Micheal Clayton, the Marxist Outlook.
The father of communism, social theorist and developer of historical materialism theory, Karl Marx thought that the foundation of material understanding of history is an acknowledgment of the factors of the levels of development powers, and specifically impact of material production on the development process and social conscience changes. In this perspective historical process shown as a typical change of social formation conditioned upon the level of production forces growth and as such methods of production. I’ll explain how “Michael Clayton” is a Marxist movie.
According to Marx, states are run in the interests of the ruling class but never represent the common interest of all. He predicted that, like previous socioeconomic systems, capitalism produced internal tensions that would lead to its self-destruction and replacement by a new system: socialism. Class antagonisms under capitalism, owing in part to its instability and crisis-prone nature, would eventuate the working class' development of class consciousness, leading to their conquest of political power and eventually the establishment of a classless society, communism, governed by a free association of producers. Marx actively fought for its implementation, arguing that the working class should carry out organized revolutionary action to topple capitalism and bring about socio-economic change.
The theoretic basis of alienation, within the capitalist mode of production, is that the worker invariably loses the ability to determine life and destiny, when deprived of the right to think of themselves as the director of their own actions; to determine the character of said actions; to define relationships with other people; and to own those items of value from goods and services, produced by their own labour.
Film “Michael Clayton” responds to the Marxists ideas of capitalism, socialism, and alienation. Here we can see a few characters that represent these ideas. Michael, Marty, and Karen. They all are in the wrong places career-wise, which each admits trough the movie. A Marxist notion of ideology views capitalism as a generator of alienation that leads to “every man for himself” type of society. Karen is the one, who affected by alienation the most; it affects not only her job and productivity but also life. The corporation she is working in consumes her, her life is gray and empty (which we can see in the interview preparation scene), and she is pressured product of the capitalistic machine. Her personality completely shaped by the corporation and she losing her identity.
Michael, instead, changes. This shift from capitalistic to socialistic thinking frees him from the system and loses everything that is valuable for somebody who is a part of the capitalistic society. Started by Arthur and finished by Michael, the revolution (in Marxist terms) destroyed oppressive regime, represented by the corporation.
The other remarkable moment is the Michael’s son’s book, which has a red cover (was emphasized few times!) just like “Communist Manifesto” does. Its content is resembling as well. Overall, the film responds to the Marx’s theory well, but in my opinion, it’s represented more through the form rather than acting. I felt that the characters (except Arthur and Michael’s son) were very flat and had trouble to represent what they meant, to make the movie accomplished.
