Media Exam
Section A
1.
The way, in which gender is presented in the extract “Doctor Who”, it’s quite clear that this is set in a much more dated scene presumably the mid-20th century where this was present. We can see this from the mise-en-scene, the extract opens up with females presumably entertainers of some sort are walking to perform their act, it’s an mid-shot to show the two characters, we can tell that this is a dated scene, because of their accent, it’s an 20th century American accent. Gender in this opening scene shows a stereotypical view of women, that they are entertainers in that timeframe, also the outfits of them adds to it, they are seen as promiscuous women. The scene after that is a panning shot of two people are presumably are in love are in a romantic relationship with each other, we as the audience can see that this particular person is an entertainer like the other women, her dialogue in this scene is also a 20th century American accent, it is very significant that the accent is like that, is to show the mise-en-scene the time-period this is supposed to be set in also, the man is dressed in a very dated fashion, this fits in with the time era this is set in.
The camera shots in the beginning shows the two in a mid-shot, and also shows their clothing to establish what time period this is, and to show what profession that could and it lets the reader know that this is the way in which women dressed, and show the attitude towards women at that time. The camera shots taken in the scene are there to show the stereotypical view of women in that era. After that scene we see the man going somewhere and we can see someone is following, because there is a tracking shot to show the audience that there is someone following this man. Also the non-diegetic music builds the suspense to let the audience get prepared for something to happen to this character. Then there is a panning shot to show the location of this killer or this person that is going to disrupt the equilibrium as explained by Tzvetan Todorov’s theory in which there is a beginning which has an equilibrium and the villain causes the disequilibrium which we can see in this extract, with the man walking fast we can see his scared from the extreme close-up shot to his face to show the fear and frantic nature of this man. There is another panning shot to show the audience where this man is going and then the non-diegetic music starts to build up and then we can tell that something’s is going to happen to this man, this shows his insecurities and he is shown in an unmanly form, he is not the stereotypical man and is shown to be vulnerable.
