Representation of Gender

In class, we started at how genre can be presented. First of all, we had a short recap on what representation is. Representation is the way the media portrays and presents things. This also links to mediation. Mediation is a process of selection and decision making. (e.g - choice of setting, props, actors, camera angles, shot distance etc). Editing is part of the mediation process. (e.g - the editing which takes place on the cover on the front of a magazine). Ideology is also a process of mediation as the media only selects what they want the audience to see. 

We then went on to watch a clip from prime evil. We had to watch it and look and see how genre was represented. The clip started with a women in a digger machine. A dangerous sabertooth then came onto the scene, the man in the scene ran away from the tiger but the women fought against it. However, in the next scene, the second women and man were presented slightly differently. As the man was dominant as the women fell to the ground.

These are my notes on analysing the first girl we saw in the scene. The first thing I noticed is that the girl was in a digger. Normally, a large machine is associated with men as it normally is a man doing a job like that. The shape of the digger was also significant as it looked very strong and bold in the scene which reinforces the girls strength. The girl also has short hair, which again, we link to men. This again helps the audience get a more advanced insight on her physical strength. She also, took the main roll in getting rid of the tiger by shooting it to scare it away. She did this whilst running which makes her seem more male in terms of representation. The male was represented very differently to the women as he came across more weak. I noticed this because the camera was usually looking down on him and he was mostly positioned to the bottom of the screen (marginalised) which shows he is less important in the scene. He also runs away from the tiger which is a feminine action as that is what a women would stereotypically do. However, when he saw the girl was in slight danger he tried to step up and save her which contradict with his recent actions. 

 In the second scene, there was slight confusion in the representation of the other two characters. The women was first introduced as quite dominant, however, this is only because of the dialogue. The camera showed the man and women looking equal as they were both on eye level. However, the women automatically looks weak when she is forced onto the ground as the camera is at a high angle looking straight down on her which shows the audience she is helpless. Also, she looks like a stereotypical girl as she is wearing a lot of make up and is dressed in feminine clothing. This character contrasts with the girl we have recently viewed. The man in this scene is significant because he comes across more strong. The props in the background such as the two dogs help out with making him look more masculine as a dog is more a males dog. However, the gun is taken away from him at the end which makes him look slightly feminine as someone has took his power away from him.

Overall, looking at this extract has helped me gain a basic understanding on how the director uses camera angles, editing, lighting etc to represent genders. It shows how the director plays with and on stereotypes, and how stereotypes are easily broken to make a scene more interesting.