Moore presents us with astonishing, angry, and absurd contemporary images of violent unrest, consumerism, Internet entertainment, financial crises, mass unemployment, scandals of political-business collusion...these are constantly emerging, seemingly absurd images. , events are kinked and intertwined to form the nebulous "capitalism" Moore targets. If you combine the shock of 9/11, the picture seems even bigger. Moore's efforts in this film alone can't handle this massive theme.
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The video clip of the video of the violent robbery of commercial establishments with guns that is "not suitable for children" with the rock music "Louie Louie" as the background music is clearly one of the social slices of this developed capitalism. There are many similar incidents, such as a series of riots in many major British cities in 2011 - arson, theft, beating, smashing and looting. Just like the emotion sung by this punk rock music in the film, behind these seemingly high-profile carnival-style riots and violence is actually a deep despair. The frenzy, purposeless destruction, and violence of these people are signs of nihilism. As Nietzsche said, this kind of violence is passive and passive, not active or active, and what it seeks is not active self-expression, but impotent anger and despair in the guise of invincibility; It's jealousy dressed as a carnival. Another example is the recently released and controversial Todd Phillips directed Joaquin Phoenix film "Joker" ( Joker ). Interestingly, at a time when the dark and violent film was criticized by conservatives, Michael Moore himself spoke highly of the film on Facebook. He believes that the film is a true depiction of the living conditions of the poor who are excluded from health care in the United States, and it is precisely because of the existing social structure that characters like the Joker have been born. Žižek wrote in his review of "Joker is about the despair of the political order itself": "When the Joker recognizes himself in a mask, what he shows is extreme nihilism; violent self-destruction; And desperate laughter at other people. There is no positive plan to solve the problem." When he laughed out loud, the laughter was empty and unintentional, a hopeless nothingness. The film is precisely to show us the tragic social reality and the existing nihilistic impasse.
The words of conservatives and liberals in response to these violence and riots (this is malicious destruction without justification, measures need to be taken to restore normal social order, and the sense of responsibility to obey the law and work hard...) Appears poor and powerless. When we think about the social antagonism behind these violence, we see that these conflicts do not occur temporarily between different parts of a healthy organic social whole, but on a radical level, such conflicts Occurs between non-society and society; Occurs between those who do not take risks and have everything they need and those who take high risks and are about to lose everything; Occurs in colorful robes between people and people who are completely naked. The violent destruction of the poor and marginalized people at the bottom of the "society" constructed by the logic of capital is their most desperate cry.
This expulsion is the embodiment of the above-mentioned capitalist process - those who cannot be used for it and cannot develop the value required for the multiplication of capital will be excluded and exiled from the social order maintained by capitalism, which is constantly renewed by production. Be a naked outsider. As the simple idea of the Illinois farmer in this film when he is asked to move out of the house within 30 days because he can't pay his mortgage: "Between the one who has nothing and the one who has it all, there will always be people who will resist...we There's nowhere to go, I've tried everything except rob a bank - I think maybe I'll do that...I'm starting to understand why someone loses his mind and shoots at someone else."
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The ugliness behind the 2008 financial crisis that the film strives to expose is an extreme manifestation of profit-seeking logic. Legislative interventions such as tax cuts, relaxation of bank supervision, and uncontrolled increase in borrowing leverage, the intimacy between the Federal Reserve and Wall Street, and the separation and decentralization of responsibility mechanisms since the Reagan administration The financiers at the top of the order are free to robbery and accumulate personal wealth. There are also more and more types of insurance, and the short-term rate of return on the death of an employee after insuring the death of an employee can actually exceed the profit that the employee has created for the company for decades. As the central institution of capital operation, the bank, in the so-called global "advanced capitalism", is also different from the previous financial institution that only performs the function of lending among limited geographical groups and earns interest differences. For comparison, if we look back at the kind of petty bourgeoisie conveyed in the 1946 film "It's a Wonderful Life" jokingly called "You can't pass an interview with a US visa officer" Ideal-George succeeded his father in running a housing loan bank in a small town for various reasons, and gave loans to low-income residents in the town to build and buy houses at a lower interest rate. The housing loan market for most middle and lower class residents. For the sake of the lives of all the residents of the town, he refused the high-paying jobs offered by the mercenary big capitalist Potter, preventing him from monopolizing the various industries in the town. Because of Potter's conspiracy to steal $8,000, the bank account became unsustainable, and George was accused of embezzlement and faced jail. In the end, out of trust and friendship, the townspeople pulled together $8,000 to rescue George—although the warmth was touching, but the ideal of a self-sufficient small-town economy is not the same as today’s huge global cities. Miscellaneous institutions have gone too far.
This is testament to how the individual is subject to the domination of "absolute abstraction" in the world of global advanced capitalism. This is not only reflected in the decision-making model made with complex mathematical models and data feedback, but also a tiny decision by the management will "affect the whole body", thereby affecting the fate of millions of people, and even causing a catastrophe. The major impact of the 2008 financial crisis on the global economy is a major manifestation. In this case, as Žižek puts it, abstraction has inscribed the "real" situation. The link between these "structural" decisions and the painful reality endured by millions has been broken. Decision makers ("experts") cannot imagine the consequences of their decisions because they rely on abstract terms to evaluate their outcomes.
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The famous line from the Communist Manifesto "All hierarchies and fixed vanishes" is used by many as an overview of the modern course of capitalism. "All fixed and rigid relations and the venerable ideas and opinions corresponding to them are eliminated, and all newly formed relations become obsolete until they are fixed" - on the cultural level, various values, discourses The capitalist world market is constantly changing, but it is only in a high degree of fluidity and variability that the “market” of capitalism is able to accommodate various values. This accommodation allows capitalism to continuously maintain. Any discourse, behavior, or value can be developed into its economic value and incorporated into the market mechanism. Even a discourse that constantly attacks and resists it will eventually be incorporated into the workings of the capitalist system. A researcher who runs the risk of being sued for attacking a large corporation might as well ask the same corporation to fund his research project on global capitalism and postcolonial identity, and receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in project funding. Even in turmoil and destruction, capitalism has the ability to maintain its corresponding life forms and social structures intact in a crisis. Periodic economic crises and catastrophes do not seem to prompt the disintegration of this system, but are resolved by it in various ways and continue its process. The Communist Manifesto says that capitalism will generate forces to destroy itself, but the present reality reflects its constant self-sustaining in various ways.
"It turns human dignity into an exchange value, replacing countless franchised and self-earned liberties with a conscientious freedom of trade." This sentence of the Communist Manifesto is embodied in the extreme of advanced capitalism, in British science fiction The second episode of the first season of the drama "Black Mirror" has been revealed. In order to maintain a dignified individual, he held a sharp weapon on the stage of the "Talent Show" and expressed his passion for life. It did not really touch the people who were numb by the virtual landscape and inspired action. The most exciting and heartfelt show that I have seen since the show started!" and the audience's empty cheers and applause covered, and was hired as a professional talk show actor, incorporated into the market operation of the entertainment industry, and became a "for market use". This is full of despair. The resilience of this system seems to exceed Marx's expectations. In the era of "developed capitalism", it constantly maintains itself through various means, coercing individuals forward, or "breaking through the net". Perhaps, if not at all, it can only be regarded as a hazy ideal vision.
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