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ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the movie Step up Revolution using Louis Althusser‟s theory. The problem that is become the background of this study is capitalism. The capitalist treated his labors badly and it makes the proletariat fight against the capitalist by doing a protest. The proletariat used art which is flashmob dance to protest the capitalist. The analysis in this study is focused on the struggle of the proletariat; that is what makes flashmob dance as the art protest succeed to protest against the capitalist through the scene and the dialogue in the movie. This paper suggests that art can be used to protest against the capitalist. Keywords; capitalism, economic determinism, art, ideology INTRODUCTION “Art is a keyhole through which you can see the ocean of human potential. In that way, art can do everything reality can’t.” --Hofesh Shechter Nowadays, there are a lot of demonstrations to protest the injustices of capitalists. Mostly, the protest emerges because the labors feel adverse with the decision of the owner of production. The protest is usually followed by anarchy where the labors do it by destroying property. The anarchy of labor protest is the last choice to succeed their action while the owners of production do not respect their protest. The anarchy protest usually happens in reality. However, the movie “Step up Revolution” is different from what usually happens in a protest. The protest in this movie is far from anarchy where the demonstrators speak louder to deliver their aspirations through art protest. The specification of the art protest is dance. Dance in this movie is used as a media or tool to protest to the owners of production who treated his labors badly. 1 Basically, the movie “Step up Revolution” directed by Scott Speer is a dancing movie about the struggle of the lower class against the upper class. The lower class in the movie is the residents who do not have a lot of money and power. In contrast, the upper class or the rich is Bill Anderson who has a lot of money and power. The war between both sides appeared because of some problems. First, half of the lower class works for the upper class and the upper class treats them so badly. The other problem was Anderson, as the upper class who wanted to buy the lower class residence to expand his hotel area. The case above is what people usually call as capitalism. Capitalism, based on Marxist Theories of Imperialism, is the relation between workers and the owner of production or the problem between two classes (Brewer, 39). The two classes above mean the bourgeois and proletariat. Based on the definition in the book of The Thought of Karl Marx, the bourgeois is the owner of production or the capitalist and the proletariat is the workers who have no production or selling themselves for getting wages to the bourgeois (McLellan, 178). In the movie, Anderson is the capitalist or the bourgeois because he is the owner of production. As the capitalist, Anderson easily gets what he wants because he has a lot of money. Indeed, money is connected to power. When someone has a lot of money, she or he can control anyone easily. This case is supported by Karl Marx and Engels‟ theory of Marxism that is known as economic determinism which is money as the base and without money, people cannot do anything. It is implied from the statement in Original Marxism Estranged Offspring book: “Marx discovered the simple fact (heretofore hidden beneath ideological overgrowths) that human beings must have food, drink clothing and shelter first 2 of all, before they can interest themselves in politics, science, art religion and the like” (Fulton, 86) The conclusion from the statement above is human need money to fulfill their needs. Money is important in our lives, but it can be dangerous when it leads all our thinking. It will make us like a fish in a tank, which is the ideology of economic determinism. While the fish trapped in the tank, it makes the fish not know or think that there is something outside the fish tank. The contrary of the bourgeois is the proletariat. In the movie, the proletariat is the Mob and the residents. The proletariat in the movie “Step up Revolution” struggle to get their rights back. The reason why they were struggling for their rights is because of the conflict between the bourgeois and the proletariat where the bourgeois treated his labors badly and he wanted to buy the residence which caused the proletariat to feel oppressed and revolt against the bourgeois. In the movie, even though the proletariat did not have a lot of money and power like Anderson, as the bourgeois, they keep struggling to get their rights back. Being poor does not mean that they are prohibited to struggle for their rights. Like Lebowitz said, everyone has the right to their development or wealth (3). Lebowitz‟s statement implied that caste or class status cannot stop people to struggle to get their rights. In the movie, the proletariat did art protest against the bourgeois and it succeeded to beat the capitalist, or the bourgeois, who is Anderson. This is the part that makes me interested to analyze this movie. This movie shows the contrast of what Marx said about economic determinism which is money exists as the base because in the end of the movie, money could not control the situation. The case in the end of the movie is supported by 3 Althusser, who claimed in Beginning Theory by Peter Barry that art is separated from material thing (159). For instance, from what I learnt in Literature Theory class, Lenin (a Marxist) said that literature, as art, can be used to protest or against the injustices of capitalism and class differences. It is supported by Althusser, another Marxist, who said in the term of relative autonomy that “art has a degree of independence from economic forces” (Barry, 159). In this study, I attempt to analyze about the problems between two classes, bourgeoisie and proletariat that is related to the term of capitalism. Then, I attempt to analyze the social concept using Louis Althusser‟s perspective, which is related to the capitalism in society that encourages the society to do a movement to fight the injustice. After that, I will focus to analyze what makes the art protest succeed to change the social condition in the movie of “Step up Revolution” through the scenes and dialogues in the movie. By analyzing this study, based on Louis Althusser‟s theory, I hope this study will be useful for literary works and after reading this study, I hope the reader will open his/her mind about the concept of economic determinism that sometimes money means nothing. As the case in the movie, the capitalist could not use his money to control the situation. 4 LITERATURE REVIEW CAPITALISM According to Henrik Schmidt, capitalism is “the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie” (385). It means that bourgeoisie is the one who have an authority to control. By having an authority, it is easy for capitalists to control anything and the capitalist become a priority or dominate in all aspects. As Resch stated, “capitalism became a system of domination, not exploitation”(3). One thing which makes the capitalist able to control anything is because of money. Millios stated “in capitalist system, money is an intrinsic and necessary element in capitalist economic relations” (27). Millios‟ statement is similar like the term economic determinism which is money as the base. So, it is clear that the basic capitalist‟s thought is about money. The term of capitalism is connected to the movie “Step up Revolution” because the background of the problem in the movie is about how the owner or the rich treated his laborers which made them feel oppressed and attacked to the capitalists. LOUIS ALTHUSSER and the THEORY Louis Althusser (1918-1990) is a French Marxist (Barry, 160). According to www.egs.edu, he is a famous French philosopher, especially influential for his re- invention of Marxism. He is one of other Marxists who reject Marx‟s concept about economic determinism. Althusser accepted capitalism, but he did not agree with the concept of a base. As what I said before, the term of the base means that all depend on money. Althusser has his own concept that art exists separately from the material world. According to Barry, Althusser‟s concept has “a degree of independence from economic forces” (160). This term is connected with the problem in the movie “Step up 5 Revolution” because the movie tells how the proletariats succeed to change the social condition using art protest. Still according to www.egs.edu, Althusser believed that ideology is much better than the concept of the base. He contributed an idea that contrasted to the concept of the base or superstructure. As Barry stated, “Ideology as the system of representations at the heart of a given society to give a concise definition which makes culture (including literature) a crucial vehicle of the values which underpin the status quo in any society” (160). Based on Barry‟s definition about ideology, Althusser believed that culture (including literature) can be a weapon for society to avoid for having a low class status. Althusser‟s belief is definitely different with the term of base by Karl Marx. In the movie, ideology is used to fight the capitalist. SOCIAL CONCEPT According to Clarke, Althusser argues that there are two kinds of State apparatuses. They are the Repressive State Apparatus (RSA) and the Ideological State Apparatus (ISA) (2).

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