responsibility on viewers to continue the anti-capitalist struggle.

The film meets Category B criteria through direct political critique and innovative genre blending to target ideology on two fronts.

It goes beyond discussing issues to imaginatively use comedy, exaggeration and speculation to attack capitalist assumptions.

Transcripts

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