Can Capitalism Lead to Human Happiness



Can Capitalism Lead to Human Happiness

Introduction

Iinteresting moment occurs in Alberto Moravia's Contempt(1954) when Battista Ricardo Molteni's employer, a producer financing the production of a film Molteni is hired to write is attempting to persuade Molteni to write a very specific script for the cinematic adaption of Homer's The Odyssey. Battista wants his film to be pure spectacle thus, profitable but his dilemma is situated in recognizing Molteni, his writer, is an intellectual interested in writing a psychological, neo-realist film. Clearly, this is not the type of film Battista is interested in making. Thus, in Contempt, Battista enters into a discussion with his writer, Ricardo Molteni, where he argues against the merits of making the Odysseya neo-realist film. Like neo-capitalism, neo-realist films originated after the end of World War II and the collapse of Benito Mussolini's government. This movement in art cinema distinguished itself by depicting stories of the poor and the working class. Battista makes an interesting point. Although Battista situates his argument within the context of a fictional story Contempt and within the context of film, his opinion can be applied to each, literary work this thesis examines. These literary works like the neo-realistic films Battista is referencing depict specific, negative aspects of life. Each respective work depicts a protagonist suffering existential angst largely characterized by alienation. Thus, these literary works could be considered unhealthy; this, however, is only a valid claim if the aim of these works is ultimately, immoral, which this paper does not recognize these works to be. This essay aims to explore the human hallpiness with respect to capitalism.

Discussion

If these literary works focus on one thing, it is the precarious condition of modern man; furthermore, if these works agree on one thing it is that the key to understanding modern man's suffering lays in his environment in this case, capitalist society. in a broader literary context which allows us to view these novels as an on-going dialogue focused on capturing specific developments of capitalist society across space and time in order to understand who modern man is in the context of capitalism's development. Examining the three literary works contiguously, provides a better understanding and appreciation of the theories inherent in this literature and aids us to understand the function and afflictions of Dostoevsky, Moravia, and Ellis' protagonists, respectively. Rather than accept literary comparisons are a sign of intellectual laziness on behalf of the critic—a claim made by Easton scholar Julian Murphet my thesis will prove that the message inherent in these literary works—capitalism is anti humanist is more evident when these works are read contiguously. Capitalism has not yet died, and neither have we.

Ultimately, the underground man represents the tortured consciousness of the alienated, tortured, and mentally devastated everyman existing in an early capitalist society. His consciousness is distinctive of the following characteristics: alienation, status obsession, envy, a predisposition to dominate inferior individuals, and antagonism towards society, in general. The totality of his misery is undoubtedly derived from his ...