Ideology

Ideology: this is often referred to as an unconscious set of ideas, values and beliefs that a group, society or an individual hold to be true or important, and provide a particular view of the world. This was developed my Karl Marx.

For example- A popular narrative is in Hollywood films such as the American dream. This is the belief that if you work hard there is no limit to your success. This can be read as a dominant ideology.

An example of ideology in films can be seen in Shawshank redemption-
Preferred/dominant readings-
The 'mainstream' ideology in Shawshank redemption would be that at the end when Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins met each other again that they were so happy purely because they had seen each other again.
However the oppositional reading would be different.
The oppositional reading-
This is the 'alternative' reading which in Shawshank would be at the end when the two characters meet, that they were actually in a relationship together rather than just friends which is why they were so happy to see each other.

The dominant ideology of our film:
For our film, the dominant ideology would be in the Christian view, that Jake has bullied his brother however he is trying to make up for it, redeem himself, he is trying to be a better person and get justice for what happened to his brother. Also the fact he is a white male that comes from a middle class family causes him not to get in trouble, the common ideology that different classes and races are still treated differently. The audience would sympathise with him, realise that he is trying to redeem himself and change the person he is.

The oppositional reading of our film:
This would be that Jake is a violent, vile thug who deserves nothing but to be sent down or put into a youth offenders. The audience would have no sympathy for him and they would believe that it was his own actions that got him in that situation, it was his actions that drove his brother to suicide so therefore he is just as bad as his friends.