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How The Trailer Park Boys Shows The Division Of Classes In Relation To Marx

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Trailer Park Boys has the reputation of being considered an example of low culture with seemingly mean less storylines. Many believe that this show has no educational value and contains storylines with little to no depth. However, in season 7, episode 10, Marxist ideas are displayed regarding the ruling class and the division of classes. As the Trailer Park Boys run an international drug smuggling operation, they are subject to the law enforcement, the ruling class, and must surrender to a police force. However, they are faced with a choice in which country to surrender to as they are in-between the two countries. The Trailer Park Boys demonstrates the division of classes in relation to Marx's work and how the ruling class influences a society. …show more content…

This represents Marx's ideas of the ruling class as, "the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force" (Engels and Marx 21). Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles are successful in sending the marijuana into the United States and receiving the tobacco in return before the authorities catch them. However, they are caught by Lahey and then the FBI who both have the resources and authority to arrest them and punish them for their crimes. This represents the idea that the police have a higher position in society than the Trailer Park Boys and are considered a part of the ruling class. Accordingly, when they are caught in the middle of the river with a police force on either side, they must make a choice in which side to surrender. For a moment the Trailer Park Boys have power over the ruling class, but they are still subject to their power as they will face punishment regardless of the decision they make. The division of power is evident through the situations in which the Trailer Park Boys were against various forms of law …show more content…

Lahey is an alcoholic who comes from the same town as the Trailer Park Boys and struggles with maintaining the typical image of a police officer. In the eyes of the American law enforcement, Lahey is below them and they have more power than a Canadian small-town police officer. While the Americans are shown as a sophisticated police force who have helicopters and a team of snipers ready to apprehend Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles, Lahey has a sole weapon and a bottle of liquor. This demonstrates that the Americans have more power than Lahey due to being, "the class which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production" (Engels and Marx 21). This is due to the availability of resources of the FBI in comparison to Lahey. Both sides claim to have control when trying to make the arrest and bargain with the Trailer Park Boys over the length of their prison sentence. Again, the struggle to be the ruling class is evident in this situation as both sides want to apprehend them. There was a divide in the power distribution between the Canadian and American law enforcement which led to an image of a division of classes and the ruling

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