Content Guideline: Popular culture text examples: a TV show, a website, a video game, etc. For your first paragraph, start your essay by explaining the concept of hegemony. Then you should explain how hegemony is related to the topic you chose. Remember to underline your thesis statement in your first paragraph. Really think about how the text shows both resistance to and incorporation of dominant values. The best essays will have analyzed example from popular culture that demonstrates this resistance – incorporation “negotiation”. Remember that the goal of Cultural Studies scholarship is to expose power relationships and examine how these relationships influence and shape cultural practices. The key idea behind hegemony is that power is always being negotiated and contested. Therefore, your analysis should focus on questions of power struggles between dominant and subordinate groups as they appear in popular culture (e.g. struggles relating to: racism, discrimination, sexism, homophobia, youth culture, intergenerational conflict, social class, etc.). A popular culture text is not just “good” or “bad”. For example, an essay that only examines how women are stereotyped in the media would not be a hegemony analysis because it does not show these processes. This type of essay would not receive a good mark. Use at least 5 references (APA), at least 2 of the references should be on hegemony. Movie: Wonder Woman, James Bond series Power struggle: sexism – Hollywood action movie usually has white male as protagonist, and a white female character is usually saved by the protagonist. Usually it’s the male character that has more power over the female character. Use James Bond as example to show how its incorporated with the dominant value, and use Wonder Woman as example show resistance of the dominant value. dominant value in modern society: men are more powerful than women