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1. IDEOLOGY

2. Ideology is often referred to as an
unconscious set of ideas, values and beliefs
that a group, society or an individual hold
to be true or important, and provide a
particular view of the world

3. The values and beliefs perpetuated by the majority within a society
may be described as dominant ideologies.
Dominant ideologies may be hidden in term of the ‘common sense’
view or ‘naturalised’ (Marx).
Dominant ideologies:
• Capitalism - The production of capital and consumption of
surplus value as a life goal.
• Patriotism – To love, support and protect
one’s country and its people.
• Marriage and family – The ‘right way’ to live is to marry an
opposite-sex partner and have children.
• Male superiority – Men are more suited to positions of power,
and more suited to decision making at work and at home.

4. Levi Strauss theorised that all narratives are based on conflict based on binary
oppositions. This can also be a way to identify dominant ideologies in texts
• Black
• Female
• Disabled
• Poor
• Working class
• Muslim/Sheikh/Hindu/Jewish
He also looked deeper into the way that narratives were arranged in terms of themes
within that were ultimately always systematic oppositions.
Dominant ideology in Romantic comedies:
The male protagonist in
‘The Fault In Our Stars’
only has one leg. He does
not have it on show
throughout the film but we
see it when ‘Gus’ pulls up
his trousers to show it to
‘Hazel’. (Disabled ideology)
‘Me and Earl and the dying
girl’. The male protagonist’s
best friend is a black male and
his family is a stereotypical
lower class black family who
are fairly poor and look like
criminals. (Black/poor
ideologies)

5. Richard Dyer (1993) argues that representation is a political tool.
“How social groups are treated in cultural representation is part and parcel of
how they are treated in life, that poverty, harassment, self hate and
discrimination (in housing, jobs, educational opportunity and so on) are
shored up and instituted by representation”.
Footsteps and Tyre Tracks –
• One of our protagonists, Emily, is a typical girl next door who is in love
with Lucas, typical boy next door, but due to Emily’s accident, she has
forgotten everything about her friends, and goes on an emotional journey
to find herself. In a way, our film has gone against the typical dominant
ideologies as Emily is a intelligent and strong minded female who goes on
the journey to find herself and doesn’t hold back, compared to some
female characters in other romantic comedies who are portrayed as not
having a lot to say, and the males just overpower them completely.