Paper Gods

This ideology talks of actions: I shall talk of actions inserted into practices. And I shall point out that these practices are governed by the rituals in which these practices are inscribed, within the material existence of an ideological apparatus, be it only a small part of that apparatus: a small mass in church, a funeral, a minor match at a sports club, a school day, a political party meeting, etc.

-- Louis Althusser

When I was born, I was already submitted into what Althusser labels as ISAs. They're more commonly affiliated with the terms: church, family, school, sports and so forth. By being born, I was brought into a family, assumed my father's last name, was baptized by the Catholic church and was later placed in the Los Angeles Unified School District. By being born, I already submitted myself into a system of rituals, by which were introduced to me by material items.

Obviously as an infant I would not understand what church was unless I actually stepped foot onto the new refurbished tiles of St. Ferdinand's in San Fernando. And it would because of church that I inherently knew that God was not some magical, fantastical force that was simply made up, but in fact, existed. But I only knew he was in existence, due to the fact that there was physical evidence produced to me. His Words were written in a Bible, a tangible object that I could hold and see--therefore--I became a believer. While ideologies are almost equivalent to the word, imaginary, they produce real life relations and tangible, material objects. For instance, within the family structure, my mom is mom because she is there in material, not simply ideal. The ritual of calling her "mom" of practicing respect for "mom" are all the material actions which take place within the ideology itself.

It is because of these materialized formations of ideologies, which lead humans to behave accordingly. Without ritual, practice--everyone would essentially be a menace to society. There are some, despite the knowledge of this, which are menace to most ISAs, but they themselves have created other ISAs which in fact have materialized as well. Hence, serial killers are not exactly ideal in terms of other ideologies.




In looking at My Chemical Romance's music video, Helena, we can see the ISAs in play. The materialism of religion dominates the entity of the video. The sign of the cross is seen, as well as the swaying of holy incense. The church itself is represented, as well as the subjects of the religion, who are seen practicing the ritual of morning and prayer. While all material ideals of the ideology of religion are present, there are some "wicked" or perverse notions within the video as well. Because this is a Catholic church, many Catholics might argue that the way in which the band performs loud (maybe even obscene music) within the church, is "wicked." While there is nothing wrong with wearing black (for it is a ritual in accordance with death), boys wearing make-up and dancers engaging in almost erotic dance, are quite out of practice with Catholicism. The song itself does not speak about God, and it is ritually known that only hymns are performed in church, and nothing outside of praise for Him. The congregation sings, but not of God. The very idea of that as well, is cynical or in other words "willingly evil." And lastly, the lead singer (Gerard Way) would seem to be leading everyone in prayer and eulogy, but he is not a priest. Is that not too against the material rituals of the ideology? For any Catholic, of course. Mass (another material ritual/action) is led by a priest.

While true, the point of this blog was to demonstrate how ideologies become materialized and how material leads to even more materialized rituals and actions.