Station_7_Stuff

//Station #7: A Place For My Stuff // __CONTEXT __ Comedian George Carlin was an American comedian, social critic, actor, and author.Carlin was noted for his black comedy and his thoughts on politics, the English language, psychology, religion, and various taboo subjects. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time. One newspaper called Carlin “The Dean of all counterculture comedians.”

In 2004, Carlin was placed second on the Comedy Central Network’s list of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians. Carlin’s routines focused on sociocultural criticism of modern American society. He often commented on contemporary political issues in the United States and satirized the excesses of American culture. In 2008, he was posthumously awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor for his “contributions to satire.”

One of his most famous bits is titled //(A Place For My) Stuff.// On the anniversary of Carlin’s passing, the //Huffington Post// noted: “Think about the absurdity of paying money to store a bunch of stuff. Yet there is so much of it in my home, my car, and hell, even my desk. And it all keeps growing by the day. We contemplate moving, or getting storage, or finding someone to store it, instead of parting with it. George Carlin was right about our obsession and propensity to keep gathering ‘stuff.’ The ridiculousness of our hoarding habits, and what Carlin infers throughout the course of his satirical rant on materialism, would surely make Karl Marx proud.”


 * Play the three short video clips below. **As you watch and listen, be sure to keep //informal// notes in your pamphlet. What **__statements__**, **__motifs__**, and **__themes__** //immediately// strike you as **__memorable__** or **emotionally impactful**? As you watch, keep the following questions in mind. (Do not //formally// answer them. Use them as a basis for your note-taking.)

//What is Carlin’s point? Why might it “make Marx proud”? //

//What specific lines or inferences from the bit would a Marxist critic want to cite and analyze? //

//What information is worthy of looking at through Marxist lenses? //


 * Click [[file:Carlin Wiki 1 (ATV).m4v|here]] to watch the first clip. Click [[file:Carlin Wiki 2 (ATV).m4v|here]] to watch the second clip. Click [[file:Carlin Wiki 3 (ATV).m4v|here]] to watch the third clip. **

* * * * * Now take note of the still pictures below. Consider the **__meaning__ ** of these images.







Finally, **__engage in a small-group discussion__**. Each member of the group **__must contribute to the process by fulfilling an assigned role__**. Then, in a thoughtful, “MEL-style” short essay response, answer this question:

<span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">What **__specific information__** should a Marxist critic consider in an analysis of this text? Using that information as **__evidence__**, what **__meaning__** can //we// make of this text, **__using Marxist tenets as our “lenses”__**?