TV Drama and Representation

BETWEEN - 7 Key Areas and HOW they're represented...

'Between' is a series, original to Netflix that was released just this year. There is 1 season and just 6 episodes to the hit show so far, however so much has happened in such a little time frame. The show was created by Michael McGowan and the genre of the show is sci-fi / fantasy. The storyline itself is about survivors of a town that have to fend for themselves as the government have put quarantines on them because, after a mysterious disease kills every resident over the age of 22, things become very strange and frightening for the members of the town named as 'Pretty Lake'.

I follow the first episode with the 7 key areas of representation; analysing them in order from the start of the episode to the end, starting with AGE and finishing with REGIONAL IDENTITY.

AGE:

• As the show begins there is already a limit put onto the age range of the characters in the show. The fact that all the characters over the age of  22 are slowly being killed off by a deadly virus in the first couple of episodes, prove that the children are going to suffer as the authority and control in the town is going to be lost.

This is the first episode of 'Between'. In this episode we see ALOT of representation of the 7 key areas going on. AGE is represented in the first 2/3 minutes of the episode. A scene between Wiley and Adam prove that age is over exaggerated by stereotypes used.

1.18 minutes - Non - diegetic sound of music starts to play as it is marks the begging of the episode. The music is pretty upbeat and grabs attention for the audience. There is some diegetic sound at the start (the characters can hear this), and this is the school bell that rings. This already sets a time and a place of where the majority or at least a few of the characters have to work. This gives the audience information already, that there will be some school scenes. The realisation that school scenes will appear, already indicate to the audience some scene will be less in control than others. For example, a public meeting involving adults will have a more authoritative atmosphere than say, a classroom full of teenagers and youths.

We then get a close-up of Wiley's baby bump. The audience can make their mind up here, however the producers have taken on an intentional view and are creating a dominant ideology of a 'troubled teenager'. The creators of the show have represented a student at the school as a typical, stereotype who has failed her exams and has a lack of knowledge for safe sex. The fact that the baby bump is shown to us through a zoomed close up and then the camera moves slowly up Wiley's body, suggests she is being judged already for being pregnant. It is almost like when a pair of eyes looks you up or down; this was the same with our first impression  of Wiley. She was also eating a burger quite aggressively. This proves that her character is laid back and carefree. She doesn't mind she is eating a burger for breakfast and the camera keeps a shallow focus on her eating, because nothing else is important in the scene apart from Wiley and her movement. Adding to the mise en scene, Wiley is walking through a corridor in what looks like a school as students with bags on and lockers are surrounding her. The scene, whilst she is walking - is in deep focus to give the audience a view on what environment she is actually in.

1.23 minutes we are introduced to the second character (Adam). He approaches Wiley (the pregnant teenager, eating junk food) and says: 'Hey Wiley'. The camera movement then moves to a two shot in medium angle and the focus becomes shallow again, mainly for the fact that the only thing important is the conversation Adam and Wiley are about to have.

GENDER:

• Gender is represented in this episode at 3.26 minutes when we see the character of Chuck racing down the road in a red racing car. The car comes in with an establishing shot and we automatically get the impression the person driving the car is dominant and in power as he is going at a high speed down a clear, country road. The red colour of the car shows power and strength and also a male dominant ideology of 'the best'. Then we get a close up of Chuck in the car, his facial expression stubborn and fierce. This goes to the stereotype of the male gaze and the fact men have to be the most powerful characters in a TV Drama. Comparing him to the previous character (Wiley), who was pregnant and had a lot on her mind - Chuck has no worries in the world and prefers to be free. We get his the most from the mise en scene, with the car and the facial expression and body language in the car from Chuck.

CLASS AND STATUS:

• After Chuck has finished displaying the typical male ideology, he crashes his car into Pat and Ronnie's truck. Pat and Ronnie are another two characters in the show and they're actually brothers. We see the aftermath around 4 minutes after the crash scene takes place and Pat goes to confront the family of higher class.

At the start of the scene, (7:44 minutes), Pat looks confused and makes his way around the house as he follow the dialogue he hears faintly in the background, as it gets louder Pat becomes more aware of their wealth as the house seems to get bigger and the garden and patio/balcony is on front show.

We can asses the difference between Chuck's family and Pat, because of the mise en scene portrayed in the clip.

Pat:

1. Dirty clothing.
2. Posture is hunched, 'farmer like'.
3. Poor.
4. Pathetic looking.
5. Muscle around the arms (manual worker / poorly paid).

Chuck and his family:

1. Shirt, tie and formal clothing.
2. Clean.
3. Smiles.
4. Stubborn, upright body posture.
5. Well groomed.

The clothing shows a clear difference on where people come and how much money they own to their name. Judging on their clothing, it is probably the case the family don't like him and are judging him back. The time when the stereotypical social division, the character Pat goes against it when he says: 'Your son is a liar'. Pat must have felt brave to say this, or stupid; because as soon as this happens, the character of Chuck's dad makes sure he knows his place and threatens him. The dominant, most powerful man stud in front of his family to protect them - whereas Pat has nothing to go against Chuck's dad which shows again, the amount that the rich have against the poor.

ETHNICITY:

•  Ethnicity is represented in this episode, when we see the character of Gord and his family for the first time.

8:55 minutes - A black man appears on scene. He is milking a cow in a stable and is crouching at a low level. The camera angle is tilting down on Gord and therefore metaphorically proving he is useless and not as good as the other characters who have all bee pictured at a mid shot level or long shot. The fact that Gord is doing one of the manual jobs in the programme, means he is obviously lower class than the others and this isn't the producers being racist, but stereotyping the black ethnicity of being lower class and not as rich as some other white families who have maybe got their money from inheritance. Like the character of Pat - Gord's mise en scene proves he is of lower class, because of the colour of his skin. He is dressed in dirty, labour working clothes and he is wearing big working men's boots. The way he is reacting with what is around him suggests he is hard working. When Gord's family come into the stable (his Granddad and Dad) at around 9:15, they ask Gord whether or not to take the cow to the vet and he replies with: 'vet is going to charge loads with the same stuff I'm managing to do'. The family are so low on money they must tribute what their money get's spent on - this dialogue that breaks the representation of Gord also is supported by the low camera angle still being implied to Gord and the scene.

DISABILITY:

• Later on in the programme, there is a scene involving Chuck's family again, but this time AFTER their mother has died. The aftermath is shocking when talked about in front of Amanda (Chuck's disabled sister).

At 20:00 minutes a conversation between Chuck's family becomes very heated when Amanda realises what everyone is talking about. Lana (Chuck's younger sister) says to her Dad: 'people are dying, we can't just ignore that!' and Amanda reacts and says: 'are we going to die?' in a very innocent and scared manner. Suddenly, the camera angle moves to a close up of her and then focuses on everyone's guilty faces. Lana's Dad says: 'she doesn't need this - not right now', meaning she doesn't need to know the truth, because she is disabled and although she is an adult - she gets treated like a child. Chuck's body language then reflects the sympathy we should have as an audience fro Amanda, because she is confused and frightened as to what might happen to her and her family. Chuck places his arm around her and says that it will all be alright. Everyone else in the scene huddles around Amanda to make sure she is okay, because she is disabled. Before all this happened, Amanda was being spoken to down from her sister. Her sister was standing up and looking down at Amanda sitting on the sofa, showing her sister Lana has more power. This representation of a disabled person (Amanda), really reflects the stereotyped view of a disabled character in a TV drama and it backs up Paul Hunt's theory on how disabled people are viewed and treated in not only TV dramas, but also the media as a general whole.

Sexuality is represented here when Ronnie (the boy to the right), is placing his hand upon Wiley's shoulder. It is a two shot and Ronnie is towering over Ronnie a little. It represents the female gaze and the fact that there is only one thing on his mind, that the target audience probably understand all too well. The facial expression held on Wiley's face prove she isn't all for the idea and therefore clutching her hands as protection and moving away. We can tell just from this one screenshot that something will happen between them good or bad.

Gender Ideologies - Luther Essay

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Luther Analysis

In this clip, we see a confrontation between a man and a women (Alice Morgan and John Luther), in the TV Drama : 'Luther'. We can get a lot of information about the representation of gender in this short scene.

Camera Work and Editing: This clip is a linear narrative edit. We see a process happening that involves resolution (in a way) at the end. Although it is a clip from an episode (that would be more of a linear narrative story), it is a linear narrative in itself. At the very start of this clip, we get given an establishing shot to set the location. Then we see more clearly, that the two characters are Luther and Alice as a long shot is shown of the two of them (so also a two shot). Then a mid shot is presented as the characters begin the conversation. The camera angles move frequently between the two characters, whilst cross-cutting, to show they're having a flowing conversation with each other. The shot/reverse shot is used to prove the differences between males and females. At 0.19 seconds into the clip, an over the shoulder angle is used when Alice gets closer to Luther. She changes the subject from the crime, to Luther's condition. She states; "you look exhausted", (which is on a more personal topic of conversation). The fact that it is Alice that is moving closer to John, proves that the women typically have to go to the man and greet them and ask them how their feeling. They'll never get that respect back as women. When Alice asks Luther if he would like to 'come in', he looks at her up and down and the camera focuses on him for a couple of seconds, before there is a huge shift in location and the camera cuts from one shot to the other. This part of the clip is the longest take out of the two different cuts/ locations. There is another establishing shot, this time to set the scene of Alice's' apartment. It shows a more personal, intimate connection between the two character, which again, Alice has led on. As all female characters are stereotypically proven to do. What they're best at... leading the male protagonist in the right direction. There is then another repeated pattern of close up shots of the two characters having a conversation. They take it in turns to speak, without interrupting each-other.  A lot of cross cutting and over the shoulder angled shots happen here, in this quick amount of time. Then Alice moves to the picture on her wall and the camera follows her to it. As Alice is talking, she is gaining more power and we can tell this, because the focus stays on her for a longer amount of time. The camera angle zooms in on her and she has dominance - right up until Luther mimics her and the camera pattern starts again. This doesn't only prove that men have more power over women - but men like to think they're more important than women and they think it is alright to judge them. At 1.57 Luther and Alice become close again, after Luther integrates her. The camera tilts up at Luther and down at Alice. Luther is also looking down on Alice. This shows he owns dominance over her. Then there is a close-up/over the shoulder shot of Alice moving in closer to Luther and she asks him if he came for 'sex'. This again, is Alice taking the conversation to an even more personal level. When Luther reacts with the answer Alice was probably expecting, she walks quickly away from Luther and we are presented with another long shot / two shot. We are shown this is to reminded of the location they are in and also, because Alice was reacting with the mise en scene in the living room (she takes off her jumper). As the subject of the conversation become more professional the couple become more spaced out. It is clear from there proxemics and their relationships with the camera angles reflect the topic of conversation e.g. when speaking about relationships (and there's in particular they become more close to each other).  We then, for the first time see a close up of Alice when John is talking. This is to show her reaction of what he is saying. It proves what men say can effect women - but not the other way round. As Luther begins to gain power over Alice he walks over to her again and tries his hardest to be the one in control. Alice is shown in a mid-close up looking up at Luther and as she interrupts him the camera focuses on her and stays on her. At 3.27, once Alice has gained her 'equal' power, a two shot / mid shot is shown and Alice moves closer into Luther and goes to touch his chin, to which he reacts quickly to and moves away. The scene then becomes too much for Luther and he decides to walk away. He is either a cowardly man and masculinity has gone against him - or he is sticking up for his male dominant role and moving away, because he can or he has the power.

Sound: At the start of this clip, there's no extra apparent sound, other than the cars in the background of the scene (diegetic sound). John and Alice's audio/ dialogue is only noted. At 0.50  seconds, Alice mentions the begging part of 'evil' and walks up to the photo of the 'black hole'. As she starts talking, a piece of dark, threatening music starts to play. This is the only bit of non-diegetic sound that is put in, to create tension for the viewers. This is used, because it goes well with the first mention of 'evil'. The music fades out when Luther says; 'I'm not here to discuss that'. This shows he has the control over the conversation. He brings it back to his reality and his terms. The music then becomes louder when Luther begins to really threaten Alice. He (the male gender), still holds control over Alice. The music is loudest, when Alice goes in to touch Luther on his face. This adds to the tension and climax of the scene.

Mise en Scene: Luther is wearing a suit, which suggests he is in a professional occupation. Compared to Alice, he looks the most smart and organised. This shows the difference between men and women already. However, Alice isn't badly dressed. She is wearing smart clothes, but not a specific uniform or outfit. Her apartment and clothes suggest she is sophisticated and well mannered. Also by the way she speak. Both characters speak in standard English, which proves they aren't so different in class and status. Alice is wearing makeup and has her hair curled, which implies she is trying to attract men. The stereotypical image for a woman, would be to impress the mle genders by wearing makeup. Even more so, Alice has put on red lipstick, red having connotations of murder, danger, love and lust. It could communicate things about her as a person. The audience may see her as a tart who only wants the sex from Luther and that with her blunt personality makes her a bad character compared to John, who is the good guy. The setting that the two characters are in proves they have a close (in a good or bad way) relationship. However, it was Alice who invited Luther in. She is presented as a female who is deceiving and manipulative.
 

Theories

A little bit of narrative theory from MrsCmedia

Media Presentation

In my group, I analysed the clip.

'In this clip, we see a disabled man being stereotypically judged in several different ways. We see his being presented as pathetic and useless, an object of violence, sinister and evil, as a cripple, as an enemy, as a burden and sexually abnormal.

In the first scene, the man asks for his job back, to which his work friends reply in the nicest way possible... NO! They try to swerve around the matter and think of excuses, because they look down on the man, because of his disability. They think he's gullible - when in actual fact, he knows exactly what is going on. The scene starts with an establishing shot - to set the scene of a working environment and then the camera focuses in to a close up shot of one of his work friends face. When the disabled man enters the seen, we see the friends' facial expression drop, as if he is already judging him before he has even said anything. This is immediate discrimination.

The second clip is of the man scaring the members of the public. When he goes to pick up the shopping that the woman has dropped, she screams spontaneously. This is because, he immediate reaction was scared. She was scared of him, because of his physical disability. He gets a little embarrassed at first and then angry. She then feels guilty and tries to make up for it when she says: "I would have screamed if it was anybody". It is even worse, because the two people actually know each other, so this makes the man with the disability even more upset.

The next scene shows the man being sinister and evil to the members of the public. As he is walking around the city centre, sinister and dark music is being played to represent his personality and appearance. It shows he is a burden to society. The camera focuses in on people's reactions when he walks past them. They seem shocked and horrified to think that someone like him is allowed out in public. This makes the character victimised, because he is disabled.

In the end, he is talking to a man of higher class and authority. The disabled man here, discuss' getting a role in the army, because he feels like he is so ugly, he could scare away the enemy just by them looking at his face. he has felt so discriminated against, that it could result to him being a threat to anyone. He even says that he doesn't think he will find a girlfriend. This is what disabled people are made to feel like to some people in society and this is what this TV drama is trying to prove.

Throughout the clips played, we see some camera work being used to make the audience and viewers feel sympathy for the character. the camera will show a close up of the man, but from the side - just presenting his face (on the normal side), and then it will move to a close up on the full face and when the audience learn he has been in an accident - they automatically feel sorry for him - because he has to live with that and they don't. He is always made out to be completely different.'

Gender - The Basics

 

GENDER

Judith Butler (Gender Trouble 1990), claimed that gender was a performance. She called this 'GENDER PERFORMATIVITY'

• Taking on masculinity/femininity to fit in.

• 'Male / Female' are the sex categories. Gender is a construct.

Definiton: Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to, and differentiating between, masculinity and femininity.

Masculinity: Ruthless dominant behaviour. The men that demonstrate masculinity are controlling and they feel that they always need to be on top of women, both mentally and physically. They are seen as much more clever than women and back in patriarchal times, it was up to the man what happened to the women, They were their owner, leader, protector, lover and everything was decided by from the male gender. Masculinity is seen as strong and powerful.  The mise en scene supposedly used in TV dramas to represent masculinity would be things like: - Darker clothes/ colours in scenes - Football and other sports - Professional outfits e.g.. suits (that represent power) - Beer and loud, aggressive company - Harsh lighting - Dramatic music etc.

Femininity: Emotional, nurturing behaviour. Femininity is seen as a delicate representation. The women that show this are caring and loving. They are the gender that are there to be supported on, as they are kind and considerate. They're fragile and weak, much weaker than the men who choose to show off masculinity. They are vulnerable and are stupid, especially if they're blonde and own a small dog or two. In the patriarchal society- the women would have done exactly what the men told them to do, or wanted them to do. They would of had to look after the male in their life with great care and would of made sure his life was perfect, as that, and only that, was her job. The mise en scene supposedly used in TV dramas to represent feminity would be things like: - Accessories (handbags, jewels, makeup etc.) - Lighting on them when they look attractive according to the men - Makeup and revealing outfits - Small dogs and other pets - Clothing that exaggerates the figure etc.

TV Drama - 'Spooks'

Here we can see a clear divide between the two genders: Male and Female.

Masculinity: The males in this photo seem to be more in control than the females. The man that seems to be the more dominant character, (the one in the suit, in front of the man and the woman, standing); is wearing that suit to prove he is the man in control. This seems to prove the point of the men always being the leaders. The man sitting down on the laptop/computer, could be the most clever out of them all, because by the looks of it, he seems to be the one projecting evidence of some sort to conclude a crime. I am not aware of what the programme is about, however I am making a judgement that they have found evidence of some kind and it is a crime show. The looks on all the characters faces, also seem shocked at the discovery they've made. The final man, who is wearing a black jumper and jeans, is dressed more casual. This could mean he is less important than the man in the professional outfit, or the complete opposite way round (that he is more important), because he doesn't need the clothing to present his wealth and status. I've noticed in this photo, that all the men are wearing different outfits. I have come to the conclusion that this photo is telling us men are more dominant and men as a gender can have different status' (in this photo it is proved in the costume). For example, one can be more important and in power than the other.

Femininity: The women in this photo are not as fore fronted as the males. They're out the way and in the corner (back) of the shot. In fact, the lady at the very back of the two men is barely even focused on. The other lady, is sat in a chair (to show that she isn't as important as the man standing up). They're both pulling the same facial expression and are both wearing similar outfits (we can only see the top half - again, because they aren't as important characters). They're both put in the same outfit, because it proves all females as a group are the same. They're all just there in company of the male. It's probably not actually the case in this show, however this shot in particular represents the stereotypical gender types in society.

TV Drama - Happy Valley 

Masculinity: There aren't actually any men in this photo. I think it is because men stereotypically aren't caring and when women re in trouble (as shown in this shot), they're not there to support and really, properly care for them and give them attention. Also, because traditionally men and only men were allowed to take on jobs like policing, when women come and change the rules the men violate and disagree with them - therefore won't be seen in a scene that supports the female revolution.

Femininity: The females in this photo are both sat on the ground, probably to represent the lack of superiority they have. Although the lady on the right (who seems to be injured), is in professional uniform, she is still noted on a lower level. They could have made a big point of this to prove females just aren't suited to jobs like the Police force, because they can't handle the aggression and power that men obviously can handle. She could be looking away from the character trying to comfort her, because she is embarrassed. The lady to the left of her, (the one seeming to check if she is ok), is representing the typical feminine stereotypes, meant to be played by females. She is soothing her and by  the looks of it, she is making sure the band on her head wasn't too fatal. (I am guessing she has banged her head, as she is handling her head like it has been hit). This photo also shows the respect women have for other women. Despite bittiness and unkindness between some groups of women - a lot of the time they are always there for one another and unite. This is proved in this shot.

EX_MACHINA ESSAY

Why was Ex_Machina so successful?

May contain spoilers.

In the future, how will we tell if a robot has human-level intelligence?

Alex Garland has written, produced and directed a sci-fi movie that deals with the high level intelligence of making robots. The film is called; ‘Ex_Machina’. ‘Ex-Machina’ (meaning the “god of machine”), is a fairly relevant title for the film, as the character of Ava (who is the robot, designed to promote human emotion), is powered with great intelligence and skill. The film itself revolves around the journey of a young coder, who is played by Domhnall Gleeson (Caleb) when he wins a competition to spend a week at a private retreat belonging to the reclusive CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of the company, who is played by Oscar Isaac (Nathan). On arrival he learns that he must participate in a bizarre experiment which involves interacting with the world’s first true artificial intelligence, which comes in the form of a beautiful female robot, who is played by Alicia Vikander (Ava). There is another female robot (who we don’t realise is a robot until the end), who is played by Sonoya Mizuno (Kyoko). It could be purely, the great casting of the film, which caused ‘Ex_Machina’ its great success.

The main protagonist in the film, is played by the ever so talented Domhnall Gleeson, who stars in ‘About Time’, ‘Frank’ and also a single ‘Harry Potter’ film. He is set to star in the upcoming ‘Star Wars’ film, which is set to bring up a very big success. After the film is released, the star will most certain gain a lot more recognition and that is when ‘Ex_Machina’ will maybe get more noticed too. Even more so, with the fact that the other co-star, Oscar Isaac in this film, is also set to appear in the new ‘Star Wars’ movie. Rises in profit for ‘Ex_Machina’ is almost certain.

With a running time of 1 hour and 50 minutes, the film must have had an intriguing plotline that grabbed the attention span of all audience viewers for that length of time. The length of the film is an easy black hole for any mistakes and loop-holes to be made. There is a few issues within the film itself that critics have careful picked out. They’re only minor, but they are worth noting. One being that the character of Caleb, refers to “CCTV” cameras in Ava’s room. However, this usage is more common in the UK (and more to the point Ireland, where Domhnall Gleeson’s from) and relatively uncommon among Americans. An American would be more likely to call them “surveillance cameras”. There is also a point in the film when a shadow of the camera crew are seen (on the rocky waterfall outside the retreatment area). There are a few other tiny detailed mistakes picked out by critics, however they didn’t affect the success of the film so much for it to be a disaster – which is all that matters.

Sci-fi is always big at the box office. Half of the top ten highest grossing movies in history – ‘Avatar’, ‘The Avengers’, ‘Iron Man’ and many more are sci-fi, or a mix of sci-fi and some other genre. The last few years have seen sci-fi bring in huge numbers in worldwide receipts, including films such as ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, ‘Interstellar’, ‘The Hunger Games’ series and many more. The success of the film, wouldn’t be proven unless we looked at the money made on the picture. The film was produced by ‘DNA’ and ‘Film 4’ productions. They had a small budget of $15,000,000 (estimated). The opening weekend grabbed a huge amount at the box office ($250,000) (USA). The film made a high gross of $25,440,971. These figures prove that it made a fairly decent profit and obviously, supports the amazing reviews and messages left about the film on certain internet websites. For example, the rating for ‘Ex_Machina’ on ‘Rotten Tomatoes’ is a very high percentage of 92%. It also has a good set of reviews on sites like ‘Metacritic’ (78%), and a 7.7/10 rating on IMDb. This is extremely great, as compared to films like ‘Harry Potter’, which has a rating of 7.5/8.2, it shows the amount of success noticed by critics the film has.

The film was released, in the UK, on January 21^st 2015. Around this time of the month huge films like, ‘Taken 3’ were released to the public and on opening week, this film grossed a total of $40 million in the opening weekend, which seems like an awful lot more than ‘Ex_Machina’, however this film had backup success of another 2 films, so the marketing and money ($20 million) put behind it, determined an immediate success. Small budget films normally do not make their money back. For example, ‘Strawberry Fields’ (2012), only made a gross of just over, $3,000. ‘Ex_Machina’, did very well for a low budget film made in the UK.

The initial DVD release date for ‘Ex_Machina’ was July 14^th 2015. It reached a high gross of $6,679,662 in sales. This proved a very high success for the company.  

‘Ex_Machina’, barely had any bad reviews from members of the public and critics after it was released. Many critics assessed the importance of the gender representation put of the robot, which they also do directly in the film. Many critics also, looked at the small possibility of the ‘Turing Test’ actually working. They were all impressed at Garland’s ability to produce such a realistic model of an intelligent, computer machine. On ‘Fusion.net’, a young critic described the film as ‘exciting’ and they say it ‘explores the real meaning of intelligence and consciousness’ (within artificial intelligence). Many critics enjoyed the sense of reality presented in the film. This sounds crazy, as the film revolves around robots, but it highlighted the amount of hard work and struggle that scientists have to go through in order to get the Turing Test to work. A member of the public said, and I quote: ‘A brilliant movie, I truly enjoyed it.’ Another public viewer claiming that it was a ‘warm recommendation’. Many people were blind to the film and hadn’t realised that things like that go on in real life- as it would be such a breakthrough to get computers on exactly the same wavelength as humans. The representation of reality might have been the reason for its huge success. The representation of reality mixed with sci-fi and plot twist elements mixed together could have been the reason also. It is proven Garland must have got the balance right in the film for so many people to love and enjoy it.

It’s important to look for ‘suggested films’ when researching ‘Ex_Machina’ on sites like ‘imDb’. This is because, film fans will go onto these films on the site and see ‘Ex_Machina’ advertised. Whether it is before or after release date, it stills brings up sales and fans for the film. Suggested films for ‘Ex_Machina’, include ‘Insurgent’ (which has a huge fan support behind it), ‘Mad Max’ (a high grossing Hollywood film) and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ (another high grossing, Hollywood film), just to name a few. This shows off the film and also tells people that it must be good to be compared to films that successful.

A lot of viewers were so impressed by the film they wanted to discover Garland some more and explore his other pieces of work. Alex Garland on ‘Ex_Machina’: ‘I feel more attached to this film than to anything before’. He had previously promoted talent on his work like, ‘The Beach’ (starring Leonardo DiCaprio), ‘Sunshine’ and ’28 Days Later’ (to name a few). A lot of his work is surrounded around the genre of sci-fi, mystery and drama. This tells us what genre he is most comfortable in as a director and it an obvious crowd pleaser – as his best work to date, is ‘Ex_Machina’, which he as a writer and producer, is very proud of.

‘Ex_Machina’, isn’t a friendly, four quadrant film. It has elements of danger, death and discrimination. It also has sex references in it and in some parts – extreme violence occurs. The CGI used is limited and with a small budget, the small team of people working on the film had to put in a lot of hard work and effort to create the picture. This is something to consider as the film has even been described as ‘cult’. With all these things taken into consideration it is hard to point a specific target audience for this film. Maybe young adults, teenagers and not so younger children? Critics have labelled the film as mostly suited to adults and young adults who enjoy a good mind tester. The certificate on this film is a 15. Some could say this limits the audience, however the reviews come from all sorts of age related viewers from 13-50. It’s right to say, this film could be suited to almost anyone with the wanting to gain knowledge of science fiction and possible future experiments.

The film was picked up and promoted at ‘Amsterdam’s Fantastic Film Festival’ it proved a great success there and ‘Ex_Machina’ actually achieved awards for it’s amazing plotlines after release dates. Alex Garland won a director’s award himself, (Silver Screen Award) and Alicia Vikander (Ava) was nominated for her incredible acting as ‘Best Actress’ at the Empire Awards, UK. Finally, Alex also won the Jury Prize at another film festival later in the year. This alone, proves the success made from the film.

In my opinion, the film is hands down incredible. I actually believe it deserves much more success than it has already got. It deserves to be in the top rankings with the best sci-fi films, as the ideas that have come from Garland alone are unexplainable, not to mention the high level of acting and brilliant effects. You couldn’t put a budget on the film without researching it as it is so rare for a low budget film to do so well in the industry. An amazing piece of work from Alex Garland and all of his team.

 

 

Gender

Gender gaze from MrsCmedia

What is 'the gaze theory'?

Laura Mulvey who came up with 'the gaze theory' in 1975, suggested that it was up to this that bought about certain target audiences etc. for  films and TV shows, for example.

"This could be suggested of the gaze theory"

1.) Male Gaze: How men look at women. How women look at themselves. How women look at other women. 

Women are objectified and just there to be admired by males. They are made like this, because they are picked and chosen out depending on how good their physical appearance is. They are seen as the weaker gender and are only vital inn films, to be someone for the men to discriminate and sexualize.

They are seen as passive characters who are under control of the male and males are the active characters who push the narrative on and provide all the action for the audience to watch.

Women are just seen as the visual pleasure on the screen. The role of women has 2 narrative functions. - Erotic object for characters to view. - Erotic object for audience to view.
obviously, things are so much like this anymore in this society today.

Male gaze leads to Hegemonic ideologies in our society - the idea of dominance inn political ad social contexts.

Objectification

The patriarchal society sets the rules here.
Male/Female dichotomy.

Some women are said to play up to 'the gaze' and enjoy the attention they gets from it. An example of a classic character who likes this, is Lara Croft (who enjoys the attention she gets from her revealing and sexualised figure and attitude.)

This also suggests women, cannot be the main protagonists.

2.) Female Gaze: There are arguments here, that the 'female gaze' does not exist and that it is nowhere near the equivalent to the 'male gaze'. Look for power and dominance in males.

- Men can be motivation.
- Female sexuality is frowned upon.
- Male sexuality is celebrated.
-Women are decoration / prizes.
- Men 'save' themselves and help other men, and the females who are important enough to have a big enough role in the film or TV show.
- Pressure of actors to "buff up" and look like the stereotypical actor in the film industry.

It is stereotyped that men are: carefree, comical, fit, practical, buff etc.

'Gaze' represents the physiological relationship of power. The person with the 'gaze' is superior to the person being 'gazed' upon.

Here, we see the official trailer for: 'The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials', which was released just last month.

In the trailer, we mainly see the shots being dominated by males. There is just one or two casted females and in every shot they look worried, scared or are asking questions. This could have been done to demonstrate the intelligence of male over female. I noticed that there was a narrative voice (Ava Paige) over the commercial. This could have been done, to prove she isn't worth enough as the males, to have her face on screen as well as her voice. The males are all very buff and look the part to the stereotypical, dominant ideology of a male character. Especially the protagonist, who meets up to these standards. We also see a quick clip of a male and female kissing. This could highlight the fact that her role is to only be someone else's love interest, as that is all the female is good for. The male is there to control the female.