Representation Essay

Apply the concept of representation to one of your media productions.

In our film opening we disrupted Laura Mulveys theory that women are objectified in the media.  In our film opening our female characters can be seen to be respectful and represented in a positive light, in comparison to women typically being objectified and sexualised.

Our film opening represents two types of women. Women in the modern day and women in the past. We used props to clearly identify each character. Our modern-day character can be seen to use a mobile phone and computer as well as using a voting slip to write her to do list on this is in direct comparison to our suffragette from the 1900’s who wore a sash which was signed ‘votes for women’ as well as carrying a vote for women sign. Our 1900’s women can also be seen to mother a baby and dust her house showing the roles of women in her generation in comparison to a working woman in the modern day.  This is an important representation of females within two different eras showing how times have changed, it sets the scene for our narrative of having one women fight for her right to vote and how modern-day women take this right for granted.

Our costumes for the two women also clearly represent each character and the era they are from. Our suffragette women can be seen to wear long skirts, and dresses, with blouses and smart jackets in comparison to our modern-day women who wears trousers and a blouse. In our research we found that most pictures of women from the 1900’s show little to no women in trousers. The first women to be credited of wearing trousers was Elizabeth miller who was also a suffragette. We dressed our modern day in trousers to show the difference between the freedoms of women and how even the clothes that are acceptable for women to wear has changed. This again showing the representation of women through time.

The editing of our film opening enhances the representation of the two women. We used a black and white effect in the scenes that represented the past. This made it clear to our audience that our narrative was within two different times. Past and present. We used continuity editing to ensure our editing matched our narrative making it as realistic as possible we also used mise-en- scene to keep our film opening natural. We used natural lighting throughout all of the scenes, this was particularly important as it was set in the 1900’s where the technology was not widely used we did not want the setting to seem artificially lit as it would have reduced the impact of the two eras represented in our film opening.

We included stereotypes of both the past and present. Our suffragettes appeared to wear typical clothing expected of them as well as taking part in typical duties expected of women within the 1900’s our modern-day women also complies with stereotypes being a working woman using technology and also taking things for granted that previously women risked their lives for.  We created these representations so that the audience would be affected as it shows a side by side comparison of the two lives, the aim is to make present day women appreciate and acknowledge the rights and privileges we have now in comparison to what the women who fought to give us those rights had. It shows how women now have far more freedom even if there is still unfairness between the genders our film opening acknowledges how far women have come in society, but also leave a lasting thought of how far women and men have still yet to go.