First Blood Essay

Louis Althusser states that ideology is ‘a “representation” of the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence’. We live our lives in relation to the reality that surrounds us and accept the representation that we are alluded to by ideology. Originally, Marxists considered ideology to be a false consciousness that we were clearly aware of, but nevertheless, ignored for the sake of society. However, Althusser’s theory of ideology argues against a conscious approach to the way we understand our lives. He claims that ideological thought as ‘nothing to do with ‘consciousness’ […] but it is above all as structures that they impose.’ He believes that ideology is an unconscious act and one that we accept to be our

Althusser explains that Marxist theory had determined the state apparatuses that govern society by ‘functions of violence’ which he coins as the ‘Repressive State Apparatus.’ These are institutions that the ruling class use to control the population by use of police, the army and the prison system. If these rules are broken, they have the power to repress such an individual by the use of force. This is seen in the film First Blood where the protagonist John Rambo is hunted by police in order to not only protect the town in which they live, but also to cover up the corruption of the police force and it’s use of brutality. They repress him in order to maintain control of society. Althusser adds that, in tandem with repression, there is another set of apparatuses that are ideological by nature. If a person does not pose a threat that needs to be repressed, then they have become ‘realized into the Ideological State Apparatus’ within their society. These apparatuses concern the ways in which characters are ‘taught to think and act in specific ways.’ The dominant classes create institutions that the lower classes believe as the correct and truthful way of life via the ‘unity’ of these apparatuses. By their unification, subjects understand what we would define as common sense, though this common sense has already be designed for them. Charles Dickens’ novel Great Expectations assesses the class struggle between the working and middle class. It and many other realist texts, are bound by cultural ISA’s that determine the importance a character’s class, place of work or even the clothes that they were. The cultural distance between the dominant bourgeoisie lifestyle and that of the working class is highlighted by the character of Estella, by the way she treats