Through his televised speeches, radio addresses, and policies, President Ronald Reagan initiated a political, economical, and cultural shift using rhetoric that advanced his goals while simultaneously mobilizing the New Right. Reagan’s rhetoric, this paper demonstrates, became the hegemonic ideology, appearing in both television and cinema, echoing and reinforcing Reagan’s politics in various modes of media, including family sitcoms and crime dramas. This ultimately aided in the cultural shift through implicit and explicit exposure to his beliefs. This paper explores these hegemonic ideas in areas of popular culture that may be unexpected, such as sitcoms featuring non-nuclear families and crime dramas utilizing neo-noir cinematography, a dissenting film structure. In the first chapter, I analyze the 1980s sitcoms Full House and Family Ties, Ronald Reagan's "family values" rhetoric is evident, allowing the New Right's ideology to become hegemonic as it simultaneously became enforced through tax cuts and block grants. In the second chapter of the paper, Wiseguy and Escape From New York are evaluated to understand how the rhetoric of President Reagan was used to ostracize and "other" the Black and Brown individuals who occupied urban areas, advancing a moral panic and ultimately justifying the rise of mass incarceration. Serving as a symbol of a movement, President Reagan created immense changes during his presidency, earning his era the title Reagan Revolution. The framework established in this paper points out the importance of analyzing and understanding the cultural landscape to make observations about the ways in which politics operate.  

Dr. Ben Looker has been incredibly supportive and immensely inspiring in the creation of this project. His mentorship and guidance throughout this process has been influential. Dr. Looker leads with compassion and understanding and is always prepared to present new and exciting ways to progress through barriers during the research process.