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The Hegemonic White Wedding and Mass Media

     The media have historically supported the views of the dominant group within American society, those holding social, political, and economic power. According to Hegemony in Reality-Based TV Programming: The World According to A Wedding Story, "Mass media disseminate hegemonic values within a society through its tendency to "reproduce the ideological field of a society in such a way as to reproduces, also, its structure of domination""(Engstrom, 2003). The dominant social construct within American culture is heterosexuality, "heterosexuality is, in reality, a highly regulated, ritualized, and organized practice. Sociologically, then, heterosexuality is an "established order made up of rule-bound and standardized behavior patterns" qualifies as an institution. Moreover, heterosexuality as an "arrangement involving large numbers of people whos behavior is guided by norms and rules" is also a social institution" (Ingraham, 1999, pg. 3). Heterosexuality dominates the media landscape in America, from movies, magazines, television shows, and music videos - weddings are everywhere. The saturation of hegemonic messages in mass media support the idea that the white heterosexual wedding is the only goal that women should aspire to and, "The idea that romance-based marriage is the highest human aspiration and ultimate female good pervades American culture" (Engstrom, 2003).
     According to the study, Unraveling The Knot: Political Economy and Cultural Hegemony in Wedding Media, "Bridal media in general "rev up" expectations for big weddings by exalting the complexity and cost of the event. Today, one easily finds myriad bridal and wedding gown magazines at any supermaket or newstand, with titles such as Bride's, Modern Bride, Elegant Bride, Bridal Guide, Bliss for Brides, BrideNoir (for women of color), Martha Stewart's Weddings, Wedding Dresses Magazines, and newer, specialized titles such as The Wedding Channel.com's Wedding Bells, InStyle Weddings, and Allure Bride (from the publishers of allure magazine). These publications focus on bridal accoutrements, such as gowns, accessories, party favors, jewelry, and cosmetics, rather than on the meaning and subsequent relationship created by the wedding ceremony" (Engstrom, 2008).
     According to Erika Engstrom, "Various media products focus on the wedding, its surrounding mercantilism, and underlying message to women that they need a large, expensive wedding in order to move from being single to being married. These media operate through what Lewis called a "subtle and ongoing" process produced by a "latent complexity rather than manifest conspiracy". In terms of the creation of hegemony, this process, which appears to the uncritical eye as a harmless feminine pursuit, results in a "silent domination that is not experienced as domination at all" (Engstrom, 2008). American women have been socialized to believe that the unrealistic images of weddings they consume through mass media represent the lens which the average woman should view her wedding experience through, and the ideal she should aspire to achieve.

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