Ideology
Ideology= An ideology is a world view, a system of values, attitudes and beliefs which an individual, group or society holds to be true or important; these are shared by a culture of society about how the society should function.
Example: Western magazines bears little to no relation with the measurements of the majority of western women.
Ideologies that are told to use repeatedly by important social institutions such as the church, the law, education, government, and the media are called dominant ideologies.
Dominant Ideologies:
Dominant Ideologies are ideologies or beliefs that we live by in our day-to-day lives and often do not question- they have become “Natural, Common Sense” things to do. This effectively dissuades people from rebelling against these beliefs, and keeps a sense of stability in society.
Dominant ideologies include beliefs about gender roles, about the economy about social institutions.
Antonio Gramsci Theory:
Antonio Gramsci theorized that there is a dominant ideology in society.
This dominant ideology is designed to help those in power maintain their control over society.
This power, as well as being political and economic, is also cultural. He called this dominant ideology Cultural Hegemony.
Cultural Hegemony serves the interests of the power bloc (ruling class), and perpetuates their dominance over the rest of society.
The theory claims that the ideas of the power bloc come to be seen as the NORM; they are seen as universal ideologies, perceived to benefit everyone whilst only really benefitting the ruling class. This is done in the MASS MEDIA through CONSENT. He refers to these MEDIA TEXTS as HEGEMONIC FORMs.
“Let me control the media and I will turn any nation into a heard of pigs” -Joseph Goebbels
It links to dominant ideology as the quote says that if you the dominant media outlet, or someone who is controlling the media. You can control any person’s ideology from any country as you control what they hear, see and listen too.
Dominant Ideology being perpetuated?
= All Female, Portray Women as regular types (Pink, Girly Colors), Portrayal of women for men, Stereotypical what men would like, Consumerism, Objectification.
Capitalistic needs consumerism.
The magazine perpetuates stereotypes and sexism for women, to be there for man’s gratification. They perpetuate traditional views and stereotypes of femininity.
It therefore serves the interests of the power bloc (male-dominated).
We live in a patriarchal society = male-led and male-dominated.
These views are called PREFERRED READING
Male led world.
Hegemonic Forms:
Cosmopolitan promotes the same hegemonic values every issue.
Legally Blond = Preferred Reading.
The producers want us to think that people in America are very typical. Males are portrayed as alpha males,powerful and are meat-heads. Like the scene where the girl rides her bike past and a bunch of males are wrestling with each other, topless.
Females are portrayed as nice, calm and angel-like. It shows skinny white girls living their dream life ( a perfect world ), girls all look beautiful and happy. Everyone is in college and portrays typical frat life.
Alien = Preferred Reading.
The producers want to show us how girls can be powerful, perhaps more powerful than males. They want to show us females are able to fight and survive better than males. The female is portrayed as masculine, as she was using a really big gun, showing off her muscles and getting ready to fight.
Preferred Reading For Short Film:
-We want to show one of the worse results of bullying for males.
-Want to bring light to bullying and suicide.
-How dark school can be to someone who is getting bullied.
-How does the person getting bullied feel. Emotions transferred to the audience.
-How does different way of bullying effect people.
