Order Number |
636738393092 |
Type of Project |
ESSAY |
Writer Level |
PHD VERIFIED |
Format |
APA |
Academic Sources |
10 |
Page Count |
3-12 PAGES |
Ideological State Apparatuses assignment
Wollstonecraft’s claims about education and books written by men and the speakers’ arguments about movies in the clip from Miss Representation suggest that education, books, and movies are “ideological state apparatuses,” a term I used before and which I will redefine here as “an apparatus a power group uses to project its system of representations, perceptions, and images on other groups in order to get those groups to ‘see’ their specific place in a historically peculiar social formation”. (Adapted from the previous definition of ideology I offered)
For Marx and Engels, the bourgeoisie project their system of representations, perceptions and images on all other classes. (“In a word, it creates a world after its own image” [Marx and Engels 13})
For Wollstonecraft, men project their system of representations on women to try to render women into “alluring mistresses” or “objects.” For this exercise, do these two parts FIRST PART: answer these questions: What power group, if any, is responsible for movies like The Princess Diaries, Valentine’s Day, The Devil Wears Prada, and The Proposal ? (These were some of the movies excerpted in the clip from Miss Representation)
Are such movies degrading to women? (Two claims made in the clip are that mainstream movies “revolve around men” and that when women are protagonists, the movies are not about “finding your destiny” but about finding “romance. ” Caroline Heldman, the associate professor of political science at Occidental College, claims movies like The Devil Wears Prada, and The Proposal do not “bode well when it comes to ideas of women in leadership”)
Are women, or perhaps more likely, girls “bubbled” by such movies into seeing being loved as what makes a woman “excellent”? SECOND PART Louis Althusser, who coined the term “ideological state apparatuses” (IDAs) includes education, books (which he calls “literature”) and movies (he uses the more inclusive term “media”) in his list of IDAs. The list includes: Education –Media –Families Churches — Social/sports clubs –Literature and the Arts Political systems (including political parties) –the Legal system.
For this exercise, go back and read your fellow students’ responses to the instructions “1 List here (in writing) all of the characteristics from columns A and B that women are still praised for having, being, or practicing in the 21st century” in the assignment “Mistaken Notions of Female Excellence” and compile a list of characteristics that the class recognizes American society still projects on women as representations of “female excellence.” For example, one student who has already done the exercise, writes that being young, being beautiful, and having a fashion sense are still aspects of America’s system of representations, perceptions, and images of “female excellence,” so those three should be included in your list. (If you didn’t use the United States for the exercise “Mistaken Notions of Female Excellence” then use the country you wrote about to compile your list)
Try to compile a list of between 7 -10 aspects and start putting the aspects under the IDAs above depending on whether you think that IDA projects that image of women as an example of “female excellence.” For example, you might say a sports clubs (like the Philadelphia Eagles) projects “female excellence” as being young and beautiful through their cheerleading squads.
Post the aspects under the IDAs in this discussion entry and then use the Record Media Feature in the discussion entry to record yourself explaining why you put a particular aspect under an IDA.