Representation of gender

Representation of gender

          Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of gender ?

                     


At 0:19 seconds in there is a high angled over the shoulder shot from the perspective of Luther. The high angle is showing how Luther is towering down over over the woman, by towering down on the woman in the shot he is showing how he is the dominant person in the two way conversation. At 0:21 Alice says "you look exhausted would you like to come in ?" her tone of voice is suggesting that she is trying to seduce Luther as she is acting as the temptress in this scene, the camera is still an over the shoulder shot however it pinches a bit closer to Alice's face to show her eyes looking up and down Luther as if she was checking him out this again is representing Alice as the temptress, the bad one who is trying to get something out of a man by using her body.
At 0:25 the location changes as they are now in Alice's flat this is done with a clean cut and there is a pan tilt shot that is showing Alice placing her dogs ashes on the table but the shot also is showing her  behind in tight black trousers. The colour black could be showing how Alice now has the power between the two characters as they are now in her Flat and it is an alien environment for Luther. The quick shift in power between the genders has primarily come about due to the change in place from a busy London overpass where the male was the more powerful to a tidy home where the women has more of the power, this constructs gender in a very stereotypical way as men can be seen to be more in there element in a busy dangerous environment and women are more comfortable in the home doing "womanly things" such as cleaning and house keeping. 
0:35 seconds in there is a two shot of both Luther and Alice in where it shows both of the characters from the back this is because they are not mean to be being highlighted massively in this very short segment. Its meant to be showing off Alice's Flat to give away some clues about the sort of woman she is. The rows of neatly arranged books give the impression she is a smart woman who likes to keep a tidy home, there is also a red chair. The colour red suggests lust and love, this backs up the theme throughout with the red lips, the things she says and the way she acts. The drama is really pushing the fact that she is a kind of temptress and is manipulative towards men.
At 2:02 Alice is shown in a close up shot, there is a relatively high pitched tone this helps intensify the scene by providing some sound to go with how the audience is feeling, Alice then asks Luther if he came here for sex. By doing this Alice is asking for sex in a non obvious way as she can then appear all innocent when Luther says no. Alice is trying very hard to use her looks and body for her own benefits as that is how she is being represented all the way through the clip.
The whole way through the clip the lighting is dull and grey this is showing the seriousness of the whole situation between the two characters and how it is not a scene to be taken lightly this is shows quite well at 3:40 where Alice is standing hands behind her back looking over the camera to Luther who we can not see in this shot. She is wearing grey clothes and her background is colourless even out of the windows it is dull. Throughout the majority scene Alice was shown to have the power between the two characters however she was actually trying to seduce Luther and actually the method she employed to seduce him made her come across as a sort of object as she was tying to use herself for personal gain. So really in the clip Luther kept the power by maintaining his composure and mindset he was the stronger character for doing his job without being distracted.