"Films and Ideology" - Summary

Andrew Dix begins the essay with a reference to the polysyllabic referent genderraceclass used by Robyn Wiegman in his essay on the African American film Boyz N the Hood (1991). Wiegman thought that the very term would help in defining the position of a person as a social being.
But, Dix finds that even such a dangerous formulation as 'genderraceclass' is insufficient to evoke the full range of ideological domains in which a person is situated  . The term sexuality also should be incorporated and that will result in a portmanteau category gendersexualityraceclass.

The very essay by Dix introduces gendersexualityraceclass in film studiesandfocuses upon the ideologyand social subjectivity in movies

On analyzing class struggle and the struggle for class in film studies, he employs Marxist ideology. Dix notes that class status of film spectatorship has been an issue since the medium's beginning. The level of production as well is not devoid of the issue.Inequalities in access to educational, financial and technological resources powerfully shape who gets to make cinematic representations.Less fortunate classes get represented by the directors and writers from well off sections of the society and this results in a distorted portrayal of their lives.