Holy Smokes, Kids! It’s Marxism in the Media!! Media Theory and Criticism “To my distress and perhaps to my delight, I order things in accordance with my passions. I put in my pictures everything I like. So much worse for the things—they have to get along with one another.”--Pablo Picasso (Berman 1)The above quote raises some interesting questions one must consider about the mass media. What decides which messages the media portrays to the consumer? What must a medium contain that makes us want to watch it? Maybe the artists just make what interests them. Or perhaps the messages are simply used for entertainment and are based on what sells or what is popular. This is true to an extent but this is merely a scratch in the surface of these burning questions. There are many theories that seek to explain the purpose of the mass media, but this paper will discuss Marxist media theory. This paper will get past the surface and discuss the goals and purpose of the media in Marx’s opinion.In its truest form, Marxism is a humanistic group of thoughts and ideas that states that everyone should have equally productive lives. It strives to dismantle the class struggle between the Bourgeoisie and Proletariat. Marx believes in a humanistic ideology that parallels the thought that everyone is created equal. Marxist theorists conceive that one important role of the media is to reproduce the status quo. Simply stated the media is said to perpetuate norms. Like previously stated, a class struggle exists between the upper and lower classes and it is quite evident. The upper class had a stronghold on the media because they had the most money. Therefore, they were able to control what everyone thought was the desired lifestyle and culture norms. They used the media to convince the other classes that what the upper class enjoyed should be what is desirable. This is in a way similar to Picasso’s quote. He...
