June 06, 2004

Today I thought of Karl Marx at least once while seeing Shrek 2 in a roomful of screaming children. I didn’t mind the children — they should all be exposed to Marxist philosophy, and Shrek is just the movie to do it.

Marx had this thing about the alienation of labour — the more effort a labourer pours into his work, the less human he becomes while his products come to life and “confront him as something hostile and strange.” In a capitalist system, the labourer becomes an object as his work gains its own separate existence. Thus, tables and chairs are transformed into living, hostile creatures that confront their creators.

And the same inversion takes place in Shrek 2 as well. The furniture comes to life in the middle of the movie to confront Fiona who is reduced to an object through the invasive application of makeup and other beauty products. That one scene beautifully crystallizes Marx’s thoughts on labour and alienation.

And it is not surprising that Shrek should embrace Marxism. After all, the entire movie is a prolonged attack on the corporate culture that grips America. The movie goes after the visible symbols of capitalist power (Disney and Hollywood), and does so effectively and humorously.

I left the cinema loving Shrek and its tinges of Marxism. I hope the children loved it too.