Representation of disability – Skins
This clip begins with 3 dancers showing their friend, Tony, their dance routine. One dancer is called Maxi. Tony seems very depressed – he has forgotten everything he knows in an accident. Maxi and Tony leave together, to go home. They travel on the bus where Tony seems scared, then meet some young girls on the way home, who Maxi knows. At Maxi’s home, they have dinner with Maxi’s mum, who Tony does not remember. Tony’s mum is also at home, and she seems very stressed, while talking with her daughter.
The dance routine is significant, as the dancers are physically able and move in every way possible, stretching and jumping. We see the whole routine, and then we see Tony. It’s a direct contrast between their capability and movement, and his disability, the dancing almost showing what Tony cannot do. The editing also helps to show this, switching frames quickly, to make the dancers movement look faster. During the dance sequence, the camera shoots from close ups, and dynamic angles, which further emphasises their movement. The lighting furthermore helps to show this, as the dancers are in the light, while Tony sits on his own, in the dark – emphasising his isolation and further connoting his disability and that he is ‘in the dark’, which make links to his disability – he has forgotten all the things he knew before.
The music in the scene changes from slow to fast, emphasising the dancers ability to do so many different things.
Tony is also sitting very rigidly, to greatly emphasise the contrast between the dancers ability and Tony’s disability, their curvy movements an almost opposite to his straightness.
It is also significant that Maxi is looking after Tony. He has to take Tony to his daily activities – he doesn’t have enough time to give 100%, an issue when concerning disability. However, we see they are friends and Maxi looks after Tony, as he shortens his name, and when Tony has a moment of panic, we see him cling to Maxi.
In the scene with the young girls, we see one ask if he is ‘mental’. This represents a prejudice to disabled people, by the girls using the derogatory term. It also helps to show that his disability is very clear and noticeable to people, as the girls have picked up on it after talking to him for a short time – emphasising the extent of his disability.
However, he is able to talk to the girls, talking far more than he has in the extract so far, showing us some of his character, that he is very comfortable talking to girls and that his disability has not effected what he is best at too badly. The lighting helps to emphasise this, as it is very light – a sunny day, and this directly contrasts to the darkness of the previous dance scene. The lighting signifies the getting better and getting worse of his disability, almost like pathetic fallacy, and this continues into the next scene, where they eat dinner with Maxi’s mum. We learn that Tony and Maxi’s mum knew each other previously, however Tony says how he doesn’t know her. The lighting has gone back to dull and slightly dark, showing another deterioration. Everything in this scene shows his disability in normal life. Firstly we see Maxi wiping his mouth of food, emphasising his disability with a close up. Then we hear Maxi cutting his food, showing how he cannot cut his own food, which is a standard thing to be able to do. There is no sound apart from the cutting.
The next scene shows us how Tony’s disability has effected his family. His mum is obviously devastated. In the next scene, we see her sitting on the toilet, staring into space. She becomes frustrated at things that remind her of disability – the disabled-friendly toilet and an alarm system. The lighting is dark, which links to the other scenes.
Monday, 1 February 2010
cutting it media studies
The first shot in the extract of ‘Cutting It’ is a medium establishing shot. It shows a man and a woman, and we can infer that they are a couple as the woman’s head is on the man’s shoulder and they are holding hands.
The framing of the opening sequence indicates the intimacy in their relationship. Through the back window of the cab we can clearly see they are in an urban environment, as there are many cars and high-rise buildings visible. This is reinforced by the naturalistic sound-scape and the non-diegetic sound. This adds to the impression that they are an average city couple.
The woman’s femininity is emphasized by her floral dress, her curled hair and her make-up. Furthermore the woman’s jacket is a light one, which contrasts with the man’s dark clothing. This emphasizes both their gender stereotypes.
Also, the man’s hair is short, which is quite stereotypical of men. We can connote from the positioning of the couple the man’s superiority and the gender stereotype that he is her protector. To further show this the woman is lying on his shoulder, which also supports the idea that she is vulnerable.
During their conversation in the cab, the editing is sped up. The connotations of this is that they both mutually forgive one another.
Also, extreme close ups of their wedding rings re-occur during the sequence, which are cultural symbols of marriage. The rings seem to be new, as they are shiny, so we can infer they have recently become married. In one close-up of the two holding hands, the woman’s hand contrasts with the men’s hand, as it is small, pale and slender compared with his rough, large, hairy hand. The two hands are almost microcosms of the two characters. Her hand is also stroking his, which shows her caring and the couples intimacy, but also denotes her superiority in the relationship, and also her confidence in their love. The idea is supported when he hesitates to stroke her hand back, suggesting a vulnerability in his part of the relationship. This challenges gender conventions.
Towards the beginning of the next sequence, we are shown the female character gracefully ruing across the road towards the hospital. It is a point of view shot from the male character. It emphasizes firstly the distance between the two as she goes to the hospital. But this has further implications – we can connote a loss of power for him, because as the distance between the two increases, so does the female’s domination over the screen. We can infer that the events are not in his control as all he can do is wait.
The fitted, light colored coat is again used to good effect here – when she runs, the audiences eye is drawn to it, and it emphasizes her gracefulness as she runs, and her stereotypical woman’s shape.
The next sequence is very surreal – it is a crane shot of a dark office room, with light shining almost like a spotlight on one table. The connotations of this are that it is all the woman can remember from the room. The female character is presented as vulnerable and submissive in this scene, as she is half submerged in darkness.
Again, the man has the authority in this sequence; while he leans forward, she leans back, and sits in a tense position.
Next, there is an extreme close-up of the male character toying with his wedding ring. It shows how important she is to him, and challenges gender conventions as men are stereotypically tough and close out emotions, not being depressed and wallowing in romance like the male character does.
The end sequence where the woman leaves the hospital begins with a point of view shot, through the mans eyes. A bus is almost used like a screen wipe as it drives past the screen to put the woman out of the mans sight. It is followed by his face, looking anxious. It shows his worried nature towards their relationship, and how he cares for her greatly. This challenges gender stereotypes, as the man is expected to be uncaring. This helps build sympathy for the man.
The framing of the opening sequence indicates the intimacy in their relationship. Through the back window of the cab we can clearly see they are in an urban environment, as there are many cars and high-rise buildings visible. This is reinforced by the naturalistic sound-scape and the non-diegetic sound. This adds to the impression that they are an average city couple.
The woman’s femininity is emphasized by her floral dress, her curled hair and her make-up. Furthermore the woman’s jacket is a light one, which contrasts with the man’s dark clothing. This emphasizes both their gender stereotypes.
Also, the man’s hair is short, which is quite stereotypical of men. We can connote from the positioning of the couple the man’s superiority and the gender stereotype that he is her protector. To further show this the woman is lying on his shoulder, which also supports the idea that she is vulnerable.
During their conversation in the cab, the editing is sped up. The connotations of this is that they both mutually forgive one another.
Also, extreme close ups of their wedding rings re-occur during the sequence, which are cultural symbols of marriage. The rings seem to be new, as they are shiny, so we can infer they have recently become married. In one close-up of the two holding hands, the woman’s hand contrasts with the men’s hand, as it is small, pale and slender compared with his rough, large, hairy hand. The two hands are almost microcosms of the two characters. Her hand is also stroking his, which shows her caring and the couples intimacy, but also denotes her superiority in the relationship, and also her confidence in their love. The idea is supported when he hesitates to stroke her hand back, suggesting a vulnerability in his part of the relationship. This challenges gender conventions.
Towards the beginning of the next sequence, we are shown the female character gracefully ruing across the road towards the hospital. It is a point of view shot from the male character. It emphasizes firstly the distance between the two as she goes to the hospital. But this has further implications – we can connote a loss of power for him, because as the distance between the two increases, so does the female’s domination over the screen. We can infer that the events are not in his control as all he can do is wait.
The fitted, light colored coat is again used to good effect here – when she runs, the audiences eye is drawn to it, and it emphasizes her gracefulness as she runs, and her stereotypical woman’s shape.
The next sequence is very surreal – it is a crane shot of a dark office room, with light shining almost like a spotlight on one table. The connotations of this are that it is all the woman can remember from the room. The female character is presented as vulnerable and submissive in this scene, as she is half submerged in darkness.
Again, the man has the authority in this sequence; while he leans forward, she leans back, and sits in a tense position.
Next, there is an extreme close-up of the male character toying with his wedding ring. It shows how important she is to him, and challenges gender conventions as men are stereotypically tough and close out emotions, not being depressed and wallowing in romance like the male character does.
The end sequence where the woman leaves the hospital begins with a point of view shot, through the mans eyes. A bus is almost used like a screen wipe as it drives past the screen to put the woman out of the mans sight. It is followed by his face, looking anxious. It shows his worried nature towards their relationship, and how he cares for her greatly. This challenges gender stereotypes, as the man is expected to be uncaring. This helps build sympathy for the man.
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