The Pixar’s movie Monster’s University has plenty of Ideological State Apparatus institutions according to the Louis Althusser’s 1970 article “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses: Notes Toward an Investigation” (Dan Scanlon, 2013). The two main lines of that movie are Education and Culture institutions of ISA (Althusser, 1970). This film shows how Education and Culture institutions teach monsters to live effectively in the monster’s society and follow the ideology’s norms and rules.
According to the Louis Althusser's theory Repressive State Apparatus (RSA) is used by those, who are in power in order to establish norms and enforce society to follow that norms (1970). The main components of RSA are Government, Police, Court and Jail. Moreover, the main tool to make this theory work is mental and physical repression and violence (Althusser, 1970). Repressive State Apparatus institutions are also following established ideology and make society aware of that ideology (Althusser, 1970). On the other hand, Ideological State Apparatus (ISA) is used by those, who are in power in order to teach norms and rules to the society and make them to follow this norms voluntarily or using some level of violence. The main institutions of the ISA are Family, Education, Religion, Legal, Political, Cultural and Communications (Althusser, 1970).
The Education institution of ISA can be seen through the entire film. The movie Monster's University begins with the scene, where is small Mike Wazowski, short, green-colored monster with single eye and small horns is very excited being on the tour to the Monsters Inc with his class. Mike's appearance does not truly give him a chance to look like scary and he has not have characteristics which are required...
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...tutions of the ISA which both propagandize the profession of scarer in the Monstropolis and those, who became scarers were aware of the ideology and continue to follow it.
Works Cited
"Allegory Definition." Review. Weblog post. Ryerson University Blackboard. N.p., n.d. Web.14Nov.2013..
Althusser Loius. "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes towards an Investigation)." Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses by Louis Althusser 1969-70. N.p., Apr. 1970. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. .
Monster's University. Dir. Scanlon Dan. Pixar Animation Studios, 2013. DVD.
and Altemeyer’s approaches to authoritarianism share many similarities, such as the more descriptive approach to their work than explanatory route, where neither clearly identify the source of authoritarianism. (Jones, 2002. Cited in The Open University, 2015, p50)
2001. OUTLINE The government of Nazi Germany greatly resembled the Party, the government in 1984, as both were very power-hungry governments. I. System of government A. A. Nazi and Party ideology B. B. Propaganda and control of media II. Children A. Education of children B. Youth organizations III.
Association (2003): 31-36. Cambridge Journals Online. American Political Science Association, 30 Jan. 2003. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
Walter M. Simon The American Political Science Review , Vol. 45, No. 2 (Jun., 1951), pp. 386-399
The matrix, unlike the ideology of the "real," is explicitly defined along Althusserian lines as an ISA. Althusser identifies ISAs as "a certain number of realities which present themselves to the immediate observer" (Althusser 73). Just as the "machine" of the state is taken literally, ideology as "reality" is taken literally. Any discussion of the ISA must include both a brief discussion of the State and Althusser's use of the term "ideology." For him, the State "has no meaning except as a function of State power" and as such, "the State is the repressive State apparatus" (71-72). The State Apparatus (SA) is in turn comprised of the Repressive State Apparatus and the Ideological State Apparatus. The RSA will be discussed in further detail later, but to understand how the matrix serves as an ISA, a brief discussion of ideology is called for.
Victor Frankenstein’s monster educates himself which shapes the role of his character in the novel. The monster receives the majority of his education through watching humans speak and the actions they portray. He finds books in the woods, including Paradise Lost and reads them. The story of the monster can somewhat be related to the reading from our textbook, “The Mis-Education of the Negro” by Carter G. Woodson. Several sources go about in different angles about the monster’s education. A blog about Frankenstein, The Monster of Literary Theory, mostly discusses the monster’s education through a literary sense by reading. Another source from a University of Pennsylvania English website talks about Mary Shelley and how the monster learns from observation, not just texts. The monster is abandoned and left uneducated. He goes about on his own to give himself an education through reading and the observation of others. The story of the monster can be compared to many realities that this world has faced over many years. He is said to be an evil monster because of his actions, but how would he really know what evil really is without the proper education?
Monsters are one of the most difficult things to define. They lack a black and white definition and as result they are open to many interpretations. Monsters are capable of imposing fear on certain groups of people, but not on others. In his story, “Beautiful Monsters,” Eric Puchner creates a scenario where unlikely groups of people are considered monsters. Similarly, Jonathan Swift’s satirical essay, “A Modest Proposal,” creates a variety of different monsters in one troubled society. Both pieces of literature, however, are not simply just descriptions of different monsters; instead their underlying themes serve as a message about how monstrosity is defined. Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” clearly supports Puchner’s message that monstrosity is a matter of perspective by exploiting the differences in society and how different people living in those societies are viewed.
It was during the 1920’s to the 1940’s that totalitarian control over the state escalated into full dictatorships, with the wills of the people being manipulated into a set of beliefs that would promote the fascist state and “doctrines”.
Cassier, M. (1999) The Shattered Horizon, How Ideology Mattered to Soviet Politics. Studies in European Thought, 51(1). 35-59.
Gilmore, David D. "Why Study Monsters?" Gilmore, David D. Monsters: Evil Beings, Mythical Beasts, and All Manner of Imaginary Terrors. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003. 210.
Education is a tool to advance an individual and a society; however, education can become a means to gain power when knowledge is used to exercise control over another. In Frankenstein, knowledge becomes the downfall of both Victor Frankenstein and the Monster. The novel explores the consequent power struggle between Victor Frankenstein and his creation, the dichotomy of good and evil, and the contrast between intellectual and physical power. Finding themselves in mirroring journeys, Victor Frankenstein and the Monster are locked in a struggle for dominance. Through these two characters, Mary Shelley explores the consequences of an egotistical mindset and of using knowledge to exercise power over others.
The Monster, created by Victor Frankenstein out of carefully selected corpses, is a round, dynamic character. Born as a tabula rasa, the creature is accosted by all the natural elements of our ordinary physical world as an adult with no guidance. He experiences light and sight, cold and hunger and immediate rejection by his creator. His mind is intellectually capable of this awareness very quickly. In the beginning of Chapter 11, the Monster recounts the ‘oppressive light’, insatiable thirst and extreme tiredness which he experienced shortly after becoming alive. “I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch; ...
Overall, the film The Elephant Man gives us a new aspect about “monster”, and how people think and react to this topic. Besides, Jeffery Cohen’s Monster Theory brings us a more scientific about monsters, and the effects of them in real life. In fact, thesis 1 – Monster’s body is the cultural body, thesis 6 – Fear of the monster is really a kind of desire, and the last one – Monster stands at the threshold of becoming have the significant relationships with the explanations of the life of John Merrick, and the society in which he lives. The argument about monsters will be continued all over again, but at least the film and the theory helps to introduce a much more different ways to look and recognize the real monsters in the real world.
MODERN HISTORY – RESEARCH ESSAY “To what extent was Nazi Germany a Totalitarian state in the period from 1934 to 1939?” The extent to which Nazi Germany was a totalitarian state can be classed as a substantial amount. With Hitler as Fuhrer and his ministers in control of most aspects of German social, political, legal, economical, and cultural life during the years 1934 to 1939, they mastered complete control and dictation upon Germany. In modern history, there have been some governments, which have successfully, and others unsuccessfully carried out a totalitarian state. A totalitarian state is one in which a single ideology is existent and addresses all aspects of life and outlines means to attain the final goal, government is run by a single mass party through which the people are mobilized to muster energy and support.
Althusser separates the State Apparatus into two sections, one being the Repressive State Apparatus (RSA) and the other being the Ideological State Apparatus (ISA). The RSA encompasses things like the military, police and government, whereas the ISA contains things like education, religion and family. The RSA is fundamentally different from the ISAs for two reasons, the first being that the RSA is strictly in the public domain whereas the ISAs can exist in both the public and private domain. The second difference is that, “the Repressive State Apparatus functions ‘by violence’, whereas the Ideological State Apparatus functions ‘by ideology’”(97). Althusser qualifies this statement by saying that the RSA truly functions by both violence as well as ideology since no apparatus can function by one alone. Therefore, conversely, the ISAs function primarily by ideology and secondarily by violence, although most of this violence is usually internal to the apparatus.