Representation of Gender

The Representation of Gender

  

At the beginning of this video, straight away a low camera angle shot has been used which represents who has the least authority. The audience are able to see a close up of the man, and the woman behind him in the background being walked in by two guards; two male guards. The shot emphasises the character with the least authority as it is evident that the female at this point is vulnerable as she's presented as being a lot smaller than the male character. 

The music being played during the beginning of this video is Western music indicating a shoot out. This type of music creates an impression of perhaps a verbally abusive battle approaching between the male and the female.

As the man turns around, the audience are then welcomed to a young lady standing on the same platform as the  man, in a sleek low cut red dress demonstrating how she could be seen as a sexual object and his possession. This demonstrates that women are seen as "eye candy" when they dress themselves up. Furthermore, the staircase represents their social status. Them being at the very top of this staircase implies that they are members of the upper class. Not only does the staircase contribute to their authority, but so does the clothes that the man is dressed in. He's styled in a fresh jet black suit, illustrating his wealth through costume. 

When the audience see a shot of the female who was walking in with the two guards previously, she doesn't seem to be dressed in a flattering dress like the other woman in the red dress. This divides up the two females and conveys how different women are treated and seen when they're from the lower and perhaps middle class.

As she strolls in, the two guards are always visible either side of her even if they're in the background. This presents how the female is trapped and incapable of being trusted as she needs guards behind her to ensure that she won't escape. This indicates how women are powerless when men from the upper class are involved. 

During her walk into the room, a steady cam has been used. Each step she takes forward, the camera moves backwards. This use of camera movement singles her out and keeps the attention on her as she slowly walks towards the male character. 

The camera angle altered so that the audience were able to see the view of the man from the woman's perspective. This shot demonstrates just how much higher up the male is compared to the female. Again, it's the staircase that emphasises the character with the most authority.

The male soon after demands the woman to "kneel". She doesn't hesitate when being ordered this requirement. As the woman beings to kneel, the camera pans down with her so that she's always in shot. Along with this, the background music slowly fades into a more calm song of what you'd most likely hear a mermaid mumble under the water in animated movies; just an "ooohohooooo". Moreover, the fact that the woman kneeled down for the man when he asked only once portrays how the female was being controlled. She was also being given orders that she followed through precisely, demonstrating who holds the most dominance in this situation. 

During the man's speech, the music escalates into a more dramatic tone when he roars "two hundred thousand ships set to burn across the universe" to create emphasis so that the audience are aware of how much power he owns. Whilst he's saying this, the camera flips to the woman to show her reactions to whatever the man is saying. Her facial expression looks blank, almost like she's attempting to process the information he's saying as it's extremely overwhelming; 200000 ships is as almighty number.  

The camera shots still include him looking down at her and her looking up at him. The audience by now have already gained an understanding of the character with the most power. Stereotypically men are usually the strong, dominant and more controlling beings, therefore this scene in Dr Who is extremely stereotypical as so far the woman hasn't even said anything, only listened to the man and done what he's asked. 

Below is an edit that has been inserted in this clip to portray what the man's talking about when he goes "are we ready?"

This screenshot illustrates what looks like a crowd of rockets all gathered together in rows ready for take off. The audience are able to see a large amount of rockets which aren't small in the slightest. The fact that they're large explosive pieces of technology that clearly the man in this video is behind, portrays just how much power he is in charge of. It intimidates those watching the video so allows them to feel sympathy for the woman currently wrapped around his little finger. 

A close up of the man then looking at his watch is filmed whilst the background is blurred, then he turns to face the clock on the wall which blurs into focus and starts ticking down in seconds. This clock isn't exactly modern as it has six digits on it. This use of scientific clock makes the atmosphere in the room they're in seem more technological and abnormal. Each time a second reduces, a loud beep noise is played to emphasise the time ticking away. The fact that the man claims "three minutes to allign the black hole converters" demonstrates him being in control of the time. 

Below is another edit that has been introduced, portraying part of planet Earth from space with a thousand balls curving around the planet. This must be to illustrate to the audience what it is the man is controlling; he's extremely powerful.

The man tells the woman to bow her head, and of course she also performs this action with no hesitance just like before when she kneeled. An establishing shot is then filmed which demonstrates the setting that all the characters are in. It's similar to a studio, with female characters in the bottom left having guns pointed at them by men, suggesting the men's power, then three other men dressed in just as smart suits as the man are in the top right hand corner. This shot also makes the woman seem extremely small, just like what she's being made to feel by the man pointing at her with a technical device. 

Even though up to this point the man may have been in control, the tabels have now been completely turned. The female laughs. For the first time the audience hear something from her. The music alters at this point too to match the mood of the video; it's a lot more uplifting. He asks her what's so funny and she replies with "a gun?". This question makes her come across as a bit too confident towards a man who has just been in control of her actions for nearly the past two minutes. However, this scene portrays the representation of gender in a new light. It's the woman who's speaking out now. She relaxes her vocablaury and says "I mean, come on". It's as though she's having an ordinary conversation. 

The woman seems to be outsmarting this man who the audience thought was all powerful, smart and domineering at first. The female character talks about a moment in the past and therefore has a flashback. This flashback is emphasised through a white screen fading out of the current scene in into the scene from the past. A sound effect has been included during this transition so the flashback is evident.

 

The male character sits down whilst the female is telling him her story. Him sitting down is a metaphor for him now losing his power as the woman has crept up on him and is beginning to steal it from him. This portrays how a man being the strongest is not always the case. She states that she used "no weapons just words" portraying how she didn't have to cause physical violence in order to become in control, she just spoke.

A shot of her with a crowd of people is then included in the video to indicate the power she is forming gathering other characters who want the same thing as she does. Some audiences may say that she is too weak to save the Doctor alone so she needs other people's contributions, but most audiences view this clip as her being strong enough to gather millions from "right across the world" in order to overpower the main male character in this video.

Dark lighting is also included in this below screen shot. There are candles in this clip and each character has shade on their faces. This portrays mystery as what the female is talking about is extremely mysterious. 

The more she speaks, the more power the man is losing. This is evident when he leans on the rails infront of him as he is becoming too fragile and feeble to stand on his own two feet and hold his strength. He's losing control and uses the rails to help him balance.

As she says "15 satellites" the volume of the music rises incredibly, overwhelming the audience and matching the tone of the scene perfectly. Her power increases and so does the music.

A sound effect similar to fairy dust being scattered in animated movies is played whilst The Doctor escapes from this cage. The combination of bright lights also makes the audience aware of the Doctor regaining all of his power that he has been starved from.

Everyone begins to say "Doctor" and even this woman in the red dress. She was seen as the man's possession so the fact that she's even going against the male portrays how he has completely lost all authority and has no power any longer.

Below is the final scene where the Doctor is taking over the power from the other male. The woman contributed to the freedom of the Doctor and so this allows him to now dominate the main male character who started off with the most power then ended up with none. The height difference between the Doctor and the male is extremely effective as this indicates the level of authority between the two characters. The man is walking backwards down the staircase as the Doctor floats towards him before the video ends, demonstrating him becoming a lot more inferior now compared to the Doctor.

The Greek Yoghurt Advert

The Greek Yoghurt Advert; Extended Version

  

Textual analysis

The ways in which the advert constructs the representation of regional identity

The very beginning of this advert sets the scene in under three seconds. The scenery that the young boy is infront of are mountains and a land of open space. There are no houses at first, or cars or street lamps as there would be in today's generation, just rocky roads and surroundings filled with nature; plus a cow. From this opening it is evident that this advert is based in a rural location. When we first witness the boy's face, it's covered in shadows making his facial features unclear, which displays how there is a lot of sunlight pouring down on him, as I have shown below. It creates a humid atmosphere when watching the advert. 

The music playing in the background is a greek tune that stops for a second when the cow shows up on camera, his ears perking outwards as if he was listening out for the music. 

The boy then shouts for his mother, referring to her as "mama!". This use of vocabulary portrays how the advert isn't set in England, where here we'd use 'mum' for 'mama'. The music then eases the audience into a more adventurous greek melody as the boy begins to run off in search for his 'mama'. We are then welcomed to his mother's face whose features are also vague due to an immense amount of sunlight; definitely a hot setting. We are unable to understand what it is that the boy is telling his mother because he doesn't speak English, which ties a knot around this advert not being filmed in Britain. 

The advert so far has been lacking in vibrant colour, filled with tones of mainly harvest shades (light mustard, grey, brown and dark green) which provides the impression of the video perhaps being filmed on an anonymous piece of land. 

At 0:18 there is a clip of a man travelling by a horse up a hill. If this video was filmed in an MEDC (more economically developed country) there would be people travelling by cars and motorcycles with street lights everywhere. As this is not the case, it enforces the audience to assume that this advert was instead, filmed in an LEDC (less economically developed country).

The boy travels past another feature of this advert that causes my assumption of it being filmed in an LEDC to increase: a man ringing a bell. It is very rare that you will cross paths with a church that has a bell being rung by a physical human being. Most churches aren't even accompanied by a bell anymore, and if so, they're rung every hour automatically. Furthermore, the clip of this man has been filmed extremely high up. You can see plenty of clear sky and the tranquil ocean in the bottom right hand corner. The views portrayed in this video are outstandingly refreshing. Along with the view, a flag is included in this part of the video and of course it's the one and only, Greek flag, which pairs perfectly with the advert title 'Total Greek Yoghurt'.

At 0:28 the young boy then runs through a street where there is a woman bashing her laundry and hanging them up on a washing line that stretches across the road opposite her balcony; again, something that is more stereotypically done in an LEDC. The rooftops in this clip look tattered and worn down. This could mean that the residents living in that area don't own very much money, placing them in the lower class category.

Clips of the boy running across, past and through different rural locations in the video are then displayed. The streets look abandoned, the rocks look harsh and the scenery is filled with character. This provides the audience with a feel for the area that the advert has been filmed in, handing them over a flavour of the setting.

The characters in the advert aren't dressed in very clean modern outfits. Instead they're clothed in baggy layers which is what most people wear when living in scorching countries to keep them cool. Even though their outfits are suitable for the weather condition, it doesn't hide the fact that they don't look very fortunate in general. 

Overall, I'd say that this advert was filmed in a rural community which withholds extremely strong traditions from how it has been filmed. It's portrayed the atmosphere the characters live in, the types of outfits they wear, the things they do (ring bells, bash their laundry), the different areas within one area, how they communicate and how their lifestyle is always filled with fresh air from the open space in their living environment.