Liesbet Van-Zoonen argues that media language encodes how male and female characters act in media products. Explore how representations position the audience in Humans and Les Revenants. 30
Introduction
Liesbet Van-Zoonen's argument is an excellent way of exploring how gender is encoded in both Humans and Les Revenants. Not only does she argue that female characters are primarily situated in media products to appeal to a heterosexual male audience, she also infers that men and women are constructed in completely different ways by the producer. Through this, the ideological perspective of the producer can be decoded by the target audience. I shall argue that both Humans and Les Revenant use complicated and subversive representations of women in order to position their audiences in often uncomfortable positions. Humans is a sci-fi TV show first broadcast in the UK in 2015 on Channel 4. It is an adaptation of the Swedish show Real Humans, although a number of changes were made in order to make the show appeal to a UK market. Les Revenants is a French horror/thriller TV show set in a small village in the French Alps. It relied on Funding from the European Union, and has been successful with its niche/cult audience.
Plan
Consumerism
Objectification
Women, especially young women
Comparison between Matty and Lena
Semiotic codes
Vulnerability encoded through voyeurism/scopophilia
MES - Anita's maid costume: a doll, a sex object. Fetishisation. A passive.
Hyperreality - a representation that is more real than the thing it is representing. Anita is perfect because she is NOT REAL
Simulacrum
Male Gaze
Gender performativity - Judith Butler - gender roles, and the construction thereof, enforced through hierarchies, hegemonic norms etc
bell hooks
The Breakfast scene
- This is what breakfast is supposed to be like. Here breakfast is presented as a fantasy, through the fact that it has been created by a subservient, sexually attractive young woman. Anita adopts the role of both a maid and a mother.
- Matty compares Anita to a dishwasher: objectification
- Joe attempts to impress Anita with a joke, casually flirting
- Laura is drawn into competition with Anita. M/S of Anita cleaning the table over Laura positions Anita as dominant and overbearing "oh for god sake, you've already cleaned that"
- Intradiegetic gaze: different characters look at Anita in different ways. Matty with frustration and hatred, the son with undisguised lust ("crusty-sheets")
- Anita is referred to as a 'she', a gender, a personification. The prefered reading is to see Anita as a compelling, and interesting character
- Allegorical - explores the ways in which women are treated in society. C/U of Niska's face in ending montage positions audience in a deliberately uncomfortable position
Camille's return
- Camille's mother's reaction is complicated and nuanced. Initially she takes an atypical 'cold' reaction, before running to the bathroom and crying is a hysterical and stereotypical manner
- Camille's attitude is stereotypically argumentative and at times disrespectful. She is neither kind nor sweet nor innocent
- Camille's entrance is emphasized through stereotypical horror film soundtrack, demonstrate a generic cliche that young girls are both creepy and threatening.
- Low key artificial lighting again emphasises horror film conventions. A stereotypically wealthy and middle class household