Thinking Activity :- Marxist Criticism and Queer Theory

Hello Readers, 

                       This blog is a part of my classroom thinking activity . This task assigned by Dr.Dilip Barad Sir . In this blog I want to talk about Marxist theory .

                 First of all we can see what is Marxist Theory ; 

What is Marxist Theory ? 

Marxism is a theory of capitalism . To Karl Marx and his followers International Politics is an extension of class war at the International level.  In it the capitalists (states) are exploiting the poor (states) and for safeguarding their interests are resorting to wars and imperialism. The popularity of this approach has been increasing ever since 1917.

                     Marxism is a method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict as well as a dialectical perspective to view social transformation. It originates from the works of 19th-century German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. As Marxism has developed over time into various branches and schools of thought, there is currently no single definitive Marxist theory.

Definition :

                               According to Marxists, and to other scholars in fact, literature reflects those social institutions out of which it emerges and is itself a social institution with a particular ideological function. Literature reflects class struggle and materialism: think how often the quest for wealth traditionally defines characters. So Marxists generally view literature "not as works created in accordance with timeless artistic criteria, but as 'products' of the economic and ideological determinants specific to that era" (Abrams 149).

Key ideas of Marxism :

1. Individuals have sold their capacity to make other people money-generating capital or wealth - by working in a job. This is an unfair relationship as their employers make more money from it than they do. 

2. The people in power seek to maintain this relationship because it means they have a way of controlling everyone (they can always refuse to pay you). 

3. If only we woke up and realised this was the case, and changed things in our favour, the world would be a better place entirely. 

           Marxist media theory says that we cannot trust the media, because they are run by the people in power, and therefore maintain the status quo, rather than being agents for change. 

Example :

                     Heart of Darkness 

         Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness could be said to be written during a period of change, as the world was transitioning from the end of the Victorian age into the beginning of the Modern age. This novel is considered to be one of the greatest fictitious writings in the English language that follows the narrations of the character Marlow through his travels through the Congo River into the Congo Free State in the ‘Heart of Africa’. Heart of Darkness is a widely-dense novel which can be studied from various critical perspectives, such as feminism, psychoanalysis, Marxism, and many more.

Theorists of Marxism believe that ‘even literature stems from a specific ideological function, which is primarily based on the background and ideas of the author’, in this case Joseph Conrad. From researching about Conrad’s life, we are able to find that his native country, Berdichev, in the Stolen Lands of Ukraine for had been conquered by imperial powers, namely Russia and this could be argued from a Marxist approach as to why he sympathised with other conquered natives. 

           For example, in this novel, Conrad empathizes with the Native Africans and describes their troubles to be extremely tragic, whilst also outrightly condemning the ‘noble’ aims of the European colonists, therefore creating the impression of white superiority. In addition to this, it is believed that due to his own travels through Africa had a keen interest for voyages, travels and the discovery of new land; this is apparent in Marlow’s narration of Congo. Lastly, it is also believed that many of Marlow’s narrations within the novella were written as an account of incidents that took place within Conrad’s own travels through Africa.

                       : Queer Theory :

                  

                    Here , I want to discuss about Queer Theory ,

What is Queer Theory ?

A critical discourse developed in the 1990s in order to deconstruct  sexuality and gender in the wake of gay identity politics, which had tended to rely on strategic essentialism. Opposed to gender essentialism, queer theorists see sexuality as a discursive social construction, fluid, plural, and continually negotiated rather than a natural, fixed, core identity. ‘The representation of gender is its construction,’ declares the Italian-American feminist theorist Teresa de Lauretis, who coined the term ‘queer theory’ in 1990. Butler, seeking to destabilize binary oppositions such as gay/straight, introduced the key concept of performativity. Queer theorists foreground those who do not neatly fit into conventional categories, such as bisexuals, transvestites, transgendered people, and transsexuals. Existing movements which have been significant influences are feminism and poststructuralism (particularly the methodology of deconstruction). Foucault's influence has also been of central importance, particularly his argument that homosexuality (and indeed heterosexuality) as an identity emerged only in the late 19th century. Queer theory has itself been a significant influence on cultural and literary theory, postcolonialism, and sociology, and ‘queering’ is now applied also to the ‘boundaries’ of academic disciplines.

Definition :

Queer theory is a term that emerged in the late 1980s for a body of criticism on issues of gender, sexuality, and subjectivity that came out of gay and lesbian scholarship in such fields as literary criticism, politics, sociology, and history. Queer theory rejects essentialism in favor of social construction; it breaks down binary oppositions such as “gay” or “straight”; while it follows those postmodernists who declared the death of the self, it simultaneously attempts to rehabilitate a subjectivity that allows for sexual and political agency. Some of the most significant authors associated with queer theory include Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Judith Butler, Michael Warner, and Wayne Koestenbaum."

                           - From the Encyclopedia of Postmodernism, in Credo Reference

Example :

                     :  Dostana Movie :

The act of sex is rarely seen, let alone alluded to, despite how sexual the movies can seem with bare-waisted women and shirtless men are dancing about every ten minutes or so. Until I did some research, I honestly did not think there were any Indian (Bollywood or not) movies which positively portrayed homosexuality. I mean, homosexual intercourse between consenting adults was decriminalized in India in July 2009 (one and a half years ago). So, where does one go to figure out what queer Bollywood films are out there and popular? Well, I go to my family, and the only movie they thought of as having gay characters or themes was Dostana from 2008.

                             : Fire :

  

            The movie also portrays how women are denied a control over their own sexualities, and in case they decide to explore their sexualities, they are shunned from the society and are given titles like “shameless whore.”   Fire is also an apt representation of the suppression of female sexuality and the denial of a woman’s agency in a patriarchal society that normalizes the representation of women as mere objects and ensures their subjugation by men. 

Thank you