What most leftists throughout the twentieth century share is an obsession with the social meanings of how culture is produced, rather than the content or reception of that culture. In other words, we've been more concerned about who and what is making our art and entertainment, rather than what it says about ourselves and the world around us. There is no way to produce mass culture outside the boundaries of capitalism, and therefore we at Bad Subjects believe that leftist cultural criticism must go beyond simply discerning whether or not something has been corrupted by its market origins. Nothing is wholly determined by its position within the economy. The point of this issue is to suggest ways that the left might find itself again within art and entertainment.
Culture is irrational.
Quite often, it contradicts itself and leads its audience to reach conclusions that no corporate production company could ever imagine. With this issue, we hope to break from the bad faith principles of alternative culture and tackle the historically necessary project of opening up the left to the revolutionary possibilities in all forms of cultural expression. All rights reserved. Permission to link to this site is granted.