Everything & nothing: Hegemonic constructions of whiteness in American cinema

Whiteness in film represents a masculine dominated world where the agency of nonwhites and women is constrained. Nonwhites and women are represented as dependent bodies that either aid white males or require saving. Various intersecting themes of class and gender concatenate with race to buttress hegemonic whiteness. This paper underscores those instances of the intersectionality of race, class, and gender in the film text. Hegemonic representations of whiteness in film are perpetuated through colorblind ideology. Finally, through symbolic exploitation, social actors continue to reify hegemonic representations of whiteness.