Ideology: An Introduction

Ideology is the beliefs and values of a large proportion of the population which is an integral part of the ideological framework of our culture and shapes their attitude towards the world which might not be in line with wider values of society.

The political mainstream develops a strong ideology for a set of people that becomes natural as they are the most common beliefs in that society.

Personal Ideologies – The outcome of an individual’s experiences and influences

Cultural Ideologies – Constructed by Institutional sources such as the law, education and media

Dominant Ideologies – Accepted by the majority as common sense such as freedom of speech and the right to vote

Structured Ideologies – Groups with distinct world views such as religious groups who have values which define a person’s way of thinking

It can be argued that that the media acts to communicate, consolidate and challenge ideological viewpoints and set the agenda for morals and beliefs.

In order to maximise profits, the media want to appeal to larger audiences and the best way to do this and avoid alienating people is to reflect their ideologies back at them. Where dominant values are reinforced people are reassured that their own values are common sense, hiding the fact that ideologies are based on belief systems rather than truths.

Identifying Ideologies: Media Language; Values of the Institution; Genre: Representation of something; Audience Expectations; Binary Opposition in Narrative.

Films may also be neutral as their main purpose is to entertain rather than to persuade an audience.

‘Theorists such as Cesare Zavattini and Siegfried Kracauer believed that cinema is photography but expanded; allowing the filmmaker to capture the real world around them to share with audiences.

Ideologies expose audiences to new beliefs. They challenge the audience to think about how they feel.

Virtually every movie presents us with ways of behaving–negative and positive– and therefore offers us an implied or explicit morality or ideology. Every film has a slant based on the director’s sense of right and wrong.

Categories of Ideology –

Neutral: Emphasis on action, pleasure and entertainment rather than reflecting heavily on right and wrong.

Implicit: There are conflicting values between two characters but these are not heavily dwelled upon, instead serving the interest of basic and accepted moral codes.

Explicit: Constructed to teach or persuade an audience.