Reindeers, Marxists, Gramsci...

, Gramsci’s concept of hegemony explains why working-class movements failed and why Marx’s theories in “German Ideology” never came to fruition. Gramsci believed that economic struggles weren’t enough to warrant a revolution. Simply, people were too different. “Gramsci was more "dialectic" than "deterministic": he tried to build a theory which recognized the autonomy, independence and importance of culture and ideology” when I read that quote, it seems that Gramsci understood that people follow different ideologies and belong to different cultures, this would of course prevent a unified Marxian revolution. Gramsci continued to discuss reasons as to why the majority would favor the hegemony. It could be argued that certain members of the working-class didn’t feel as if they were qualified to run the world, and that the bourgeoisie, who were already the wealthier and smarter group, were better suited for controlling the masses.

Keeping Gramsci in mind, lets look at the Marxist reading or “Rudolf”. Rudolf, a mutant reindeer with a red glowing nose, ridiculed by his peers, shamed by his parents, he decides to runaway. Due to his mutation, it was assumed that Rudolf would never pull the sleigh, and thus he would never get to work. Work, being the primary goal for a reindeer. A Marxist finds the similarities between Rudolf and the working class. “The theme, like so many texts before it, is how an individual gains social acceptance, but the emphasis on how the social activities the reindeer children perform prepare them for entrance into the labor force makes it clear that this acceptance and work are somehow inextricably linked” Not until Rudolf finds a use for his mutation is he accepted. Work good, no work, not good, this is how the ruling class see the working-class.

The elf that Rudolf was paired with wanted to stop making toys and become a dentist, interesting how this decision wasn’t based on paychecks but on his own inadequacies in the toy making business. Going back to Gramsci, the economy wouldn’t be enough for a revolution, it would depend on ideology and people. Rudolf and the elf “revolt” by leaving and trying to make it on their own. Their revolution is clearly short-lived because no other workers share their views. I am reminded of Huxley’s “Brave New World” two characters felt apart from the natural order of things. After their time with the Savage they both tried to convince people how the world could be and how it used to be, no one cared. The majority already embraced the hegemony. The world in “Brave new World” was only a dystopia for those two characters, everyone was happy, it was in fact pretty close to Marx’s dream world. As Gramsci said, the economy wouldn’t be enough, it depends on the people, if they submit to the rule and think the world is a utopia, it’ll be hard to pull them in for a revolution.