Dark Desires

Dark Desires: A Marxist Analysis of Arvin Mangohig’s Megastar
Objectification is defined as the treatment to someone as an object rather than as a person. It has numerous features which will be mentioned through the analysis. Particularly, the story illustrates the objectification of a woman by a man. Considering the Marxist theory, this is caused by the oppression of women which is thought to be normal in the present time. Males have been dominant over females based on history. As seen in Marxist perspective, Arvin Mangohig’s Megastar shows a man’s oppression towards a woman through objectification due to his obsession as evident in the story’s characters and plot.
Oppression of a woman is implied through the characters’ words, thoughts and actions throughout story. Sharon Cuneta, in the text, was treated primarily in terms of her appearance in James’ eyes. “She’s so beautiful. So beautiful,” according to James as taken from the text. His admiration which turned to obsession caused him to do inappropriate actions towards her. This is the reduction to appearance which means the treatment of a person according to how they look. Another point is that James recognized Sharon as his possession. At first, he stalked her and eventually, abducted her. He did whatever he wanted to do like tying her up on a chair, putting miniature clips on her eyes to avoid from closing them and letting her witness his own death. Lastly, James, being the oppressor, did not take Sharon’s feelings into account. This is called the denial of subjectivity which was manifested through the inconsideration of James.
Furthermore, there were obvious situations in the plot that exemplify objectification of a woman. As stated above, Sharon was kidnapped and locked in James’ apartment to satisfy James’ obsession. Similarly, there was a part that stated James kept an unusual number of Sharon’s photos. These exhibit instrumentality which is described as the treatment of a person as a tool for the purposes of the objectifier. In the whole text, Sharon had no dialogues at all. The part wherein she was tied up on a chair, she lacked the capacity due to James’ mistreatment towards her. Specifically, this is called silencing which is also one of the features of objectification.
Altogether, Megastar by Arvin Mangohig through a Marxist point of view demonstrates a man’s maltreatment to a woman by objectification because of obsession as apparent in James’ various mistreatment towards Sharon. As how the characters were described, Sharon was being oppressed through James’ words, actions and thoughts to her. Features of objectification such as instrumentality, denial of subjectivity, ownership, reduction to appearance and silencing were visible in the plot. Granted these, Megastar exemplifies oppression of a woman due to the behavior of a man toward her.
Certainly, Megastar by Arvin Mangohig shows that people have become so used to looking at women as accessories of men and this has been a tradition. It is truly clear that objectification of women has done negative impacts to the world but most people are buying into it so consequently, these effects will only continue and progress.