Movies about Socialism

So I’m teaching a new course, a freshman seminar, entitled “Socialism: Real and Imagined.” In the context of economic crisis and the willingness of the right to throw about the word “socialism”, the idea is to have first year students think through the different meanings of the word, examine some concrete experiments in socialism (Mondragon, Swedish wage-earner funds…) and then imagine feasible and plausible forms of socialism, applicable to highly industrialized democratic societies (i.e. societies like ours).In the imagining section of the course, I’d like to use some utopian novels and some movies that deal with socialism. I’d welcome any suggestions for either books or movies. I’m thinking of using Bellamy’s “Looking Backwards” and Le Guin’s “Dispossessed” for novels, but others would be welcome. In the movie category, I’m less interested in the Soviet experience than how socialism has been discussed or proposed in the West.Thanks for any help.

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21 Responses to Movies about Socialism

  1. reynolds says:

    I’m finally into Carlos, just finished part I, and came on to remind myself of the discussions on BMC–and see you guys started a while ago. I’m really struck by these varied exercises which enact as well as represent the intersections of aesthetics, politics, and revolution.

    And, yeah, Ramirez is amazing, as is the occasional use of New Order (which seems incisive, as well as seductive).

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