Ideology Shaping

"Is it necessary to add that this determination of the double ‘functioning’ (predominantly, secondarily) by repression and by ideology, according to whether it is a matter of the (Repressive) State Apparatus or the Ideological State Apparatuses, makes it clear that very subtle explicit or tacit combinations may be woven from the interplay of the (Repressive) State Apparatus and the Ideological State Apparatuses? Everyday life provides us with innumerable examples of this, but they must be studied in detail if we are to go further than this mere observation."

I think this paragraph is relevant because it represents the dichotomy between positive and negative ideologies and how they are portrayed in our society. With repressive state ideologies such as the government and the military, people are restricted on their thought and abilities. Whereas with Ideological State Apparatuses such as family and school, people are encouraged to think freely and expand themselves ideologically.  think in terms of the interplay these two apparatuses have, it ultimately restricts someones freedom and ability to do as they please. People are given basically a set of guidelines to follow (ideologies) which are promoted by various systems of society. You must follow the law, you must get car insurance, you must go to school...etc. People are presented with the perception of freedom when in reality they are just given a large menu of life options to choose from. I thin Althusser is discussing our commodity culture and the culture of over-consumption. We see advertisements all day every where we go, and are told to buy this and use that, for whatever reasons they say. When the reality is that we often times do not need any of the things that society puts on our menu. Capitalism has made a habit of commodifying every possible thing. And they throw it in our faces with the hopes of making more and more profit for their company. It is not about ideological freedom, but rather ideological oppression. The mass media instills this commodity culture upon the masses because they know it will raise their profit margins and will keep the masses in check. They do not want freedom, because if people think and purchase freely their will be no "algorithm" (so to speak) for them to understand and manipulate the media to promote their newest commodity.

This is magnified throughout the films we have been watching. For instance Mulholland Dr. is a great example which shows the differences in the ideological and repressive apparatuses. People are presented with this idea that everything in Hollywood is glitz and glam, when the hash reality of our world is that not that many people make it in Hollywood and it is full of starving artists just trying to make ends meet. This is more of society promoting everything as good and well in Hollywood, when the truth behind it is that homelessness and poverty are rampant due to people coming out to pursue their dreams and realizing the grass is not always greener.