You’re basically asking for solidarity movies: They Live is a classic one. Sorry to Bother You. Hackers. Planet of the Apes Trilogy (the 2010’s version). O Brother Where Art Thou. Ip Man 1. Stalker.
I think just to clarify. Capitalist realism doesn’t necessarily doom these shows to being bad. The thing that dooms these shows is the combination of capitalist realism and the need to appeal to the broadest possible audiences in a simplistic way. You can have a show trapped in capitalist realism and still have a good show. Squid Game Season 1 (I’m avoiding Season 2 it’s irrelevant, there’s nothing more they can say) was perfect in that sense. It was a great critique of capitalism where victory is hollow. Your characters in the story can get crushed by the system! It’s a real thing that happens, it has emotional weight and it’s a human understanding of the problem. Writers rooms avoid this shit because Americans love treats not art, they simply want their treats to pretend to treat them like adults who can handle art. So you get these “high concept” things that run into a brick wall fairly quickly.
For example: The Good Place could have explored Kiirkegaardian ethics where Kiirkegaard says that humans in aggregate are responsible for the systems under which they live, and they can be punished by God for it in aggregate. The Good Place character arcs could have explored that within how to live with being in a position where you’re constantly being unethical in a way you have no real choice in, and how the characters deal with it.
You’re basically asking for solidarity movies: They Live is a classic one. Sorry to Bother You. Hackers. Planet of the Apes Trilogy (the 2010’s version). O Brother Where Art Thou. Ip Man 1. Stalker.
I think just to clarify. Capitalist realism doesn’t necessarily doom these shows to being bad. The thing that dooms these shows is the combination of capitalist realism and the need to appeal to the broadest possible audiences in a simplistic way. You can have a show trapped in capitalist realism and still have a good show. Squid Game Season 1 (I’m avoiding Season 2 it’s irrelevant, there’s nothing more they can say) was perfect in that sense. It was a great critique of capitalism where victory is hollow. Your characters in the story can get crushed by the system! It’s a real thing that happens, it has emotional weight and it’s a human understanding of the problem. Writers rooms avoid this shit because Americans love treats not art, they simply want their treats to pretend to treat them like adults who can handle art. So you get these “high concept” things that run into a brick wall fairly quickly.
For example: The Good Place could have explored Kiirkegaardian ethics where Kiirkegaard says that humans in aggregate are responsible for the systems under which they live, and they can be punished by God for it in aggregate. The Good Place character arcs could have explored that within how to live with being in a position where you’re constantly being unethical in a way you have no real choice in, and how the characters deal with it.