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Student ID: 4332152

V91COM Coursework 1 Winter 2018/19

Question 2: ​With reference to one recent ‘text’, demonstrate the ways in which
class is represented and/or contested today.

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Student ID: 4332152

With the prominence of political commentary within modern media, various forms of text within

society today utilise their platform to promote certain political ideas. In the adult cartoon

television show ​Rick and Morty​, philosophical and political themes are explored, with themes

such as class division, nihilism and social hierarchy often recurring in each episode, analysed and

satirised through a postmodernist lens (Bauer, 2017). In Season 3 Episode 7, titled ​The Ricklantis

Mixup​, show writers Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon scrutinise the underlying hierarchy of

social classes that persist in current American society symbolised through the division of two

classes within a fictional city; the Ricks, who mainly represent the upper and middle class and

the Mortys, the working class. Through multiple story arcs as the narrative progresses, Roiland

and Harmon parody the events of the 2016 presidential election and portrays an archetypal

progression of historical materialism as the determinism of development through the oppression

of the proletariat. However, the writers additionally manifest society’s dependence on the

oppression of the working class in order to maintain control and order within the population.

In this essay, an analysis of the class structure represented within the episode will be conducted

to thoroughly understand how the relationship between racial and social classes in the United

States have deteriorated throughout recent years. Through the ideologies of Class Marxism and

Neoliberalism, Roiland and Harmon explores how 21st century culture in the Western world

utilises a laissez faire attitude of Neoliberalism to instill the idea of meritocracy. However, on a

larger scale, the episode shows how despite current social attitudes of individualism within the

economy, a base and superstructure relationship still exists within society which perpetuates and

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maintains a clear class division reminiscent of Marxist ideas between the working and elite class

despite attempts for historical change.

While three major plots are explored within the twenty two minute episode, one in particular

adopts the philosophical idea of Marxism and its criticism of a Capitalist based society. A

Capitalist mode of production, is defined as a “economic system based on privatised ownership

of the means of production and the exploitation of the labour force.” (Felluga 2011) Therefore,

the narrative follows a working class, blue collar ‘Rick’ who finds himself frustrated after an

upper-class businessman Rick takes over the factory, believing he deserved the position due to

his dedication to his job as an assembly line worker. Consequently, working class Rick chooses

to rebel through violence, taking hostage of the product the factory produces; Simple Rick’s

Simple wafer cookies, a confectionary snack that includes endorphins secreted from a Rick’s

brain, marketed as a snack that will satisfy “the impossible flavour of your own completion”.

However, his attempt proves unsuccessful as he is instead captured and drugged into becoming

the new ‘Simple Rick’, stuck in a virtual simulation of his own rebellion on loop, secreting

endorphins which are therefore collected for the wafer cookies. In the subplot, a Morty, seen as

the disadvantaged candidate of the presidential election unexpectedly wins the election on a

landslide after promising to unite the Ricks and Mortys of the city, promoting meritocratic ideals

and pushing forward ideas of individualism of a person rather than defining people through their

class.

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Throughout the episode, Marx’s criticism of a Capitalist based economy are projected through

the class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. Firstly, the setting of the factory

evidently projects a clear narrative for the class division, representing the means of production;

the facilities and resources, whether physical or non-physical required to produce goods (Storey

2018, p 59). The assembly line Ricks are portrayed as the proletariats, who although hold the

same intelligence and skill sets as all other Ricks, are destined for a life of labour. During a

monologue, a Morty presidential candidate explains how he believes the division within the city

were between ‘the ones who like the city divided and the rest of us’, directly aligning itself with

the idea of dependency of the division between the superstructure on the base. While the

superstructure consists of institutions and forms of social consciousness, the base combines

forces of production and the relationship of production (Storey 2018, p 63). Although the

superstructure “controls the means of intellectual property”, they do not necessarily reflect the

interests of the base and rather are “compelled... to represent its interest as the common interest”

(Storey 2018, p 63). Nonetheless, as the plot progresses, the successful election of Candidate

Morty is seen as a progression towards a meritocratic society, representing as the voice for the

proletariat; voicing alternative opinions to the norm expressed by the other Rick candidates. His

success expresses how social mobility; the movement of social status within society (Rytina,

2014), is attainable through hard work and perseverance. However, while the city will have its

very first ‘Morty’ president, the episode concludes with the reality of social mobility; it is

revealed that while a Morty holds a presidential position, he is controlled and advised by a board

of Ricks, each one representing an institution within the superstructure (science, education,

music etc.) In an inherently unequal class system, the potential of social mobility is largely

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exaggerated and is in reality extremely limited. While meritocracy is an unmistakable part of

class systems today, the concept is fundamentally “a mechanism to both perpetuate, and create,

social and cultural inequality.” (Litter 2013, pp. 52)

Moreover, the analogy of the ​Simple Rick Wafer Cookies ​symbolises the illusion of free will and

the power of commodities within our society, directly commentating on the phenomenon of

commodity fetishism. Commodity fetishism entails Marx’s critique of the obsession of product

itself, ascribing it “metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties”.. Once the commodity holds

an intrinsic value, the social relationship behind the commodity no longer holds value,

“transcending sensuousness” to possess qualities beyond its physical culture. (Lewis, 2010) The

product is marketed to bring happiness and satisfaction within one’s life, attributing feelings of

happiness and content to the purchase of the wafer cookies. Through the wafer cookies, Roiland

and Harmon satritises marketing tactics used by major companies such as Coca-Cola, who

commissioned a similar “happiness” campaign to correlate the ideas of happiness and drinking

Coca-Cola (Fitzsimmons, 2009). Furthermore, although the wafer cookies are shown in

advertising to be produced by the eponymous ​Simple Rick, ​the exploitative labour seen in the

factory workers are neglected in the value of the product. As Marx wrote in ​Capital I:

When we bring the products of our labour into relation with each other as values, it is not

because we see in these articles the material receptacles of homogeneous human labour.

Quite the contrary: whenever, by an exchange, we equate as values our different

products, by that very act, we also equate, as human labour, the different kinds of labour

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expended upon them. We are not aware of this, nevertheless we do it.​ ​Value, therefore,

does not stalk about with a label describing what it is. It is value, rather, that converts

every product into a social hieroglyphic. (Marx 1867, p. 49)

Thus, the analogy of the wafer cookies utilises the concept of fetishism at a literal level by

creating a product that would result in a intangible product; the feeling of happiness. Moreover,

during the exchange of commodities, the labour required to produce such commodities are no

longer visible and consequently is no longer the source of value. Hence, Roiland and Harmon

exposes how the illusion of mystical properties we subscribe to, regardless of the sacrifices made

by the labourers. By demonstrating the systemic problems of Capitalism, ​The Ricklantis Mixup

fundamentally applies Marx’s criticism of “the organisation of the conditions of productions and

circulation” and demonstrates how a lack of “substance of abstract value...originality, patentable

ideas” ​ (Marx 1867, p. 49) ​could be more of value and lead to the dehumanisation of the labourer

and his work.

Additionally, by following the story of assembly line Rick, Marx’s theory of alienation is

manifested within his character. Within the theory of alienation,

[An] Alienated man is an abstraction because he has lost touch with all human

specificity. He has been reduced to performing undifferentiated work on humanly

indistinguishable objects among people deprived of their human variety and compassion.

There is little that remains of his relations to his activity, product and fellows which

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enables us to grasp the peculiar qualities of his species...Consequently, Marx feels he can

speak of this life as 'the abstract existence of man as a mere workman who may therefore

fall from his filled void into the absolute void' Though Marx clearly overstates his case

in calling alienated man a hole in the air, it is in such an extreme notion that the term

'abstraction' is rooted. (Ollman 2018)

His dissatisfaction and estrangement towards his own identity as a Rick is seen in his literal

name, as he is only acknowledged by his job title, akin to how everyone else is perceived in the

city; hence while he is still a physical manifestation of a person, his identity is abstracted into

how he projects himself in his work. This idea is extended in the within the fictional city of the

Citadel, where everyone is identified through their labour, a concept reflected in Marx’s ideas of

labour as a fundamental part of a person’s individuality. Consequently, within a Capitalist based

model, the proletariat would inevitably feel a detachment towards their labour and instead the

production of labour would be fueled by the demands of the bourgeoisie. This idea of humans as

merely objects and power as the determinant of value leads to the inevitability of an uprising as

anticipated due to the exploitative nature of a Capitalist society. While the relationship between

the bourgeoisie and the proletariat in today’s society is arguably more complex than a capitalist

society during Marx’s writing, Marx’s foundational model of class struggle is still evident in the

interactions of classes today (Storey 2018, p 143). Fundamentally, it is the social interactions

people have with their economic position that defines their cultural experience, hence defining

their class (Storey 2018, p 143). This observation aligns itself with the concepts within historical

materialism; our dissatisfaction with our relationship of the material, physical world drives the

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social change required (Bao, 2018). While theoretically this cycle would bring in a new,

improved mode of production, the show presents a more pragmatic conclusion, emulating the

reality of our class system; instead of progressing towards a new mode of production,

meritocracy is again manipulated to to shift the blame against the individual, leaning towards

elements of neoliberalist ideas, specifically .

In conclusion, ​The Ricklantis Mixup ​serves as a commentary of the divisive nature of our class

system today despite how society may create ideologies that justify the disparity between the

bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Throughout the episode, Marx’s view on a capitalist society is

applied into a science fiction setting, taking liberties with the usage of analogies and symbols to

represent the consequences of a capitalist economic system. While Roiland and Harmon

satricises and parodies concepts such as commodity fetishism and meritocracy to a radical extent,

the absurdity of the plot is result of the combination between theoretical approaches of our

modern economic system and the events of our current political climate. Although class is

represented as an undeniable element of our present society, ​The Ricklantis Mixup c​ aptures the

complex relationship we have to our identity and interactions within our own class, depicting a

modern portrayal of a class system in a capitalist economic system through the perspective of a

Marxist.

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Bibliography

Bao, H. (2018). ​Communications & Culture Marxism and Class.​

Bauer, J. (2017). ​The Ricklantis Mixup – Resistance is Futile! (S3E07)​. [podcast]

Wisecrack's THE SQUANCH: A Rick & Morty Podcast. Available at:

https://soundcloud.com/thesquanch/the-ricklantis-mixup-resistance-is-futile-s3e07.

Callari, A. and Ruccio, D. (2013). Remarx. ​Rethinking Marxism​, 25(2), pp.279-284.

Felluga, D. (2011). ​Marxism Terms.​ [online] Cla.purdue.edu. Available at:

https://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/marxism/terms/termsmainframe.html

[Accessed 16 Nov. 2018].

Fitzsimmons, C. (2009). ​Coca-Cola launches new 'Happiness Factory' ad.​ [online] the

Guardian. Available at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/mar/13/coca-cola-happiness-factory

[Accessed 2018].

Lewis, Q. (2010). Shopping with Karl: Commodity Fetishism and the Materiality of Marx’s

London. ​Archaeologies​, 6(1), pp.150-166.

Marx, K. (1887). ​Capital​. 4th ed. Moscow: Progress Publishers, p.49.

Ollman, B. (2018). ​Alienation Part III, Ch. 18. The theory of alienation <DIALECTICAL

MARXISM: The Writings of Bertell Ollman.​ [online] Nyu.edu. Available at:

https://www.nyu.edu/projects/ollman/docs/a_ch18.php [Accessed 2018].

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Rytina, S. (2014). ​Social Mobility - Sociology - Oxford Bibliographies - obo.​ [online]

Oxford Bibliographies. Available at:

http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199756384/obo-97801

99756384-0049.xml [Accessed Nov. 2018].

Storey, J. (2018). ​An Introduction to Cultural Theory and Popular Culture​. 8th ed. London:

Routledge, pp.59, 63, 143.

Thiem, Y. (2017). Critical Theory in the Age of Knowledge Capitalism: Elusive

Exploitation, Affects, and New Political Economies. ​The Journal of Speculative

Philosophy,​ 31(3), p.468.

(2,155 words)

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