The Communist Melodramfesto

The Communist Manifesto is a melodramatic work because the work itself mobilizes public opinion to support “every revolutionary movement against the existing social and political order of things.” The Manifesto points out the villain, the bourgeoisie, and the victimized hero, the proletariat, who must overthrow the villain in order to be understood. It even goes one step further to point out their allies, but also the reasons why they disagree with them. The Communists band their members together by taking a victimized standpoint, much like Bush in the reading, in order to justify their violent and forcible overthrow of the bourgeoisie. They use motivational grammar and the images of chains to show the struggle they have been facing by the bourgeoisie. Using this melodramatic approach is dangerous because it is a storyline that people are accustomed too and relate to, rather than the Communist Party’s intentions. The Communist party believes that by forcibly overthrowing the government that their misunderstood message will be achieved. This revelation that people will understand only after the violent revolution is an idea that is entrenched in the idea of melodrama because people, who were in authority, will be able to see the “true virtue” of the Communists. The Communists will be justified and understood at the end of the revolution much like Harry Potter and other popular characters.