There’s a comrade on Twitter, a youngster, who is an extremely, extremely dedicated reader of theory, who is repulsed by fictional and entertainment media on account of it almost universally being created by and harboring bourgeois-ridden thoughts, while also fearing it on account of it being counter-insurgency much like TVs were used to pacify and distract black prisoners in San Quentin from revolutionary action.
This caused me to have self-reflection. Should she be an example to follow? Should we forsake or move towards forsaking all media consumption aside from theory as she does lest we waste our time on commodities that many of the people we fight for have don’t have the privilege of enjoying? For we still have much work ahead of us. Indeed, I have seen for myself people mellowing out after fighting politically online and then focusing more on their hobbies (for better or worse, of course, many of them held poor political positions and were better off silent). But to her, her hobbies and politics are one in the same. It’s all she does, and she claims to not get burnout. She condemns the use of distractions to disengage for the sake of mental health for to her, theory and being engaged with politics sustains hers. And she has the exact mental disorders I do (as far as I’m aware). Even acknowledging the both of us grew up under different circumstances, I can’t help but feel an inferiority complex towards her. Perhaps that’s some sort of main character syndrome, the same that drives me to speak at length about my experiences here. But life, especially organization, isn’t a one-person show. I know this, that I can’t be her, and that she can’t be, say, Xi Jinping, but we each have our role to play.
I’m just wondering if I wasted my life. I’ve been playing video games since I was little and thus I thought and focused on them and other fantasy content at the expense of schoolwork that I found uninteresting and rote no matter how badly I was shamed and beaten by the school and my parents for neglecting it. I think back and wonder if I was ruined. This is a phenomenon she fears had affected her generation as she keeps becoming frustrated by her peer’s inabilities to focus on anything. Given all the circumstances, this was of course the only way my life could have gone, but now I wonder if I should really attempt to forsake all my fictional media, all the ties I’ve made with people based on it, to try to consume yet more theory in the hopes that I’ll eventually be repulsed by fiction and I’ll be able to joyfully commit to theory full time as she does. I’m taking a break from media and committing to theory for the time being but I admit, though I’m able to enjoy the theory, the process still has me fearful and sad. Withdrawal symptoms, perhaps? I think about what I can do even if I’m able to be extremely well-versed in theory. As I said, our upbringing are different. She’s able to operate in a big city full of potential comrades, whereas I live in a rural, deserted area where I can’t easily leave and thus I’d have limited ability to spread communism or organize. I also wonder, even if I somehow commit to such a path if she and I won’t actually end up eventually burning out after all. What do you think? Should we stigmatize and caution against consumption of fiction or entertainment?
I think the point is not to consume it uncritically. To avoid the worst of it that’s just pure cop apologia or fascist love letters type of thing.
And to not of course become too enamored with it to the point of not understanding it’s function as propaganda and the need to enjoy more than just that in life.
Fact is there is not going to be a cultural revolution in the west anytime soon. Acting like this person acts is a prescription for despair and being seen as weird by the masses for most people. Part of me of course says good on her and people like her might be of great use in an eventual revolutionary situation and might be leadership material. But right now there is a need to engage with the masses where they are and being able to shoot the shit about a few popular shows isn’t a bad thing.
It’s IMO much more useful to be able to talk to your average person about specific problems that are big propaganda in a given show than just go around screaming how it’s all bourgeois propaganda. One presents an in for class awareness education. The other makes people roll their eyes.
The revolutionary moment is I’m sorry to say probably decades away in the imperial core. Most people would burn out after years or decades of this.
Following up some comments given it’s been said I’m pessimistic.
I tend to see it as realism checking run-away revolutionary optimism which I think is necessary as if you keep telling yourself you’ll get a pony year after year and year after year it doesn’t happen you risk losing any hope at all and just checking out of that idea entirely which is something that does happen. I live in the imperial core. I’d love to see the revolution, I’d love to see it next year but I have to be realistic and hope I can temper the expectations and thinking of comrades to see the world not as they wish it to be steadily rushing towards revolution but a more complex situation. The hope burns eternal in us but we have a duty to our comrades to while being rosy also be pragmatic and honest about the world in our analysis and not get too far ahead of ourselves in rosy predictions, to temper them with not so rosy possibilities and keep an open mind about how things are unfolding and what it means.
Also in getting back to the original post there is media through the years that’s less fascist and openly reactionary. Take Star Trek up through The Next Generation (I’d start there in fact, 60s show is weird about women and a few other things) at least which can be read as a hopeful post scarcity communist civilization. Even things like DS9 and Voyager aren’t totally bad though they started the shows decline into capitalist realism with the gambling and fiat currency being commonly used. Lower Decks (despite having some love letters to stuff I consider capitalist degeneration series after the 90s) is fairly upbeat and watchable. They even had an episode fighting some capitalists on a new post-scarcity planet (though it was of course liberal coded with the resolution). Things like Andor despite being on the surface Star Wars slop have a solid story of resistance against a strong, reactionary empire. There are many movies that can be read positively as well even if many of them are engaging in recouperation.
I’d think there’s an upside. The longer it takes for revolution to occur here, the better prepared the rest of the world may be for it. Socialist forces will be much better developed abroad. Actually, those phenomena are inseparable, it’s also as the US loses its ability to interfere with socialist development abroad that it will be more vulnerable to revolution. Such conditions, being more isolated from the rest of the world, would better foster revolutionary spirit, especially in people more confident in the examples abroad to follow, and their desire to link with the rest of the socialist world.
I understand not wanting to get carried away. We make fun of people for saying China will collapse any day. We, of course, have much more grounds to say that with regards to the US but it may take a while yet.
seconded
There’s a certain type of joy (some may call elevated haterism, idk) in critically consuming media. There’s “criticism” that reads like critic is doing “this is badism” (of which I can’t wash my hands of, especially when it comes to picking up and smelling dubious content. In my defense, sometimes you gotta sniff shit to remember what it smells like. Maybe conspiratorial but, hey, $1.6 billion towards anti-china media is going Somewhere, and it’s not just right-wing rags. However I will defend myself here in differentiating trying to figure out who’s behind writing these “leftist” articles, articles that ‘actual’ western “leftists” are taking as some kind of veritable authority and source on info in China;; versus someone (repeatedly) criticizing Pentagon-funded Marvel flicks, which I think, to most people who find themselves in this neck of the woods, has a forgone conclusion)…
…and then there’s media crit for the joy of it. There’s envisioning how the media could be better, even given the circumstances. There’s separating the threads of “applicable to my social fabric/this moment-at-this-time situations” and malarkey - for example, I think The Substance picks up on relevant topics to this era but uncritically touches on plenty of other things I find to be just as concerning. Yes, if you’re not in whatever specific industry, most likely your opinions won’t go anywhere relevant towards improving said media but::
Art isn’t isolated, art is a medium that relies on there being a relationship, a communication, between artist and audience. And artist and audience aren’t mutually exclusive groups!! And as such, art is usually part of a continuum of other pieces of art, being relational to other pieces of art/artists; a myriad of relationships such as responses, push/pull, part of the same movement, inspire each other (very much includes orientalist european art, and I say this with the most neutrality I can: example Van Gogh & other europeans having some source of inspiration from Japanese blockprint), responding or reviving other pieces, antagonism of competing art movement in same era, etc etc etc. In this era of capitalist society that continuum is commonly “hey this thing made a lot of money so I will try to do something similar to get same result”, but even so relationships between specific pieces of media or even whole art movements aren’t simply one type of relationship.
All that to just say: being an audience of art, regardless of individual politics, means you are part of what “makes” art. IMO being thinky about it makes it better; like, I have an affection for films that are “so bad it’s good” but absolutely detest slop although I sometimes find slop very funny. beatboxing puppy. Although more often than not, being a communist sympathizer (being realistic/vulgar materialist especially to my locale) living in the west just means there’s a lot of media around me that have messages I find from bad to flawed, but that doesn’t stop me from recognizing other areas it does well or enjoying that.
Personally I think 100% divestment is a mistake, no you don’t need to be actively constantly consuming everything presented, I think it’s worth at least being aware especially if it’s in your surroundings. It’s like critically reading or exposing yourself to liberal mainstream news media; it’s just in the air you breathe, and I get it, it might get tiring smelling the stench 24/7; but it’s still valuable to be able to glean useful information and understand what particular angles are frequented, and better yet if you know other info and see what’s being purposefully omitted.