How does media language encode themes of sexual exploitatation in the brothel scene of Humans?

How does media language encode themes of sexual exploitation in the brothel scene of Humans?

The brothel scene is a clear example of how the producers of Humans utilise genre conventions to present a powerful allegorical position. In this case, it is made explicit that the Humans takes a critical view of sexual exploitation and the manipulation of women

Humans makes intense use of intertextual relay to position the audience in the familiar and yet alien setting of a brothel. It's highly sophisticated combination of mise-en-scene and cinematography constructs a highly confrontational and unpleasant mode of address that positions the audience essentially as a user of prostitutes. This forces us to make difficult and problematic value judgements

• The use of low key red and blue light constructs a highly sexual and even aggressive atmosphere for the audience. The low key artificial lighting obstructs the audiences view of the location, and presents an eerie and threatening atmosphere
• The audience are positioned with Leo throughout throughout the brothel scene. A continuous tracking shot follows Leo through the corridors of the brothel, and helps position the audience in an uncomfortable mode of address. This is further anchored through the setting, which takes place in a number of extremely narrow corridors, further reinforcing a sense of threat
• The reaction shop of the brothel Madame's disgusted and judgemental face...
• The dialogue of the robotic sex workers is highly cliched and stereotypical, and may be an intertextual reference to pornography
• The preferred reading of this scene is clearly to ensure that audience are as uncomfortable as possible
• Leos scared facial expression reinforces and confirms this preferred reading
• Sinister, low tempo hip-hop has connotations of sexuality and threat. Minor key has connotations of sadness, which symbolically encodes the ideological of sexual exploitation and threat. The baseline in connotative pf both sexual intimacy and also terror, which constructs a confusing and highly polysemic mode of address for the target audience
• We cut to a long shot POV from Leo's perspective of Niska facing the camera, and beckoning directly to both the audience and Leo. Once again, this constructs a highly problematic and uncomfortable mode of address for the target audience
• Extreme use of sexualisation and dehumanisation creates an extremely disturbing mode pf address for the target audience
• This scene presents a firm and clear criticism of the representation of women in our society. However, audiences may reject the ideology of the producer, and instead interpret the scene as simply being misogynistic, with women's bodies being used for sexual gratification for the audience. Does the show simply normalise stereotypical sexist representations of women? Or does it assume that sexualisation has already been normalised in society, and is merely drawing attention to a serious issue? Is Humans a feminist or a sexist show? Either way, this is a highly complex and sophisticated mode of address to present to the target audience, which can provoke a range of different interpretations. This ultimately leads to potentially higher viewing figures, and more revenue for the producers
•  How does media language encode themes of sexual exploitation in the brothel scene of Humans?
• Tracking shot of Leo walking through the narrow corridors of the brothel positions the audience from the perspective of a customer at the brothel. This constructs a highly uncomfortable mode of address, which is further anchored through the mise-en-scene of the numbers of the doors of the cubicles, which constructs a degrading and problematic atmosphere
• The use of low key lighting functions as an hermeneutic code, which creates a mysterious and confusing experience for the target audience. This ominous setting symbolises the extreme danger that Leo is putting himself in, and reinforces the issue of sexual exploitation in our society 
• The mise-en-scene of the costume of Niska has significant sexual connotations. Dressed in red lingerie, Niska appears both vulnerable and impressionable, whilst objectifying and sexualising her, which is further reinforced by the MES of her seductive hand movements, blowing a kiss to Leo. This mid shot directly addresses Leo, but also directly address the audience, positioning them in an uncomfortable, yet confusing mode of address
• The low key and mysterious lighting utilises a variety of shades of pink and red. This functions as an intertextual relay for the audience, making reference to other TV shows and films featuring brothels. This allows audiences who have no experience of the sex industry to instantly identify and to understand this scene. 
• The extensive use of the colour red is highly polysemic, and connotes both sex and danger in equal measures,. This reinforces to the target audience the dangers of working in the sex industry, and the danger that the main characters are in 
• The mise-en-scene of the tablet that Leo flicks through serves to dehumanise the workers of the brothel, reducing each of them to a preview video and a simple number. The process of selecting a prostitute here resembles a videogame, and this further objectifies and dehumanises the women by reducing them to a simple number that can be selected for a price. This functions as a clear and powerful allegory for sexual violence. By conflating women and videogames, the producers of Humans suggest that in the world of the narrative, selecting a woman to have sex with is as easy as playing a videogame
• Intertextual reference to videogames: Leo uses the tablet to select a girl based on sexual attractiveness, which resembles the process of selecting an avatar in a videogame
• This could also be an allegorical reference to online shopping. The commodification of women, who are reduced to sexual objects
• However, although the scene draws explicit reference to the objectification of women, within the context of the narrative, it could be argued that the workers in the brothel are not women, and indeed are not even human. The robotic nature of these characters is encoded through the MES of the inhuman eyes of the performers, and is anchored through the artificial and exaggerated movements of the women.  The audience is forced to accept a difficult and extremely problematic binary opposition between humanity and artificial intelligence. This clearly demonstrates the ideology of the producers of the show: that sexual exploitation is deeply harmful to our society. Therefore, it could be argued that Humans exists to enlighten the audience about this extremely relevant issue
• MS of Niska trapped behind glass door polysemically encodes not only her sexual availability, but also symbolically suggests that she is trapped, and can only be saved by Leo. This functions as an allegory, where women are subordinate and deprived of rights, while men are positioned in a position of power, and wields hegemonic control over women. This constructs an ideology that men are ultimately selfish, abusive, and powerless