Stewart 1

Nathan Stewart
Matt Whittaker
Film Studies
10/30/16
The Dominance of Ideology.
The Dominant Ideology, or as it applies to the United States, White Patriarchal
Capitalism, is an ideal that has been in the root of America ever since its founding, and is shown
very prominently in American Cinema, especially through 1970s and 80s, which I will be
focusing on in this paper. The 1970s and 80s brought us what is known as a Hollywood
Blockbuster, which is a movie that is immensely popular. Because there is such a huge audience
that will watch these blockbusters, ideas found in White Patriarchal Capitalism have the
tendency to stick in many peoples heads, and because of that, are still ever present today, even if
we may not think they are.
First off, let me explain thoroughly exactly what The Dominant Ideology even is, so the
rest of this paper will make total sense. According to Nicholas Abercrombie and Bryan Turner,
the Dominant Ideology Theory suggests that there is ill most societies a set of beliefs which
dominates all others and which, through its incorporation in the consciousness of subordinate
classes, tends to inhibit the development of radical political dissent (Abercrombie, 149) This
means that in certain places, such as a state or country, there is a set of ideas that is dominant in
that area. This, in turn, makes it harder for other ideas and thoughts to be well received or even
heard in a place with a very strong dominant ideology.

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This Dominant Ideology differs from country to country, as of course, there is not one
ultimate ideology that rules over every country in every place. A dominant set of beliefs in Japan
would not be the same as ones in New Zealand, though there potentially could be some overlap. I
am focusing on the dominant ideology of the United States, my nation of living, otherwise
known as the White Patriarchal Capitalism. This is set of ideas that has been part of America
since the very beginning, and there are three basic components that make up this ideology. The
first of these components is the idea that if you are white, you are somehow automatically better
than anyone that is not white. The second component is the thought that males are the superior
sex, and therefore should be dominant over anyone else, and women and children should be
submissive to them. The third and final part of this is the term capitalism, which in this sense,
can be described as depending on how much you have, that is how much you as a person are
worth.
Now where does this ideology come into play in American Cinema? Well, even though
this ideology has been in movies ever since the invention of movies, a huge example of the
American Dominant Ideology came about around the time Hollywood blockbusters really started
to emerge, around the 1970s and 1980s. Around this time, a group of new film directors
emerged, sometimes referred to as the Film school brats. These brats included George Lucas,
Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola. All these directors would go on to
produce and direct huge, successful Hollywood blockbusters, which would go on to spawn
sequels for years to come. These blockbusters, however, had fallen subject to the Dominant
Ideology, which is plainly obvious to see when one pays close attention.

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Well start with Steven Spielbergs hit, Jaws, which is what many to consider the first
real Hollywood Blockbuster. Jaws was a gigantic success, becoming the highest grossing film
ever until Star Wars came out in 1977. This film had a huge audience, which could potentially be
a problem, since this film, while a fantastic film, had the issue of keeping white, male actors in
the limelight. Actors such as Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss dominated the
movie, making the movie a very white movie, with not a single black person to be seen. Heck,
even the shark of the movie was a great white shark. The biggest female character in Jaws,
played by Lorraine Gary, was kept to a very small support role, being the wife of one main
characters, with her main job in the movie being to worry about the mens wellbeing. Even
though she was white like the rest of the cast, she still wasnt allowed a huge role in the film
because of her gender. This shows another part of the White Patriacarchal Capitalism, as women
are not treated as equally in a pure White Patriarchal Capitalistic society. But hey, there are a ton
of blockbusters in the 70s and 80s, so they cant all be like that, right?
Enter George Lucas, 1971. George has an idea, a vision, to make an epic space fantasy
like never seen before. The movie is Star Wars (Later known as Star Wars: A New Hope) and is
released in 1977 to critical acclaim, quickly becoming an American icon. Now this film, which
encompasses the vastness of space, included basically two types of creatures: aliens, and white
people, with the main actors of the film being Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. It
seemed that in this version of space, white people made up about all of the human race, and of
course, were the heroes. The only trace of a black person was James Earl Jones. Jones was the
voice actor for the character Darth Vader, the main villain of the film. This made it so even
though the film did have a person of color in it, it was only for the villain, and not any of the
heroes. This was quickly changed in the sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, with the introduction

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of Lando Calrissian, an African character in the Star Wars franchise, though he still took a
backseat to all the white characters. But I cant finish talking about Star Wars without mention
Princess Leia, can I? Yes, even in this ocean of men and weird alien creatures that is Star Wars,
there is a female character. Heck, shes even a main character who is depicted as smart and
capable of taking care of herself! While a strong character in her own right, she still falls to
similar tropes that many women in films before her have fallen victim to, as she is still not seen
as important as the white, male characters. The audiences dig it up, since the movie is an
amazing movie, but not being fully aware of the dominant ideology that is being shown through
the screen, and even if they are aware, most likely dont give it much thought. But now we have
two huge hits with mainly white male stars, so that must mean big changes in movies are about
to happen.
In late May of 1977, George Lucas realized the horrifying truth that there just werent
enough white men in movies, so he hit up his old buddy, Steven Spielberg on a sunny beach in
Hawaii. After talking for a while on that beach, they soon had a plan for a new movie. With
Lucass story and Spielbergs directing talent combined, these two filmmakers created one of the
most beloved movies, and soon franchises, of all time, 1981s Raiders of the Lost Ark. This film
followed the adventures of Professor Indiana Jones, played by Harrison Ford, as he goes on a
hunt to find the Arc of The Covenant before the Nazis can obtain it. Though this movie does
show examples of the white patriarchal capitalism, it is nothing too major. However, the sequel
and chronological prequel to Raiders of the Lost Arc, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,
just oozes with the dominant ideology.
In Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones finds his way into a small
village in the middle of North India. The village is in dire need of help, since their sacred,

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mystical stone was stolen from the village, and none of the villagers are white or man enough to
go and get the stone back. Indiana Jones, being a proud sponsor and user of the White Savior
Complex, decides to help these poor, helpless people. This, however, does not please his
companion, Wilhelmina Scott, who wants nothing to do with this rescue. You may have noticed
that hey, weve got another female character in a lead role! This, at first glance, may seem as a
positive step in the role to equality in films, but after watching the film, this is simply not the
case. Wilhelmina is nothing more than a damsel in distress in the Temple of Doom, constantly
needing rescuing or somehow screwing something up. She is never even given a chance to do
something right till the very end of the movie, and even then it is basically a throwaway gag, and
nothing more is said about her one moment of heroism. However, George Lucas and Steven
Spielberg were kind and generous to give her another role in the movie, that being the wondrous
opportunity to be the love interest for Indiana Jones. Thats right, if you thought Wilhelmina had
even a speck of independence in her character, you thought wrong. The one female character in
this entire movie was shredded down to a dumb, annoying, love interest for Indiana Jones to
constantly have to save.
Before I forget, I have to mention the White Savior Complex that makes itself manifest in
this movie. Now one may say that since Indiana Jones just wandered into India, it makes sense
that everyone else would be a native of the area, and just because Indiana Jones is white, does
not mean its some example of white patriarchal capitalism. This doesnt take into count,
however, the fact anyone who is not one of the three main characters are either dumb and
incapable, or evil villains. Seriously, Indiana Jones is basically a white savior to these people.
There are scenes of Indiana Jones being whipped brutally, or of all the native children lifting

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their hands up to Indiana Jones, just like children did to Jesus Christ. Its so blatant too, this
White Savior Complex, that its surprising that more people havent noticed it.
Lets flash forward to 2016. The White Patriarchal Capitalism is basically dead, right? I
mean, just take look a Star Wars: The Force Awakens! This film breaks that dominant ideology
by casting a woman and a black man to be the two new main characters, so it must mean that the
dominant ideology is basically done for! Sadly, this is not the case, and simply pretending that it
is the case will make things worse. Even though movies have come a long way in breaking social
norms and trying to get past that dominant ideology, the ideology of White Patriarchal
Capitalism still very well exists. For every Star Wars: The Force Awakens, three more movies
appear that that still have mainly white, male actors in leading roles. Take the 2016 Oscars, for
example. There were a ton of great movies in the year leading up to the Oscars, so no one may
have noticed the whiteness that had taken over these movies. It became very obvious, however,
that once the academy did not nominate a single black person for an Oscar, that something must
be wrong. Many people who believed that we were basically at the end of white dominated
movies just had their world shattered.
The Dominant Ideology of White Patriarchal Capitalism is and old and dangerous idea
that still seems to find its way into our American society no matter how hard we try to get rid of
it. A lot of the time, its hard to get rid of simply because we dont notice it, its subconscious.
With many of the movies I mentioned, I dont believe that the directors to make the films all
white, or that they hated women enough to not put them in starting roles. But thats the whole
point. If we dont learn to notice our biases and subconscious ideas, we will continue to make the
same mistakes in films that have been going on for generations.

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Works Cited
Abercrombie, Nicholas, and Bryan S. Turner. The Dominant Ideology
Thesis. The British Journal of Sociology, vol. 29, no. 2, 1978, pp. 149170.
www.jstor.org/stable/589886.