8/3/2019 Mac 4 Grup Essay on Gender

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How is gender represented through TV dramas?

This clip takes place at a school, which signifies that schools are meant to be a

safe place. This represents that even in an educational environment men are

fighting for dominance. Both men are dressed in dark layered clothing signifying

that they are both powerful because dark colours represent importance and thismakes them stand out. The woman is dressed in a neutral colour, which signifies

that she is more boring and this represents the patriarchy, and that women are

seen as a less important gender. The man walks towards the car when he leaves

the building that signifies the importance and power of men and represents

them as the dominant and the more financially stable gender.

Even though men are seen as the more dominant gender, one is smartly dressed

with a briefcase where as the other man is dressed casually and runs away which

represents how cowardly men can be. The woman tries to help which represents

how brave women can be. The woman is dressed smartly and there is diegetic

sound of her heels when she runs towards the fight to help, which signifies herimportance as she enters the scene and represents how sophisticated she is.

However as she is wearing heels this can represent her in a feminine way.

There is artificial light inside the school buildings, which draws attention to their

surroundings. The artificial lighting from inside makes the men look more

mysterious as it lights up half of their face leaving the rest in the dark, this

signifies that men are secretive and represents them as the more interesting

gender. There is low key lighting outside which signifies that it is evening which

represents there is more trouble during the night than day and that it will not be

a happy scene and it also makes the scene look scary.

When the woman is stabbed and is lying on the ground the light illuminates her

face signifying the purity of women and represents death. The scene takes placein an isolated area, which signifies that something bad is about to take place, and

represents the eeriness of the scene. There is blood on the mans face at the end

of the scene which signifies that men are more likely to be involved in trouble

and represents that the male gender is not as strong as it is made out to be as he

has been hurt. However there is also blood on the woman which can signify how

weak and vulnerable women can be and this represents the stereotypical view of

women. Also the woman dies from her injuries which signifies that she is weaker

than the male as he survives and this represents that women are not as powerful

and important as men.

As the man walks out of the building there is slow spooky non diegetic music

playing which builds up the tension and signifies that something bad will happen

later on in the scene. The non diegetic sounds are slow tempo to match the mans

movements. There is fast up tempo non diegetic music playing when the woman

is stabbed which signifies the tension building up and represents that something

dramatic has happened.

There is diegetic sound when the men are fighting signifying strength, which

represents how rough and immature the male gender can be.

There is also diegetic sound when the knife stabs the woman which signifies that

she has been hurt and represents males as the stronger gender as he injured the

woman.

8/3/2019 Mac 4 Grup Essay on Gender

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Gender is represented throughout the short clip; the long shot of the man

walking directly towards the camera which signifies his confidence and assures

himself that nothing is likely to happen; which represents him as the stronger

gender as he walking alone in the dark where as women would normally be

accompanied and wary of whats going on around them especially as its in the

dark. There is also a close up panning shot showing then mans facial expressionsas he questions what he has just read on the news paper.

In contrast with this, the woman is then portrayed as the more dominant gender

when she sees the knife being pulled out throughout the fight between the twomales but without even thinking of her own safety she runs in and tries to defend

the male from the conflict and putting herself at risk. This a reverse stereo type

of the male normally defending the female and being the hero figure. There is

then a tilt of the camera showing her moment of weakness as she drops to the

floor and her friend jack who is also hurt has to come to her rescue and once

again the male figure is shown as the hero and the women is seen as week.

When the women is injured an extreme close up is shown on the stab wound and

then tilts to her face which shows her emotions of panic and distress portraying

her again as the weaker gender.

Parallel editing is used in the clip to allow the action on the women being

stabbed, her daughter sitting at home on the stairs and another women in the

bar waiting for the male who is comforting the injured female to unfold within a

single film sequence. This signifies that multiple scenes are still going fourth

however they are oblivious to what is going on else where. This creates dramatic

irony and represents that the male and female are both as important as they

have two people waiting upon them which symbolises that they are both as

equal as each other.A shot reverse shot is used when the two men are talking which signifies the

male is confident on confronting him and does not hold back, it gives the view of

both characters points which represents they are both equally dominated

characters until it becomes more violent until the character jack is injured andshown as weak.

The end of the clip fades out to either show that the women has passed away due

to the incident or it is just leaving us with a cliff hanger to wonder what is next

which represents the male as being less dominant due to the last words being

said are him shouting for help proving that he is not as strong a character as he is

made out to be and needs to rely on other people for help.

By Lois, Daisy, Holly and Sanan