The Free Individual in a Tale of Democracy: Hegemony and Dystopia in Visual Narratives

Abstract

This study examines the power relations of the characters in dystopian-themed visual culture narratives. The study is based on the reasons that lead to the construction of the concept of hegemony, how a hegemonic system is processed in the dystopian narrative, and the effect of this system on the social norms among the characters. This study examines both how social norms enable the functioning of the hegemony system and how the characters are separated among themselves according to age, gender, power, and race differences. The study examines the young-adolescent TV series The Society (2019) in connection with the concept of hegemony. The main argument of this essay is the attempt made to theoretically contextualize and systematically analyze a contemporary TV series through a combination of political science, speculative fiction, and film studies to explore the concept of hegemony. The hegemony in the narrative is based on the existence of the sovereign power and is built through all the oppression and ideological devices held by this power.