Extract Practice- April 24

In the Extract, "How is the representation of Gender Constructed", the director portrays the characters in a way that is very specific to their gender, to emphasize the difficulties faced by women in comparison to those faced by men. The director does this by showing the women in the extract, in difficult situations where a man is causing the problem, then he shows scenes in which men create their problems. The emphasis is on how the difficulties faced by the women are much more emotionally damaging, while the men cause problems because of their ego. This is all conveyed through the use of specific camera angles, movements, sound, and other elements of film that help develop the theme.
First off, in the beginning scene, two characters are shown in an argument. The dialogue seen
in this scene shows the man as oppressive, talking down to the female character who seems
very distraught. Additionally, close-ups of their faces are used to help make their contrasting
expressions clear to the viewer. Their expressions show that the man, trying to act superior,
has taken on a hostile tone while the woman seems defenseless by her worried expressions.
Then, as the scene ends a shot-reverse-shot is used to show the man walking away in anger
because he did not win the fight, while the woman appears to be in shock from the argument.
These details are important to the theme since they specifically emphasize their reactions and
the contrast between how they both deal with the situation.

Moreover, in the following scenes, the reactions of these characters are continued. First, a
scene containing a dialogue between the male character and another male colleague is shown.
In this scene, a two-shot is used to show their conversation in which the colleague tries to
convince the male character he needs to take action so the girl does not win. The importance
of the two-shot is how the male character's reluctance is shown as a reaction to his colleague
speaking. His reluctance to do more to hurt the girl and her reputation shows that he knows it is
wrong. Furthermore, another scene is shown where the girl is shown crying in the stairwell. A
high angle is used as a way to show her in an inferior way, contrasting the male character in the
previous scene. The female is distraught after the argument which is seen by her expression
through a close-up shot. The contrast between how each character reacts is significant to the
theme. Additionally, it is important to recognize their “costumes” in the show, since both
characters are dressed as doctors. This adds to the theme by showing that neither character
is superior to the other regarding their careers since both characters appear to be doctors. This
is also important to the theme since it portrays the ego of the male character. 

Furthermore, another scene is shown where the same male character appears to be in an
argument with another male. The other character is defending his female friend, and he acts
protectively over her. The same male character from the beginning scene acts rudely, almost
ignoring the other man. The way he acts continues the development of his egotistical character.
Moreover, in the same scene, the man takes off in the same way he did to the other girl earlier,
shown in a shot-reverse-shot. In this same scene, a medium shot of a girl in a hospital bed is
shown, in reaction to the fight. She also appears to be distraught and acts in a worrying way. It
is seen in this scene that the way the female character acts is similar to how the female acted
in the previous scene, and the same man acts in the same way as well. However, the male
character's opinion seems to change in this scene. We can see this by a gradual zoom onto his
face as he appears to realize the error in how he acted, because of his ego. 

Additionally, another scene appears after this with two men, and their dialogue between each
other. In this scene, the two men try to one-up each other by proving how tough they are and
then get into an argument trying to prove this. The viewer can see the argument build by how
with each shot-reverse-shot of their faces, both of their expressions become increasingly
frustrated after the other says something to one-up them. This is an example that adds to the
theme since the two men are creating a problem because of their egos. On the other hand, this
scene is contrasted by two young women shown in a medium-shot showing their dialogue, and
how they act in a happy, and respectful way. The reason for these scenes being back to back
is to show the contrast between the dialogue and acting of the male and female characters.
This adds to the theme by showing the difference between male and female friendships.

Overall, the theme the director tries to convey in this extract is how women and men act in
comparison to each other. Specifically, how women face issues from men, and men create
their issues from their egos. This is seen through the character development of the main male
character, and the scenes showing how both genders interact with each other. The theme is
further developed through the use of film elements like Mise-En-Scene, where acting and
costumes are important, and then CAMS, the specific camera movement to emphasize certain
expressions, is essential to the theme.