Corporate anti-capitalism strengthens capitalist realism rather than challenging it.
Evidence
In the cases of gangster rap and Ellroy, capitalist realism takes the form of a kind of super-identification with capital at its most pitilessly predatory, but this need not be the case. In fact, capitalist realism is very far from precluding a certain anti-capitalism. After all, and as Žižek has provocatively pointed out, anti-capitalism is widely disseminated in capitalism. Time after time, the villain in Hollywood films will turn out to be the ‘evil corporation’. Far from undermining capitalist realism, this gestural anti-capitalism actually reinforces it. … The role of capitalist ideology is not to make an explicit case for something in the way that propaganda does, but to conceal the fact that the operations of capital do not depend on any sort of subjectively assumed belief. It is impossible to conceive of fascism or Stalinism without propaganda – but capitalism can proceed perfectly well, in some ways better, without anyone making a case for it. — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 29
Categorization
- XREF: Reinforces the reader’s accumulated material on how ideology operates through practice not belief — connects to Žižek’s disavowal structure read in Essential Essays and Frankfurt School sources. — connects to: Effective anti-capitalism must rival, not merely react to, Capital. — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 162; Capitalism co-opts opposition and must be escaped rather than confronted — Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media: How Wall Street…, 468; Corporate anti-capitalist satire reinforces rather than undermines capitalist realism — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 29 (+2 more)
Related
- Corporate anti-capitalist satire reinforces rather than undermines capitalist realism (similarity 0.87)
- Anti-capitalist messages on screen can end up reinforcing capitalist realism (similarity 0.87)
- Capitalism’s ideology is now itself anti-capitalist in content (similarity 0.86)
- A work faithfully depicting capitalist realism may thereby reinforce it (similarity 0.84)
- Capitalism differs from fascism in requiring no propaganda or subjectively assumed belief (similarity 0.81)
- Capitalism functions on performed belief rather than sincere conviction (similarity 0.81)
- Anti-capitalist films can end up affirming capital’s own fantasies (similarity 0.81)
- Capitalist realism reflects social decomposition, not just individual persuasion. (similarity 0.80)
- Anti-state rhetoric across the spectrum now sustains capitalist realism (similarity 0.80)
- Effective anti-capitalism must rival, not merely react to, Capital. (similarity 0.80)
- Capitalism cannot function without its ideological disguises and myths (similarity 0.80)
- Inner anti-capitalist belief licenses continued capitalist participation. (similarity 0.80)
- Hollywood permits anti-capitalist speech but portrays direct action against the rich as dystopian. (similarity 0.79)
- Capitalist realism is belief in capital’s invincibility, not belief in its merits (similarity 0.79)
Broader Connections
- Corporate anti-capitalist satire reinforces rather than undermines capitalist realism
#corroborates(0.95) — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 29 - Anti-capitalist messages on screen can end up reinforcing capitalist realism
#corroborates(0.90) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2223 - Effective anti-capitalism must rival, not merely react to, Capital.
#expands(0.80) — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 162 - Capitalism co-opts opposition and must be escaped rather than confronted
#qualifies(0.75) — Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media, 468 - Inner anti-capitalist belief licenses continued capitalist participation.
#complicates(0.75) — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 31