Gramsci states, “culture, at its various levels, unifies in a series of strata, to the extent that they come into contact with each other … a system of “private and public” “explicit and implicit” associations whose threads are knotted together in the “State” and in the world political system” (Gramsci 665). As Gramsci states, “the realization of a hegemonic apparatus, in so far as it creates a new ideological terrain, determines a reform of consciousness and of methods of knowledge ...when one succeeds in introducing a new morality in conformity with a new conception of the world, one finishes by introducing the conception as well; in other words, one determines a reform of the whole philosophy” (Gramsci 690). Because hegemony is a working process that permeates throughout the different strata of culture when changes occur they affect all of the different relationships within the society.
One cannot have a critical and coherent conception of the world without having a “consciousness of its historicity” (Gramsci 628). History lives all around us and is reproduced in different ways. “The phase of development which it represents and of the fact that it contradicts other conceptions or elements of other conceptions” (Gramsci 628) means that instead of history we have histories, struggling with each other and contending for the attention. Since there are various hegemonic mechanisms, when struggles occur between the different mechanisms, one can only be aware of these struggles in the context of their occurrence and not in the context of their outcome. It is a “socializing," "civilizing" or “moralizing” process, a way for discourse to place itself as dominant discourse. What is important to remember then is that “one’s conception of the world is a response to certain specific problems posed by reality…meaning every system has its own law of fixed proportions in its demographic composition, its own equilibrium and forms of disequilibrium” (Gramsci 570).
For Gramsci development or ‘progress,’ then, depends on a specific mentality, the constitution of which involves certain historically determined cultural elements. While progress on the surface seems like an advancement, a change, an innovation in reality it is but a renewal, a moving to the frontlines, an exchange. Gramsci states, “in the idea of progress is implied the possibility of quantitative and qualitative measuring, of 'more' and 'better.'" A measuring stick must be supposed, but “the stick is given by the past, by a certain phase of the past or by certain measurable aspects…in other words, the official ‘standard bearers’ of progress have become incapable of this domination, because they have brought into being in the present destructive forces like crises and unemployment, etc., every bit as dangerous and terrifying as those of the past” (Gramsci 677).
Gramsci states in response to the idea of American progress that “America”, has no ‘‘great historical and cultural traditions;’’ (Gramsci 570) but neither does it have burdens to support. This is one of the main reasons for its accumulation of capital. “The non-existence of viscous parasitic sedimentations left behind by past phases of history has allowed industry and commerce in particular, to develop on a sound basis” (Gramsci 570). What this means is that the idea of progress is ideological since in conjunction with beneficial elements, change also brings negative elements, thus, because progress is an ideology, “ethical ‘improvement’ is an illusion and an error" (Gramsci 682).
One of the principal conditions for power, Gramsci argues, is leadership -- a social group must be leading before winning governmental power. He states that through this system, power is exerted as a means of leadership by a dominant group via the existing formal and informal organizational networks of society -- "the supremacy of a social group manifests itself in two ways, as 'domination' and as 'intellectual and moral leadership'" (Gramsci 193). Gramsci states that in all periods there co-exist many systems and currents of philosophical thought, currents that diffuse and fracture. This ideological struggle is a ‘philosophical’ one -- it is a battle between different conceptions of the world. “Philosophy [then] is a conception of the world" (Gramsci 626), and philosophical activity is the “individual elaboration of systematically coherent concepts … as a cultural battle to transform the popular ‘mentality’ and to diffuse the philosophical innovations" (Gramsci 663).
In 1992, Patrick Buchanan spoke of the struggle between conservatives and liberals using the term Culture War, demonstrating that the relationship between conservative Christians and the wider hegemonic world has become increasingly convoluted. A new struggle had developed, and conservative Christian media practices began constructing a wider encounter with the world, going beyond simple attempts to convert others. Conservative social organizations began using cultural activism in their politics and have more recently emphasized a different kind of activism. The Church now plays a new role as organizer, leader, and dominator of a space previously dominated by grassroots organizations; this incursion consents to status quo structures while enabling a system of control through policy changes. This new use of grassroots methods tends to naturalize the process of domination and force change by way of cultural mechanisms that influence policymakers. Media now comprises practices that function as a form of Christian cultural activism, constituting new encounters with other religions, countries, various media images, different political values and economic exchanges, but additionally supplying the public with well-argued courses of action founded on principals of intolerance to alternative ways of viewing the world.
While Christians have been historically at the forefront of media technology and innovation, they have not been wedded to one form but have constantly evolved (Michael 1). Some filmmakers are now making movies to present a “story” in order to introduce themselves or their cause as human rights advocacy, and consequently root the film in activist culture as well as in the evangelization and promotion of Christian media projects, creating a new market for Christian materials and ideas. This new turn includes a wide spectrum of conservative Christian political involvement around "moral" issues like abortion, homosexuality, home-schooling, attempts at proselytizing, and foreign policy revision through missionary work.
Old representations and stereotypes have been repackaged into more acceptable forms, such as morally provocative arguments like saving the children from infanticide, saving society from the AIDS epidemic, and saving children from sex trafficking through docudramas like Hakani, Miss HIV,
and Stop the Traffik. By way of moral arguments – defined as "defense" of marriage, of women, of children -- cultural activism seeks to systematically overhaul legislation. The new mobilization takes a turn toward encompassing Constitutional revision or policy change as part of the new encounter, something until now only done by a few Christian groups. Take for example, Mike Huckabee’s statement made during the last election campaign: “I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution, but I believe it is a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the Living God. That’s what we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family” (Huckabee).
Not only is cultural activism via Christian media reshaping moral issues and fostering a sense of virtual and actual community (a public space for those who share moral, social and religious worldviews), it is also reshaping foreign and domestic policy, hence redefining cultural activism itself. One must also recognize that the basis of conservative Christianity is to evangelize, and evangelizing has increasingly taken on newer forms.
In and surrounding Hakani, we can clearly see the intersections between conservative Christian cultural activism and Christian evangelization through a series of tactical media steps that have spiritual, cultural, and political agendas. Close engagement with the film as a cultural artifact reveals a new way innovative technologies and strategies of conservative Christian media are helping expand the wider fields of media production and religious belief. In Hakani, the work is propagandistic and manipulative, a co-optive mechanism, making influence more solid and continuous in its attempt to attain the desired end -- conversion of the viewer to the ideology and revision of policy. Every film is political inasmuch as it is determined by the ideology which produces it. Hakani is no different; in fact, it has an explicitly ideological goal.
In using Hakani as a tool to disseminate messages, David Loren Cunningham, the film’s director, reformulates the distinctions between traditionally religious spaces and the public spaces of cultural activism. Hakani functions as aesthetic and message-driven media content for the dominant ideology from which it emerged. Cunningham’s clearly defined heroes and villains and pervasive ideological characteristics -- the story's overt Christian morality emphasizing missionaries as a source of redemption, purity, and selflessness and the idea that the destiny of indigenous peoples lies in the hands of Christians -- are an example of the link between its ideological foundation, religion, and its cultural source, film. While Hakani is an obvious example of the link between ideology and culture, all films are deeply embedded with the ideological codes, social conventions, and morals of the society from which they spring. Just as films are a result of a certain political system, they too are part of an ideological system; indeed, they constitute a branch of culture that plays an integral part in the reproduction of ideology. What makes Hakani different is its conscious exploitation of the cultural, economic, political, and historical fields in which the film is embedded. Hakani is no longer simply propaganda, it is activism with its concomitant overlapping ideological, social, legal, and religious aspects.
Culture is used as a cultivating mechanism -- cult as in "care, cultivation” -- in the form of associations that mean something to all of us. Culture is also used in the form of relations -- nik as in a "person or thing associated with or involved in" something. Culture, relations, and associations are conceptions that have been mechanically imposed by social groups – -- which we are involved in from the moment of entry into the conscious world. Hence, our philosophical position or criteria for evaluation is implicated by the system we have developed for conduct of life. It would then be impossible to say that there is no system of seeing things from all sides. According to Gramsci “there does not exist, historically, a way of seeing things and of acting which is equal for all men” (Gramsci 669).
Works Cited
Gramsci, Antonio, Quintin Hoare, and Geoffrey Nowell-Smith. Selections from the prison notebooks of Antonio Gramsci. Electric Book Company, 2001. Print.
