Hegemony is basically defined as one ruling group in a society having almost dictatorial power over all others and thus being able to control all aspects of a single industry. This is seen in a myriad of areas throughout our own society from music, to television, to movies, and more.
One practice of hegemony is something called “framing” which involves this leading group telling people how to think about a person, issue, or event — do we think about this person or thing positively or negatively? Shaping the way we think about technology, politics, etc., is an important way of maintaining hegemony, which is naturally what an industry-dominating company or group wants to do. In a sense, framing is the creation and perpetuation of stereotypes. Framing is meant to influence or change people’s perceptions of products and people.
An example of framing in hegemony is Apple’s “Mac vs. PC commercials.”
Here, Apple does a clever job of shaping the viewer’s perception of PCs, not by slandering the computer, but by sarcastically illustrating PC’s inherent flaws as compared to Mac’s apparent lack of them. In this particular advertisement, the viewer learns to associate deadly viruses with PCs, thus causing one to prefer a Mac, which, according to the commercials, will not encounter the same problems. Apple’s advertisements frame PCs in a negative light, and in response, people react to Apple products positively.
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