Week 2 - Class Discussion of Terms

During a fairly basic discussion of some base terms that we need to acknowledge for this class, the prominent idea of hegemony once again arose. Although I have taken other classes where the idea of a dominant class rules, every time this idea comes about I attach myself to a new part of the theory.

Coming from the media side of things, and dealing with ideas of intertextuality I almost immediately thought of the film Fight Club. For those of you who have not yet seen this movie (if you haven’t I own copies, and you should borrow one), the intent of the film, although some people find it hard to follow, deals with the reorganization of society. They do this by planning to eliminate records from all the major credit card companies in “Project Mayhem”. Appropriately titled, if this were to happen, there could be no hegemony, no one group could rise above thanks to capitalism in particular, everyone would be at the same level. Fight Club is a prime example of counter hegemonic ideas using Hollywood, a key player in hegemonic views to get their points across.

Fight Club. Dir. David Fincher. 1999. DVD. Art Linson Productions.