The extract of the episode of Doctor Who (series 3, volume 4)
represents gender by using the mise en scene, camera angles, sound and editing
to show how they impact on the action. In this scene Martha, the woman who is
asked to kneel, reveals and carries out her plan to save the earth and the
Doctor (who is shown captured in a bird cage) from The Master. One way that
gender is represented is in the clothing of the characters in the scene,
particularly those in uniform. For example, there is a shot of Captain Jack
being held at gunpoint in the first ten seconds of the scenes. Following this
is a mid-shot of Martha, however we can also see in the background two women
who are dressed in what appears to be a cleaners uniform. Standing next to them
is a man who is wearing an engineer’s overall. This selection of professions
for the various genders is stereotypical in nature, as it is showing men in
jobs which require more strength and women with the more ‘unpleasant’
professions. However, interestingly Martha rejects these stereotypes and
instead wears an assault jacket and cargo trousers, similar to that of the
guards. This puts focus on her and allows her to stand out as the protagonist
of the scene, making her presence more impacting.
Possibly the most noticeable character in the scene though is
the woman in a red dress that is standing on a ledge above the rest of the
characters. The use of the colour red conveys danger and creates a
foreshadowing effect; it makes the audience believe that she may be a threat to
someone in the near future. If, however, you look at the woman from a
representation of gender perspective, you realise that she is not foreshadowing
her character, but rather her gender; from this point of view it looks like a
woman is going to bring about change soon, and this does indeed happen with the
revelation that Martha reveals.
Camera angles in the scene represent gender subtly, but are
still effective in making an impact on how the audience views the scene. The majority
of the shots shown of The Master are taken from a low angle, but interestingly
this is the opposite for those taken of Martha; she is always looked down upon.
This is clearly connoting the stereotype of men having more power than women,
as he is positioned much higher than Martha and is also looked up to. Towards the
end of the extract though this switches as The Master is defeated. Martha begins
to rise through the angles as he sinks until, just before the scene ends, he is
seen cowering under the doctor who has regenerated to ‘save the day’. The woman
in red who foreshadows danger through the red in her dress also foreshadows the
change in power through the camera angles used to film her. All of them are
taken from a low angle, which suggests that whilst it may seem that men have
the power here, it is in fact women who were more powerful all along. This becomes
clear when Martha tells her story about how she had won all along by travelling
across the world previously to find people to help her.
The sound used in this extract has a minor impact on how
gender is shown in the scene. The soundtrack for example changes gradually as
new parts Martha’s plan are revealed. To begin with the guitar plays softly,
and at a slow rate. But as it starts to become more apparent that she has won
drums start to thud in the background; a choir can soon be heard singing
quietly around the two minute mark. When Martha tells The Master about the satellites
(which are the major factor of the success of her plan) the music suddenly
increases in volume, signifying that she has the upper hand here, and, when
combined with the change in camera angles throughout the scene, it shows how
the scene rejects the stereotype of men having more power than women. Another way
in which sound represents women as the more powerful race is the voices that
are used by the spheres that are hovering above the earth. It is a female voice
that says: “We will fly and blaze and slice” twice. The spheres have a very
dramatic presence, and it is easy to tell that they are a significant threat to
the characters and universe. So by giving these spheres female voices, they subtly
tell the audience who the more powerful gender is, allowing them to predict
what is going to happen in the next few minutes. Namely, the shift in power
from men to women.
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