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Hegemonic Gaze

The dominant cinematic perspective that reinforces prevailing social hierarchies.


Hegemonic Gaze

Definition

The hegemonic gaze describes how filmic techniques and narrative focus align spectators with dominant cultural viewpoints, reproducing normative power structures and marginalizing alternative perspectives.

Theoretical Context

Building on Gramsci’s cultural hegemony and Mulvey’s male gaze, scholars examine how camera angles, framing, and character positioning naturalize racial, gendered, and class hierarchies within mainstream cinema.

Critical Applications

Analyses of the hegemonic gaze uncover systematic biases—from stereotyped portrayals of race and gender to normative worldviews inscribed in genre conventions. Contemporary studies explore counter-hegemonic practices in independent and global cinema that challenge normative gaze dynamics.


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