Media Essay Homework

 Discuss the ways in which the extract connotes the representation of ‘gender’ using the following:

·         Camera angle, movement and position

·         Editing

·         Sound

·         Mise-en-scene

Overall, the gender representation constructed in this sequence conforms to stereotypes; placing the man in the more powerful roles, and objectifies the females (Mulvey 1964) as firstly when the blonde woman firsts appears on screen, she shares her shot with the shop assistant, and is placed in the background coming up the stairs, so her whole body is obscured from view, while the shop assistant has a full body shot, causing him to look powerful. The fact that the woman doesn’t have her own shot suggests that she’s firstly not as powerful as him and connotes the stereotypical idea that a woman needs a man nearby in case something goes wrong, and in typical female roles the man is always saving the woman, so her sharing the shot stresses this. Also the fact that she’s coming up the stairs onto the shop floor where the man is in full view further supports the stereotypical view that women are inferior as using the stairs in the scene puts her on a lower platform compared to the male shop assistant, and she’s therefore inferior to him.

When the viewer does get a view of the lady, the director uses a mid shot and a pan movement to emphasise her beauty, as the director would want the viewer to see that she is an attractive, carefully made up woman with blonde hair. The use of the mid shot keeps focus on her face and also her clothes that emphasise her figure to attract the male gaze and therefore use her as a sexual object. Also, the use of the blonde wig (she has long, black hair naturally, which is seen later on in the clip) connotes the idea that she’s a blonde bimbo who isn’t very clever. She also is wearing make-up, which suggests that she cares about her appearance, which women are made to be seen as in the media, while men are made to be seen as intelligent, suggesting that women use their sexuality to get ahead in life, not intelligence, while the men have to work hard to get anywhere. As well as this, you can see that she’s wearing a suit, which suggests that she’s a business woman, however it clings and highlights her figure, causing her to be seen as a sexual object and her business image is neglected because of this as well as the fact that she’s going into a designer clothes shop in the middle of the day; the director then uses a close up shot on her very flashy ring, which suggests that she’s married and therefore a kept woman by her husband who works all day, so she doesn’t have to work and can live off of his money, which reinforces the stereotypical view that women can’t do anything, they just have to find something to amuse themselves until their husband gets home.

Later on in the scene, we see the same blonde woman observing her dress in front of the shops mirror, where the director uses a tilt movement to go from the bottom of the dress - where we, as an audience, hear the woman cooing over it – to the woman and shop assistant in a two shot, where we see what she looks like in the dress to add a bit of excitement for mainly the female viewers. This also re-enforces the stereotypical view that women are very fashion conscious, which men can’t understand and hence see it as stupid, thus another reason as to why women are seen as inferior to men. Additionally, during this scene, when the blonde woman asks if it’s ‘terribly expensive’ and finds out that it is, she smiles when thinking about it and agrees to buy it. The fact that she’s smiling at the price suggests that she likes to spend money and doesn’t really see the cost as a problem as it’s her husband’s money really - not hers, causing her to not look money aware and therefore stupid and also selfish as she doesn’t think about her husband having to work to pay for her incredibly expensive dress, stressing the stereotypical view that women are stupid.

When the lady realises that she’s lost her expensive wedding ring the camera follows her madly rushing through the shop, trying to find it. A pan shot is used to get a first sense of her panic as she practically falls into one of the rails and a close-up shot with hand held movement emphasises her at her most stressful, such as when she vigorously empties her bag, and when she’s almost pulling the clothes off of the shelves and hangers. Also, the tempo of the fun, lively music increases to further emphasise the fact that she’s stressed and getting over emotional as she’s going to be ‘late for (her) hair appointment’ and her husband is going to ‘kill’ her. However, a sound like a record scratching is used and the director uses a steady two-shot when the male shop assistant offers to look for the ring for her, installing a sense of calm, stressing the stereotypical idea that a woman needs a man’s help as she can’t help herself because she’s not strong enough; she’s also very keen to listen to him which further emphasises this fact, and when he says that he will help her, there is a close up of her face, where she breaks down the fourth wall and talks to directly to the audience, whilst saying ‘I’m sure you can’ which stresses that what she just did was a decoy in which she used her sexuality, not her brain as a man would.

The extract also represents the male gender through the shop assistant, where in the opening scene we can instantly see what motivates him as the director uses a high-angle shot and point reverse shot to include the audience in the conversation when he’s having a discussion with a woman who doesn’t have enough money to buy a dress, yet he was kind to the blonde woman who does, as the director has a close up shot of the ring and then tilts the camera towards the lady’s face and uses an eye line match to show that the shop assistant is motivated by the flashy ring. Here the director uses Levi – Strauss’ (1969) theory of binary opposites to emphasise the fact that he’s motivated by money. This use of binary opposite’s, where he’s mean to the older lady with brighter clothes (presumably from a cheaper shop as everything in the shop is black, including the shop assistant, connoting elegance) and messy hair also could suggest that she is unattractive and therefore not following the traditional stereotype of women, where they are seen as sexual attractive objects for the male gaze (Mulvey 1964) and so therefore doesn’t get the dress because of this.

As well as this we can see the shop assistant is motivated by money and that the viewer can assume his sexuality through his traits as firstly he’s a shop assistant in a designer shop, which goes against the male norm as males tend to typically work in ‘intelligent’ jobs such as banking, yet he’s in a job involving fashion, which is something traditionally females are interested in, thus challenging the male stereotype. He also has slightly camp mannerisms, such as the fact that he skips slightly when he goes to get the dress the blonde woman asked for and when she says that she’ll buy it he does a little jump and has his hands close to his chest, which is typically a feminine trait. Also, he is wearing a presumably designer suit and he is well groomed, suggesting that he’s interested in his appearance, which goes against the male stereotype as it’s more women who are fashion conscious. However, he does wear glasses, suggesting intelligence, which does follow the male stereotype. The fact that he has glasses was probably to represent the fact that even though he might be gay or camp, the blonde woman is still inferior to him and his suggested intelligence.

Later, when another male character comes into to extract, the shop assistant is on his knees looking for the ring, and in the background we see a pair of stylish, man’s, black and white brogues, and so the shop assistant welcomes him on his knees. We then have a high angle, over the shoulder shot, making the shop assistant appear weak and vulnerable, especially since he’s smaller than the new man, causing the new man to look powerful, which is followed later when the new blonde man ‘finds’ the ring (he actually pulled it out of his sleeve) and argues with the shop assistant as he wants to be the one who tells the lady he found the ring to get the reward. Here, the director uses a pan shot when the shop assistant follows the blonde man around the shop in a nervous, flustered way, causing the idea that the shop assistant is now the inferior one, and when the blonde man leaves the shop, telling him to give him the lady’s number, the director uses a mid shot with a shallow focus of the blonde man counting to three, waiting for the shop assistant to cave in, showing the viewer that he’s being conned as the blonde man knows what makes him tick, as we saw it earlier. The shallow focus also enables the viewer to see the shop assistant slightly cave in, in the background due to the shallow focus, which stresses the fact that the blonde man is more powerful and almost the alpha male even, instead of the shop assistant. The use of the shallow field also supports the representation of the stereotypical view of the male, who is more powerful and intelligent (as he conned the shop assistant into giving him money) then women and even men with cam or female traits.

Finally, the extract uses parallel editing throughout, cutting between parallel conversations: the woman and man in the shop and a serious conversation between two men in a gentlemen’s club, where the director uses wipes to g from scene to scene, instead of straight cuts, which are typically used in TV dramas to make the extract more comical, to show that both scenes are happening at the same time. In the shop scene, fun, lively music is played, while the music stops when we’re cut to the men in the bar and the man working on an alarm box. The change in music is used to show that the men are having a serious conversation, using their brains, thus suggesting that men are more serious than women as they do the hard work, while the lively music used in the shop scene emphasises the fact that women like to shop and don’t use their brains as much as men. Also, the juxtaposition in the scenes in scenes further support this as the men are in are in a gentleman’s club (you can tell this from the large, framed pictures and nice furniture in the background) which is a privileged place where women aren’t allowed as they would get in the way as they are inferior and the shop is more modern and appealing to females. One large difference between the men is that the older man is dressed in a three piece suit, which is suitable for the gentleman’s club, yet the other man is wearing jeans, which wouldn’t be allowed, inferring that maybe he’s so powerful that he doesn’t need to.

So in conclusion, the extract connotes the stereotypical representation of gender, where men are seen as powerful, strong and intelligent, while the women are seen as over emotional, wrecks that use their appearance to get what they want. Also, we see that the male and female in this extract who don’t follow the stereotype in this extract tended to be inferior to the stereotypical man and woman.