SOURCE: "The Hegemonic Female Fantasy in An Unmarried Woman and Craig's Wife," in Film Reader, No. 5, 1982, pp. 83-94.

In the following excerpt, Lesage examines Arzner's depiction of marriage in Craig's Wife.

Hegemony is a term in Marxist theory used by Antonio Gramsci to describe the complex ways that the dominant, most powerful class (in our era, the bourgeoisie) maintains control over ideas. The term originally derives from the Greek and was used to describe Athens' prestige and influence over the other Greek city states. The concept of hegemony is most useful if seen as operating on two interrelated and mutually reinforcing levels: the institutional and the psychological. The dominant class has the power towrite history and impose norms because it controls and directs economic, state, cultural, scientific, religious, educational, etc., institutions. In this sense, the health care system or the educational system not only deliver material services but...