Module 2
Potential Case Study – Jurassic Park, Ideology and Hegemony
Jurassic Park – (Capitalism) & (Consumer Capitalism) Try to build a new and exciting world by selling people a dream of these new AI dinosaurs which it wasn’t built correctly where the structure of the program become more dangerous over time. This was a metaphor for people allowing searching for something new but eventually breaks down.
Ideology
Ideology, a form of social or political philosophy in which practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones. It is a system of ideas that aspires both to explain the world and to change it. Some historians of philosophy have called the 19th century the age of ideology not because the word itself was then so widely used, but because so much of the thought of the time can be distinguished from that prevailing in the previous centuries by features that would now be called ideological.
Journalistic ideology is often seen as a question of the distance between ideals and realities. According to the ideal, journalism’s social contract entails the critical investigation of political, economic, and social systems of power, on behalf of citizens and in the interests of an enlightened public sphere. Journalists provide a public service as active collectors of disseminators of information.
German philosopher Karl Marx is considered the first to provide a theoretical framing of ideology within the context of sociology.
The works of Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels was written between 1830s and 1890s. Communist Manifesto was written during the rise of capitalism in Europe when the new urban working class lived in terrible conditions. It was no longer just a ‘science of ideas but a means of control. They discussed ideology specially in terms of the economic means and our society determines our ideas.
Marx’s approach to ideology was set forth in his theory of base and superstructure. According to Marx, the superstructure of society, the realm of ideology, grows out of the base, the realm of production, to reflect the interests of the ruling class and justify the status quo that keeps them in power.
However, he viewed the relationship between base and superstructure as dialectical in nature, meaning that each affects the other equally and that a change in one necessitates a change in the other. This belief formed the basis for Marx’s theory of revolution. He believed that once workers developed a class consciouness and became aware of their exploited position relative to the powerful class of factory owners and financiers—in other words, when they experienced a fundamental shift in ideology—that they would then act on that ideology by organizing and demanding a change in the social, economic, and political structures of society.
Gramsci
The working-class revolution that Marx predicted never happened. Nearly 200 years after the publication of The communist Manifesto, capitalism maintains a strong grip on global society and the inequalities it fosters continues to grow.
Gramsci, offering his theory of cultural hegemony, reasoned that dominant ideology had a stronger hold on consciousness and society than Marx had imagined.
Gramsci’s theory focused on the central role played by the social institution of education. in spreading the dominant ideology and maintaining the power of the ruling class. Educational institutions, Gramsci argued, teach ideas, beliefs, values, and even identities that reflect the interests of the ruling class, and produce compliant and obedient members of society that serve the interests of that class. This type of rule is what Gramsci called cultural hegemony.
Hegemony
Marx and Engels conceptualised ideology as a form of hard power, as something coercively imposed on citizens. But another theorist named Antonio Gramsci took issue with how Marx conceptualised consent to ideology in society. The works of Gramsci was written manly between 1929 and 1935. Gramsci studied how Fascism in Italy built consent with the masses. He developed a theory of cultural hegemony.
You can think of hegemony as those unwritten rules of society, to which most people consent willingly. Gramsci expanded the understanding of the word ideology to include the belief systems of either dominant or resistant groups. Hegemony is a way to describe people or ideas that become— and seek to remain—dominant in society it generally refers to “soft” rather than “hard” power. A dominance achieved by consent rather than by force, maintained by ideology rather than repression.
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic and political system where trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit. Its core principles are: accumulation, ownership, and profiting from capital. The essential feature of capitalism is the motive to make a profit. In a capitalist economy, capital assets—such as factories, mines, and railroads—can be privately owned and controlled, labor is purchased for money wages, capital gains accrue to private owners, and prices allocate capital and labor between competing uses (see “supply and demand.)
How does Capitalism relate to Jurassic Park?
The billionaire Hammond who owns the Jurassic park is doing out of making more profit from the Island instead of the love of bringing back these extinct dinosaurs using prehistoric-DNA. There are plenty of times in the film were Hammond is shown to be more money focused as that is his main priority from starting this Island.
Exploiting Nature
The exploitation or destruction of natural resources is the use of natural resources for economic growth. If you describe something as exploitative, you disapprove of it because it treats people unfairly by using their work or ideas for its own advantage, and giving them very little in return.
Humans consume large amounts of resources for their own needs. Some examples include the mining of natural resources like coal, the hunting and fishing of animals for food, and the clearing of forests for urbanization and wood use.
Political Economy
Political economy is a branch of social science that studies the relationship that forms between a nation’s population and its government when public policy is enacted.
My 1528 word essay (Equivalent to a 9 minute video essay)
Intro – 2 mins max
Today I will be discussing the role of media in facilitating the reinforcement of a dominant ideology. “Ideology” has two related definitions: a set of shared ideas that order group life, and the ways that such a set of ideas reinforces existing power relations (Barnhurst 2005). Ideology was first used in England in 1796 translated from a French word ‘ideologie’ used by Desutt De Tracey to distinguish “the science of ideas.” For Tracy, “Ideology” was a liberal social and economic philosophy which provided the basis for a strong defense of private property, individual liberty, the free market, and constitutional limits to the power of the state (preferably in a republican form modeled on that of the USA). The impact of Tracy’s political and economic ideas was considerable. His Commentary and Review of Montesquieu’s Spirit of Laws (1811) was much admired by Thomas Jefferson, who translated it and had it published in America at a time when a French edition was impossible due to Napoleon’s censorship.
The works of Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels was written between 1830s and 1890s. Communist Manifesto was written during the rise of capitalism in Europe when the new urban working class lived in terrible conditions. It was no longer just a ‘science of ideas but a means of control. They discussed ideology specially in terms of the economic means and our society determines our ideas. By 1845 Marx became convinced that capitalism was vulnerable to a process of recurring cyclical crises, in which wealth became increasingly concentrated in the hands of the few.
Middle – 6 mins max
Marx’s approach to ideology was set forth in his theory of base and superstructure. According to Marx, the superstructure of society, the realm of ideology, grows out of the base, the realm of production, to reflect the interests of the ruling class and justify the status quo that keeps them in power.
However, he viewed the relationship between base and superstructure as dialectical in nature, meaning that each affects the other equally and that a change in one necessitates a change in the other. This belief formed the basis for Marx’s theory of revolution. He believed that once workers developed a class consciousness and became aware of their exploited position relative to the powerful class of factory owners and financiers—in other words, when they experienced a fundamental shift in ideology—that they would then act on that ideology by organizing and demanding a change in the social, economic, and political structures of society.
The working-class revolution that Marx predicted never happened. Nearly 200 years after the publication of the communist Manifesto, capitalism maintains a strong grip on global society and the inequalities it fosters continues to grow.
Marx and Engels conceptualised ideology as a form of hard power, as something coercively imposed on citizens. But another theorist named Antonio Gramsci took issue with how Marx conceptualised consent to ideology in society. The works of Gramsci was written manly between 1929 and 1935. Gramsci studied how Fascism in Italy built consent with the masses. He developed a theory of cultural hegemony. Gramsci’s theory focused on the central role played by the social institution of education. in spreading the dominant ideology and maintaining the power of the ruling class.
You can think of hegemony as those unwritten rules of society, to which most people consent willingly. Gramsci expanded the understanding of the word ideology to include the belief systems of either dominant or resistant groups. Hegemony is a way to describe people or ideas that become— and seek to remain—dominant in society it generally refers to “soft” rather than “hard” power. A dominance achieved by consent rather than by force, maintained by ideology rather than repression.
My chosen media case study is about the film Jurassic Park, Steven Spielberg, 1993 because you can relate it the ideology of capitalism and how it is an economic system in which privative individuals or businesses own capital goods to make a profit off. In the film a rich old man called Hammond tries to build a new and exciting world by selling people a dream of bringing dinosaurs back to life through science and prehistoric-DNA. However, it wasn’t built correctly where the structure of the program became more dangerous over time leaving the dinosaurs to attack each other and everybody else on the island. As a result of this all of the popular characters escape through a helicopter at the end. I think that the film is a critique of capitalism because Hammond is wide eyed about how dangerous the dinosaurs are which reflects that he didn’t find out about the potential harm they could cause. Another thing this shows is how the films capitalist ventures can have terrible consequences even though Hammond spends most of the film attempting to justify the creation of Jurassic Park.
Jurassic Park is about a billionaire owner John Hammond as he creates a mysterious new theme park which he wants to show off with dinosaurs made from prehistoric DNA. Hammond wanted to create this Island not because of his deep love for the extinct creatures but to achieve even more money as he thought the theme park was his best option. While Hammond assures everyone that the facility is safe, they find out otherwise when they break free and go on a devastating hunt.
“One thing that is made know to the viewers is that capital is the main idea that drives the film’s narrative and its characters as it becomes the central complication.” Idea ,Channel. (2013) How is Jurassic Park A Commentary on Capitalism? Youtube video, 1:10 minutes, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48W27lzQQaM The characters would always mentation “We could make a fortune of off this place. “Which represents that the capital will be gained then they will try to find more resources as Hammond needs to make a profit off the island. Hammond tries to encourage these two explorers and one doctor to work on the island, but they were all reluctant and needed convincing as it was a risky opportunity for the professionals.
Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek says that “While just looking, we are always hunting among objects, looking for what we desire or fear, endeavouring to recognize some pattern; on the other hand, objects themselves always “stare back,” vie for our attention, throw at us their lures and endeavour to entrap us.” Slavoj Zizek. (1992). Enjoy your symptoms Jacques Lacan in Hollywood and out. Notable quotes. http://www.notable-quotes.com/z/zizek_slavoj.html. This suggests that in the film Hammond greed and ego got the better of him as he continued to argue reasons why his dinosaurs were going to be a success until everything quickly breaks down.
One way of furthering my analysis is by suggesting that Jurassic Park was also about scientific progression and how easily something can get out of control if you don’t create for the right reasons. As the dinosaurs ultimately became harmful to humanity as a direct result of its creators. The film falls into this category because of the scientists believing they can control and maintain them as pets but has a way more dramatic turn then they first thought. I would say that Hammond tried to exploit nature by experimenting on making these AI dinosaurs with all the capital he has achieved but nature overruled capitalism after the dinosaurs attacked everybody. Stephen Jay Gould said, “the very concept of “scientific truth” can only represent a social construction invented by scientists (whether consciously or not) as a device to justify their hegemony over the study of nature.” This relates back to my case study because the scientists in the film were happy enough to experiment on creating these dinosaurs, but they didn’t realise the outcome it could have if it all went wrong.
I feel like my media case study of Jurassic Park is a perfect example of capitalism because the film is a representation of people always wanting something more after Hammond ruined the park for financial gain, which is a problem, we see happening all the time in real life. One real world example would be the idea of prospect theory. Prospect theory assumes that losses and gains are valued very differently, and individuals make bad decisions based on perceived gains instead of the perceived losses. If you look at gambling for example people who have lost money to gambling are likely to make riskier gambles to recover their losses. In conclusion, I think Hammond was doing this with his money after his risk of creating a dinosaur theme park didn’t plan out the way he expected as he was to caught up in the profit he could earn and didn’t consider the negative impact it can have to the people on the Island. In conclusion I think that not every idea is worthy of an investment and Hammond should have taken that into consideration because it might look safe on the outside but wasn’t the same way on the inside. This was due to the fact of Jurassic park’s operations being very flawed to begin with as Hammond was blinded by how rich he could become if the theme park was successful.
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