Jay Franks

Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of gender - Luther

There are a variety of ways in which the extract, Luther, constructs the representation of gender. This gained through the use of a range of camera shots, camera angles, movements, editing, sounds and Mise en scene – which create ideologies to the reader and makes them believe certain things within the extract, gender being the main focus for this question.

Firstly, as soon as the extract begins, there are connotations portrayed about the character Alice. Through the use of a mysterious sound which creates tension and anxiety for the viewer, linked with the facial expression of the character given off by Alice, suggests that she is an antagonist in this show. It connotes that she is up to no good, immediately gives the viewer the impression that Alice is an unstereotypical woman, which is shown in the extract. The reason for this is because of the use of the non-diegetic mysterious music, it makes the reader believe that she isn’t a nice character. Through the mischievous look on her face coupled with the fact that she is avoiding eye contact with the camera indicates that she is a bad person. This is unstereotypical for a woman who is upper class (which Alice is because the connotations from her house which portrays her to have a lot of money), because stereotypically woman of this class are generally nice people, this is the dominant ideology given off from Alice form the offset.

Moreover, near enough straight after this example, dialogue is used to show Luther’s dominance over Alice, which is reinforced using camera work by which a two shot is used with a high angle shot which emphasises that Luther is the taller and more dominant character in the stereotypical connotations associated with this human characteristic. A representation of gender occurs when Alice say’s “they burned my dog” – which is an emotional thing for a woman, but for Luther to reply with “It’s protocol”, implies that Luther follows the stereotypical traits of a male which are having a lack in emotion, and that he is trying to remain professional and live up to his role as a police officer. Which has its stereotypical traits associated with that job, in being tough towards others and upholding the law, therefore he wants to remain this attitude in his everyday life to represent his job which shows he feels proud of what he does. His dominance is then quickly reinforced again with an establishing shot, which highlights that Alice is a lot smaller than Luther which is reinforced because of its side on view and that it has tall buildings in the background. This idea suggests that Luther has dominance over Alice because of his physique.

However, the Mise en scene, soundtrack and movement question this idea further on in the extract. This is because through the use of the Mise en scene, it portrays Alice to actually be a dominant figure herself, which is unstereotypical because of her size and the fact she is a woman. This is reinforced through the size of her house, which I have mentioned in the previous paragraph, but also because of her clothing and make up it shows she has been successful and gained a lot of money through her profession. Alice is dressed in a formal manner, wearing smart clothing to meet the formality of her job as she is a research scientist. Which possess her with power, as not many women have that intelligence capability based on gender stereotypes because not many women are very intelligent scientists as a stereotypical job for a woman would be a housewife, or them to be more bothered about the way they look than earning money. As stereotypically, women leave that job for the men. This is also the case for Luther as he dresses up in a suit and tie which represents power, upper class and that he has a lot of money which are all contributing factors for him to seen as a dominant character. This is stereotypical for a male. However, she does wear makeup, and wears red lip stick, which gives the reader connotations of her being seductive and flirty towards men –which I reinforced by the dialogue in the extract when she softly speaks “Did you come here for sex” which is shown through the user of a two shot, and that Alice is becoming closer and more seductive towards Luther in the attempt to tempt him in. This brings out her stereotypical side to being a woman as generally most woman are curious over the actions of men, and don’t want to get upset again if another man is just going to dink and never re link . On the other hand, the fact that she has to wear make up for her to look attractive could also indicate that maybe she doesn’t have self confidence in her natural appearance and has to wear this extra layer of make up as a mask of protection to hide the fact that deep own she is actually weak, even though she makes out herself to be

Jay Franks

strong. As most women are inferior to men, but she doesn’t want this to be the case with Luther, and this creates a battle of authority between the two characters, and creates a battle of male and female gaze for the character on which gender impacts the audience the most in this theory.

Onto the idea of soundtrack, there is an example displayed in the extract, form the moment of from when she say’s “This is a black hole”, tense, dramatic soundtrack (non-diegetic) is added to the scene which creates an sense of authority over Alice and that she is dominant in this situation because of the music and it gives her character a sense of power because of the soundtrack added.. Coupled with the fact that when she say’s “Something that drags you in and crushes you” are all negatively portrayed words that are associated with her character. As well as the movement features involved in this moment. She puts her hands together and walks around like she is circling Luther and casting her power over him. A close up is shown which highlights to the audience her facial expression while talking on this subject. She showed a smile and which indicates she has a sense of enjoyment when talking about his subject which is a dark topic. This indicates that actually Alice has authority over Luther, even though he is taller than her, has a stereotypically harsher job than her; she is portrayed through the use of representations in the extract to be more powerful than Luther. This is unstereotypical because she is a woman, and men are stereotypically more powerful than women. A camera movement which is relevant in this extract is the side was tracking shot of the camera following Luther walking away from Alice. This indicates that Alice has more dominance over Arthur and that he needs to move away to be able to get out of her space otherwise she might possess him. This reinforces the idea that Alice has more power than Arthur which is unstereotypical for a woman having power over a man.

Progressing further on in the clip, a conversation occurs between Arthur and Alice, starting from the quote “Henry Madison”, where also the mysterious soundtrack is also added to the scene, involves fast paced editing in the conversation between them going back and forth in a fast pace between the two characters.. This is to add to the tension of the conversation and to engage the audience with the conversation more, which also the effect of the mysterious soundtrack as well. The reason this represents gender is because it reinforces the idea that Alice has power of Arthur. She is constantly asking him questions and it is flicking from the shot on her to him, him to her (which is a shot reverse shot), coupled with the faced paced editing it highlights that Arthur is getting intimidated but her constant power she possess which is reiterated through his body expressions. He starts to rub his beard which suggests he is getting nervous over the fact that she has dominance over him which can be a rare thing for Arthur because he is a police officer. Furthermore, the whole conclusion of the extract ends by Arthur saying “I’m coming for you”, with a reply from Alice saying “Not if I come for you first”, which leaves the extract on the assumption that Alice has dominance over Arthur, as it makes the audience feel that she is always one step ahead of him. Resulting in the idea that as a woman, and that she has gone against the stereotypical codes and conventions of being a woman of being inferior and scared of dangerous men, she stood up for herself and outwitted Arthur which he clearly didn’t like in the extract.

To conclude, the extract display’s a number of connotations associated with gender through the use of camera shots, camera angles, movements, editing, sounds and the Mise en scene. The ideas created were that Alice is a mysterious character, and is actually unstereotypical for a woman to be powerful. Luther is also portrayed as a powerful character through the use of Mise en scene (clothing), as well as Alice through the use of makeup and connotations of being seductive. But the competition of power in the clip is resolved at the end of the extract through the use of the dialogue, which is a clear issue between the two characters in Luther, where Alice, a woman, who is small, and would stereotypically weak, comes out on top is the dominant character in the dialogue.