Gender Stereotypes: Video Analysis

Chloe midwinter
Doctor who and gender representations
The video is a clip of doctor who aimed at a wide age range audience. It has a range of different ages and characters both male and female, however both genders tend to be portrayed in a different way.
The clip presents many general gender stereotypes and includes some which differ against what the audience are expecting. For example within the sound aspect of the clip the female protagonist who has been capture by the doctors nemesis has a soft playing sound whenever she comes into shot to match her soft feminine voice. In contrast to this the nemesis enforces his power and speaks vociferously and clearly, we can hear him say ‘I’ve got her exactly where I want her’ as if she were
an object that will do as he pleases; this is a stereotypical gender representation to show how the male is domineering and commanding while the female stays quiet, we can also see this in the nemesis female assistant who stays in complete silence whilst her more dominant male partner does all the talking for her.
However as we progress more into the clip and hear of Martha’s plan the music becomes more powerful in parallel to her voice which becomes more confidant in addition to this going against traditional female expectations. The doctor uses sound to emphasise his power also as he grows into a stronger human being s does the music; it gets louder and more powerful.
Near the beginning of the clip the camera pans across the side of the room to show the female hostages being held by large men with guns this stereotype shows how the females are being kept as slaves of the master who has the highest level of dominance as if they were just to serve him. The camera shots of the clip show Martha and the master both in a position of power but at different times, in the beginning the camera is placed behind Martha kneeled position as too look up at the master, he is the focus of the scene whilst Martha is on the right hand side of the frame as if she was of less
importance. We see Martha’s view is from a low angle shot this shows a representation of gender because it puts Martha at a weaker position than the master as if because he is male he of a higher status. This effect is also used on the doctor, the high angle shot is used again when we see the doctor trapped in the cage illustrating the fact that he is helpless at this current time. Towards the end of the clip the camera zooms in on the masters ticking clock showing the audience how little time they have left this is followed by a distress look of the female captives. A mid shot is used as Martha stands showing to the audience how she is regaining her power ;it allows the audience to see her facial expression and help them to see her superiority over the master growing Both shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule are used within the extract, these are mainly featured during the conversation between Martha and the master. During the shot/reverse shot both Martha and the master have an equal amount of screen time. Towards the end both characters are given the same amount of screen time .Equality is created between the two genders and more specifically the two characters Martha and the master. As the doctor grows control over the situation an over the shoulder shot is used to portray the situation from the view the villain holds the doctor gains more screen time than the villain showing an alternate switch in power.
Mis en scène shows clearly the male’s dominance in the beginning .The guards in the extract are stereotypically male, by having the guards as male follows the gender stereotype that males are stronger and more powerful than women.
As well as the guards being only male they are the characters that have guns and the only other character who has a weapon is the Master. The weapons in the scene enforce power and establish which side is in control. It is only the male characters in the scene that have weapons this follows the gender stereotype that they are stronger and the dominant gender the masters dominance is also clearly conveyed .The master is dressed in a formal black (which typically has the connotations of being evil and dark) and white suit as if he was of high importance .His female assistant in spite of this is dressed seductively in a long red dress and pretty face as if she where an object the masters ‘trophy’ wife. Martha is contradictory to this example however going against the typical gender stereotype and dressing herself in army uniform demonstrating a strong independent female who can battle for herself. Each scene of the clip shows a power object of the masters including the large ship they are currently on; the cut away shots show the orbs and missile shots which the master also controls. The massive objects of destruction show a gender stereotype due to the fact that rather than his female assistant the master himself does all the heavy duty work and
controlling of the events highlighting his power and control over the current situation the gender representations shown within this scene differs between the characters. An example of this is with the female gender, when Martha is defeating the master she is the strong and powerful character which goes against the stereotypical gender representation of the female being the weaker gender that is a member of the group as opposed to the leader. However the other female characters in the scene, the maids, do conform to the gender stereotypes for females within media.
The clip begins with a close up shot of Martha to convey he feelings and emotions has been edited to show the ticking clock whilst the master speaks. It also has a montage of clips of the ships ad small alien ships preparing to fire the editing enables the viewers to see flashbacks of Martha’s memory where she helps those who will need the doctor later she is comforting and reassuring which goes hand in hand with the idea of a typical female .CGI is used when the doctor is freed from the cage to highlight his importance and the importance of him being released now able to save the world ( in the way that female Martha was not able to as effectively) a role which he is famous for.