Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of

gender - Luther
Camera shots, Camera angles, Movement, Editing, Sound, Mise en scene
There are a variety of ways in which the extract, Luther, constructs the
representation of gender. This gained through the use of a range of camera
shots, camera angles, movements, editing, sounds and Mise en scene which
create ideologies to the reader and makes them believe certain things within the
extract, gender being the main focus for this question.
Firstly, as soon as the extract begins, there are connotations given off about the
character Alice. Through the use of a mysterious sound, and the facial expression
given off by Alice, which connotes that she is up to no good, immediately gives
the viewer the intention that Alice is an unstereotypical woman, which is shown
in the extract. The reason for this is because of the use of the mysterious music,
it makes the reader believe that she isnt a nice character and through the look
on her face and that she is avoiding eye contact with the camera indicates that
she is a bad person. This is unstereotypical for a woman who is upper class
(which Alice is because the connotations from her house (Mise en scene), which
portrays her to have a lot of money), because stereotypically woman of this class
are generally nice people, this is the dominant ideology given off from Alice form
the offset.
Moreover, near enough straight after this example, dialogue is used to show
Luthers dominance over Alice, which is reinforced using camera work. A
representation of gender occurs when Alice says they burned my dog which
is an emotional thing for a woman, but for Luther to reply with Its protocol,
implies that Luther follows the stereotypical traits of a male which are having a
lack in emotion, and that he is trying to remain professional and live up to his
role as a police officer. Which has its stereotypical traits associated with that job,
in being tough towards others and inflicting the law, therefore he wants to
remain this attitude in his everyday life to represent his job which shows he feels
proud of what he does. His dominance is then quickly reinforced with an
establishing shot (camera work), which highlights that Alice is a lot smaller than
Luther which is reinforced because of its side on view and that it has tall
buildings in the background. This idea suggests that Luther has dominance over
Alice because of his physique.
However, the Mise en scene, soundtrack and movement question this idea
further on in the extract. This is because through the use of the Mise en scene, it
portrays Alice to actually be a dominant figure herself, which is unstereotypical
because of her size and the fact she is a woman. This is because of her house,
which I have mentioned in the previous paragraph, but also because of her
clothing and make up. Alice is dressed in a formal manner, wearing smart
clothing to meet the formality of her job as she is a research scientist, which
possess her with power as not many women have that intelligence capability
based on gender stereotypes as not many woman are nerdy scientists as the
stereotypical job for a woman would be a housewife, and or them to be more

bothered about the way they look than earning money. As stereotypically,
women leave that job for the men. This is also the case for Luther as he dresses
up in a suit and tie which represents power, upper class and that he has a lot of
money which are all contributing factors for him to seen as a dominant character.
This is stereotypical for a male. However, she does wear makeup, and wears red
lip stick, which gives the reader connotations of her being seductive and flirty
towards men which I reinforced by the dialogue in the extract when she softly
speaks Did you come here for sex. This brings out her stereotypical side to
being a woman as most women are like that. On the other hand, the fact that
she has to wear make up for her to look attractive could also indicate that maybe
she doesnt have self confidence in her natural appearance and has to wear this
extra layer of make up as a mask of protection to hide the fact that deep own
she is actually weak, even though she makes out herself to be strong. As most
women are inferior to men, but she doesnt want this to be the case with Luther,
and this creates a battle of authority between the two characters.
Onto the idea of soundtrack is this example of the extract, form the moment of
from when she says This is a black hole, tense, dramatic soundtrack is added
to the sense which creates an sense of authority over Alice and that she is
dominant in this situation. Coupled with the fact that when she says Something
that drags you in and crushes you are all negatively portrayed words that are
associated with her character. As well as the movement features involved in this
moment. She puts her hands together and walks around like she is circling Arthur
and casting her power over him. Allow with he use of a close up (camera work),
it highlights to the audience her facial expression while talking on this subject.
She showed a smile and which indicates she has a sense of enjoyment when
talking about his subject which is a dark topic. This indicates that actually Alice
has authority over Luther, even though he is taller than her, has a stereotypically
harsher job than her; she is portrayed through the use of representations in the
extract to be more powerful than Luther. This is unstereotypical because she is a
woman, and men are stereotypically more powerful than women. A camera
movement which is relevant in this extract is the side was tracking shot of the
camera following Luther walking away from Alice. This indicates that Alice has
more dominance over Arthur and that he needs to move away to be able to get
out of her space otherwise she might possess him. This reinforces the idea that
Alice has more power than Arthur which is unstereotypical for a woman having
power over a man.
Progressing further on in the clip, a conversation occurs between Arthur and
Alice, starting from the quote Henry Madison, where also the mysterious
soundtrack is also added to the scene, involves fast paced editing in the
conversation between them. This is to add to the tension of the conversation and
to engage the audience with the conversation more, which also the effect of the
mysterious soundtrack as well. The reason this represents gender is because it
reinforces the idea that Alice has power of Arthur. She is constantly asking him
questions and it is flicking from the shot on her to him, him to her (which is a
shot reverse shot), coupled with the faced paced editing it highlights that Arthur
is getting intimidated but her constant power she possess which is reiterated

through his body expressions. He starts to rub his beard which suggests he is
getting nervous over the fact that she has dominance over him which can be a
rare thing for Arthur because he is a police officer. Furthermore, the whole
conclusion of the extract ends by Arthur saying Im coming for you, with a
reply from Alice saying Not if I come for you first, which leaves the extract on
the assumption that Alice has dominance over Arthur, as it makes the audience
feel that she is always one step ahead of him. Resulting in the idea that as a
woman, and that she has gone against the stereotypical codes and conventions
of being a woman of being inferior and scared of dangerous men, she stood up
for herself and outwitted Arthur which he clearly didnt like in the extract.