answering the question - how to start

Answering the Question: In Summary

Everything up until now basically is all about writing just the first paragraph of your essay. That first paragraph is where you really go into detail about the characters in the extract and what the audience is encouraged to think about them. It's no good starting off with something bland and wishy-washy like "this extract presents women in a very stereotypical way" unless you go into detail about which characters you're talking about, and what those stereotypes are.

So: what kinds of prejudices does the programme assume, and is it supporting those prejudices and stereotypes or is it challenging/subverting them? Make a bold, confident, detailed statement.

Here is how I would start an essay about the representation of gender in the Dr Who clip below ( it was the question in Summer 2009)

In this clip from Dr Who gender is represented along mostly very stereotypical lines, despite there being one or two moments where the expected power relationships are subverted. The main dramatic conflict between Martha Jones and the Master is very much that of dominant male vs subordinate female. In fact, all the female characters in the scene - whether they are 'evil' like the Master's wife on the balcony or 'good' like Martha's mother - are largely passive. When the tide turns and good begins to triumph, it becomes a battle between two alpha males - the Doctor and the Master, and the female characters are relegated very firmly to the sidelines as expectant bystanders. In all, then, this clip confirms males as figures of power, and females, at best, as supportive sidekicks.

The rest of the essay is about proving what you've just asserted.

You prove it by writing the next four paragraphs about:

1. camera framing, angle and movement
2. editing
3. soundtrack
4. mise-en-scene

Let's go through these one by one.