Marxists at the Movies

S2E2 - The Breakfast Club (1985): The Revolution That Stayed in the Library

🎬 The Breakfast Club (1985): The Revolution That Stayed in the Library It's April, and we're crashing Saturday detention — Marxist-style. 🏫✊ Marxists at the Movies takes John Hughes's generation-defining classic through a dual-track analysis: Marxist critique meets developmental psychology and neuroscience. We're talking Baumrind's parenting styles, Elkind's Imaginary Audience, Hot Cognition, and the specific way high-control environments shape the adolescent brain — and the film that almost named all of it but flinched at the last second. We cover the studio interference that lobotomized the original cut, the toxic relationship modeling nobody interrogated in 1985, the blinding whiteness of Shermer's "universal" empathy — and we make the case that Ally Sheedy essentially co-wrote this movie and got a makeover scene for her trouble. 🎨❄️ This month's Comrade of the Week? You already know. Don't you forget about her. 🐱 Executive Producer Myron approves this message from a sunny windowsill. ⏰ Patreon members got this one a full month early! Join the CineMarch Media Information Club at patreon.com/cinemarchmedia — Marxists at the Movies starts at just $7/month, or go Full Spectrum Comrade at $12/month and add CultFroggy to your roster. 🌐 Everything we do lives at cinemarchmedia.com Leftist nostalgia for the people. 📽️🔨

S1E43 - Yentl (1983): The Cost of Truth

Visit ⁠⁠www.cinemarchmedia.com⁠⁠ and patreon.com/cinemarchmedia to support the work.In this episode of Marxists at the Movies, we dismantle the yeshiva as an ideological site in Barbra Streisand’s Yentl (1983) — viewing it not just as a musical debut, but as a fifteen-year cage match of attrition against the Hollywood patriarchy.While often remembered as a feminist fable or a "novelty premise," Yentl is something more rigorous: a study of forbidden knowledge and the brutal mechanics of exclusion. It is a film where the need for total control functions as both a survival strategy and a creative prison. The camera doesn’t just capture a performance; it documents a woman clutching her directing monitor for dear life, transforming a decade of rejection into a symbolic test case for female authorship.We examine the film as a workplace of intellectual production: where the pursuit of truth is a commodity denied to the feminine, and where "precision" stops being professionalism and starts functioning as armor. From the clandestine study of the Talmud to the non-diegetic interior monologues, Yentl reveals how intensity and ambition can only be made "respectable" through the tightest possible calibration.This isn’t a simple critique of the musical.It’s an analysis of how cultural meaning is vindicated through a struggle against the means of production.This is not just a song.This is a defense.This is the cost of truth — rehearsed down to the syllable.If Yentl once felt like a triumphant arrival — we’re asking what was lost in the "fifteen-year war" to get it made.And why the industry found a woman handling millions of dollars so threatening.And yes — Myron is listening too, tail twitching in approval from their usual spot.

S1E42 - Madonna - Truth Or Dare (1991): Machine of Queer Extraction

Visit ⁠www.cinemarchmedia.com⁠ [http://www.cinemarchmedia.com] and patreon.com/cinemarchmedia to support the work. In this episode of Marxists at the Movies, we step inside Madonna’s Truth or Dare (1991) — not as a tour documentary, but as a tightly engineered system of labor, intimacy, and queer visibility under capitalism. Often remembered as scandal, provocation, or queer breakthrough, Truth or Dare is something more precise — and more unsettling. It is a machine that extracts authenticity, vulnerability, and cultural transgression, then repackages them as brand reinforcement. The camera doesn’t just observe Madonna’s orbit; it disciplines it. Desire is curated. Boundaries are tested selectively. Queerness is invited in — but only as long as it performs, entertains, and stabilizes the center of power. We examine the film as a workplace disguised as a confessional: dancers competing for proximity, loyalty framed as love, and intimacy staged as access. From the ballroom scene to the backstage rituals, Truth or Dare reveals how queer labor is spotlighted, aestheticized, and consumed — while remaining structurally disposable. This isn’t a takedown of Madonna’s artistry. It’s an analysis of how cultural icons function inside late-capitalist spectacle. This is not rebellion. This is extraction. This is queerness at work — smiling for the camera. If Truth or Dare once felt thrilling, dangerous, or liberating — we’re asking why. And who paid the cost. And yes — Myron is listening too, tail twitching in approval from their usual spot.

S1E41 - MUSIC - New Kids on the Block - Step By Step (1990): The Backstage Bedroom

We’re back — after an extended break — and truly, thank you for your patience. 🖤 Marxists at the Movies (Music) has reopened the backstage door, fluffed the pillows, and turned the camera back on. Visit ⁠www.cinemarchmedia.com⁠ and ⁠patreon.com/cinemarchmedia⁠ to support the work. In this episode, we step into New Kids on the Block’s 1990 blockbuster Step by Step — an album that didn’t just dominate the charts, but perfected the pop-industrial fantasy of access, intimacy, and desire. This is The Backstage Bedroom: the carefully staged illusion where fans are invited to feel close, chosen, and special… without ever touching the machinery that’s actually running the show. We dig into NKOTB at their absolute commercial peak — post-Hangin’ Tough, pre-collapse — when boy band labor, gender performance, and teen devotion were engineered into a seamless, wildly profitable system. From the title track’s assembly-line momentum to the softer moments designed to simulate vulnerability, Step by Step reveals how pop masculinity is manufactured, softened, and sold — one heartthrob at a time. This isn’t nostalgia.This is labor.This is branding. This is desire under late capitalism, wearing a backwards baseball cap and asking you to trust him. If you’ve ever wondered why Step by Step felt both thrilling and strangely empty — we’re going there. If you’ve ever sensed that the bedroom was part of the product — welcome in. Thanks for sticking with us — truly. And yes, Myron is back too, tail twitching in approval from their preferred listening spot.

S1E40 - MUSIC - Carly Simon - Come Upstairs (1980): Punk, Pain, and Power

Visit www.cinemarchmedia.com [www.cinemarchmedia.com] and patreon.com/cinemarchmedia [patreon.com/cinemarchmedia] to support the work. This episode was supposed to drop during November’s Birthday Extravaganza, but better late than never — Edward’s birthday month has officially rolled straight into December. It’s that big of a deal. Even Myron has accepted this and is celebrating by twitching their tail in approval. In this Marxists at the Movies (Music) deep dive, we crack open Carly Simon’s 1980 album Come Upstairs — the messy, feral, genre-bending pivot where she kicked off the heels, walked past the polite singer-songwriter box, and plugged herself straight into the emotional wall socket. This is Carly at her rawest: punk edges, disco residue, and a whole lot of pain sharpened into power. We dig into the production choices, the cultural moment of 1980, and the way Carly tears through gender, desire, humiliation, and self-reinvention like she’s slicing through velvet wallpaper with a broken guitar string. If you’ve never heard Jesse the way a Marxist hears it — buckle up. If you’ve never considered Take Me as I Am a class war anthem — welcome. If you’ve ever felt like the ‘80s began with one woman kicking down the door — that woman was Carly Simon. And for the comrades at the $10 Hammer and Visionary tier, don’t miss this week’s Patreon Bonus Episode — an in-depth Marxist analysis of Carly’s spellbinding track “Boys in the Trees.” Thanks for listening, comrades — and Myron says hi from their winter perch. #cinemarchmedia #MarxistsAtTheMovies #MarxistsAtTheMusic #Communism #Socialism #CarlySimon #ComeUpstairs #1980Music #AlbumAnalysis #MikeManieri #LeftistMediaCritique #MusicHistory #ExCult #CultSurvivor #CultAwareness #CultRecovery #MyronTheCat #SidMcGinnis