Homework For Easter - your exam is 15th May.
4 weeks away = 12 more teaching sessions.
(Plus 2 weeks to prepare over Easter)
Your Homework as follows:
1. Research the representation of Sexuality (this was January's exam). Look at the exam clip
Write up a mock exam essay response - use the following headings to structure your answer
1. Character comparison - Who are the important characters and how are they different based on their Sexuality, what is their role in the story?
2. How is it re-enforcing or challenging the stereotype of Heterosexual Men or Lesbians?
3. Is this a positive or negative - are they villain, hero, victim?
4. Status - who has the power and (is it Physical power?), who is vulnerable/weaker?
5. Difference between the characters - how are they portrayed as Opposites?
REMEMBER SEXUALITY IS OFTEN TIED UP WITH IDEAS OF GENDER - MASCULINE WOMEN AND EFFEMINATE MEN - DONT FORGET TO TIE THIS INTO SEXUALITY
6. Mise en scene - what is significant is constructing meaning> Sexuality?
a) Costume (lack of)
b) Hair, Appearance
c) Location
d) Lighting
e) Props
f) Colours
7. Cam - what is significant is constructing meaning> Sexuality?
a) What angles or shots tie into status?
b) What shot types do Film/TV use when looking at a female bodies? (MALE GAZE).
c) What is the composition of the shot telling you about relationships between the characters & power?
d) Is the camera moving or handheld - what is this telling you about the characters/emotions?
8. Editing - what is significant is constructing meaning> Sexuality?
a) Narrative: how is the story edited/told - who are we positioned with?
b) Prominance - who has most screen time, who motivates the cuts?
c) Transitions - are they soft or harsh, how does this reflect the Sexuality?
d) Juxtapoistion - how have the scenes or shots been contrasted to say something?
e) Pace - does it change and why, what does this tell us about relationships/emotions/the characters?
9. Sound - what is significant is constructing meaning> Sexuality?
a) what music is used, emotion, feeling, ambience?
b) what sound effects are relevant?
c) how does the sound reflect/emphasise the images?
- Remember to cover all 4 aspects
- Get in as much Terminology as possible (Lesbian, Heterosexual, High Angle, Soundtrack is Parallel etc)
- Link EVERYTHING back to representation
Post your responses by the end of Easter as a comment to this post
Good luck
One of the women in this sequence enforces the stereotype of a lesbian, a stereotypical lesbian is butch with aspects male gender identity. The close-ups show that the lesbian has a lack of emotion, the character never smiles, it is stereotypically masculine to not show emotion as well as always wearing her hair back, men stereotypically have short hair. Yet the character also challenges stereotype the character has props such as a paint brush which is effeminate and her costume is a dress which represents femininity.
ReplyDeleteAnother important character is the other woman who’s costume and props suggests that she is feminine and straight. Other references to this character being straight might be that in the males dialogue is says that she would laugh at the other character fancying her.
You know that the lesbian character is a attracted to the other women because of editing techniques such as eye-line match, you see that the woman is looking at the other woman provocatively, there is a close up of the woman’s breasts. Other editing techniques such as juxtaposition are used, the man is kissing the woman’s hand then the shot dissolves into a woman’s naked back suggesting desire.
Other ways this scene challenges stereotypes is that the non-diegetic sound track when the lesbian is looking at the other character is soft, lesbians are stereotypically manly, yet this could suggest strong feelings such as love towards the character because the shot changes are slow and the there is slow panning, if the director wanted to represent lust in sexuality he would more likely use faster pace transitions and sound, sure the close-ups are on breasts but that could just represent curiosity because throughout the scene the lesbians facial expressions show curiosity. The close-up of red paint and the proxemics codes of the woman also suggest love. Red it commonly known as the colour of love and some shots show the woman very close to the other woman and some even are shot on a low angle to represent her leaning over the other character, this suggest curiosity and the lesbian longs to be close to the other woman.
We are lead to identify with the lesbian because she is the prominent character, she has the most close-ups and she is the narrator.
The male forces the camera to pan because he is dragging the lesbian, this is interesting as it shows that he has the most power even though the character with most prominence and the audience is lead identify is the female, this might suggest that heterosexual people are superior to homosexual people, the audience knows the male is heterosexual because of his proximity to the the lesbian character, he leans over her to get close to her and he kisses her hand. The low angle shots from him to the lesbian also suggest that he has the power.
Certain sounds, props, shots and angles suggest a loving attitude from the lesbian to the other women, shots such as the eye line shot, which is also a motivated cut of the lesbian staring at the woman’s naked back suggest lust, those sort of close ups are used also to show heterosexuality as men stereotypically look at women that way. Both lust and love are all part of sexuality, the three different types of sexuality are Homosexual, Heterosexual and Bisexual.
Easter Exam Mock Practice
ReplyDeleteResearch the representation of Sexuality
This is an odd clip and I wasn’t sure of the female’s sexuality but it is clear who the main characters are and what roles they portray in the story. The female is the main character of the story as the sound seems to portray her emotions of fear towards the Bully of a male character. This is normally the case in TV Dramas as women are stereotypically venerable to the opposite sex so they are victims to the evil male characters, rarely do you see an alpha female dominating a male in British TV dramas. The female in the clip does challenge the stereotypical feminine Victorian Lady as she is a lesbian which is given away by the male gaze from her viewpoint looking towards the other female’s sexual areas. Although the male in the clip does nothing but enforces the stereotype of brutish Heterosexual alpha males wanting nothing but sex and having control over women. The male is definitely portrayed as the villain in the clip with him showing Physical power over the lesbian female but not psychological power, the women still fights for what she thinks is right and that is not marrying him. I’m not sure if the lesbian female is in the position of a victim due to the physical control from the man but then on the other hand the fact he doesn’t have psychological control portrays her as a Hero in other female’s eyes (I Phoned my mum and asked). There are massive differences between the characters in the way the male is controlling and evil and then the female is caring and delicate which is shown at the point where she is in bed with the other female and she is pretending to touch her body in a gentle manner. Then on the other hand they have similarities in the costume department as the lesbian female has her hair tied back to make it look short like a stereotypical males hair but then if you look at the male he has long hair down to his shoulders like a female stereotypically would which challenges both of their genders stereotypical appearance. In the clip the Lesbian women is wearing White clothing which is normally represented as the light and good character where as the heterosexual characters are wearing brown and blacks meaning they are dull and boring. The lighting is very interesting as the males shadow is normally covering the Lesbian woman’s light maybe meaning he has her trapped in the darkness as the other female is so in the light that she may harm herself (by sun burns) maybe suggesting that the Lesbian women is being hidden from the world whilst the Heterosexual women’s private life is so intruded by the public that it is harming her. Painting is a very feminine thing to do and this challenges the fact that she is a Lesbian. The Narration Positions us with the Lesbian female hinting to us that she is the main character and she is the one with the story that needs to be heard. The sound represents the individual characters with their different personalities perfectly, as when the camera is on the Lesbian female its very delicate orchestral music, though when it goes to the Heterosexual male it goes sharp like he is a predator closing in on his prey. Lastly the Male is always standing over the female, composition wise this would mean that his has power over her maybe meaning that in the Victorian era that heterosexuals had power over the Gay or Lesbian community.
Kinda compacted as was done on a long train journey but I am still pretty happy with it, any criticism I would love. as always