Assessment

Hannah Withers
Compare the way two TV dramas construct representations of gender

There are many way in which gender can be represented within the media. They can be represented with their roles, such as cross over roles. Where the woman may be the strong minded character along with a fearful man. Or the man may be saving the non-strong woman with his strength. The two TV dramas given show two completely different representations, ‘The hustle’ includes more of a sexual relationship between the man and the woman where as ‘The Killing’ has included more of a horror streak towards it.

Camera shots play an important role within TV dramas. They help up to analyse different sections of what may be going on or people’s expressions to what emotion that they may be feeling. In ‘Hustle’ it starts off by showing the character Dexter Gold at his desk in a mid-shot. From this shot we can already tell the different power between the two genders. This is because Dexter is clearly the head of the office. From then on it goes into a wide-shot of a woman walking in. From this shot which then goes on to show a close of up Dexter Gold’s face shows that he clearly, straight away has a sexual attracting towards this woman. The camera then zooms into the close-up to have an extreme close of his face which shows attraction towards the woman. This then leads on to his fantasy of his woman. In this fantasy it shows a mid-shot of the woman moving around in a sexual way, the camera then expands to showing the woman three times at once. From a mid-shot the camera goes to a wide-shot showing a full body length of all three pictures of the woman. We then go back to a close up of Dexter Gold’s face when he has clearly come out of the fantasy and tells his ‘colleague’ to go for a break. This shows the patriarchy within the office. 
However, in ‘The killing’ women are represented in a less sexual way. ‘The killing’ shows more of a female dominance within the scenes. The camera starts as a wide shot of the woman as she enters the abattoir, the camera moves along the setting with her as if the camera is acting as though someone is watching her. The camera uses many wide shots throughout showing that where she is isn’t a safe environment. When something is pushed to knock her over. The camera follows her along as she sets out to chase this unmasked character. The camera zooms into a close up as she chases the suspect through the abattoir; the shot shows the expression on her face which is fear and determination. When she enters a nightclub setting the camera turns to wide shot which shows the whole scene as if we are all looking for that one suspect. It suddenly turns to close up as she spots the suspect and chases after them; it turns to wide shot so we can have a view of the chase which brings us all down to an intense mood wanting to know what happens. The camera follows her outside where it stays as a wide shot; we are still able to see that her facial expression is confused as she has lot the suspect. We then see the suspect come up behind her and hit her with some sort of object. The camera stays at wide shot so we are able to see this happen and see her fall. This scene shows that the dominance then changes over to the suspect, who we presume is a man, and shows that men have dominant power and therefore has more strength than woman.
Mise-en-scene is used within the media to show different representations of gender. ‘Hustle’ is set in an office. This shows a more professional environment with Dexter Gold sat behind a desk in a suit. This represents the power that he has. When the woman walks in, she is also wearing a skirt suit which shows that she also is trying to be taken in a more professional way. But the way Dexter Gold views her is as in a way that he is abusing her professionalism. This is because in his fantasy she is seen wearing a gold sort of dress that shows off a lot of skin underneath, this means he is viewing her in a sexual way. The way she is set out is on a gold setting which shows that he sees her in a very attractive and wanting way. This can be seen because many people may want to get their hands on something like gold, so he his viewing her as in comparing her to gold. During the fantasy the woman is rolling around moving her hands slowly over her face, this may be seen as a sexual movement. When Dexter comes out of his fantasy we see his facial expression, this is the same facial expression he had when the woman walked into the room. The facial expression shows immediate attraction towards this woman. However, it is like the woman has caught on to immediate attraction and told him that she is only here to discuss business. Dexter then turns to his colleague and tells her to give him time to spend with the woman. Viewing over to his colleague shows that she has a smaller and more untidy desk than Dexter, this yet again shows that he has more power within the office, by telling her what to do, and also by her having less space than him. But when she is told to do so by Dexter she acts as if she is annoyed by him wanting to spend time with this woman rather than her, she then slams her pen down and walks off, this may show a sign of jealousy because he hasn’t recognised her. 
In ‘The Killing’ it is set in a less professional abattoir, the environment she is in shows slaughtered animal meats all around her, this may show that the environment is more of an unsafe, and shouldn’t be in one. The fact that the abattoir is where animals go to be killed could be a sign for her walking into her own death. As if she is one of the animals about to be killed. The character is wearing casual clothes as if she has suddenly turned up from her everyday life. This may show that she was unprepared for where she may be going and the task she may be undertaking. Her high heeled boots show that she was unaware she may be running after a certain suspect. The lighting all around her shows a dark environment which shows that there is less likely anyone going to be around. When she suddenly has a cart shoved towards her, her facial expression changes from fearful to determination. When she starts chasing this suspected character she starts chasing. We are able to take a look at what the character is wearing. The fact that the character has a large hood over their face raises suspicion as to who the character could be, along with wearing baggy jeans and trainers shows that they may have been there for the right reasons, wearing more suitable shoes to run in, ready for a race. When the race turns into more of a nightclub setting it shows that the people within the ‘nightclub’ may be workers of the factory having a staff party. But as the chase continues through there, they are all unaware of what is going on around them and who is between them. They are all wearing party clothes, so it shows that the suspect may not have been someone there for the party. As the chase goes on the surrounding people ignore what may be happening and carrying on with a party, even though some of the characters stand against the hooded presumed male, none of them make any looks or comments at him, or don’t even acknowledge him. When the chase leads to outside the woman stops as though confused as to where the suspect has gone, we are able to see that it is pitch black outside so therefore night time, so unlike her we are able to see the male character approach her from behind and hit her over the head with an object. From our view we can see that the object looks like a gun, this means that the suspected character is a danger to her. We then see her fall into a ditch which then leaves the audience with suspicion as to what happens next with the tension that it has ended with.

Sound plays an important role within TV dramas; this is because it plays the background noise to make us understand what is happening. In the ‘Hustle’ it starts off with us hearing paper being rustled about a desk, this shows that it is a professional environment because it is set in an office with lots of paperwork around. We then hear the sounds of heels walking along the floor which means that a woman is approaching him. During his fantasy involving the woman the music background is very deep sounded and a song that may talk about love, this shows that he is fantasising about his feelings towards the woman.