Ideology

Ideologies are a system of values, attitudes and beliefs that help define and explain the world around us. They are important or true to an individual or group. 

Dominant Ideologies
These particular ideologies are repeatedly used by big institutions for example; the government  the media and education systems. They can be ideas about gender, social groups and even the economy. Although we aren't aware of it, they exist in our day-to-day lives and we except them as normal and not many people question the 'norm'. 

How does this relate to media?
Like everything else media texts have representations and beliefs which we aren't necessarily aware of. Media texts will generally convey ideologies and even create them occasionally because they are available to so many people nation or world wide. For example the portrayal of women within the media through time, traditionally females were seen as vunerable and weak. Although in recent media women have become much stronger characters.
Media texts are able to convey certain ideologies because of their connection to the mass audiences, in several different mediums. According to audience theories like 'Two Step Flow' and 'Hypodermic Needle Model' the mass audience absorb this information and are influenced by this.

My Coursework
There are some ideologies that can be considered quite controversial, therefore for my media text I wanted a positive portrayal of both the characters. My narrative has generally equally represented the two genres.