Many people have fantasies about their future in the world. Some are able to live out these fantasies while others continue to see them in their head and know that they can never become reality. Herbert Marcuse connects philosophy with phantasy and how phantasy can be brought to reality through reason. Meaning, that reality matters when reason comes with it. In order for philosophy to be affective there has to be some phantasy and reality. A phantasy that many have involves not having to work but still having everything we want and need in our lives, but because reason played through phantasy then creates reality that is why phantasy is not in true existence in the world. The most important point of this critical theory is the perspectives of how society differentiates reality and phantasy. In the movie Material Girls I believe that this theory is well played out.
The two young ladies were born into a world of privilege and lots of money. They never had to work a day in their life just like many in society would like to have. However, reality hits them when there is a scandal within their company and are not able to solve the problem because they never handled the problem on their own. Their most trusted employee was the one who produced the scandal to see them fail. Throughout the process of trying to save their company these two young ladies endured hand-me-down clothes, public transportation, cleaning and preparing for them, and had no money. The young ladies lifestyle before being broke is what I would label as phantasy and after the scandal was presented then reason was brought to their way of living. How normal people lived such as getting a job, tending to themselves, etc. Throughout the movies other characters see that the young ladies clearly do not know how to behave or act without money so they show them how to solve the scandal, work for themselves instead of hiring someone, and the ladies decide that they will be handling the companies themselves as soon as everything was fixed. Once the ladies solve the scandal in their company they see that there is nothing wrong with having a “nerd boyfriend” or “valet boyfriend” instead of the big hot celebrities. They decided to work within the company instead of hiring others to do it for them and do not look at others (those with less money in society) differently than themselves. These ladies find reason to help them conduct their company on their own and prevent future scandals from happening. Critical theory is within this story because the girls find that they can still have a beautiful life with normal people and a normal life (working, dating regular people, etc.) as well as informing themselves about everything that happens within their company.
The two young ladies were born into a world of privilege and lots of money. They never had to work a day in their life just like many in society would like to have. However, reality hits them when there is a scandal within their company and are not able to solve the problem because they never handled the problem on their own. Their most trusted employee was the one who produced the scandal to see them fail. Throughout the process of trying to save their company these two young ladies endured hand-me-down clothes, public transportation, cleaning and preparing for them, and had no money. The young ladies lifestyle before being broke is what I would label as phantasy and after the scandal was presented then reason was brought to their way of living. How normal people lived such as getting a job, tending to themselves, etc. Throughout the movies other characters see that the young ladies clearly do not know how to behave or act without money so they show them how to solve the scandal, work for themselves instead of hiring someone, and the ladies decide that they will be handling the companies themselves as soon as everything was fixed. Once the ladies solve the scandal in their company they see that there is nothing wrong with having a “nerd boyfriend” or “valet boyfriend” instead of the big hot celebrities. They decided to work within the company instead of hiring others to do it for them and do not look at others (those with less money in society) differently than themselves. These ladies find reason to help them conduct their company on their own and prevent future scandals from happening. Critical theory is within this story because the girls find that they can still have a beautiful life with normal people and a normal life (working, dating regular people, etc.) as well as informing themselves about everything that happens within their company.