What topics have you taken a 180° turn on?
What topics have you taken a 180° turn on?
My family are mostly Democrat voting liberals and I identified as one for years. When I was in 5th grade I spent more time with my Fox News-watching grandparents and became a Republican for like a year or 2 and became an apolitical lib for a while. From like 2015-2019 I was a Bernie bro who had some objectively shit takes. The biggest 180 I did was probably on the sex trade. I used to be for it as a horny teen like “huh? Did someone say SeX?? Well it’s all ConSeNsUAL so why cockblock someone from getting some PuSsY?” Obviously now I realize that’s a disgusting sentiment and that most people in the industry are not happy and would rather do anything else. Just because a few are happy with their line of work, it doesn’t make it right to force so many others into a position where they feel abused and humiliated or threatened. “Legitimacy of industry” in terms of prostitution always means lining the pockets of abusive pimps (physical or anything else) who will use the opportunity to get rich and usually fund illegal markets (source: Look at Nevada). Enough about me, what topics have become more clear to yall after becoming a communist? I could probably list a few others but I’m interested in seeing what yall say.
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There have been a couple of times my worldview has collapsed, and I took better/more accurate positions afterward.
- That I was male, with a considerable amount of low-key sexism and not-so-low-key queerphobia thrown in. That was a hell of a shakeup, and probably responsible for the spark that started the rest.
- I was raised an evangelical bible thumper and oooohhh boy, does that carry some hefty baggage—ranging from Isreal being -THE- holy land, Evolution is a lie, and those godless, evil queer commies have it coming. So much cringe. Karma is not without a sense of humor.
- Was a right-wing Libertarian, very interested in military theory, military history, and was offered full scholarships to military colleges type. Was, unfortunately, definitely on the proto-fascist track politically. Although it did result in reading my first book on any kind of communist thinking in the form of SOVIET MILITARY STRATEGY by Vasiliĭ Sokolovskiĭ.
- The Hollywood, mainstream Western storytelling methods are the best/key/correct/fundamentals of the craft. This happened around the time I started becoming a communist. With all the liberal assumptions modern storytelling makes/requires, I had to re-evaluate and relearn my career craft completely. This is the only one I openly talk about because it can be presented as a safe topic in all circles, isn't as cringe to admit to, and ML Narrative Theory is unfortunately not touched on that much—especially here in the West. And I believe it's one of our great weaknesses because we have little to challenge the subtle and constant torrent Hollywood and mainstream entertainment douses us with. This is a shame because storytelling is humanity's evolved mechanism for sharing our experiences navigating life—we should have this tool in our toolbox. Maybe I should post some lecture/essay posts on narrative theory, how it relates and connects to ML theories, and how it breaks away from Hollywood's simplistic formulas...
Please do!
There isn’t a whole lot of Atlanticist liberal film or TV that I can stomach anymore. Novels don’t require the capital that the visual narrative arts do, so there are stories to be found there.
I am a 5th year Animation student, currently working on my group's and mine second 3d animation short so far. It's anti-capitalist in its message, but I rly wonder how the storytelling could be different in a marxist direction. Obv we weren't exactly taught to create communist films (tho we got at least one communist teacher.) Either way, I'll take anything you can give me o.O
You probably know this already, but the Soviet Union produced a lot of animations that ventured into uncharted territory, such as "Shooting Range", "Hedgehog in the fog", or "Polygon". They used lots of experimental techniques whose effects you can study and apply. As for storytelling, you might enjoy "The Key", I really like how it builds up towards its final moral.
Would the work of Bertolt Brecht be of any use to you? I'm unsure of the overlap but it seems that a Marxist approach to theatre/drama could be helpful?
Yoo totally! Thx for the suggestion, I'll make sure to look into him. Any specific work you'd have in mind?
Brecht on Theatre seems to be the go-to place to start.
There's a summary here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zwmvd2p/revision/1 but lol:
In 1941 Brecht became resident in the USA but returned to Europe in 1947 after appearing before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Ostensibly against communism, this committee also targeted intellectuals.
Yeah, communist intellectuals mf!!
That's a testament to how well regarded he is. He's so important for Western canon that they can't forget him but they want to carve away his Marxism. Familiar story. Be careful about what you read about Brecht. I can't recall how much of a Marxist he actually was. It's been a long time since I looked through On Theatre and when I read it I wasn't a Marxist and didn't notice that he was one but I was oblivious to that kind of thing back then.
I will second Brecht's ON THEATRE. There's some good gems in there.
Wouldn't happen to have any suggested readings for ML narrative theory would you?
I'm unsure how ML these suggestions are but maybe they'll help.
Bertolt Brecht could be a start. And/or Walter Benjamin?
Michael Rosen wrote a book called The Author. It's more about narrative/poetry for children. I'll dig out my copy and see if it might be relevant.
I believe China Miéville edited a collection of essays on Marxism and sci fi. Don't think he's ML. You could do worse that carefully read and analyse his The City and the City, then do the same to the TV miniseries adaptation.
Might also be worth a ctrl+f+'Aristotle' in Marx's works, probably starting with Capital, then reading Aristotle's Poetics in light of Marx's broader engagement with him.
Karl Marx and World Literature by SS Prawer could be relevant.
I think he's a Trotskyist but Terry Eagleton is sure to have written something about narrative. His intro to literary theory has some great bits.
Edit: I read the thread out of order and realised you were reply-asking @Adhriva@lemmygrad.ml, who might actually have some relevant recommendations! Hopefully that's the case because I'm also interested ☺️
Of a strictly ML nature, not many immediately come to mind. We have the Socialist Realism movement, but it is often examined through a western lens, which loses much of its nuance unless the audience is well-versed in art history. A few speeches by important figures touch on art and it's purpose, but rarely in a way that would help us construct better, more engaging stories. But all this was also the problem identified. We don't have a strong tradition to compete with capitalist media and their methods of confining stories to mere, and often shallow, entertainment. And what examples I have stumbled across, such as Han Qixiang, I'm not fluent enough in the language or culture to delve into their work as much as I'd want for contextual analysis to really comment or advocate from. And Western works, usually more hidden in history (pockets of French and German expression), such as Walter Benjamin's DER ERZAHLER, I should probably re-visit before fully recommending since the last time I read through it I was only a baby commie.