Representation of gender

Question:

Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of gender using the following:

• Camera shots, angles, movement and composition
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise en scène

Camera Shots:

The camera tends to be above looking down on the female for the majority of the extract. This makes the woman look smaller, in comparison to the male. It also gives the audience an aspect that the woman is less than the male/ the male is more powerful. The camera moves, to track the characters. It tends to be zoomed on the female’s face where as it isn’t as zoomed into the male. This makes the female seem a little more powerful. The camera focuses on the aspects of the characters, Luther is a strong male that stands tall and speaks with power, Alice also speaks powerfully, but is smaller and weaker. The camera zooms into both characters eyes to highlight the sexual gaze, then pans out to break the tension.

The extract is edited to signify power, the female starts off lower, but as the dialog continues and she regains that power through speech, the camera angle is lowered, and the shot is in her favour. The shot seemingly zooms when the conversation turns to sex, as if to show the sexual tension, between the two as they stare into each other’s eyes. The shot is then zoomed out to break the tension, this signifies the male regaining power in the scene. The scene is edited as a battle, the camera being fixed on the male, then the female as each fire at their opponent with words.

The sound is quiet for most of the scene, it starts with background noise from the London streets, it then turns silent as they are in the Female’s house. As their voices are the most important. Music then comes in as they discuss the black hole, a track representing Evil, a dark, mysterious noise. As they talk more about evil this intensifies and gets louder. Then dims away again, to signify the tension being broken. It then intensifies again towards the end. As Luther leaves.

The Mise en scene is set to show the power rotation between the two. It’s lighten to bring out the colour of the females lipstick and house. She has very pale skin/makeup with really red lipstick to show her connotations. The lighting and camera shot brings the red out more than anything else. Her house is filled with abstract decoration like the telescope and globe.