Hero of the Month: Herbert Marcuse

In between writing thesis on a pre-service sunday morning, I've decided to give a bit of thought to my other mini essay. KT wants us to critic two films and analyze its political significance. I've decided to look at Eric Khoo's Be With Me and Royston Tan's 4:30, and see how their narratives critic the 'one-dimensional society' of Singapore. The 'one-dimensional society' concept was conjured by Herbert Marcuse in the 1960s, when he says that the overt mechanization of society, and the sanitization of American politics by business lobby groups have led to the 'one-dimensional man', a person who is only capable of linear thinking in the so-called 'American dream', where

True Love = a complete family with a son and a daughter
Intelligence = excellent academic grades in the sciences and social sciences
Success = money and promotion in the corporate world
Leisure = watching tv after a hard day of pursuing success

The myth of those virtues kinda went through a bit of tension in the midst of the vietnam wars, the civil rights movements, the JFKs, the Martin Luthers, the CIA, the de Gaulles, and to some extent the 1968 May revolutions in Paris (which is probably the year which ended the reign of communism, and not 1989... I think ). Consequently, he urges everyone to take a stand in the Great Refusal, lest we become incapable of alternative societies. I'm not sure how his Great Refusal works, but maybe it means it is possible to define success in terms of failure? Or maybe love and care for someone without ever getting married? I think the photo above shows him in UC Berkeley giving a lecture in the 60s! Can you imagine students flocking to you because of how your lecture has impacted so much in their lives? Chan Heng Chee wrote her 1975 book "Politics in an administrative state: where has the politics gone?" based on Marcuse's idea of the one-dimensional society. Funny how she is now Singapore's ambassador to US! Resistance and co-option - I guess that is how our singapore version of one-dimensional society works eh? But I think singapore films are offering a platform for singaporeans to have critical thinking of our own little garden city. Anyway, I think I'm getting a bit incapable of any critical thinking these days; I'm a bit tired of school/life.