Political criticism in cinema: Marxist theory and cinema

Considering its historical development, it can be argued that criticism has an effective role within struggles for power. Criticism is seen as a step especially by the dominant powers in order to be able to organize and govern rest of the society according to their ideology; and to shape public sphere in line with this ideology. What is said and written are all evaluated within this frame. If criticism re-produces the public sphere, then it is positive; if it arouses doubt, then it is negative.One thing is certain that Marxist theory makes a remarkable contribution to the field of criticism by arousing doubt about the bourgeois public sphere through its historical and social analysis. The theory through the method that it suggested reveals contradictions of bourgeois ideology and meta-production process which shaped this ideology. As a result the theory played a historical role in making the opposite groups more effective. Therefore, if such a theory will be correlated with art, then it is particularly important to understand that it requires political devotion in criticism. The reason is that, the method of criticism, which is shaped along with this theory, analyzes a certain art work to the extent that it reflects contradictions and arouses doubt about dominant public sphere. Also, while doing this, it is not the case that this method of criticism ignores concepts and the method that the theory uses. This study aims to present a criticism method, tailored for cinema, that will clear these doubts; and to contribute to form a more democratic discussion platform with the help of movie reviews that will be done through this method.