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Normalizing masochism: subversion and reification of hegemony in Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart

In its broadest sense, hegemony is defined as a set of agreed ideologies practiced by prominent regimes and governments which influences people’s minds. One of the practices which can be observed in most societies is the exclusion and rejection of homosexuals of their fundamental rights as humans. A...

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Main Authors: Tay, Lai Kit, Sedehi, Kamelia Talebian
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universiti Putra Malaysia Press 2016
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/50385/1/Normalizing%20masochism%20subversion%20and%20reification%20of%20hegemony%20in%20Larry%20Kramer%27s%20The%20Normal%20Heart.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/50385/
http://www.fbmk.upm.edu.my/sp/page/2861/jlc_bm
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spelling my.upm.eprints.503852017-02-28T05:37:36Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/50385/ Normalizing masochism: subversion and reification of hegemony in Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart Tay, Lai Kit Sedehi, Kamelia Talebian In its broadest sense, hegemony is defined as a set of agreed ideologies practiced by prominent regimes and governments which influences people’s minds. One of the practices which can be observed in most societies is the exclusion and rejection of homosexuals of their fundamental rights as humans. As such, the issue will be magnified in this paper through a satirical play written by Larry Kramer, entitled The Normal Heart. Parallel with the dominant hegemony, the homosexual characters in the play are mistreated and isolated within their own society. To retaliate, these characters consider themselves as victims and intend to counter the situation by masochism. However, the attempt seems to backfire and reify the preexisting hegemony. As such, this paper explores The Normal Heart in light of Antonio Gramsci’s concept of hegemony as well as Erich Fromm’s masochism. To further specify, the paper examines the homosexual characters – their victimization and their fight against the dominant ideologies and how it all leads to their estrangement within the society. Universiti Putra Malaysia Press 2016 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/50385/1/Normalizing%20masochism%20subversion%20and%20reification%20of%20hegemony%20in%20Larry%20Kramer%27s%20The%20Normal%20Heart.pdf Tay, Lai Kit and Sedehi, Kamelia Talebian (2016) Normalizing masochism: subversion and reification of hegemony in Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart. Journal of Language and Communication, 3 (2). pp. 241-248. ISSN 2289-649X http://www.fbmk.upm.edu.my/sp/page/2861/jlc_bm
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
building UPM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Putra Malaysia
content_source UPM Institutional Repository
url_provider http://psasir.upm.edu.my/
language English
description In its broadest sense, hegemony is defined as a set of agreed ideologies practiced by prominent regimes and governments which influences people’s minds. One of the practices which can be observed in most societies is the exclusion and rejection of homosexuals of their fundamental rights as humans. As such, the issue will be magnified in this paper through a satirical play written by Larry Kramer, entitled The Normal Heart. Parallel with the dominant hegemony, the homosexual characters in the play are mistreated and isolated within their own society. To retaliate, these characters consider themselves as victims and intend to counter the situation by masochism. However, the attempt seems to backfire and reify the preexisting hegemony. As such, this paper explores The Normal Heart in light of Antonio Gramsci’s concept of hegemony as well as Erich Fromm’s masochism. To further specify, the paper examines the homosexual characters – their victimization and their fight against the dominant ideologies and how it all leads to their estrangement within the society.
format Article
author Tay, Lai Kit
Sedehi, Kamelia Talebian
spellingShingle Tay, Lai Kit
Sedehi, Kamelia Talebian
Normalizing masochism: subversion and reification of hegemony in Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart
author_facet Tay, Lai Kit
Sedehi, Kamelia Talebian
author_sort Tay, Lai Kit
title Normalizing masochism: subversion and reification of hegemony in Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart
title_short Normalizing masochism: subversion and reification of hegemony in Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart
title_full Normalizing masochism: subversion and reification of hegemony in Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart
title_fullStr Normalizing masochism: subversion and reification of hegemony in Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart
title_full_unstemmed Normalizing masochism: subversion and reification of hegemony in Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart
title_sort normalizing masochism: subversion and reification of hegemony in larry kramer's the normal heart
publisher Universiti Putra Malaysia Press
publishDate 2016
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/50385/1/Normalizing%20masochism%20subversion%20and%20reification%20of%20hegemony%20in%20Larry%20Kramer%27s%20The%20Normal%20Heart.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/50385/
http://www.fbmk.upm.edu.my/sp/page/2861/jlc_bm
_version_ 1643834647390453760
score 13.211869

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