Ideologies Research

Qainaat Aftab

Hegemony

• What is Hegemony?- Hegemony is leadership or dominance, especially by one state

or social group over others.- Italian Marxist Gramsci brought about the concept of cultural

hegemony. Gramsci believed that their isn’t one dominant class, but a shifting of different social classes.

- Hegemony can been seen in media texts, it is used to appeal to the reader/audience and present the norm or challenge the idea of this.

More Information: http://faculty.washington.edu/mlg/courses/definitions/hegemony.html

Louis Althusser

• Althusser was a French Marxist philosopher. He is referred to as a structural Marxist, his ideas where published in his essay called ‘Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses’. Louis Althusser he believed that it was essential to imagine how society makes an individual its own image.

• Read his essay here:http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/althusser/1970/ideology.htm

Ideology in our Film

• Ideologies build up representation in media, this is essential is creating characters. Characters follow stereotypes to form a connection between readers. The audience is able to identify the type of character through this stereotype which provides a sense of realism within media. If ideology is media was challenged it would alienate the audience and break a connection between the characters immediately.