Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of gender:The mise en scene helps to emphasise the different genders in the clip. Firstly, we note how the female character (Alice) is dressed. She wears a professional suit, which hugs her figure on the bottom half. At 0:25 we see a mid-shot which shows off Alice’s behind. This could be a way of sexualising the only woman in the clip, showing her attributes for male attention. This matches Laura Mulvey’s idea of ‘the male gaze’ which is where the audience have to view characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male. Also, Alice’s makeup represents a lot about the female gender. For starters, she has made an effort to do her makeup which consists of a natural base, slightly bronzed eyes to add dimension, sharp eyebrows and red lipstick. The eye makeup emphasises her cold stare towards Luther and the red lip gives off flirty and passionate connotations. The lipstick also helps highlight her paralinguistic features such as the way she curls her top lip in a seductive manner. This represents the female gender in a way that the media represents it by enhancing beauty to make women seem more sexual. Secondly, Luther is also wearing a suit which, again, shows his professionalism. However, his top button is undone and his lapel is turned up. This represents the male gender in the stereotypical way that they are scruffy and don’t usually make an effort; shown also by his unshaven face. The dull natural light in the city also reflects off Luther’s costume, as he is dressed in multiple shades of grey and black. This could be representing his character, but it also shows how insignificant he is when Alice is around, as she is the only thing that stands out by her hair colour, lip colour and jacket colour; he blends into everything else. Also, the black and grey colours portray his strong and interrogative character as they are bold colours; which is what men are represented like by the media.

Sound doesn’t really tell us a lot about gender, however it does tell us something.The sound at the beginning of the clip includes lots of diegetic sounds such as cars, birds, wind to allow the audience to hear what they are hearing, as well as make the setting more real. Then when they get inside the apartment, a low muffled piece of music is played in the background. This builds whenever they move closer together, causing extra tension. Their tone of voice, as well, suggests a lot about their character. Luther has a deep voice and stresses certain words like ‘no’ which makes him sound authoritative. Alice, on the other hand, changes her voice a lot. She begins speaking normally, then changes into a whisper at different times. The media would see this as the female gender being represented as insecure as her voice changes, but also seductive and charming with the whisper and some males are attracted to that. The editing, again, doesn’t exactly give off much about gender. The shot reverse shot shows the conversation between the two characters. This enables us to clearly see their body language and expressions. This gives us the opportunity to see how the characters react to certain things. An example of this is at 1:26-1:33 where Alice mentions Luther’s marriage. The camera cuts to him so we can see his reaction to this, where he awkwardly moves his hand which his wedding ring used to sit on. Editing like this enables us to see how different genders react. This clearly shows Luther was feeling awkward about his current marital status and didn’t want to speak of it; which could make him seem weak as men, stereotypically, don’t express their emotions.

The camera work also helps us to deconstruct this clip by showing different sides for both genders. Usually, men are shown more on camera then females are as a way to emphasise their dominance, however in this clip Alice is shown more than Luther. This suggests she is the dominant character as the camera is always cutting back to her whenever she interrupts Luther. This shows her stubborn attitude which is the opposite of what women are represented like in the media. Despite this, the two shot at 3:00 shows Luther looking down on Alice as a sign of hierarchy as he tries to gain authority over her. Similarly, Alice tried to gain authority by closing the proxemics at 2:20-2:27 where she steps towards Luther and attempts to touch his face. This creates a sense of tension, as well as it showing Alice reaching out for the male attention. This represents women to be attention seekers when it comes to men, that they enjoy men gazing at them and having them under a spell. The use of close ups lay emphasis on facial expressions such as Alice’s at 1:56. This shows her looking up through her lashes at Luther, possibly in a seductive way. Also 2:12 captures her cold, bitter and harsh facial expression. Close ups like this show how characters can change, especially women. Females are seen as more emotional and have lots of mood swings. The way Alice’s facial expressions change so quickly highlights how women are represented to change their mood quickly, which is how they are seen in the media’s eyes.

Relevant comments showing understanding and the ability to apply terminology and some of the ideas we have discussed. Low Level 3: 30

Hannah Duncan PS2.