Sexuality

How the representation of sexuality is constructed

In the extract, we can tell that heterosexual men are represented as being uncomfortable around homosexual men. After a few pans across a couple of men engaging in homosexual acts at the start, one of the police officers says the word "shit". The use of diegetic speech here in this tone suggests that he is uncomfortable, which links into the stereotype that straight men are homophobic. Furthermore, when the police officers use whistling to reference gay people doing something of a sexual nature, they both giggle and jest about. This shows that the straight male community could be seen as childish, or even demeaning as they believe they are the correct sexuality; which can even be supported by the use of costumes and how they gave the man in charge sunglasses - as well as having him unbutton his shirt a little and scruff his tie up: implying that he is visibly in distress. Finally, when Dave has something whispered in his ear, we get a cut from a long shot to a medium close as his face scutches up, leading him to act violently towards the what we can infer is a proposition to "go somewhere quieter".
Homosexual men are represented in a negative nature, especially towards a more animalistic or barbaric side. We can get this from the mise-on-scene, and how there are cages kept with a man we presume to be gay in, dancing with super tight and revealing clothing on. The use of a cage suggests that he is an animal, which could be how the straight men see it. on top of this, the club is notably underground, with the straight men having to descend a flight of stairs into a smaller, trapped environment. The club itself has a few large boulders inside, thus leading to the inference that the gay men are portrayed as old fashioned - the 80's dance music and choice of attire would also back this up. Another view from the straight men is how different the two sexuality act. The police officers jest about how gay people act and sound - with the gay man sounding feminine and obedient while the straight men are connoted as being "rock hard" and "quarterbacks", showing how even rugby is a heterosexual dominated sport and that gay people do not play its they are to weak to engage in manly sports.
There is also the switch on how Simon is seen as a powerful gay man. They made Simon visibly in control, having his own red velvety couch in the centre of the room This shows his position of power, and as red can be associated with anger it shows how he can be potentially violent and dangerous. On the other hand however the red could also suggest love and the idea of him being a very sexual person in general. The use of giving him a large amount of head room in the first cut to him shows the audience that he is the centre of the club, and instantly defines his position to us. We can also learn from the pans across the club and tracking shots following Alex that the club is constantly moving, but Simon stays in the centre of the club with little to no movement and thus no tracking or panning shots with him as he is keeping it all together; not needing to move about as he is fully in control of the situation. When Simon shuts down Alex's advances with trying to find out about his line of work, he takes a serious tone of voice and the music drops revealing a non diegetic drone in the foreground of the sound. This guides the audience that the situation is now tense - with extended shots just following Alex's and Simon's faces without cutting for a longer time then normal. this leads me to believe that Simon is fully aware what Alex is trying to do - determined to scare her off by intimidating her which can also be supported by when he said "Don't get used to it" about the wine suggesting she needs to leave or suffer the consequences. This created the countertype of a gay man, as the stereotype for a gay man is to be submissive, flamboyant, and weak which is opposite to what Simon is.

Social Classes

stereotypes on social classes:
Upper:
Posh, fancy, Stuck up, rich, greedy,snobby, rude, superior, well spoken, High end properties
Middle:
white collar, Business people and the families, professionals, plays golf, nice suits, well off, well educated
Working:
disability, blue collar, factory workers, inner city, rented properties, state schooling, manual labour


Oliver Twist:

Cinematography
panning shot at the start to show the inormaty of the situation. the close frame of the whole first shot shows that when the middle class man leaves the room - it shows him leaving the closed frame into a cooler, blue tinted room instead of the warmer, dirtier room./crane tacking shot sowing the middle class man walk across the room until he reaches the front. goes from medium - long shot into a long shot as he starts to talk about religion. The closed frame in the room with the upper class men show how that even though they own the factory, they are not actually in control. They are trapped inside their buisness, and trapped in their own gluttony. In the scene with twist, they are all shown at head height, suggesting a balance of power when there was believed to not be a balance of power at the first glance.
Editing
no fade ins and outs - all cuts, The two titles are broken fonts, which fade in and out.
Sound
non diegetic - low drones to signify the isolation of the scene they are in - has horror connotations. the children coughing, clearly unwell. The constant clanking of the stick sets the pace of the scene. in the eating scene, the music starts to build up into a higher piece orchestra, showing how the scene is building up tension. As soon as twist reaches the food pedistal, the music cuts out and ends on an echo.
Mise En Scene
Start - the dirty faces of the children. Grey clothes. Grey hats. No individuality. greasy hair.the working class being represented as children while the middle and upper class are shown as older people.

Sexuality

Het people mostly in TV

Gay/Male Dive - Kurt Hummel, Glee.

The emotional connection is shown - less masc.
The voice is higher pitched.
Small gay dude with huge straight guys.
sweatband, scrappy vest, wanted to preserve the hair.
The dance // Beyonce is a very femme person, plays beyonce.

Metrosexual - a man who displays behaviour stereotypically associated with homosexual males while being heterosexual.

The repressed homosexual

Fears coming out to family // IN THE CLOSET
Being flamboyant

The colourful gay man
femme qualifies
best friends with women
pink stuff
sparkles
fashion and FEELINGS

Women:
The butch lesbian:
Masc dress
Masc behaviour

Femme lesbian:
UNCOMMON IN TV
concerned with feelings
Femme dress

Representation of women in the media

the brvhdel test
at least two women in it, who talk to each other and not mention a man thru the whole film

supernatural badass charlie
supernatural ellen

There are two polarised portrayals on the representation of women. The first one is Abby, who is represented as a very strong character - perhaps the strongest of them all. She is wearing basic gear which you could see on a man or a woman - and is a countertype. Jenny is the complete opposite, being feminine and very stereotypical towards how women are shown in the media. She uses her appearance to get what she wants - but as soon as the power is switched to the man she backs down defenceless.

Representation of men in the media

Early

1950's

Modern - Side 1

Side 2

Traditional masculinity

Smart, suits, good job.

Chivalry

Violent

Tough

Modern Masculinity

Family orientated

bachelor

Cosmetics

Sound

Sounds heard:
Diegetic:
sirens
cars
traffic
car door
paper
talk
click
door?
speech
frying sound?
phone call
running
door opening
horn beep
moving car
broken window
chase scene in cars
gunshots
Non-diegetic:
escalating music
tense music
Digesis - Plot/Story/Narrative
Diegetic sound - sounds inside the narrative. Heard by the characters.
Non-diegetic sound - sound the characters cannot hear.

Soundscape for the missile launch

Diegetic - countdown for the 2 minute remaining 1 minute remaining 30 seconds and then count down from 10.
Diegetic - launch preparations with the pressurisation of the exhaust etc.
Non-diegetic -music which is leading towards a climax, maybe tone bombs up as it gets closer to the countdown.
Diegetic - lots of footsteps, dialogue or combat as the protagonist tries to stop missile.

Mise en scene

Broadchurch Trailer:
Costume and Props:
The costumes in this are varied - depending on the characters status in the show. The protagonist has a suit on - signifying his importance in the police, while there is a basic police officer who has the typical police uniform on. There are pedestrians around the scene - which are all dressed in holiday style clothes with the patterned shirts and white trousers/shorts as well as sunglasses. this could show how the protagonist has a higher status then the rest of those on the scene. it could also show a sense of separation with the protagonist as he looks so out of place - it could reflect on the protagonists feelings of misplacement.
Lighting:

Decor:
churches - alter, stall things, flowers. White colours to represent purity and the light.
Location:
Beach - put crime scene on beach, the nice place gets tangled in dark thing - polysemic.

Body language:
lots of hung heads, high postures, tense faces with switches from aggressive to tense.

HWK

take a screenshot of a room in a house from a TV drama. Bring it in.

Cinematography

Taboo

Camera movement

Crane
Handheld - placed the audience in the scene
Tilt up - reveal
Low angle shot making him seem superior/power.

Framing

positioned in the middle of the frame// to the left a lot
most of the shots are very open frame - isolation with character.
the two masts block the ship in - make it seem trapped within it.

Camera Distance

long shot
wide shot?
establishing shot
Extreme long shots - supports the isolation w/ open frame.
new establishing shot - shows the storm included.

Depth of Field

medium DoF - most of it

occasional high DoF

the shallow DoF draws attention to the character

POLYSEMY//POLYSEMIC - multiple meanings of one image.

TABOO:

In the opening of taboo, cinematography is very effective at creating meaning. The first establishing shot could be used to represent two different meanings. For one, the open-ness of the sea compared to the small ship on which the protagonist is on shows the isolation to him from the outside world. There is also the polysemic meaning that the two masts on the ship show that he is almost locked in, with a small framing instead of the large framing. This shows the contradictory status that our character is currently under. this is also supported from the ship being positioned directly in the middle to further bolster the idea of isolation.

In the opening, we can see the way the protagonist is shown as dominant and in control from the low angle shots and the use of rule of thirds. Around the middle of the opening, the protagonists eye level is along the same line as the top rule of thirds line, as well as being towards the left, from a low angle shot really posts the idea that the protagonist is the dominant character. This also hints at his power, showing he is a powerful protagonist is useful as this is the opening - really setting his character out for the audience to see properly.

steriotypes
Countertype - direct opposite of a stereotype
Archetype - The perfect stereotype. fitting the key characteristics of a certain object or thing to make it "perfect"

Representation:

A representation is how something is perceived and shown in the media. This allows the directors to establish a character and how they interact with other characters.

Stereotype:

stereotypes are judgements passed on people by a certain social convention that they follow. For example, if there is a young person in a hoodie, with other youths, they are teenagers looking for trouble.



Class
Age
Gender
Ethnicity
Disability
Sexuality

Working Class

Homosexual Males

Islamic People

Stereotypes on family guy

Spanish people beat women all Mexican

Asian people can't drive

Japan and chibi small stuff

Black women and hindsight talk

All Mexicans can clean

Italians are super hypothetical

Asian families have no privacy

Black women going mhh hmm

all muslims are terrorists

People on the subway are rude

Priests molest children

Effects within stereotypes:

Within stereotypes there are good stereotypes and bad stereotypes. an example of a good stereotype would be that women are good mothers. An example of a bad stereotype is that all people from islam are terrorists. There is a very fine line between bad stereotypes and being prejudice.