Essay on Gender- Doctor Who

In this clip from doctor who gender is represented in various different ways, using mise en scene, camera, editing and sound.
In the editing, the use of screen time in this clips helps to further the representation of Gender. The screen time is mainly on men and the narrative because with dialogue from the male character possibly showing that men are of higher importance. This conforms to the stereotype of men being the dominant sex and historically more important. The order of narrative includes a flash back from the past when the female character is overruling the male character and shocking him by her intelligence. This flash back is significant to the scene and changes the dynamics of the characters. Therefore empowers the female character as if she is now more important and in control, this challenges (subverts) the stereotypes of women being weak and naive as she is presenting different behaviour. Possibly conveying messages to the audience that both genders should be treated as equals. There are fast transitions throughout the shot to show the urgency and stressful moments of the scene as many different things are happening at the same time. The shots switch from male and female characters so the audience can see both of their perspectives. Highlighting the fact that people should think of both genders as equal. There is large use of special effects towards the end of the clip where the doctor breaks free from the glass and becomes the doctor again. This presents the TV drama as an unrealistic representation of real life but shows the quality of technology used, this furthermore empowers men and shows strength from the doctor as he transforms. Also displays men and women working together as the girl also makes this happen and brings him back.

In the camera work, there is a tracking, three shot mid shot and establishing shot at the opening of the clip of the women arriving at the lab like place where many people have gathered. Involving a women in the middle of the frame with two guards at both sides of her, making her the main attention of the shot (standing out). However the guards costumes show them to have the authority therefore conforming to the stereotype of women being less authoritative. The shot reverse shot towards the end of the clip when the doctor is gliding towards the other male character, shows the two men's rivalry and hatred towards each other as the doctor cares for the girl, but the other male character wearing a suit as his costume wants to kill her. Conforming to the stereotype of men being stronger than women. The shot where the male character is in the middle of the frame focus our attention to him and is from the less authoritative characters perspective. As he is on a higher level to them in the shot and they are below him, there is also a shot where we, the audience witness are looking from the women's perspective of her on her knees looking up at the strong authoritative male conforming to the stereotypes.

In the mise en scene, the make up of the female character empowers her beauty and conforms to the stereotype that women focus on their appearance as her make up is obvious. She is the main focus towards the end of the clip when we see a close up of her face, this is when she is explaining to the other characters how the doctor is going to come back to life and how she is not going to be manipulated as her thought processes cannot be tampered with. The props used for example the stairs help to further represent gender. The stairs create to levels of which characters are on the female character challenging the male characters authority is on the lower level. Because of this the female characters are looked down upon presenting females as less authoritative and weak in comparison to men. The lighting is mostly naturalistic except from when the director uses special effects on the doctor as the lighting is bright in this section. This empowers males as dominant and smart therefore conforming to the stereotypes.

In the sound, the off-screen, synchronous music matches the dramatics of the scene, and empathises the tense feeling of the scene. The sound enhances the audiences the perception of what is happening in the scene as it doesn't overrule it or challenge it. There is also contrapuntal sound when various different people are saying doctor at the same time, this also contrasts with the music. This section shows men and women working together, empowering gender as a positive and ignoring the stereotypes. The dialogue between the male and female character is interesting as we hear the male character say 'iv'e got her exactly where i want her' in a aggressive, dominant way conforms to the stereotype of men being the dominant sex and overruling women. As they are seen to be naive and weak.
overall gender is mostly displayed as men conforming to their stereotypes of being the dominant sex and women also conforming to theirs with occasional challenges. Such as the female character displays high authority and intelligence.