Comparative Analysis: Tocqueville, Lang, von Harbou and Gramsci

Intellectuals throughout history seem to happen upon similar concepts through very different viewpoints and ideologies. The viewpoints of Alexis de Tocqueville, Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou, and Antoni Gramsci have many differences and similarities. Evaluating these requires an introduction to each individual and their work.
Alexis de Tocqueville was a French diplomat, political scientist, and historian. He visited the United States in 1831 intent on studying prison systems, but ended up looking far more broadly at the country and its political system. A few years after returning to France he published his famous work, Democracy in America.
In Democracy in America Tocqueville introduces concepts such as individualism, the effects of the law of inheritance, the parental government figure, and tyranny of the majority.

Film director Fritz Lang and screenwriter Thea von Harbou are most famous for their production of Metropolis, featuring a Fordist dystopian society. In

With small formations of workers dressed the same, with the same gait, and walking together emotionlessly, it is clear that Harbou and Lang believed Fordism destroys the individuality of workers. They become completely absorbed with their task, indifferent to the machinations of the world around them. This can most easily be seen at (TIMESTAMP). This closely parallels Gramsci’s belief that the factories produce “trained gorillas”, suggesting they don’t need their very humanity. Tocqueville has a similar idea, where he suggests that in a democracy people become mediocre due to their focus on material wealth (PAGE). The pursuit of the “almighty buck” is believed by Tocqueville to lead people to focus solely on their work, and Ford’s promise of $5 a day menaces exactly this. Individuals don’t just give up their work schedule for this money, they give up alcohol, parties, and anything frowned upon by the Ford social