The Shining, by Stanley Kubrick

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Recommended: Marx theory of superstructure

1. Background: From Ideology to Problematic/Systematic Readings

Louis Althusser) was a French Marxist philosopher who “revolutionized Marxist theory” with his own ideology theories and their influence upon politics and culture (Ferretter, 2006, p.i). Karl Marx distinguished the hierarchy found in society: the infrastructure or economic base, which consists of “a combination of the ‘forces of production’ and the ‘relations of the production’”(Storey, 2009, p. 60), and the superstructure that contains two levels in itself- political and legal institutions (law, the police, the government) and ideology (religious, moral, legal, political, ect.) (Blunden, n.d.). The relationship between these levels in society can be viewed from two ends of a spectrum: a side where the superstructure both justifies and challenges the base, or a side where the base determines the limits of the content and form of the superstructure, as it is the forces of production. (Harman, 1986, pp. 3--44) Althusser rejected the economic base and the superstructure’s passive relation (Storey, 2009, p. 72).

Althusser aimed to explore to what extent ideology was more “pervasive” and “material” than formerly recognized (Althusser, 1972, p.96). Althusser created three definitions to ideology, the first states "Ideology represents the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence"(Althusser, 1972, p.121-176). This theory included both the base and the superstructure -which differs from Marxist theories- oppressed groups are made believe, by ideologies, that the world is doing fine, while the higher groups are fooled towards believing oppression and exploitation are simply universal necessity. Althusser’s Marxism is a ‘scientific’ discl...

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...itle/tt0081505/plotsummary [Accessed 25 Apr. 2014].

Website

Kubrickfilms.tripod.com, (2014). PART 11: Imperfect Symmetry. [online] Available at: http://kubrickfilms.tripod.com/id4.html [Accessed 24 Apr. 2014].

Website

Legendsofamerica.com, (2013). Battles and massacres of the Indian Wars in the American West - Page 2. [online] Available at: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-indianwarbattles-2.html [Accessed 23 Apr. 2014].

Book

LoBrutto, V., 1997. Stanley Kubrick. 1st ed. New York: D.I. Fine Books.

Book

Luckhurst, R. and King, S., 2013. The shining. 1st ed.

Book

Storey, J. 2009. Cultural theory and popular culture. Harlow, England: Pearson Longman.

Website (For Images) (Note: All uncited images are screenshots taken from the Film)

Tias.com, (2014). [online] Available at: http://www.tias.com/stores/silsnw/pictures/adtin81a.jpg [Accessed 25 Apr. 2014].

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