Commodity fetishism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Commodity fetishism - Essay Example Significantly, these dynamics form the framework of both subjects and popular cultural forms. Commodity fetishism is not merely a notion or illusion. It refers to the functioning of capitalism as a system, and explains why media representation has ideological power. The 1994 Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or award-winning film Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, USA, 1994) consists of a trio of stories revolving around the â€Å"violent misadventures of a collection of outlaws – right out of the pages of pulp fiction† (Marlow, 2001: 90). Marx’s theory of commodity fetishism explains the ideological concepts in the film. Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to provide an ideology critique of the film Pulp Fiction written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, 1994. The critique will be based on Marx’s theory of commodity fetishism. Extensive changes have occurred in cultural, political and economic practices since around 1972. These changes are related to the new major ways in which time and space are experienced by individuals. Postmodernism is related to the culture of the advanced capitalist societies, with a changing sensibility and a shift in the structure of feeling, in practices, and discourse formations. This leads to new assumptions, experiences and propositions, as evident in cultural manifestations and the media including films (Harvey, 1989). Developed by modernist culture, â€Å"the postmodern is characterized by experiments in time, space and perception† (Wayne, 2005: 108); it is now increasingly integrated with popular genres, as in Pulp Fiction and other films such as The Usual Suspects (Bryan Singer, 1995), and Sliding Doors (Peter Howitt, 1998). Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film Pulp Fiction is â€Å"one of the best examples of the mysterious subtext of the curio shop in contemporary narratives† (Goh, 2002: 19). The film has been highly popular, winning critical acclaim,