105mapa cw1 – Essay - 1500 words Limit
Society throughout time has had built up this idea that men, more specifically cis straight white men, have the most power within society and this became a dominant ideology or hegemony when it came to people in everyday life and this includes within the media. However, even though this is still mainly true to this day people of minorities and different backgrounds have begun to challenge these ideals. This is heavily shown within the film ‘On the basis of sex’ which shows a woman breaking these dominant ideology’s and power dynamics.
The main studies of power and hegemony tend to have overlapping elements. However, with these the basic explanation of hegemony is a way to describe a process of people or ideas that become dominant in everyday society, this is shown in the study of media keywords: ‘Hegemony is a way to describe people or ideas that become—and seek to remain—dominant in society.’ (Lewis,2017, pg88). However, power is slightly different as it mainly involves the ideas and people that the entire media thinks is important. With this being at least the basic understanding of power according to the study done by Nick Couldry, ‘Whatever “media power” means, almost everyone thinks it is important.’ (Couldry, 2017, pg49). However, power and hegemony can be more complicated and in-depth than the basic understanding of the topics as there has many theorists that have studied different aspects of power and hegemony throughout time.
One of the main theorists that worked with different parts of power was Michel Foucault who demonstrates that there is a range of different layers to power and that there are different types of power than just one. He presented the concept that power requires knowledge as knowledge holds a lot of power which can change how people think and that power is not just about the hierarchy or the government. Foucault links his concepts heavily to connect with the study of discourses. Foucault shows human beings have attachments and that due to how rapidly society is evolving power dynamics are changing with it. Foucault talks about how power can change depending on the relationship the people have the perspective that you follow, ‘While the human subject is placed in relations of production and of signification, he is equally placed in power relations which are very complex.’ ((based from the works) Foucault, 2014, pg3). This study shows that due to the power being complex so are the relationships that go with them.
Theorists such as Edward Said’s and his concept of Orientalism were largely link to Foucault as within his book he explains that there is a dominant way of studying an culture and that there is a power dynamic in the fact that people approach minorities at the “other” or the orient, in this cast the western style is more dominating and is the dominant way of studying the east even though they are completely separate. This links to Foucault as he talks a lot about how knowledge and language is power which is touch upon in Said’s concept. ‘Orientalism as a Western style for dominating restructuring, and having authority over the Orient.’ (Said, 1978, pg11).
As Foucault would have contrasting views on the power dynamics of today, he would both see the benefit of social media giving minorities a voice. However, he would also make the point that people are being absorbed by social media and that social media can trap people in echo chambers and that we have trapped ourselves in this concept of consent surveillance. Foucault within his concepts talks about truth, power and knowledge and how they can be used in different ways and to take apart different aspects of society, ‘‘Everything I do, I do in order that it may be of us’’ (Foucault, 2018), this shows that he believes that your actions that you do hold power and consequence. This could link to the film as we are shown different perspectives of how people are fighting for change, along with different ways that people view equality an example of this is the scene where we are shown a rally/ movement or protest of women trying to gain equality and power within a system that is purely run by men.
So the when the audience sees a film such as ‘On the basis of sex’ some of the older generation or people who have the morals that men should be in power would see this film as having a women shot down and the men having the power instead or the overall power struggle that is actually happening within the film.
Since the main power struggle within this film is the hegemony of men being the dominant and smart sex proving this dominant ideology wrong. The audience is shown at the start of the film that this production was based on the main points of the career of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was known as one of the first women to fight for gender equality within the Supreme Court of Justice. So, when looking at this film we (the audience) is shown the perspective of sexism, along with how women, mainly the main character: Ruth Bader Ginsburg played by Felicity Rose Hadley Jones, react to sexist remarks that was present during that time period and is partly still around to this day. This will mainly cover hegemonic feminism and the power dynamics within the film.
Hegemony is more of a process to make dominant ideology’s seem normal with society or social groups. Due to this film showing women as intelligent and brave this shows the film trying to break the common hegemony that has been built into society. This is theorised a lot when it comes to what hegemony is and what it often involves, within the film the audience is shown the woman’s struggle to gain respect and gain power throughout her career, this shows off the research of Justin Lewis who spoke about hegemony reinforcing forms of inequality this film does this with most of the men in this as they are stereotypically sexist which makes the character of Ruth Ginsburg fight hard for equality in her field and within the law. ‘Hegemony often involves masking or solidifying various forms of inequality so that they seem part of everyday life, making customs and contrivances that favour some people over others appear to be common sense.’ (Lewis, 2017, pg.88). This suggests that due to the hegemony over time the dominant ideology of men having all the power is starting to shift and this is shown more at the end of the movie when the character of Ruth Ginsburg breaks the typical dynamic and takes the power and a step for gender equality.
This whole film shows that women can be rational, smart and handle any job that a man can. This alone starts to break down the stereotypical aspect that women are stay at home mothers or housewives as this film shows off a powerful woman who is a mother and is still striving for gender equality in a supreme court. This shows her struggle to get there and how people treat women during this time period that is still relevant to this day.
In conclusion to this the film demonstrates Lewis’ example of what hegemony is and how it can be used to effect and form a dominant society that relies on these ideals to form an opinion. The film shows off a progression of breaking a stereotypical power dynamic and changing it through knowledge and reasoning, which links into Foucault’s concept.
The Gifs Link: https://images.app.goo.gl/pcpwS3JF6DGKYke56
References – APA List style:
Couldry, Ouellette & Gray. (2017). Keywords for Media Studie,Power, pg.145- 148. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/coventry/reader.action?docID=4717750&ppg=152
Foucault. (2014). Source: Critical Inquiry, (778), Michel Foucault, The Subject and Power. Pg3
Foucault. (2018). Video. What would Foucault say about fake news?(0.20,1.22-2.07, 2.40) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JG_O0Iav18&feature=youtu.be
Lewis, Ouellette & Gray. (2017). Keywords for Media Studies, Hegemony, pg.88-89. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/coventry/reader.action?docID=4717750&ppg=95
Said. (1978). Orientalism, pg11.
https://sites.evergreen.edu/politicalshakespeares/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2014/12/Said_full.pdf
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