Underhållande propaganda? Hur populärkultur framställer USA:s makt i en tid av dess förändring

Abstract

Popular Culture is inherently political and the connection between popular culture and world politics in particular is something that has been established through years of research by multiple scholars. In this essay, my aim is to analyze how American Power is represented in popular culture. This is done in context of the decline of the American led liberal hegemony and a new Multiplex world order. A world order with multiple influential actors with varying levels of power. To analyze the way popular culture portrays American power, I have used the movie Top Gun: Maverick (2022) as an example and analyzed scenes from the movie. I have in my analysis utilized theories on the multiplex world order as well as militarism/militarization. To analyze how American power is portrayed I have looked at how America's self-image. enemy-image and interventions are portrayed in the movie. My method consists of an analysis of the movie's narrative as well as the movie's visuals. In the resulting analysis I posit that Top Gun: Maverick portrays the U.S and its military as competent even when facing great challenges. It also portrays the U.S’s enemies as anonymous, but very real threats that need to be dealt with. It also portrays the U.S’s interventions as necessary which correlates with the central idea of militarism. My conclusion is that the movie portrays American power as unshakeable, even in a time where American power is in decline.