People’s Review VII: Dawn of the Dead (2004)

In the People’s Vault, your Media Commissar dusted off a classic of capitalist propaganda. The zombie movie genre is dominated by films of upper middle class folk running away from the unwashed masses of mindless zombiefolk. This film is no exception.

The film starts off in the idyllic suburban bourgeois community. The decadence is unmistakable. Before you know what is going on, the proletariat is climbing in your window. They are snatching your people up. The sympathetic middle class family is forced to hide their kids, wife and husband as the proletariat is eating everybody up there. Panic stricken, the bourgeois family goes to the one safe haven of capitalist society, the shopping mall.

Unfortunately for our heroes, the mall has also been overrun by the proletariat. After brutally beating a few innocent workers with the help of a few criminally negligent security guards, the capitalists hunker down. Soon, the proletariat mass has them surrounded as the zombies attempt to free the heroes from their capitalist obsessions. Bad news arrives as more survivors arrive at the capitalist haven. The proletariat has overrun the nearby military base. The group descends into wallowing self-pity and romance. After a few more losses, the bourgeois get serious about saving themselves. They prepare a homemade assault vehicle to kill as many of the hard working proletariat protesting for their rights outside as possible. Their plan hits a snag when their gun totting friend runs low on supplies. Their attempt to get him food goes awry and the spoiled teenager in the group goes blood drunk and drives a van into the side of a building. Many lives are sacrificed to save the young capitalist fool.

In a running scene of carnage and gore, improvised bombs are used to decimate the proletariat. The proletariat makes a glorious stand as the capitalist flee to a boat to make their escape. The capitalists’ greed nearly cost them their life as they make the hour long boat ride to a nearby island. Once there in the weakened state, the capitalist are finally defeated by the proletariat mob.

The films depictions as the working class uprising as being fueled by cannibalistic excess and disease belittles the true aim at bringing down the bourgeois capitalist state. The film portrays their ultimate success at over-running the fat lazy bourgeois. Along the way the proletariat is seen as cruel, heartless, and brainless. The bourgeois slant to the film is classically undeniable.

Ratings:

Capitalist Slant: 8/10 While the capitalist state falls, the proletariat are a bunch of mindless zombies.

Proletariat death count 10/10 As the proletariat takes heavy casualties throughout the film.

People's Recommendation: Avoid and denounce for the Capitalist Propaganda that it is!

People’s Review VI: Prometheus

The People’s Critic took a moment from his busy schedule informing the masses on the capitalist threat to review this new film from the creative genius Ridley Scott. The film is set in the not so distant future.  The capitalist state has survived and thrived.  “The Corporation” has the funds and science to send expeditions to far away stars.  And as in most futuristic films, the role of proletariat is mostly taken on my robots. As a prequel to the Alien series, the robot in this film is very human looking.  Though not the capitalists’ intention, it serves to generate empathy for the downtrodden and oppressed robot as he is looked down on by his bourgeois masters. The proletariat also includes a number of human beings who obviously struggle under the thumb of capitalist oppression. Unfortunately for them, “The Corporation” has used them and does nothing to save them from the alien threat.

The steep stratification in this society is emphatically demonstrated in the microcosm of the ship.  The Corporation’s representative is given a luxurious and spacious suite which includes a view screen showing scenes from earth, a bar, and a highly advanced automated medical bay. The bourgeois scientists are given a room with a lounge area.  The rest of the crew is relegated to un-named bunks as they populate the proletariat masses and obviously do not need creature comforts. The decadence of the capitalist pig dog is unashamedly thrown in the faces of the bewildered scientist as they are put on no uncertain terms that they are slaves to the corporate state.

As the exploration of the alien ruins proceeds, the proletariat is sent in to risk their lives to discover the secrets of the facility.  Before long, the proletariat is serving on the front line as an unknown alien and biological threat is unleashed by a greedy and amoral capitalist plot.  These machinations are thinly veiled by their use of the lowly robot to implement the program of reckless scientific probing. When the living “engineer” is found, the ruthless corporate executive is revealed and the veil pulled away.  The “engineer”, awoken after thousands of years, sees through the capitalist plot and immediately springs into action to bring down the corruption that the capitalists have inflicted upon the universe. Unfortunately, the proletariat still on the ship is unaware of this and thwarts the champion of the worker as he attempts to take off.

The hopes of the workers dashed, the bourgeois scientist sets off to eradicate the champions of the worker paradise, which we will assume happens in the sequel.

Ratings:

Capitalist Slant: 4/10 While the corporation is victorious, their ugly brutality is on full display, even if it is primarily shown through the eyes of the bourgeois scientist.

Strength of the Veil: 1/10 as despite what Ridley Scott says, this film is obviously a thinly veiled Alien prequel.  

The People’s Review V: The Star Trek Universe

The People’s Critic has viewed numerous examples from this series of TV shows and films and he has made a ruling. This series’ blatant naivety is only matched by its grievous abuse of the proletariat. This is a world where the bourgeois have dominated society so fully that the proletariat is largely replaced by machines, and where machines do not function they are completely severed from the spacious luxury of the capitalist state. I am of course speaking of the Federation.

Now you might be saying to yourself, how the capitalist can exist in a world without currency? This is what the capitalist want you to think! You see the Federation is depicted as a state completely consisting of bourgeois scientists and explorers. What are not shown are the billions of workers that slave away in the di-lithium mines to support the Utopia that has been constructed. It is on the backs of these downtrodden minions that the cushy lives of those depicted on the show rest.

The Federation is not the only offender on the series. The Ferangi reveal the ravages of capitalism run
amok. They routinely steal and kill in order to increase their profits. The immorality of their corporate
state is too obvious for me to espouse further. The Romulan Empire is run as a fascist state, based on nationalism and the thin veil of democracy. It is their oppression of lesser species that is their downfall in later movies and series, as is the fate of any fascist pig dogs.

The only true champion of the proletariat in the series is the Borg. In this egalitarian paradise is the
last beacon of hope in the cold universe depicted in Star Trek. In this glorious society, the proletariat
is equal in labor and thought. Like any successful proletariat regime, they seek to enlighten others to
their freedom. The Federation, being a beacon of bourgeois ethos, stubbornly resists the inevitable tide of freedom. In the “Voyager” series, they even capture a worker and transform her into a poster child from brainwashing oppression. This is one of the vainest and offensive acts in the entire series!

Ratings:

Capitalist Slant 7/10 as the film depicts capitalism in its many extremes while depicting a perfect worker's paradaise.

  Completeness 15/10 The series covers everything and then some.

People's Recommendation: Watch, but be sure to engage your children in hours of minutia about how Spock would love Bach and Uhura would love Mozart.

The People’s Review IV: The Hunger Games

Let it not be said that the People’s Critic hates all film for the Capitalist Propaganda Machine that they are. Every once in a while a hero of the people makes it into the starring role in a film. The Hunger Games is one such film. While very unoriginal {Battle Royal (2000), Greek Myth of Theseus and the Minotaur}, the Hunger Games does espouse a fine message of Hope for the working class.

 The film is set in the original setting of the post-apocalyptic future. In this case a far off land has conquered the hard working peoples of Districts 1-14. They then seem to be sorted by class, the higher your district number the poorer you are. The people of the Districts are reminded annually of their overlords in the capital by being forced to sacrifice a pair of children to fight to the death for their entertainment. The proletariat of district 12 toil away to scratch out a life and barley struggling to keep alive. Then soldiers from the capital arrive and a pair of children is kidnapped for all to see, broadcast on radio and TV to enforce the symbolism of the event.

The children are then whisked away on a fine train to their nearly certain deaths in the death pits of the capital. They are greeted by a ruling class of bourgeois that spend their entire lives adorning themselves in extravagance while they live off the hard work of the proletariat. The gladiators are then paraded around like meat before the slaughter so that the capitalists may select their favorites to dispense favors to at their whims. Eventually, the children form district 12 are able to band together and fight against their oppressors, spawning a revolution which we can only assume the proletariat wins, but is not shown at the close of the film. The proletariat rejoices.

Ratings:

Capitalist Slant 1/10 as the film depicts capitalism for the empty and corrupt system that it is.

Glory 10/10 due to the true depictions as the proletariat worker as the glorious liberators they are.

People's Recommendation: Petition the schools to adopt this fine film as an example for the young to enjoy!