#anti capitalist film

[whereserpentswalk]

Ending the sexualization of women on film won't happen when female characters are completely covered from the neck down and shot as conservatively as possible with the camera treating their bodies like forbidden fruit, it will happen when a female action hero can appear entirely shirtless and have it be shot as entirely badass and powerful just like how it would for a male action hero.

[itsnotmyfaultsomepeoplecantread]

Y’all. Leverage and Leverage Redemption are some of the best f*cking exposés about every layer of corruption that exists in our world.

Why? Because they can make each episode/story have the most satisfying ending, and it’s so fun to watch because of the camp.

But also, where else are you going to watch a show that makes you think about how there are people out in the world who exploit and abuse like competitive video game players? Where would you even begin to think about that? But they did it and they’re right… those people exist.

Abuse and corruption is everywhere. And not only does it talk about this system existing and thriving, but it also illuminates how it doesn’t matter how much you fight every corrupt person, because the system itself is broken. But helping one person at a time by exposing their abuser is a good place to start.

With film on shaky grounds right now, we NEED to keep fighting for these stories. We need to fight for the anti-capitalist rhetoric of leverage. The gay/trans supportive storylines of Good Omens. The modern issues brought up in Futurama. All of it.

We need people to be able to see themselves and see their stories so we can also fight to change their circumstances.

[defleftist]

An impactful video on the shortcomings of moral purity and how in times of war/genocide we must grapple with the painful psychological burden that we can’t save everyone but we can save some people and saving one person is better than saving none.

[metallicat777]

I need more people to realize that if you want quality entertainment, food, clothing, etc, you have to be pro-union. You have to be pro-worker.

The reason there’s only one or two good movies coming out nowadays and the rest are hollow sequels nobody asked for is because CEOs of animation studios like dreamworks for example, are choosing “saving money” (see: Union-busting/avoiding negotiations with unions, outsourcing animation to other countries where the animators are paid *even less*) over authentic art. They cut out interesting plot points, balance of heartfelt moments and humorous scenes because it’s cheaper to settle for sloppy animation made by people who aren’t paid enough and poorly written stories and execution that only succeed because they’re riding on an already popular franchise.

The minute Starbucks unions were able to come to a deal with the CEO, he gets taken out and a new guy gets put right back in, so they have to start the whole process over.

Clothing companies resort to poorly made mass produced fast fashion which is manufactured overseas by children who get paid 15 cents an hour because it’s easier and cheaper than hiring unionized factory workers.

Shitty writing in tv shows and even books is becoming common because it’s easier to use shitass ai programs than it is to hire people who care about creating good content for others to enjoy.

Capitalism does not create innovation. Capitalism is build on making excuses, cutting corners, and taking the easy way out. Pay attention to what you consume, look into which companies have successful unions and which ones don’t. Look at which workers are striking, and how important that is. Quality no longer exists under capitalism.

[beauzos]

best friend is doing a presentation on The Grapes of Wrath film and it really strikes me every time i'm reminded it's considered one of the greatest films ever made. brother it's not even the best film made that year. it's not the best film of that month day hour minute second

it's a bad movie, like i don't get it lol. it's badly written, badly paced, everyone is badly characterized, and is overall a very bad adaptation of a great book. what is so good about it. where are the good parts.

[giantkillerjack]

the omen is a well-made movie, but it is ultimately a love letter to the catholic idea that some kids are, BY BIRTH, super evil.

as in it is quite literally a movie about a father coming to terms with the fact that the right and good thing to do WOULD in fact be to listen to the Catholic church and murder his son. *WOMP WOMP*

[mariocki]

Lo voglio morto (I Want Him Dead, 1968)

"If the Confederates and the Yankees sign a truce, the two of us are ruined!"

"And so?"

"So, they have to keep killing each other until we've sold everything. Everything, right down to the last cartridge!"

[valenciamidknight]

“Distraction”, July 2024.

[redshoes-blues]

With the OFMD cancellation I’m reminded of how much I hate that capitalism interferes with art. It sucks for the passionate artists and actors and creatives who are behind these projects that get cancelled. People who put their passion and souls into their art and dedicate years of their lives to creating stories that inspire, move, and entertain us. And it sucks for viewers who see themselves in their art and have gained sometimes as much passion for a project as its original creators. Nowadays it’s hard to allow myself to get invested in new shows, because I know they’ll most likely be cancelled. Especially shows featuring diverse casts and stories. The capitalist-arts model is detrimental to art and culture and isn’t sustainable for long-term investment in the arts, and I’m not sure when companies will realize this, if they ever do. And it’s ridiculous because the only people this model benefits are those at the top of the ladder, who are so egregiously wealthy that the bottom dollar shouldn’t matter, but of course it does, because they’re capitalists—and at the end of the day, no matter how much streamers and corporations claim to care about art and culture, they will only ever care about the increase in wealth that a project can bring to them.

[jeremybearimyy]

i have a theory that the difference between successful anti-capitalist critiques in film and unsuccessful ones fall around narrative. a lot of the anti-capitalist media i’ve seen pop up in the past few years has revolved around retribution; it is an experience where we, the audience that is relatively poor compared to the rich, can point at laugh at their rich-person naivete and stupidity. but even while these may be attempts at critiques on wealth, they are never as successful as something like parasite. when i speak on the point-and-laugh idea, i’m speaking on something like the menu; while the vessel for the audience was taylor-joy playing a non-rich character, the main spectacle of the film was just watching ralph fiennes be incredibly cruel to the room of annoying rich people. therefore, the narrative was not interested in her story as a non-elite woman; she was merely an object to place the reader with, given little backstory and fleshing out aside from a relatable will to live (and need for a cheeseburger).

whereas something like parasite or sorry to bother you is interested in something else entirely; the spectacle is not just the absurdity of rich people, but the struggle it takes to get there, and the insane lengths rich people will go to not only preserve their wealth but also to differentiate themselves with anyone that isn’t them. 

in my mind that differentiates “successful” capitalist critiques in media; who are we giving a voice to? who are we really watching here? is any regard given to the people most affected by the violence of capitalism? 

[arielmagicesi]

as hard as it may seem to believe, just because a film has Janelle Monae in it doesn’t mean it’s a deep and meaningful film that’s deconstructing modern society. Glass Onion can just be a fun silly murder mystery with exciting little twists that says “Elon Musk is an idiot” and nothing more in the “theme and message” section, and I think that’s fine. but yes Janelle Monae is in it which elevates it to Film That Has Janelle Monae In It

[whereserpentswalk]

Someone used "ungood" to describe disney remakes and it's so perfect. "Bad" does not sum up the horrible soulless products created to only fulfil capitalist desires, using artists as tormented vessels, ungood captures it so well.

Artists with passion and vision create bad art. Bad art can have entertaining qualities, and value, and sparks of life inside of them. Teenage fanfic, and b movies, and a young musicians first attempt at smoke on the water are bad, and that's ok. Ungood art does not have the same saving graces as bad art. Ungood art is empty, not just failing at quality but devoid of it.

We need to start using the term ungood. Neither Star Wars episode one, nor Star Was episode nine are good movies, but they don't possess the same lack of quality. The "live action" Lion King movie, and Repo! The Genetic Opera might both be failures at putting musicals on film, but I know which one I'd rather watch, which one still has moments I love, and which one was made to make someone at Disney see a line go up.

[thicc-astronaut]

Every online comment about Idiocracy I see is like “This is so true... TikTok is turning the kids into this... There are so many stupid people in the world today 😔”

Like this movie has themes about corporate conglomerates forming multi-industry monopolies, the United States government being bought out by these conglomerates, agricultural mismanagement resulting in famine, poverty and hunger being widespread, citizen tracking through the Internet of Things, police brutality and an unjust law system, and corruption within the military.

Like the message of Idiocracy is so clearly to me that large corporations are bad. The very beginning of the film presents the “stupid people reproduce more and so we evolved in that direction”, but basically everything else in the film would suggest it happened the other way - corporations worked to gradually make the public dumber. What do you think came first, the average American suddenly wishing for a way to eat burritoes and watch TV at the same time? Or the Time-Warner-Taco-Bell-United-States-Government corporate merger?

[dashiellqvverty]

everytime i see ppl say that ‘fight club is satirizing/criticizing toxic masculinity, Actually’ i am like. PLEASE put on your big boy thinking caps and watch it again

[fonteyn]

Imagine thinking that the recent "failure" (by Disney standards) of Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is because of the addition of "diversity wokeism" (their words, not mine) and a lack of focus from the architects of the MCU (mostly Kevin Feige) on the overarching storyline that binds all movies & shows and not due to the fundamentally unsustainable structure currently in place that attempts to make several gigantic billion dollar movies every year for the last 12 years whilst obviously relying on the exploitation of workers, particularly vfx artists, so much that it's driving people out of the industry, and milking as much money as possible through it all...

Like, sorry to say but: they aren't making movies...they're just rolling another product off the assembly line at this point.

[chaotic-omnisexual-squirrel]

it's wild how much stuff that is considered "the norm" or even "creative" and "sophisticated" in film today, just came from people having like, no money.

on location shooting is pretty much the standard for big film companies nowdays, but that came from italy post ww2, because people were poor and pissed off and we're like hey, we have all these ruined buildings. may as well put them to good use. then french new wave got wind of that and stole it and made it french so it's fancy and more acceptable. then hollywood was like, "shit, people like this more than our same five studio setups" and also stole it.

lots of lighting conventions that are in horror films and crime films came from filmmakers in germany in the 1920s and 30s, who were again, completely broke. but then they had to flee germany because of the war and found hollywood and the emerging film noir directors were like "oh, they're fucking on to something". and the germans were like, "thanks, we didn't have any fucking lighting" but hollywood was just like "oooh, the symbolism" and then post ww2 decided to use the SAME FUCKING TECHNIQUES to create villains out of anyone vaguely from or associated with germany.

and everything you read about this stuff is like "oh it proves how this movement was important to create a lasting impression" and yeah, could be that. personally i think it's more like, hollywood likes to steal shit that they know does well. they're too scared to try new things because they care more about profit than making films. they started as well meaning but then realized that profit tastes a lot better and became a machine for war propaganda. then realized there's not a market for that when there's not a war. now they make a lot of their money off remakes and stories that everyone's heard a million times before. it's why queerbaiting became a thing, because they started realizing that films with queer themes sold; because people love a scandal. and it's what is so frustrating about the film industry at the moment, because big companies want money and something that is easily marketable; and that is films with simple plots, a minimal amount of symbolism and metaphor, a message that is progressive but not too progressive (i.e. one that understands the problem but doesn't tell people how to solve the problem), bends but doesn't break prewritten rules, and doesn't focus too hard on people who won't give them the money they want.