How and why does the representation of the group or place you have studied reflect and reinforce dominant values and ideologies?

How and why does the representation of the group or place you have studied reflect and reinforce dominant values and ideologies?

1. Women

   • Hegemonic views of women are being reinforced
   • Texts
     • Tomb Raider
     • Cathy Come Home
     • Brassed Off
     • Crash
     • Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown
     • About A Boy
     • My Name is Joe
     • Bamboozled

2. Stereotypes

3. Film institutions reinforce hegemonic ideology because it is widely accepted by a mass audience

   • They want their product to appeal to a wide audience
     • Could be argued that by challenging hegemony and showing audiences something that is not widely socially accepted (i.e. a man being undermined by a woman), audiences will simply reject the text and it's ideology
       • Hegemony is accepted because it has always been reinforced by media institutions across all 3 media platforms - meaning the majority of people are (and have) accepted its ideology and it has become part of their own values

4. Hegemonic views of women

   • Mothers
     • Brassed Off
       • The stereotype of women being confined to their domestic roles as mothers is being reinforced in Brassed Off
         • When Phil's girlfriend leaves, she is the one who is left with the parental responsibility
       • When Phil's girlfriend leaves she takes the kids with her - she has more parental responsibility than Phil
       • Hegemony is also being reinforced when at the end of the film, she comes back to Phil - this suggests that a woman needs the help of a man in order to feel secure
       • The stereotype women being better mothers is also reinforced through men
         • In Brassed Off, when Phil is left alone with the kids he does not know how to handle/look after them
           • Men do not know how to do a woman's job

5. About a Boy

   • Women are presented as clingy and reliant on men
   • The women at the start of the film are constantly calling Will (the man) wondering when they are going to see him again
     • This is reinforcing negative views of women - that they need the safety and security of having a man in their life
     • Hegemony is also reinforced through the male character
       • He chooses to ignore the women who are calling him - they need him but he doesn't need them
         • Male dominance
   • Stereotype of women being mothers
     • A woman who is divorced - left with the kids - looking for another man to support her

6. Cathy Come Home