Due to her strong opposition for the latest trends, Sam is often mistreated by
her friends in her school and society. They do not even bother themselves to be
friend with her and even turned their faces away every time they pass each other.
The only friend Sam has is Chaterine. Both of them are often being bullied and
mocked by the popular students in their school.
Based on the novel, the main reason why Samantha is outcast from their
society is the lifestyle. Samantha is a student who does not wear trendy fashion,
listen to popular music, join the favorite clubs in the school and watch the popular
TV programs. Thus, she is often called as weirdo and freak.
The setting of the novel is America in 2002. At that time, MTV is one of the
most popular programs among the teenagers. However, instead of enjoying this
program and idolizing the DJ, Samantha prefers watch documenter films. She also
does not join the popular clubs in her school such as cheerleading or sport because
her hobby is drawing celebrities pictures. She is also never invited to the parties
that held by the popular students in her school.
In the first half of the novel, Samantha was described as the subordinate
character in her society. She used to have no friends and was ignored by her
friends. However, in the middle of the story, Samantha turned to be the major
character; the popular student whom respected by many people around her. Many
of her friends invited her to their parties. Some of them even copied her weird
fashion style and wear black outfits. It happened after she saved Presidents life
from terrorist and this incident is reported in national and international news.
Based on this novel, we can find that media (powerful character, television,
magazines, advertisement, etc) in the society have a big role to create or even
change the tradition or culture. In American Popular Culture Historical and
Pedagogical Perspectives, Seymour Leventman stated:
The popularization of culture is a historical product emerging
concurrently with the culture of the masses, i.e., peoples liberated from
traditional class structures. So, pop culture with its broadly appealing
folk sources comes into play as expressions of political ideologies,
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4. What is the critical position of the author toward the hegemony of the
American Popular Culture that showed in the novel?
4. Goals of the Study
There are two goals of this study. The first goal is general goal, and the
second goal is specific goal. General goals of the study are to apply theories that
have been given in English Department Faculty of Letter and to fulfill the final
exam assignment. Besides, the author hopes this thesis becomes reference for
other students who interested to discuss about American Pop Culture. However,
the specific goals of the study are to find out the representation of hegemony in
American Pop Culture that showed in Meg Cabots All American Girl.
D. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
1. Previous Research
To do this research, I use some references and previous research which
discussed the same topic and theory. These previous researches are Cultural
Materialism in Cormac MC Charitys No Country For Old Men by Omega Mega
RY, Cosmopolitanism As Sociological Perspective on American Life in The Era of
1980-1990s Through Rae Lawrences Jacqueline Susanns Shadow of The Dolls
by Ishaq Destry Eryansyah, and The American Cultural Hegemony as a process of
Globalization by Lamia Maatougui.
The first previous research is cultural materialism in Cormac MC Charitys
No Country for Old Men by Omega Mega RY (2013). This research tells about
how the struggle in economy can affect the main character of the novel, Chigurh,
as a psychopath. In the novel, Chigurh struggled economically and because of it,
he contracts antisocial personality disorder which leads him to behave
irresponsibly toward others. The author of this research used the sociological
approach and the theory of cultural materialism to analyze this novel. The
similarity of his research and this research is both thesis use the cultural
materialism as the main topic. However, the difference between his research and
this research is in the objects that want to be discussed. His research discussed
about how the cultural materialism could affect the psychology of the main
character in the novel. Meanwhile, this research talks about how the cultural
materialism controls the society.
The second research is Cosmopolitanism as Sociological Perspective on
American Life in The Era of 1980-1990s Through Rae Lawrences Jacqueline
Susanns Shadow of The Dolls by Ishaq Destry Eryansyah (2014). This research
tells about how the cosmopolitanism life style is represented in the novel. The
lifestyle mostly shows the glamorous, luxurious, and high standard of life. In the
novel, the character works hard and has to go through a lot of difficulties because
their social status and prosperity. These efforts made them became successful at
the end. The similarity of his thesis and this thesis is both theses discuss the
popular culture and how it became the ideal way of life of the characters in the
novel. Meanwhile, the difference between his research and this research is in the
scope of the study. His research is focused on the sociological perspective, while
this thesis is focused on the hegemony and the cultural materialism in the novel.
The third previous research is The American Cultural Hegemony as a process
of Globalization by Lamia Maatougui. This research talks about American cultural
hegemony as a process of globalization. Throughout her research, she discussed
the necessary information to understand about the spread of the American culture
into the world. He also explained how American economy contributes to the
spread of American culture. The similarity of her research and this research is
both research discuss about the hegemony of American Pop Culture. However, the
difference between her research and this research is in the object of the study. Her
research talks about the phenomena of American Culture and how it becomes
popular around the world while this research analyses the hegemony of American
Pop Culture through literary work.
2. Theoretical Framework
2.1 Raymond Williams Cultural Materialism Theory
comprises ideas, such as politics, philosophy, morality, and art. Soon, men accept
and apply those ideas in their daily life to adapt with their society. All of these
forces involve in the making of dominant culture that people should agree with,
whether it is true or not.
As the society will always have a structure and organization, it leads to the
social intentions, intentions by which ruled by the dominant class to justify and
maintain the unequal social relationships upon which their rights depend.
William stated:
The process of education; the process of much wider social training
within institution like family; the practical definitions and
organization of work; the selective tradition at an intellectual and
theoretical level: all these forces are involved in a continual making
and remaking of an effective dominant culture, and on them, as
experienced, as built into our living its reality depends. (1980: 36)
The quotation above delivers that social institution such as education, family,
religion, and organization of work have a big role in making and remaking the
dominant culture. They control the laws, the theories, and the ideologies of culture
in the society that are often claimed as natural. Thus, William believed that culture
is always political.
The ideological domination in certain society that ruled by the powerful
institution is called as hegemony. It is a term that defined by the Italian communist
Antonio Gramsci which later extended by Marx as dominating or ruling the class.
(1977:108)
Hegemony does not attack people with violence like soldier and their gun or
political system backed up by written constitution. It is covered by history or
major character in society and indirectly makes people accept and feel
comfortable with it. When a culture becomes hegemonic, it becomes "common
sense" for the majority of the population.
In his book Marxism and Literature, William stated:
institutions like education, family, organization of work are the ones that involved
in the remaking and making of it.
Later, William introduces a further distinction between residual and emergent
culture (1980:41). Residual culture refers to the some experiences, meanings or
values which practiced and generated by previous social formation, e.g.: religion.
On the contrary, the emergent culture is new meanings and values, new practices,
new significances and experiences that are continually being created.
According to William (1980:45), art and literature in any period have a big
role to create the dominant culture. It is supplemented by the media such as
broadcast, music and film and it also performs certain values or meanings which
later become general truth that most people tend to accept and believe.
In relation to this research, Raymond Williams cultural materialism is used
to understand how the hegemony of American Pop Culture is represented in the
Meg Cabots All American Girl. It starts from the representation of cultural
materialism in American Pop Culture and how it can create classes in the society.
Later, I will describe how hegemony affects the characters life in the novel and
that it can be changed by some aspects. Furthermore, through this analysis, I will
also explain the power of media and institution in creating the ideology and
tradition that tend to be accepted and practiced by people in the society. So, in this
case, the critical position of the author will be revealed.
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As this thesis uses qualitative research, the data are narrative, non numerical
data. The data are mostly critical and interpretive. These are concerned with the
subjective understanding and interpretation of social condition.
2. Data Collection
To do this research, I collected the data from primary and secondary sources.
The primary sources of the data are taken from the novel. These include the data
about the representation of hegemony in American Pop Culture and how it affects
the main character. However, the secondary data are taken from the books and
some journals that related to the theory of hegemony and cultural materialism.
Since the data are in the form of written text, this data collection is called as
documentary method. It refers to the techniques that used to categorize,
investigate, interpret and identify the limitations of physical sources, most
commonly written documents whether in the private or public domain.
3. Data Processing and Analysis
After collecting the data, then the data are processed and classified into two
steps. The first step is picking up the data from books or journal that explain the
theory of hegemony and cultural materialism. The second step is reading and
choosing the data from the novel which contain narratives or dialogues data that
explain the hegemony of American Pop Culture and how it affect the characters
life in the novel.
The process of analyzing the data is started on how the novel represents the
hegemony of American Pop Culture through the narrations and dialogues. In the
novel, Samantha, the main character, describes the popular students in her school
are the ones who wear the trendy fashion, listen to popular music, and the students
who are athletic or join the cheerleading club. Those popular students often mock
the unpopular ones because they do not wear the trendy fashion, join the
cheerleading or athletic clubs, and follow the latest trend. This analysis will
answer the first question about the representation of hegemony in American
Popular Culture.
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