Unmasking educational hegemony

Restructuring of precarious minds in Hichki (2018) and Super 30 (2019)

Abstract

The persistent influence of class hierarchies present within educational administration monopolizes admissions criteria, conformity to norms, and student categorization. Such ideologies exert control over the educational environment, impacting students’ mental conditioning, and become the cause of one’s vulnerability and precarity. The paper aims to unravel the hegemony held by the upper class, contributing to student precariousness. Using qualitative methods, the study analyses the contemporary cinematic narratives Hichki (2018) and Super 30 (2019), revealing cognitive patterns such as anger, anxiety and fear in response to social criticism and educational hierarchy. Drawing on Antonio Gramsci’s “hegemony” and Alfred Adler’s “inferiority complex”, it explores the psychological reconditioning of students. The characters Naina and Anand Kumar are positioned as therapists aiding cognitive restructuring, fostering determination, and cultivating resilience. The study seeks to deconstruct conditioned mindsets perpetuated by societal realities and biased educational commentaries, using these films as insightful lenses.