Cultural Studies- Make Me A Supermodel

Stuart Hall's Cultural Studies Theory illustrates the idea that the media exercises power over subordinate groups in society. Often the media leave us with frequently false and misleading images. This can be seen in Hall's definition of ideology, those images, concepts and premises which provide the frameworks through which we represent interpret, understand and make sense of social existence. Ideology is enrooted in the media and one of the most prominent examples is that attractiveness equal thinness. The portrayal of thinness is well defined in such shows as American's Next Top and Make Me a Supermodel.

In this episode of Make Me a Supermodel is a perfect example of the medias powerful ideology of thinness. Halfway through the segment the contestants are given a runway lesson. Each week their waist and bust measurements are taken to see if they have lost or gained inches in those areas. This constant ridicule of the contestants further exemplifies that at least as a supermodel you must be so tall and a certain weight. In addition, this show establishes the norm as a model and that being overweight is not an option. With the normal model being 5ft 10inches tall weighing around 110 pounds the message to women is that you must be showing bones or be ghaustly skinny in order to be attractive. The judges furthermore convey a message to young girls and women everywhere that thin is in. By measuring their waists to see if they have gained or lost weight shows a girl that they must be constantly be evaluating themselves each week. This show does not help the self confidence of girls that are considered average or appropriate wieght but further demostrates the misleading idea of thinness in society. These show as well as additional modeling shows have great power over the population to persuade and influence their idea of thinness being attractive.

Cultural Studies - Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a long running British science fiction show about a time traveler known as the Doctor. In this particular episode, the Doctor travels to earth's far future and discovers that instead of finding the earth in a golden age of prosperity, people live in a constant state of poverty and haven't yet reached enlightenment. After doing some digging, the Doctor finds out that the world is in this state because an elite group of aliens had infiltrated the timeline and had used their money and power to replace the television programming with reality television shows that kill off losing contestants. This programming sends the message that human life isn't important. With this message in mind, many of the breakthroughs in science and medicine never occur and neither does the golden age of humanity. When the humans fail to reach their golden age, the aliens use this period of weakness to go through with their full scale invasion. Above is a clip of a reality show that killed off its losing contestants.

Beyond the fact that the name of the show shares its name with our professor, this show syncs up with what we've been learning in class really well. The rich and elite aliens use our television as means to send out a message to oppress the general population. Although this show exaggerates the issue considerably (to the point of potentially parodying the issue), the powerful aliens in this episode really do use television's messages as a way to dominate society, leading up to a plot to make themselves even more powerful.

Cultural Studies- Dominant Celebrity Class

Stuart Hall's Cultural Studies explains how elite and dominant groups use their power over subordinate groups. Antonio Gramsci's in depth idea of hegemony is defined as influence, power, or dominance of one social group over another. In America's society the most powerful people are usually the most famous. Since television makes such an impact on viewers, the ideas and messages conveyed by celebrities are a major factor on how the American Culture is shaped. One negative effect of viewing celebrities as powerful is that teenagers try to emulate them. For example, since most celebrities and famous people are beautiful, skinny, and flawless many teens especially teenage women feel pressured to look like this.
Jackass, a show where celebrities become more famous and wealthy the more they hurt themselves, is one recent phenomena that has a negative effect on its viewers. Since the stars of Jackass like Johnny Knoxville and Phil Margera are seen as celebrities they are at a higher class than the rest of the public. This is a concern for many because teenage boys who see these actors as role models are trying to emulate them.
This clip below demonstrates what is seen on television and in movies by millions of teenagers.



This clip below shows how many teenagers try to emulate actors like Johnny Knoxville and hurt themselves. A main reason why these teenagers feel as if this is the "cool" thing to do is because they view Knoxville, Margera, and many other famous actors as dominant and powerful figures.

Cultural Studies- Knocked Up

(only watch the first scene)


Cultural Studies is a theory by Stuart Hall supporting the belief that dominant, powerful groups influence culture. It assumes that culture is a part of all human behavior, and that people are a part of a hierarchical structure. Ideologies- frameworks of meaning of our social existence- rule the everyday life. A driving factor of this theory is hegemony, which is defined as the domination of one group over another, usually weaker, group. Sometimes, however, individuals will challenge that domination; these instances are what are known as counter-hegemony.

This clip is a good example of how a certain ideology can drive hegemony to suppress, or push out, the minor public. In this instance, there is an ideal of young, attractive women, and the doorman at the club will only allow this certain social group access. When the two ladies attempt an entry, he quickly rebuffs them. He explains it is the fact that they're both old or pregnant, and as a representative of the dominant group he cannot grant them access, since they don't match the requirements. The older lady however does not fall under a false consciousness, where she is unaware that she's being exploited, but instead uses counter-hegemony to fight back and eventually walk away in anger and frustration.