How are the authority figures represented in human traffic?

Authority figures are shown in Human traffic by various techniques with the most noticeable scenes being jip and his mother within her house, jip with his boss at work, jip with one of his mums clients and Mort with his dad. This is shown mostly through social class for example: Mort is a low class white male with no job and takes drugs while his dad is seen as middle class as a police officer with more authority and power within society.

However the scene also shows a problem with the model known as cultural hegemony which believes that one social group dominates over the rest and thus their ways are seen as the norm (Gramsei 1930), as Mort rejects his fathers dominance when he has been told to leave. That said the character does end up leaving the house during the argument so in a way due to his anger he conforms to his fathers control when trying to reject it. This could suggest that society is seen as having a lot of power and so like Mort even if you try to run away from it you will still be under its control/influence.

Another scene could be the one with jip and his mother which shows the cultural hegemony quite well. This is shown when Jip tells the audience that he doesn't really want to see his mother yet at the end of his speech he walks into the house. This shows that although he shows clear dislike for having to see his mother he still does thus meaning that he cant disobey the control very easily.

The mothers flat is stereotypical for a women that age and makes her seem like she is going to be well dressed and of a high class with a well paid job. For example, she has a long coat and a suitcase laying on the chair when Jip first walks in. However in reality she breaks this stereotype of all of those factors as she is wearing a pink dressing gown and works as a prostitute. That said allow by her job and way of life she is seen as passive to society she still has control as she can dominate her son.