Gender Representation- Wire in the Blood

GEORGIA ALLISTON AND CONNOR HARPER

Camera At the beginning of the opening sequence, there is a handheld

shot of the male and female characters walking out of the door. It is very disorientating which suggests that there is a lot of confusion and unsteadiness in the scene. The male is more present in this shot which means that he feels uneasy about what is going on, even though contemporary ideas about gender oppose against this.

However, the handheld shot is cut to a mid shot of the female walking by the gate. The shot then steadies and focuses on the woman. This implies that she has more control and authority over the situation, which is a counter type to the typical male being more dominant over the female.

She also appears in the frame more than the other character, as she is shown to walk out of the door first. This heavily supports the idea of her superiority over the male.

The next type of shot shown is an over the shoulder shot, where both characters are in conversation. The fact that they are opposite is supporting the theory of the genders being binary opposites.

Finally, there is a wide shot of the man walking away from the woman. The location is more prominent than him which suggest he is more vulnerable, which is counter typical of a male figure.

Editing This scene consists of a number of jump cuts that switch the

viewer’s attention from the male figures face and the evidence he is holding. These shots are used to highlight the intelligence of the man and hard and quickly he is working. This relates to the representation of superiority of males and how they can solve crime. This scene presents the stereotype that men do all the dirty work and women do not.

The shot reverse shot is used to show the relationship between the male and female characters and to show the relationship between the man and the son. The woman seems to be in control in the relationship between her and the man. The boy and the man have a casual laid back relationship show through shot reverse shot used in their conversation and the match cut used in the pop corn making scene. This is also a countertype as females stereotypically stay at home to care and mother their offspring. In this case, it is the opposite.

Sound The scene is also casted under the sound of some tense and

atmospheric music used to highlight the fact that Tony, a man, is dealing with a very serious and violent case. In relation to gender, the music could emphasise that the man can only handle the case due to the intensity and suspense of the music.

There is quite dark and sinister music during the scene with the abandoned house. This matches the on-screen violence involved with the bald man smashing another characters head into the wall. This is a clear representation of the stereotype that men love to fight. In this scene, there were no women involved at all. This plays upon the stereotype that women are not involved anything illegal or dangerous.

However, when the man and boy are making the popcorn, there is a quite up-beat and high tempo song being played in contrast the quite dark and sinister music that could be heard during the scene in the abandon house involving drugs and violence. This counter types the idea that men are always involved in crime, instead they are at home, holding responsibilities to look after children.

Mise En Scene Although the male character appears to be in a shirt and

tie, we can see that his sleeves are rolled up. This is a universal image that someone is working hard and is in control, especially for a man. This also portrays an essence of independence and that men aren’t dependent on females for instance, to help.

The walls in Tony's house are a dark red colour. This is used to represent the aesthetics of blood which links to his job as some form of criminologist. Perhaps even that it is a more manly job involved in forensics rather than females.

In the scene with the abandoned house, there is a typical masculinity bodied male characters depicted. This can be seen by the type of costume he is wearing which is all black and leather and his type of speech (Very intimidating and poor pronunciation). This is another stereotypical method of portraying dominance, aggression and violence. The dark clothes also suggest that he is mysterious, suggestive of causing problems and sly.

The minimal lighting and gang related props such as the lighters and dirty surroundings also support the idea that males are more crime ridden and aggressive than females.