Hegemony

The concept of hegemony raises questions about the medias effects on society's views towards morality. Especially starting around the 60s and 70s, Americans started to become more open about issues of sex, gender, and overall morality. Hegemony may not have been the start of the movement, but the display of new mentalities in film and music spurred new ways of thinking. Even with changes in entertainment media, new media spurs new ways of thinking through the concept of framing. Many ideas seem radical at first, but over the course of time they become more normal for the majority of people.

The use of sex and nudity in film and television and its effects on society is a major example of hegemony. During the 60s and 70s movies such as The Graduate or Animal House barely had nudity, but still displayed premarital sex as normal. Now, many movies, such as the reboot of Friday the 13th, have stepped up the nudity and on shows such as Gossip Girl characters have increasingly ridiculous sex scandals. This shows in the general attitude of current young people, who no longer take sex as seriously as the generations of the early 20th century.