Study Guide for Midterm MC 3321 Section 11 Fall 15 Terms Understand their meaning and usage 1 ISA Ideological State Apparatus as explained by Althusser belong to a private domain to churches schools families law political party system trade unions communications and cultural They reinforce the rule of the dominant class primarily through ideology This means that instead of fear of prosecution or violence people submit out of fear of social ridicule No class can hold State power over a long period without at the same time exercising its hegemony over and in the State ISA s 2 RSA Repressive State Apparatus in which is used by the ruling class as a tool to suppress and dominate the working class Heads of State Government police courts army etc Job is to intervene and act in favor of the ruling class by repressing the ruled with violent and coercive means The RSA acts as a unified whole where as the ISA is diverse and plural 3 Social Construct A social mechanism phenomenon or category created and develop by society a perception of an individual group or idea that is constructed through cultural or social practice EX Culture race class gender etc 4 Ideology A system of ideas and ideals especially one that forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy The study of the ideas origin and nature 5 Cultural Pedagogy Media is a source of this It teaches us what to believe do feel and value providing a common culture within which to situate ourselves 6 Cultural Studies a set of approaches to the study of culture and society Studies the race class gender ethnicity and nationality in cultural texts including media cutlture 7 Hegemony refers both to power itself and the process for gaining and maintaining power It is fragile and its ideologies must be renewed and reasserted 8 Political Economy of Production System of production that determines what sort of artifacts will be produced what structural limits there will be as to what can and cannot be said and shown and what sort of audience effects the text may generate EX The industry wants to make money so they will make sure the timing of the release of a film is in alignment with the events and feelings of the time 9 Social Consent You have to consent to the cultural norms Naturalization it becomes a natural thing We are born here raised in the culture so it becomes an everyday thing to us 10 Representation connects meaning and language to culture It means using language to say something meaningful about or to represent the world meaningfully to other people It is exchanged between members of a culture It involves using language signs and images which represent things 2 Senses of Representation Describe Depict something in the world Symbolize something in the world e g cross flag Produces meaning by linking concepts and language Allows us to refer to things in the world by putting our concepts of them into a common language of words and symbols 11 Language Signs stand for or represent the concepts and the conceptual relations between them which we carry around in our heads and together they make up the meaning systems of our culture Signs are organized into languages and it is the existence of common languages which enable to translate our thoughts into words sounds or images and then to Study Guide for Midterm MC 3321 Section 11 Fall 15 use these operating as a language to express meanings and communicate thoughts to other people Symbols stop sign peace sign swastika Arbitrary signs are arbitrary meaning that in principle any collection of letters or any sound in any order would do the trick equally well when it comes to words to describe an object or idea Socially constructed these things are all socially constructed the earth did not start out with all of these representations but they were constructed by society 12 Film Language Since the beginning of film history film makers and film theoreticians have tried to compare film with verbal language in a serious attempt to justify the film medium The debate over a special film language is in itself problematic 13 DOD Hollywood Militainment Department of Defense controls a centralized Hollywood liason office which is the go to place for the production of war films It grants war filmmakers access to military locations software and hardware as long as their scripts meet the DOD requirements 14 Imperial Ideology the U S while not being overtly imperial does have a far reaching and influential culture For example Iron Man supporting American influence and power throughout the world 15 Stereotypes A stereotype is a conventional formulaic and usually oversimplified conception opinion or belief a person group event or issue considered to typify or conform to an unvarying pattern They are rigid and inflexible they reflect unwillingness to change one s mind despite evidence to the contrary They are simple and direct 16 Generalization a type of stereotyping but not really as bad When we generalize a group of Asians we might say they are obviously really good at math but we are undermining all of their individual strengths and attributes by doing so 17 8 Tropes of Geek Centered Romantic Comedy Conflict with Jocks Geek Melodrama Simulated Ethnicity Voyeurism and Stalkerism Creativity and Vivid Fantasy life Bromance Marginalized and or Masculine women Slackerism and Underemployment 19 Bechdel Test asks whether a work of fiction features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man The women must be named characters Must be a conversation more than 30 seconds Knocked Up is the only film that passes this test 20 Homosociality Nonsexual attractions held by men or women for members of their own sex Through male homosocial heterosexual interactions hegemonic masculinity is maintained as the norm despite individual conceptualizations of masculinity 21 Components of Masculinity Emotional Detachment maintains both clear and individual identity boundaries To express feelings is to show vulnerability and weakness except in appropriate situations ike sporting events Masculine NOT female An imperative Competitiveness depends not on cooperation but on separation and distinction Provides a stage for establishing self both as an individual and as appropriately masculine Contributes to the perpetuation of male dominance Holds the idea that men can understand the intensity and importance of competition whereas women seem less accepting and less understanding Facilitates hierarchy
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