Marx and Dancer in the Dark

Conrad Barber

Regarding Marx, the most interesting parts I discovered were in the first excerpt of the assigned reading. In it, he discusses the fact that when a person is employed in, for example, a factory setting, not doing any particularly skilled labor, their labor becomes an object, just like the product they are creating. The object of their labor then becomes separate from them as a person, and all three components - product, labor, and human, all simply become commodities in an economy. This is where Marx's theory of alienation roots from. The worker realizes this, and also realizes that someone else is in control of all this, and that alienation is established.

The character of Selma in Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark works in a factory, making some sort of tubs or basins. When she is at work, she is not Selma, but basically a tool in the manufacturing of these products. Her paycheck is simply an expense her employer must pay in order for his products to be made. Nothing more. Selma, at some point in her employment, realizes this, and Marx's alienation is established in her. She begins to see herself as that commodity, and starts to believe that she is separate and somehow a lesser person than her bosses. This is why she is so desperate to keep her job, even though she is going blind. She thinks she isn't capable of any other sort of work, because she has this mindset of alienation from persons with more technical or other different types of professions.

So what is the significance of this alienation present in the character of Selma? What is the director trying to convey? The alienation Selma feels in her workplace is one of many aspects which cause her to resort to the violent act she committed. Granted, she was first threatened with violence by her "victim", who had also stolen her life savings. What the film is trying to convey about Selma is the truly hopeless situation she found herself in, financially and otherwise. She was going blind, was out of work, and was under the impression that factory work was all she was capable of. Unfortunately this was no longer an option due to her recent total loss of eyesight. So when given the opportunity to possibly avenge the crime which had been committed against her by Bill, she took it. Also, this sense of total hopelessness is what drove her to refuse the second lawyer, as she wanted that money to go toward her son's operation. She knew she would never be able to pay for both the lawyer and the operation, so she chose the option which would benefit her son more, and possibly help him to stay out of the social and economic pit she had slowly fallen into.