| This thesis is an investigation of the hegemonic and ideological functionality of a Hollywood film entitled Cast Away (2000) in relation to the following: the historical context of globalization; US political-economic and cultural power; the increasing political-economic and cultural influence of multinational corporations, the “Americanizing” global culture industry, commodity circulation and consumption; and finally, the pervasiveness of brands and brand advertising. This thesis reads the 2000 press releases and discourse of FedEx Corporation—a US multinational—in relation to the production, reception, and narrative features of Cast Away and argues that the film is a new genre of brandculture . This genre strengthens FedEx's hegemonic agenda and serves the ideology of US global capitalism by humanizing the corporation, normalizing advertiser/consumer “corporate brand-fetishism,” and finally, representing an “imagined world” that accommodates FedEx Corporation's global capitalist operations. |
