dr who media essay

Representation in episode 4 of series 5 Dr.Who of gender 0:00-5:00

The extract opens with a panning close up shot of a mans face, who has a clearly visible red lipstick kiss mark on his mouth. He looks dazzled and confused, and the diagetic echo noises are presumably from his point of view, to further show his misfortune.

We learn through the narrative he has been tricked, but judging by the lipstick mark, we gather that it was by a woman. We then see a zoom to a close up of a man’s face, which with his concerned expression, shows a threat towards his and his comrades, and he then says: ‘she’s here’.

Dramatic, tension building militairy music begins as we see a panning shot of a close up of ‘she’s’ feet, walking, seemingly with intention suggested by her speed and the fast music. Because of this we feel she seems to endanger or threaten the other men. She wears red stiletto-heeled shoes, and a black dress. Because of the previous scene with the lipstick, she seems to be represented as a seducer, with her slender, sexual clothes, and therefore more dangerous. There is a diagetic sound of her shoes, clicking on the floor, as she even ‘sounds like a woman’, with that sound representative of the high heeled shoe.

In the same shot, the camera pans up her body to waist height, and we see more of her black dress and flirty pose. The camera pans to her hands, one which holds a handbag, and the other a pistol, which emphasises the juxtaposition of her character as a slender, sexy lady and a dangerous seducer. She lifts the handbag out of the frame so the camera focuses on her gun, emphasising the power and danger she imposes.

The next shot is an extreme close up of her firing the gun, changing to a next shot of the door she has broken into using the gun, showing that she is brave, and able to use the gun easily and effectively. The diagetic ‘lazer gun’ noise sounds dangerous, showing that what she has is potentially lethal.

The next shot is an extreme close up of her hands fiddling with the gun – which turns out to change its function. So there is an emphasis on her ability, and in turn her intelligence, which further adds to the danger she imposes.

The camera switches to an extreme close up of her left eye, behind dark sunglasses. The sunglasses are bent and slender, almost secret agent-esque; they show her as classy and cool.

There is an analepsis in the narrative and we jump backwards 12000 years, shown by text on the screen. There is an establishing shot of a tall, stone room, with glass cabinets in it. A man strides confidently into shot, making statements. He wears a brown jacket and a bow tie, which make him look nerdy and smart like a teacher. A girl follows him into the shot. Her body language is contrasted to his: while he looks enthusiastic, she looks bored and confused. She wears a casual red jumper and tights, which make her look young and kooky.

We get the sense that he is her superior or mentor, as she follows him around. She also makes requests of him, and doesn’t seem bothered when he doesn’t respond.

A panning shot through what we learn is a museum shows the contrast in interests between the two; he walks with enthusiastic intent, while she looks bored, shown by her almost dragging herself along.

Through parallel editing, we are shown more close ups of the woman’s gun in action, and we can see her red painted fingernails, and another extreme close up of her glasses. Through the repetition editing and camera shots, we become aware that we have not yet seen her face, only her body. This adds to the mystery surrounding her and who she is.

Back in the museum, there is a two shot of the Dr and the girl, further contrasting the two’s enjoyment of the museum: he explains something very complicated to her enthusiastically, showing he is intelligent and loves history and knowledge, while she makes a sarcastic comment and holds her head up with her hands to further show how bored she is.

Through the parallel editing, we learn the two scenes are directly linked: that the woman has sent a message to the Dr, reading ‘hello sweety’. It is quite ironic, and the when the Dr reads it, the woman is shown to be reckless by trusting her life in a silly message. As the Dr reads the message out, we see see a panning shot that shows the woman’s face. She has red lipstick on, her dark sunglasses, and blonde hair, but her gun is still in shot to make sure we still have ambiguous feelings towards her.

We then switch back to a medium shot of the Dr and his accomplice running, being chased by guards as the diagetic sound of alarm bell’s ring. The two are represented as adventurous and brave, but the Dr could be shown to be a bad influence on the girl as he leads the escape, holding the stolen item in his hand.

Their danger is similar to that of the woman, as we see more guards running down a corridor in a medium shot. They then point their guns which we presume is at the woman, but has an eyeline match with the audience as they point into the camera. This connects us with the woman, so we might feel as though she is the good character. The guards dress in sinister black, and danger is signalled by the diagetic clicking noise their loading of their gun’s make.

We see a medium shot of Dr. Song, the woman, standing with her back against a wall. She has an eyeline match with the guards’ leader, and uses a flirty tone of voice and body posture to address them, showing she is brave as she is calm in the face of danger, and even though they have large guns she is still in control.

There is a quick close up of the man’s face, and he too stares into the womans eyes with a bemused look on his face, showing that he too is not scared by the woman.

She then threatens him, again whilst being very flirtatious, and we see a new close up of the mans face, now looking worried, which shows he has lost power in the situation, and we see another medium shot of Dr.Song blowing them a kiss, which indicates she is leaving by her own will.

Her escape involves flying into space, which we see in a long shot, showing that she is brave and reckless.

We then see two close ups of her falling into the Dr’s arms. She falls on top of him, which suggests her dominance over him. This is emphasised when we see an over the shoulder shot of her on top of him, he blonde hair and red painted nails in shot, and she looks into his eyes.