According to Louis Althusser, what is interpellation (p. 50-51)?
"In Althusser's theory of ideology, interpellation is the mechanism that produces subjects in such as way that they recognize their own existence in terms of the dominant ideology of the society in which they live" (Macey 203). The French term interpellation can mean being taken in by the police for questioning (Macey 203).
"An individual walking down the street hears from an officer --'Hey, you there!' --and turns to recognize that in fact she is the one being addressed or hailed" (Macey 203).
Find an ad online and explain how you have been interpellated by it.
Fred Astaire appeared to dance on the ceiling in Royal Wedding in 1951. The cultural codes of America in the 1950's are encoded in this advertisement for wallpaper (shown above). The figure in the picture is a female, which in this instance connotes the domestic domain. The female figure is bare-foot and scantily, if elegantly, clad, which is again suggestive of 1950's American roles for women. The mirror reflects her cleavage and little else.
Is there a failproof method of controlling how an image is received by its audience(s)? What are some of the variables that affect how a viewer perceives and interprets an image?
No. However, that does not mean that image makers do not try. There are many variables that affect how a viewer perceives and interprets an image. First, a viewer brings personal experience and different kinds of training when viewing an image. Second, a viewer's gender or sexual orientation affects image viewing. Third, race, nationality, ethnicity, religious affiliation, and self-identity all affect how one perceives an image.
What is hegemony? How is it constructed in a given society?
According to Macey, the term hegemony "derives from the Greek hegemon, meaning leader, prominent power or dominant state or person, and is widely used to denote political dominance" (Macey 176). Gramsci' notion of hegemony distinguishes between the two superstructural levels of political society, or the state and its agencies, and civil society or the private realm (Macey 176). The state dominates primarily through direct coercion including, laws, military, etc.... Civil society dominates primarily through the realms of intellectual and economic production. An hegemonic conception of the world forms when the popular culture adopts the rationale of the ruling classes and that rationale permeates the whole of civil society.
Text Citation: Macey, David. Dictionary of Critical Theory, pg. 203 and 176. London, U.K.: Penguin Books, 2000.
Image Citation: Wacky wallpaper
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