Monday 28 November 2011

Over the last few weeks...

...in class we've been looking at difference and power in TV dramas between males and females.

The first thing we looked at was...
^Drawn by me


Then we looked at Modern Masculinity - Fight Club is a good example of how modern masculinity is portrayed in media and particularly film. In an early scene with the two main characters, they talk of how they've never been in a 'real fight' and debate how manly that makes them, before they proceed to have a fist fight.


And finally we looked at Post Feminism:
^Drawn by me

So, in many modern tv dramas, women are more and more likely to be represented as complete equals to men and often in recent dramas, women are the ones who save the day. In Doctor Who for example, all of the Doctor's companions are presented as strong, independant and courageous women.

Saturday 19 November 2011

MISFITS - Looking at Gender & Sexuality.


This clip trailer for an episode of the new season of Misfits is perfect to show both gender and sexuality in the media of tv drama. In this episode, Curtis' new power is to change genders at any time he desires. As he changes throughout the episode to get closer to new character Emma, the audience sees how the surrounding peoples' attitudes differ from when he is male to when he is female and Mel.

When the character is Curtis, he's treated as just one of the guys and doesn't have much luck with getting intimate with Emma, but when he is Mel, many of the male characters turn their attention onto him and are much more provocative. Also when he is Mel, he is closer to Emma and eventually gets with her in the form of a woman. This represents the idea of sexuality with a twist as even fellow character Simon asks Curtis confusedly "Are you a lesbian?". This whole episode subverses the idea of gender within popular tv culture, especially in Britain. And gives a fresh spin to how each gender is perceived and also how sexuality and alternative sexuality is viewed.

Thursday 17 November 2011

How are women represented in the Inbetweeners Movie trailer? Well...

In one of the first shots that the audience sees, the character Jay's mum and sister are doing the food shopping. Most things to do with food are do to with cooking which is seen as a typical woman's role within the family. Also, Neil doesn't call the woman by a name, he says "All right Jay's mum" as if subliminally, her name's not really important.



When Carly stops kissing Simon and tells him they need to talk, he replies with "oh, not talking" showing the character adores the girl and doesn't want to stop - this looks at the stereotype of like 'sex-starved teenage boys' and 'drugstore Romeos'.



When Carly breaks up with him, he subverses the typical idea of a 'hard' man and cries, something which you don't really expect teenage boys to do. This shows a much more feminine side to the character.



In this quick shot, we can see that the character Will holds a pink suitcase - pink being a typically 'girly' colour. This subverses the stereotype held against many young men/boys.



The girls in this clip and also throughout the film are considered more to be objects than anything else. Most of them dress provocatively, which you'd actually expect in this sort of film - one where boys are trying to score as many girls as they can.







Jay says "I better not get stuck with the fat one" showing that he only cares about the girl's looks and image rather than their personality. This is a typical stereotype that many teenage boys fall under where they're shallow when it comes to the opposite sex.







In this frame, Jay and Neil see the three girls by the pool and say "look cool" before being completely embarrassed and laughed at by the girls. This shows the males being in contorted and 'foolish' positions that are usually so reserved for females. The girls, in this scene at least, appear very dominant over the boys.








Throughout the entire trailer, the music is upbeat and club music to set the scene and location for the entire film. The boys are out in Malaga so the party scene music fits perfectly well in supporting the story.

Thursday 10 November 2011

Traditional Masculinity - A look at Rome.

There are different stereotypes that are used in TV dramas and also films to represent traditional masculinity, these include:

The guy that jokes around a lot and is popular with his friends because of it.

The jock type of guy who is strong and leads the team. He's liked by his friends and also the girls.

The strong silent type who is quieter and not as lairy as the two previous guys but who still gets a fair amount of attention, usually for being strong and clever.

There are others such as the stupid guy, who nobody really takes seriously or thinks of much, but is there as part of the group.


In this clip from Rome, I think it is evident which characters fall into which of the stereotyped groups.



This character is obviously the leader and fits into the action hero/jock type of group. He's a man who asserts his authority and gets results, and we can see this as he leads the soldiers into war and takes command over them.
 


In this clip above, even though the man is in an awful situation, you can still tell he is probably the joker of the pack/the strong silent type. Throughout his torture he doesn't make a sound (this shows he doesn't want to be seen as weak, particularly in front of the other men - a classic sign of stereotyped 'alpha' males) until they are finished, to which he says "Is that it? I was just beginning to enjoy myself" which still shows his personality, even through the trauma. 

Monday 7 November 2011

Representation of Gender Stereotypes - The Sopranos

In this short scene from tv drama The Sopranos, I can see many points where gender stereotypes are represented in a certain way...















Saturday 5 November 2011

A guide to getting a good grade...

...So in last lesson, I looked at what needed to be done to get a good grade overall.

I learned there are three AO's:
One Explanation/Analysis/Argument (20 marks) AO3
Two Use of Examples (20 marks) AO2
Three Use of correct terminology (10 marks) AO1

Basically, to get a decent grade I need to explain and analyse very well and be really informative. i also need to know what I'm talking about and use the right terminology. I need to pay a lot of attention to the finer details of the piece and just everything in general because it will be useful when coming to use examples to support my argument.

List of things to remember:
 - take lots of notes (the more the better and the more it will help)
 - micro elements
 - correct use of terminology
 - look at range or representation
 - use various examples from the clip
 - conformed to/subversed stereotypes.

Primeval Clip Analysis - Representation by frames

After watching the Primeval clip numerous times, I decided to analyse the piece by frames...

Frame One
The man in this scene simply says "Let her go" when the woman leaves. This shows he doesn't think much of her 'tantrum' and that the other man shouldn't run after her, showing the typical stereotype of a man who has power.





Frame Two
This completely challenges the idea of men doing the hard, labouring work as the character Abbie works the digger machinery. She also subverses the typical idea of a woman by wearing dark, boyish clothes and short choppy hair. She also shows hardly any facial expressions throughout the piece, which shows a brave brutality to her character which isn't really the norm or generally expected of stereotypical female character.







Frame Three
This shot subverses the stereotype of a man as the camera is angled down on him to show his vunerability in the situation and that weakness that he's trouble.









Frame Four
This shot tracks the character and gives the audience a part in the action as they follow him. The music in this scene is also important to help support the situation. It's fast, jumpy, edgy all to create suspense so the audience will be on the edge of their seat, waiting to see what happens.















Frame Five
This also subverses the stereotype of the woman as Abbie the character comes running into shot aiming a huge rifle, which is pretty unexpected of female characters.















Frame Six
In a short panning shot, the camera is held for a longer time on the three men as they stride toward their mission before briefly keeping the camera on the blonde female (this shows how the male characters are portrayed as being if not superior, slightly more dominant than the female character).















Frame Seven
In this frame, the camera pans around the back of all the characters as we see them standing in a loose circle. This could symbolize the idea that all the characters are equal.








Frame Eight/ Frame Nine
In this frame, the brunette woman is really shown as being less than others - particularly men. When the man pulls out the gun, her expression is quite typical of a 'damsel in distress' sort of thing.











Frame Ten
When she is thrown down onto the floor, her posture is slightly over dramatic - her arms are up, and her legs are bent, showing alot of her legs and dress. When she finally manages to get up, she says annoyed 'my best coat' referreing to the state the man put her in. She's exaggerated and portrayed as though "all women care about is clothes, shoes, money and appearance".

Frame Eleven
Interestingly when the other characters find the woman and rescue her. The blonde female is the one to ask if she's all right, showing a caring and motherly side to the character which is typically associated quite obviously with females.