Primeval Representation of Gender

Representation of Class Sherlock (2010)

Camera Shots

Close ups of Sherlock often either have just him in the shot or him blurred out of focus with the other characters – there is a clear barrier between him and the others, and the single focus on him shows a sort of self-importance that is often stereotypical of being upper class (though, generally, the new Sherlock is middle class, bordering upper).

Editing

Fast paced shots help to portray the speed of Sherlock’s deduction, mainly during his explanation of why he thinks Jim is gay. The shots are also blurred to show the focus of the characters as well as the boundaries between them – Sherlock is blurred when others are in close shots with him, probably to represent the ambiguity in people’s opinion of him (a common question raised is whether Sherlock actually cares for people or if he’s a sociopath who does things simply to entertain himself).

Sound

Sherlock is much more vocal about his thoughts than the others – the woman is in denial about her boyfriend being gay, the boyfriend is clearly in denial about himself being gay, and Watson is quiet for the majority of the scene with one of the first things he says being put down by Sherlock.

His accent is also more refined than the other characters – the others are clearly much more casual, where as Sherlock’s speech has a sort of elegance to it that you’d expect from the more upper-boundary of the middle class in society. The accent also helps to portray intelligence, a key focus of the series with Sherlock being, essentially, the most intelligent character in the show (not counting his brother).

Mise en Scene

Sherlock is sitting down – the other characters end up “looking down on him” figuratively by the end of the scene

Sherlock is wearing a suit, as opposed to the work clothes of the woman, the coat of Watson and the t-shirt of Jim.

Sherlock is the central point of the characters – they all face him, and the focus of the conversations are aimed at him as well (the introduction of Jim, the controversy behind Sherlock’s deduction and the counter points by Watson are, obviously, all focused around Sherlock).

Sherlock’s general speech is also very, very different from the others, not just in terms of his accent or formality, but in the way he shows his understanding of the others – ironically, for the most intelligent character in the show, he shows very little understanding of how the others think, another stereotype of the upper-middle class like politicians, who are very detached from the population in terms of understanding what they want.

Kick-Ass Seven Areas of Representation

Spooks Representation of Ethnicity

Disability Gregory House

Name	Gregory House (played by Hugh Laurie)
Profession	Chief of Diagnostic Medicine
Disability(/ies)	Leg infarction (an area of tissue death on his leg)
Other Problems	Addicted to Vicodin, a painkiller
Personality	He’s portrayed as a misanthrope (someone who doesn’t like people), cynic, narcissist (essentially elitism, and being selfish), and a curmudgeon (an ill-tempered person whose very stubborn).

House’s disability is a leg infarction, which causes him a lot of pain (hence the use of Vicodin to counter it) and makes him walk with a cane so that he can balance right.

His disability seems to conform to 5 of the 10 stereotypes of disabled people in media – he’s seen as an object of curiosity (in that his boss is constantly trying to find ways to fix it, to the point where at the end of one of the series she forces a surgery on him without his consent to do so), sinister/evil (he’s sometimes driven to violent means in order to get the outcome he wants, such as during a hallucination where he cuts open and kills a patient in order to break himself out of it), laughable (he often makes jokes of it, such as when he annoys a patient to the point of violence and then says “You wouldn’t hit a cripple”), his own worst enemy and a burden (the pain in his leg is implied after the surgery to be imaginary, stemming from his drug addiction which came from the pain to begin with, and he’s looked down upon because of it – he even almost gets sent to jail for it).

Though in some ways the portrayal disability could be seen as very hyperbolic, the show does deal with it in several accurate ways that can come from disability – mainly House’s addiction to painkillers, which a lot of people going through pain can have happen to them (for example, the actor Matthew Perry was in a car crash and subsequently became addicted to the painkillers he got from them).

Shakespeare’s view that when disabilities are used as plot devices distance the audience from the characters and they become only seen through said impairment seems to have been flipped around with this character – the characters that House comes across view him through his impairment, but the audience can relate to him as a character, despite his many differences. Despite the fact that he’s a medical genius, and is always correct when diagnosing patients (other than one time, but he sorts that out at some point during season two, I believe), the other characters doubt his intelligence and often mistake it for arrogance or a stubbornness for Vicodin.

A prime example of this would be when his boss, Lisa Cuddy, refuses to believe House when he tells her that a catatonic patient can be revived by simply injecting him with a certain chemical. She then gives in to temptation later on and tries it, and it works perfectly, yet she refuses to let House know for fears of it increasing his arrogance, instead letting him feel that he should be more careful when diagnosing patients, if only for lawsuits’ sake.

Overall, I’d say that the way House’s disability is both realistic and fair – despite being intelligently greater than most of the other characters, and being of a higher rank, he is often looked down on because of his disability and his drug addiction. He’s also often pitied, despite his complete disregard for the way his patients actually feel, and even gets shot at one point by someone that he’s a douche to.

Male Gaze Durex Advertisement

The Durex advert attempted to combine sexualization with classiness, a combination that you don't see very often. The focus of the cameras is on the women's faces as they orgasm, which attempts to de-sluttify itself through the use of classic music dubbing over any of the sounds. For an advert based on a product that promotes safe sex, the sex side of it is really only implied - the facial expressions, the feet and the grabbing. The actual act of sex isn't shown, which is probably for the best, because it'd probably get banned at some point.

Representation Facial Expressions

Facial Expressions

Marjorie Ferguson (1980) 

Chocolate Box

A half or full smile, with the lips together or slightly parted, teeth hardly visible at all and either full or three-quarter face to camera. The projected mood of this kind of expression is blandly pleasing, warm bath warmth, where uniformity of features in their smooth perfection is devoid of uniqueness or of individuality.

Invitational


An emphasis on the eyes, with the mouth shut or only a hint of a smile, and with the head either to one side or looking back to the camera. The project mood of this kind of expression is suggestive of mischief or mystery, the hint of contact potential rather than sexual promise, the cover equivalent of advertising's soft sell.

Super-Smiler


A full face, with a wide open toothy smile, the head being thrust forward or the chin being thrown back, hard often blown by the wind. The projected mood of this kind of expression is aggressive, 'look at me' demanding, the hard sell , 'big come on' approach.

Romantic / Sexual

A fourth and more general classification devised to include male and female 'two-somes', or the dreamy, heavy lidded, unsmiling big-heads, or the overtly sexual or sensual. The project mood of this kind of expression is "possibly available" and "definitely available".

Trevor Millum (1975)

Carefree

A carefree look, that can be linked to sports because it seems as if they are active and/or healthy.

Practical

A practical look will include a model who seems to be concentrating on something, so their eyes will be focused and their mouth will be closed but not tightly.

Seductive

A seductive look requires the model to have their eyes slightly closed, with small expressions (but large enough to still show), and should also look somewhat confident.

Comic

A comic look has the model being stupid/comical/funny, and it will often be exaggerated in order to make the audience's view of it as comical as possible.

Catalogue

A catalogue look requires the model to have a neutral expression, such as a dummy (artificial/wax-like). The features may be in any position, but it's more common to have the eyes wide open and with a smile, but the look should remain vacant and empty still - personality has been removed.

Sites used for reference:

• http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/gaze/gaze11.html
• http://www.slideshare.net/nickemo/male-gaze-based-on-mulveys-fergusons-shroeders-and-millums-theories-of-the-male-gaze

Representation The Gaze

Eva Mendes

She has a fairly sexual posture, as seen by the messy/wet hair (linking to the glossy skin as well), along with her "orgasm face" (not my words). These points are emphasized as well by the fact that her lips are parted, as well as her legs being open, a posture often linked to sex. From a "feminist" perspective, the hands on hips could be a sign of empowerment, and the fact that she's looking purposefully away from the camera could be a sign of "disappointment". The length of her legs has also been emphasized somewhat, probably because longer legs are seen as an attractive trait in women (their emphasis is seen by the fact that she's on her tiptoes, whilst wearing high heels).

Fredrik Ljungberg

The way that Fredrik has been directed in this advertisement shows both feminine and masculine qualities, which I'll assume were to attract both audiences. On the masculine side, you have the toned muscles, and possibly hints of aggression (left hand being a fist), which fits somewhat with the red background. On the feminine side, the pouting lips and apparently manicured right hand could be to appeal to the female audience, which again links to the red background (red being a colour related to the idea of lust). This also fits with the forced sexual portrayal of the model in order to attract the audience, as shown in the Eva Mendes advertisement above, though in this one I think it's more to make guys want to be the type of man within the ad, and for women to want the man within the ad (which would in turn make guys want to be like him, in order to attract women).

Representation The Man

This picture was taken from The Sartorialist, and was shot in Lexington Avenue, New York City

Outside of a Ralph Laurent shop

First Glance:

"Poor" - patchy clothes, smoking habit

"Working Class" - seems comfortable wearing them, can't afford new trousers and would rather patch them up

"Unclean" - again, patchy clothes, but also an untamed beard

Second Glance:

"Fashionable" - checkered shirt, scarf, rolled up trousers

"Clean" - very neat patches, tidy shoes, fingers aren't stained by nicotine

"Confident" - the pose and how comfortable he seems wearing those clothes