How to Save Capitalism in 100 Days: An Ideological Analysis of the Concept of Salvation in ABS-CBNs Television Drama 100 Days to Heaven
How to Save Capitalism in 100 Days: An Ideological Analysis of the Concept of Salvation in ABS-CBNs Television Drama100 Days to Heaven
This study examines how religion legitimizes the ideology and discourse of capitalism through the concept of second chances exemplified in the show 100 Days to Heaven. This aims to answer what salvation is offered, why there is a need for salvation, how this salvation is obtained and for whom this salvation is, all in the context of the show.
The episodes studied are chosen by purposive sampling. I selected parts of the drama that contain discussions of second chances and salvation.
Employing Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche’s concepts such as good and bad, good and evil, guilt, creditor-debtor relationship and mercy, Louis Althusser’s concept of the Ideological State Apparatus and Slavoj Zizek’s ideas on fetish, objets a, jouissance and liberalism, I will study three aspects of the show namely, its narrative and narratives, the characterization and the salvation offered to each character. First I will look at how Christianity, specifically Catholicism, paved the way for salvation and second chances and how its standards guide and constrain the characters to attain this salvation and second chances. Then, I will look at how all these demonstrate religion’s justification of the ideology and discourse of capitalism. Keywords: religion, ideology, discourse, capitalism, salvation, second chances