According to our notes on hegemonic theory given by our instructor, hegemonic theory in film by Sergei Eisenstein is the idea that film portrays the interests or ideas of the hegemonic culture because films were controlled by the rich elites. For this project, our chosen production that exhibited hegemonic theory was Downtown Abbey because it shows the life of the aristocracy.
I learned from this project that this theory is used to shape how different aspects of culture is viewed. For example, a film will show that ballad is upper class because the hegemonic culture decides it is. In addition, this theory is also often seen with the male gaze because the hegemonic culture is ruled by males and film would show what the average white male would like to see, for example, having a female wear clothing that is not usually worn in a life-threatening situation. I would mostly not use this theory in my final product because I believe it will be difficult to make it realistic.
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