Theatres have a mechanism of putting the spotlight on a particular person or persons. The intended purpose of this technical act is to concentrate the eyes of the audience on someone; while making other aspects of theatre virtually invisible.
In our usual lives as well, there are multiple things that we see daily, though not all are able to garner our attention. We usually bye-pass a lot of what is around us. Sometimes out of sheer habit, sometimes for other reasons. What do you see while roaming around a shopping mall? Lavish shops decorated with branded products.
Clean and effervescent environment. Bustling food outlets and gaming zones. All in all, a textbook display of progress. Well, can we look at it in another way? I believe, yes! While you see the glistening pathways, you may also wonder who cleaned them.
How much do they earn? When do they come and when do they leave? How rewarding is the job of cleaning pathways and washrooms? Behind the glossy alleyways of branded products, you may also stop and observe the faces of the salespersons. You may ask, how well are they paid? What are their sales requirements? Do they have enough time to be with their families? Are they actually as enthusiastic as they seem, or are their behaviours modelled for sales objectives?
What makes you observe the mall and unnotice the mall workers? What makes you wonder at the fetish material appearance, while failing to notice so many humans who make this possible? Who puts the lights on a part of reality, while blurring the other part out of sight? This demands an answer.
Culture in its broadest possible sense is an act of stamping meaning to apparently neutral terms. Whether someone is unchaste or liberated, whether someone is revolutionary or rebellious, whether someone is outspoken or assertive, whether someone is polite or cowardly, whether someone is resolute or stubborn.
Numerous terms acquire meaning not by divine intervention, but by the very act of inserting meaning through mass usage. Which act is classified under which moral code and which part of reality is to be spotlighted at the cost of another is a social act – Knowing this, is essential in unravelling structures of power.
With regards to the mall, we must ask – Who pointed the lights on the stores and pathways, while making the mall workers disappear, as if by magic? This magical hand here belongs to corporate capitalism, while the wand that it wields is the media that blows consumerist culture into existence.
We understand that life, biologically, lies in the act of self-perpetuation. This is not very different for humans. Born, man is in constant need of basic nourishment. His needs start with the ‘menial’- The basic fuel to carry on the very entity i.e., life. For this, he is required to work. Labour – is hence the first and most essential activity that man performs. Further on, what status one acquires, what needs and luxuries one can afford, what school one sends his children to, and what hospital one can get admitted to – all depend on his position in the hierarchy of labour.
Labour produces necessities and wealth. How labour is structured, hence, affects the entire workings of society; and the world at large. Who labours for whom? Under what conditions? Who owns the means of production? What are the relations between the owner of these and those who are subjected to selling their work for wages? These are the pivotal questions around which revolves the entire gamut of human society. Strange though, it barely finds a mention in popular media.
Movies and TV serials (even social media) depict a world that resides practically outside of labour. Is it because labour is so unbearable that there is nothing interesting in it to be shown? Strange enough! Except for those who own the means of production (which happens to be a select few) the rest of mankind spends most of his life in labour. If this central part of life is unbearably boring – so is life. Knowing that to be the case with virtually all of mankind, makes it even more pertinent to put it under the public scanner.
Stark though, media circumvents this entire life-making act. Popular shows/movies cast society with the sole purpose of falling in and out of love, household intrigues and elaborate festivities. While forgetting his own life, one barely stops to ask how removed the scenes are from any semblance of real life. News prefers discussions over all kinds of issues; real or invented, except the base of human life – labour. Panellists, usually representing specialized biases, of various sections, rifle their emotions on virtually everything, except labour. Labour is considered as boring on screen, as it is in real life. It is not worth talking about. Labour – is made invisible!
The most ironic (and self-deluding) part is that those who carry their whole lives under its burden, fail to notice that they are been taken out of the screen – Consequently, life itself. They have been sidelined as a passive audience in the drama of their own lives. They watch, discuss, vilify, lionize and celebrate what lies beyond their own class existence. They console themselves with a false consciousness and shut their eyes from the travails of daily existence. While the dominant class creates an artificial reality, labour reels under corporate supervision and economic subjugation. While the common man feels cosmetically emancipated by the on-screen brawls over bourgeoisie issues – he forgets that his existence during the day is entirely subject to the mercy of corporate capitalism.
We must mention that the masses do engage in conversations that revolve around labour. After all, it affects all aspects of their lives. But, it is the lack of a proper outlet that stultifies an organised course of action and confines it to mere cribbing. People would complain all day about the dehumanising conditions in their workplace, the lack of sufficient financial resources, exploitative working conditions and so on – but such issues are neatly swept under the rug in popular media. The lack of proper outlet results in a lack of proper discourse. The misery of labour fails to capture popular imagination as a general problem. It is interned to the confines of an individual circumstance. The person thusly becomes agitated and bitter, but also inactive.
This necessitates that the masses have centre stage. That the lights must be refocused on them. They cannot be passive subjects in their own imagination; formed by mass media.
Their issues cannot be sidelined from their own eyes. If that is not possible through corporate media, an alternate people’s media must be arranged. German Marxist, Walter Benjamin rightly pointed out that progressive literature does not only demand change in content, but also in consumption – That an artist should not only revolutionalise the message, but the media as well.
Standing up to the giant of capitalism on its own turf may not be immediately possible. But, alternate modes of media and culture can, and must, be invented. For labour to acquire the place it deserves, it needs to capture the popular imagination.
This requires artistic brilliance – in literature, paintings, drama, plays, cartoons, movies, poetry and other forms of creative expression. This also requires arranging media that is accessible and enjoyable to the most downtrodden.
Only with this change in production and dissemination can labour spotlight itself. Spotlighting itself, it can bring forth its problems and aspirations. A new meaning shall be inserted into terms – This time not by the holders of power to solidify their grasp, but by workers to raise their voice for a brave new world.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.