This shirt brought to you by capitalism

I have a friend who owns this t-shirt. This was the first thing I thought of after reading Christopher Craig’s post. This friend wears the t-shirt proudly, as if he’s pointing out to those Reds that they’re trapped within the system of capitalism. I find this to be a similar example to Communist Manifesto marketed with trendy jeans. This shirt takes it a step even further. It blatantly points out that Che Guevara has become a commodity. My friend is a supporter of a capitalist system, but what does his shirt really say? Maybe his actions are slightly misunderstood in the respect that he is pointing out that Guevara is a commodity. Most people view the shirt and have a good chuckle, not even considering the complications posed by the statement. In the end, my friend still paid his hard earned $15.95 to a company in exchange for some twisted consumer item.

Has capitalism eaten up activism? I seem to think so. I’m required to express a radical idea through clothing. I could wear the classic Che Guevara shirt. Capitalism already has that base covered. Or I could wear some trendy jeans that are marketed to me as revolutionary. The fact that clothing has become a symbol of activism is a sign that marketing companies are doing their job right. People look right back into capitalism to spend their dollar in attempt to make a statement.

Another example expressed was the type of English course taught in a public high school. I am a graduate of not just any public high school, but a regionalized one, home of the foreign language department budget cuts. When we first discussed liberal humanism, I thought “These ideas seem to go back to junior year English class.” We were sent home with a copy of Hamlet and told to find these great themes. After my first exposure to theory, I then thought “Why didn’t anyone tell me this before?” Not once was I told to do a Marxist reading of Shakespeare, nor had theory ever been mentioned. I feel like that sums up what Marxist criticism is trying to say. My high school teacher was instructing me to consume a text that coincides with the dominant ideology.

I also appreciate the last line. “Hence, our ability to grasp and practice Marxist criticism provides us with the tools necessary both to understand literature from a class-based perspective and also to acknowledge the ideological forces that consistently attempt to shape our lives.” Theory is actually practical in this sense. If a person can do a Marxist reading of Shakespeare, for example, I would believe it would be hard to avoid not analyzing other things around us. When learning abstract theories, knowing that this can affect my life outside the classroom gives me an extra boost when reading dense material.