Question

How does the film Happiness reflect Karl Marx's discussion of alienation and how does it relate to you own life? How can we use Karl Marx's ideas about alienation and inequality to make sense of our own lives and to come up with alternative visions of how we could live instead?

Answer 1

Alienation is a condition , of estranging a person from humanity .

Happiness is a comedy movie which released in the year of 1998.

In this film, no one seems to be happy in their lives . Each and every one has a problem which is a psychological one, though happy in their professional aspect .

In this movie a character played as Bill, suffers from Pedophile . Bill's wife has got no complaints from him . Hence they have an amazing marital life . But she is unaware of the fact , that he is a pedophile . Pedophile ; who is sexually attracted towards children .  

According to me , it is the Alienation of the worker from the act of production. Here the person is left with little satisfaction to the worker in a capitalistic society.

The role of middle sister , Helen wants someone in her love life . But an obscene phonecall repeatedly calls her making her feel irritated. When she came to know about the person , she did not like it. As she was not attracted towards that person. This would be Alienation of the workers from their species essence. This is where , the concerned person( helen) has all the required potentials . Allen is the one who is her neighbour and makes unidentified calls to her . (capiatlist mode of production) forcing her to loose the identity and self development of her. Creating problems for someone , is a way of concern.

Inequality should not be made . Instead it should be avoided . Marx, in his theory inequality states that there is a dispartiy between the class struggles and labour exploitation. There were twom main classes in the society . They are the bourgeiose and the proletariat . Bourgeoise was the one , who are known as the controller of means of production. Proletariat are ones who are the labour class , and are considered to be the labour provider.

They were exploiated in terms of hours of work, wage , etc.  

People need to have broader mindset . Treating them equally and not poorly.

Considering the factory where the firecrackers are made , that is where a large number of children are employed. The children who work over there are mostly under 18 . This is one of the inequality which prevails in the country.

Children aged below 18 should not be working in firework houses. This is termed as child labour exploitation. Many of them die as they are not provided with the safety aids , and they are susceptible to danger zones. Saftey aids should be provided to each and everyone . Death reports are recorded , and are not published .Hence , they are hardly known by the people. This is another aspect of inequality.