Dr Who – Representation of Gender

In this Dr Who clip, the audience are presented with the ideas of binary opposites. The two different genders that are featured in the clip have got 2 different sides. The man being the villain and the women being the slave and obeying the master’s command. Throughout the clip, the audience see the characters and how they represented with the topic of Gender.

In the opening of the clip, the audience are introduced to a male character. The character is dressed up wearing a classic, sophisticated and smart Black and white suit and tie. He is well shaven, with a clean hair cut that tells us that he likes everything to be in order and is a neat freak. This character appears to be a strong successful male who is very powerful and knows this. He is also standing on a higher platform from everyone else to show that he is powerful and the other characters are literally below him. The platform which he also stands on makes the audience think that he is the greatest and the most powerful currently. He appears to be more powerful and dominant. It’s a stereotypical thing to see a man in suit as it can easily show that he is at a higher class as well as being dominant. Normally, the antagonist would wear an outfit or dark colours to portray him ‘evil’. However in this case the audience see the villain in a black suit, showing he is classier and wants to show more of this wealth and power which is linked into that.

The audience are then introduced to Martha, a strong female character who currently looks weak due her captivation. She is surrounded by two big bodyguards who are dressed in black and armed with weapons suggesting the mise en scene used of the props sets a realistic tone to the clip. The guards are men, proving that weaponry can only be used only by men and that women are not capable to use dangerous weaponry. This is a stereotype of both men and women.

Martha walks through the door with the villain beginning to walk down the steps waving his hands at her as if she was a dog and calling her to him. This shows us that his character is quite cocky and does not show her any respect because they are binary characters. While Martha is walking, There is a crescendo in the music to parallel the suspension, action and build in protagonists power. While she Is walking she makes eye contact with the 2 housemaids who are also captured and then to a man who is being held by the antagonists men is covered in dirt and looks rough, suggesting less power and wealth. He is wearing blue which connotes that he is loyal and intelligent.

The music begins when the woman is entering but stops when the man begins to talk, suggesting the man has more power.

Throughout this clip, continuous editing is used to display all the important key parts of the scene. He goes not greet her or make an attempt of phatic talk but goes straight into ordering her about, because she is under his authority Martha obeys his command, which then shows that the male is in command as this is very stereotypical. Martha ‘kneels’ down and obeys the commands of the villain.

The high angle shot is used to show that Martha is controlled by the villain and she is helpless and weak. However the gradual close up of Martha proves that with her dialogue, she is gaining power, especially towards the end when she is trying to make each second go by. She talks faster proving she has got more power and confidence.

Shot reverse shot is used to portray the conversation between Martha and the villain. The zoom in of the shot reverse shot proves the seriousness of the conversation.

A Low angle shot used to portray the villain as the strongest character in the scene. The way the villain is already on the platform proves that he wants to be the greatest man and to prove this point of his powerfulness, a low angle shot is used. Males are generally shown to be more focused and dominant.

The male character has got many close up’s of him portraying that the facial expression within him is stereotypical. It allows the character to take up one whole frame alone to show that he is more important.

The camera also appears to be looking up at him in a superior structure like form to highlight that Martha has no power what so ever.

The male character also speaks as if he is full of himself or really sure that his plan is going to work, to make this even more obvious they have shown that he is in command over the majority of the characters on the set, as no one tells him what to do or interrupts him at all proving the representation of gender, with the stereotype of male being in charge and bossing people around whereas the women are more quiet and are expected to obey the rules.

There is a mid-shot used of him where he is looking at his watch, in this shot we can establish that he is married because he is wearing a wedding ring, and also looking at his watch which explains his richness and how wealthy this man appears compared to Martha who has nothing at all.

As the clip builds up with Martha’s conversation with the male character, proves that she slowly gains power and courage to speak up to save the Dr. this is represented with the use of high angle shots to show that even though she is talking, she is still less superior than the male character. The Dr was saved by Martha, a female character suggesting that females are strong and can be reliable to save whether they are strong or not.

Martha is wearing just a long black coat, which is the only piece of clothing we can see, her hair is nearly done up in a bun exposing her face for us to see that she is more vulnerable and an easy target. She is wearing casual clothes which look ‘tomboy’ compared to the woman in blonde who was wearing a red dress and standing behind the male character helplessly.

The women in red must be his companion – she is at the back, behind the male character – man is stronger and the women are less powerful – she is standing there. She is wearing a red dress – connotes the power she has alongside the man. Red can also be associated with femininity as it’s the well-known colour to make female more attractive. Cliché of women in the red dress. She is known as a sexual object – owned/possession of the villain.

The male character is associated stereotypically with technology and gadgets which is the mise en scene of this clip. The certain shot portrays the mise en scene very strongly. In the background, the props are used to set out where the this situation is held. As this show is Dr Who – a sci-fi drama. There is meant to be technology related items and concept.

There are sound effects that create the diegesis. The Foley sounds create verisimilitude for the genre. The non-diegetic sounds such as the lights and Tardis sounds are not real. The ticking of the countdown in diegetic following the sound of the computer bleeping. The space ships are obviously non-diegetic but for the diegesis they are supposed to be diegetic.

Now Martha is turn to be in power, because she is a female she is more underestimated and people would not think she is clever enough to come up with a master plan and ultimately go behind the masters back and beat him at his own game.

Martha now appears to be a strong leader rather than a female obey commands. She breaks what we see to be her under control and actually stands up to the man proving that she is right and he is wrong.

While Martha is talking, jump cuts are used to portray Flashbacks are used with a gradient and black and white filter to prove that the events were the past and she is narrating it to the audience to understand the situation more. Cross Cuts and Jump cuts contribute to emphasise the moment Martha is narrating supported by the flashbacks.

A High angle shot is used to show the weakness of the Dr, who is in this form. He is in a cage and trapped which proves he is imprisoned. He is made to look more ‘old’ as it signifies that old people are weak and helpless and cannot do anything by themselves and this is why the Dr needed help from Martha.

When the Dr is back into power, A wide shot is used to emphasis on the situation,. In this case we see that the Dr is back and is more powerful than ever. The villain is stepping back, showing the relationship between them both. Furthermore, the camera shot portrays the mise-en-scene of the ‘lab’ – computer, machinery and sci fi related items/props. The music gets grander as the doctor is reborn. The music gets louder and almost blocks out his shouting of ‘it’s not fair’

Cuts between the people saying ‘Dr’. This is building up the excitement of the Dr returning.

In this clip we have seen how the representation of gender has changed halfway through and what we first expected has now changed to what we expect now.

Martha represented the female side and showed up to the stereotypical vies, of women who don’t get listened to, believed in and obeying orders from men, which gave into the male gauze, however she then turned that around to order around the man and told him what he didn't know and actually spoke up for herself towards the end.