OCR: Media Primeval
Throughout the extract of the television series Primeval, they display gender in various different ways. In some aspects they stick to the stereotypical conventions set by the media of making the man the strong and dominant character; however they do change this at times to make some of the female characters atypical.
At the very start of the clip there is a man and a women arguing and it is seen that the girl is feeling quite emotional about the situation and is upset whereas they display the man as not bothered or upset by the issue by his body language. This fits into the general stereotype of the women being fragile and the man being strong.
Following that there is a women in a digger, already this is an atypical scenario as heavy machinery such as that would not normally be operated in the work place by females. When the woman is first shown she also has shorter hair than the average women. This reinforces her masculinity of not shying away from challenges. The diegetic sounds of the digger are loud and harsh. Something not associated with stereotypical females.
The next part shows a man delicately placing something down. His body language and clothing shows him to be a more feminine character and possibly swapped with the women in the digger. The camera angle is also mid to high making him look quite small and weak.
Another man is also seen and again is doing more delicate work which backs up the masculinity of the women in the digger.
The next key event is the man calling for the women to stop and the sabber tooth tiger attack. When this happens, the man who is digging in a whole is shot in a high angled picture. This makes him look small and weak. They then shoot the tiger from the man’s point of view which is below the tiger. This makes the tiger look even bigger and menacing which shows how the man is now stranded in his position.
The woman in the digger is then shown in a shot-reverse-shot to show her reaction which appears as not scared. She then starts to attack the tiger with the digger, which is unusual as the man would normally be expected to save the women in most media texts. After she draws the tiger away the man then calls the tiger away. This then fits back into the normal stereotype of the man protecting the women even though she has the protection of the digger.
When the man is being pursued the non-diegetic sounds change to a dramatic soundtrack which to me provokes thoughts of “James Bond” style situations. This reinforces the action on screen and the dangerous task he is doing. The man then uses a zip wire with what appears to be a belt or piece of webbing. This is also stereotypical showing him as a macho daring character.
When the man lands from the zip wire he then falls and appears doomed to the tiger, however the female appears running out the woods holding a rifle and fires it just in time to save the man on the ground. Again this shows this female’s masculinity and power for not only killing the tiger but being able to sprint at the same too. It could be argued that it’s not realistic however it does increase the action and excitement within the text.
The next shot pans across a few of the characters walking across a field. The panning effect shows them as a close team or unit, but then the shot changes to show the man who was chased by the tiger walking on his own which could suggests that he’s weaker and relies on the others.
That clip then leads into another where a woman is talking to someone who appears to be a farmer. The woman is shown in luxurious clothes and heavily made up which would fit into the “Hollywood” stereotype of gender portrayal. The camera shows them conversing in “over the shoulder” shots which could suggest that they are on equal terms even though the women appears dominant and threatening in what she is saying but not in appearance. Unexpectedly though the man grabs a shot gun which makes the women look much more inferior. She also falls over which allows the film makers to show her at a high angle making her look small. This also happens in slow motion which helps add action and drama to the sequence. At the same time the non-diegetic sound displays dogs barking which helps add danger to the section.
Finally the rest of the team come in with a man and the woman who was in the digger armed with handguns (further showing woman in digger’s dominance). The man who also appeared “feminine” is also with them but instead of having a gun he has to pick up a spade which shows maybe he’s not “powerful” and “masculine” to be armed.
Overall what this shows is althugh the media doesn have set conventions that are normally aplied to specific genres, these can be blurred and changed to enchance and adapt text.
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