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<p>The question of whether cinema is democratic is a vast one, which requires research limitations of time and place to actually find an answer for. In this study, the place will be the United States, because nowhere else is the industry of cinema so powerful and generates more elements of popular culture; where also the country is considered to be democratic and practicing freedom of speech. The time will be the period following 11th September 2001: a date after which American politics has been chaotic both inside and outside the country, consequently producing a very controversial subject matter to debate in films.</p><p>However, the question still remains huge as the answer might differentiate according to the varying scope different types of cinema productions may hold. Accordingly, we will limit our focus within the field of political alternative films; and apply and seek to verify Jürgen Habermas’ theory of the public sphere in analysing their content to reach inferences on democracy. Afterwards, enlarging our perspective to the American cinema industry by and large, we will argue that the economic value of a film and the subject it deals with undermine the democratic ideals of equal representation the public sphere carries, as capitalism enters the scene. Some other dilemmas will emerge on this path: are movies being imposed by a dominant class in order to make the audience passive towards their environment? Or is it the audience, the people themselves, who create the aspects of popular culture in cinema?</p><p>Finally, we are to put the first question in other terms: does cinema socially and democratically represent its viewers’ ideology? In the limit of our empirical means, giving responses to those questions will be the heart of this thesis.</p>

Esta dissertação tem por objetivo apresentar a evolução histórica e teórica do debate marxista acerca da relação entre as crises econômicas e o denominado “colapso” do modo de produção capitalista. Um debate que pode referido sob o nome de “controvérsia do colapso” e que esteve ligado ao surgimento e desenvolvimento das principais teorias marxistas de crise. Pretende-se explicitar os argumentos levantados ao longo da controvérsia para, posteriormente, efetuar uma avaliação crítica das diversas posições teóricas assumidas ao longo do debate. Para tanto, a exposição histórica da controvérsia será dividida em três “confrontos”, compreendendo a polêmica inicial em torno da obra revisionista de Eduard Bernstein, o debate sobre os esquemas de reprodução e a discussão acerca da taxa de lucro. Espera-se formar o quadro amplo de uma contenda histórico-teórica que atravessou a economia marxista desde praticamente seu início, destacando, na medida do possível, os autores mais influentes ou originais. Em especial, o presente trabalho é entendido como uma forma de retomar a importância de se pensar a relação entre a (re)produção capitalista, com sua crises internas, e seu fim como formação histórica. / This dissertation aims to present the historical and theoretical evolution of Marxist debate about the relationship between economic crises and the so-called "breakdown" of the capitalist mode of production. A debate that is called “the collapse controversy", and that was linked to the emergence and development of the main Marxist theories of crisis. It is intended to clarify the arguments raised along the controversy to then make a critical evaluation of the various theoretical positions taken in the debate. Therefore, the historical exposition of the controversy will be divided into three "clashes ", comprising the initial controversy surrounding the work of revisionist Eduard Bernstein, the debate on the schemes of reproduction and the discussion about the rate of profit. We expect to present the broad framework of a historical-theoretical contention that crossed the Marxist economics since almost its beginning, highlighting the most influential and original authors. In particular, this work is understood as a way of reasserting the importance of thinking about the relationship between the capitalist (re)production with its internal crises, and its end as a historical formation.

Esta dissertação tem por objetivo apresentar a evolução histórica e teórica do debate marxista acerca da relação entre as crises econômicas e o denominado “colapso” do modo de produção capitalista. Um debate que pode referido sob o nome de “controvérsia do colapso” e que esteve ligado ao surgimento e desenvolvimento das principais teorias marxistas de crise. Pretende-se explicitar os argumentos levantados ao longo da controvérsia para, posteriormente, efetuar uma avaliação crítica das diversas posições teóricas assumidas ao longo do debate. Para tanto, a exposição histórica da controvérsia será dividida em três “confrontos”, compreendendo a polêmica inicial em torno da obra revisionista de Eduard Bernstein, o debate sobre os esquemas de reprodução e a discussão acerca da taxa de lucro. Espera-se formar o quadro amplo de uma contenda histórico-teórica que atravessou a economia marxista desde praticamente seu início, destacando, na medida do possível, os autores mais influentes ou originais. Em especial, o presente trabalho é entendido como uma forma de retomar a importância de se pensar a relação entre a (re)produção capitalista, com sua crises internas, e seu fim como formação histórica. / This dissertation aims to present the historical and theoretical evolution of Marxist debate about the relationship between economic crises and the so-called "breakdown" of the capitalist mode of production. A debate that is called “the collapse controversy", and that was linked to the emergence and development of the main Marxist theories of crisis. It is intended to clarify the arguments raised along the controversy to then make a critical evaluation of the various theoretical positions taken in the debate. Therefore, the historical exposition of the controversy will be divided into three "clashes ", comprising the initial controversy surrounding the work of revisionist Eduard Bernstein, the debate on the schemes of reproduction and the discussion about the rate of profit. We expect to present the broad framework of a historical-theoretical contention that crossed the Marxist economics since almost its beginning, highlighting the most influential and original authors. In particular, this work is understood as a way of reasserting the importance of thinking about the relationship between the capitalist (re)production with its internal crises, and its end as a historical formation.

Esta dissertação tem por objetivo apresentar a evolução histórica e teórica do debate marxista acerca da relação entre as crises econômicas e o denominado “colapso” do modo de produção capitalista. Um debate que pode referido sob o nome de “controvérsia do colapso” e que esteve ligado ao surgimento e desenvolvimento das principais teorias marxistas de crise. Pretende-se explicitar os argumentos levantados ao longo da controvérsia para, posteriormente, efetuar uma avaliação crítica das diversas posições teóricas assumidas ao longo do debate. Para tanto, a exposição histórica da controvérsia será dividida em três “confrontos”, compreendendo a polêmica inicial em torno da obra revisionista de Eduard Bernstein, o debate sobre os esquemas de reprodução e a discussão acerca da taxa de lucro. Espera-se formar o quadro amplo de uma contenda histórico-teórica que atravessou a economia marxista desde praticamente seu início, destacando, na medida do possível, os autores mais influentes ou originais. Em especial, o presente trabalho é entendido como uma forma de retomar a importância de se pensar a relação entre a (re)produção capitalista, com sua crises internas, e seu fim como formação histórica. / This dissertation aims to present the historical and theoretical evolution of Marxist debate about the relationship between economic crises and the so-called "breakdown" of the capitalist mode of production. A debate that is called “the collapse controversy", and that was linked to the emergence and development of the main Marxist theories of crisis. It is intended to clarify the arguments raised along the controversy to then make a critical evaluation of the various theoretical positions taken in the debate. Therefore, the historical exposition of the controversy will be divided into three "clashes ", comprising the initial controversy surrounding the work of revisionist Eduard Bernstein, the debate on the schemes of reproduction and the discussion about the rate of profit. We expect to present the broad framework of a historical-theoretical contention that crossed the Marxist economics since almost its beginning, highlighting the most influential and original authors. In particular, this work is understood as a way of reasserting the importance of thinking about the relationship between the capitalist (re)production with its internal crises, and its end as a historical formation.

The question of whether cinema is democratic is a vast one, which requires research limitations of time and place to actually find an answer for. In this study, the place will be the United States, because nowhere else is the industry of cinema so powerful and generates more elements of popular culture; where also the country is considered to be democratic and practicing freedom of speech. The time will be the period following 11th September 2001: a date after which American politics has been chaotic both inside and outside the country, consequently producing a very controversial subject matter to debate in films. However, the question still remains huge as the answer might differentiate according to the varying scope different types of cinema productions may hold. Accordingly, we will limit our focus within the field of political alternative films; and apply and seek to verify Jürgen Habermas’ theory of the public sphere in analysing their content to reach inferences on democracy. Afterwards, enlarging our perspective to the American cinema industry by and large, we will argue that the economic value of a film and the subject it deals with undermine the democratic ideals of equal representation the public sphere carries, as capitalism enters the scene. Some other dilemmas will emerge on this path: are movies being imposed by a dominant class in order to make the audience passive towards their environment? Or is it the audience, the people themselves, who create the aspects of popular culture in cinema? Finally, we are to put the first question in other terms: does cinema socially and democratically represent its viewers’ ideology? In the limit of our empirical means, giving responses to those questions will be the heart of this thesis.