Subverting representations of women - Julie

Les Revenants = 'the returned'

In the exam, Les Revenants will be referred to as The Returned. But we refer to it as Les Revenants.

Why?

• It’s more authentic and more academic
• It sounds more sophisticated 
• The Returned is a wildly unpopular American remake of Les Revenants. The less we talk about this, the better

Recap

Last time we explored the representation of teenage girls. The French for ‘orgasm’ is ‘le petit mort’, which is a reference to the fact that every time we make love, we are one step closer to death . Life and death is the ultimate binary opposition, and is a fascinating and philosophical contradiction. This difficult and problematic binary opposition presents teenage girls as rebellious, irrational. To be a teenager is exciting, scary, and terrifying. 

What other groups are represented in Les Revs?

• Mothers (Claire)
• Middle aged women (Claire)
• Middle aged men (Camille’s dad)
• Teenage boys (hat guy)
• Young children - Victor
• Parents - The Suerats 
• Elderly people - Mr Costa 
• Women - Julie

What Makes Le Revs 'French'

This is a bit weird to try and say, but Les Revs is really really French. It presents a stereotypical French mode of address for a French audience. This is highly similar to how Humans uses stereotypically British characters, dialogue and settings to appeal to a British audience, and how Real Humans uses Swedish stereotypes to engage a Swedish audience. But what makes Les Revs 'French'?

• French Setting 
• Set in the French Alps, a setting that would only be relevant to French audiences 
• In French
• Dark, dismal moody setting 
• Themes: death, depression, philosophy 
• Stereotypically French actors 
• Architecture: the Seurat family’s house has an Alpine feel

Explore how the TV shows you have studied construct representations of gender. Make reference to Humans and Les Revenants in your response

Gender performativity - Judith Butler - gender is a social construct, and the way in which we perform gender constructs the world around us

Stuart Hall - theories of representation: stereotypes and their function

Liesbet van Zoonen  - representation of women - women in media products have a completely different function to men, often for pure sex appeal

Introducing Julie - how is Julie’s representation constructed through media language?

• Establishing shot of Julies flat shows that she lives in social housing, and is therefore working class
• The setting of Julie’s flat is run down and empty. 
• The use of low key lighting constructs ideologies of loneliness and isolation
• This is further anchored through the cluttered, messy mise en scene of her apartment, which is typified by stacks pf books, magazines, and other objects
• The cluttered nature of the apartment represents Julie as disorganised and untidy, which is a highly unconventional representation of women
• The MES of books also functions as a symbolic code for Julie being an intellectual character
• Julie’s costume is baggy, casual and understated. Dressed in dark colours she is rather atypical in her representation.
• Julie, through her hair and costume and lack of makeup, is not coded as being  hegemonically attractive
• Julie is watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, an intertextual reference to a notoriously violent slasher film. This constructs Julie as being edgy, fearless, and different from stereotypical women 
• Julie is a highly complicated representation of women! While her representation is highly relatable and even ‘realistic’, it is not a commonly seen representation in commercial TV
• External establishing long shot of a gritty, concrete apartment block. This has a symbolic connotation, connotations of crime, danger, violence. Julie clearly is a rough and dangerous 
• Julie is stereotypically working class. She lives in a social housing block, which forms a stark binary opposition to the Seurat family 
• The Mise en scene of the set design of Julie’s apartment is lit through low key lighting , and her apartment is littered with stacks of books . This symbolically encodes that julie is educated, and messy
• Julie’s costume comprises of a baggy jumper and baggy jeans, and has connotations of comfiness and relaxation. 
• Despite her costume being highly realtle to the target audience, it is in fact a subversive representation of women . It completely contrasts with Liesbet Van Zoonen’s theory that women in media products are presented purely for the purpose of sexualisation
• Julie is watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a violent slasher horror film that features the torture and torment of many female characters. Julie’s bored reaction to this extremely violent film constructs a highly atypical representation. Not only does Julie not subscribe to gender norms and genre norms are also broken

Julie and Victor come home 

• The non diegetic soundtrack is creepy, eerie, and highly typical of horror films
• This entire montage is highly conventional of the slasher genre
• Slow, POV MS of her face as she gets off the bus positions the audience with julie , and allows the audience to  to see things from Julie’s perspective
• MES of extreme low key lighting throughout these scene connotes mystery and loneliness 
• The light is yellow, dull, menacing and artificial, which has symbolic connotations of fear and misery
• This is further anchored through the completely empty, run down suburban setting, concrete blocks of flats and overgrown weeds is symbolic of crime and danger. This highly stereotypical mode of address will resonate with audiences 
• Julie’s performance is highly atypical. Rather than being scared of her isolation, she appears to be bored. Additionally, by not being attacked, julie breaks this stereotype of women being vulnerable 
• The character Julie presents a highly complex representation of women that demonstrates the ideological perspective of the producer. She is represented most effectively in the montage of scenes that introducts
• Victor is establishes through a series of highly isolating shots. A high angled extreme long shot of victor is presented from Julie’s perspective, which positions the audience with Julie. This action reinforces Julie’s caring persona, and the idea that she is secretly protective of those around her
• The low key used throughout this montage is highly stereotypical of the horror genre, which positions Julie is a dangerous and threatening situation. 
• The lighting is low key, and comes from a lonely bus the light from the bus shelter. This artificial light take s on a sickly yellow quality, which gives the light a cheap, nasty, and threatening quality. This reinforces the stereotypical danger than Julie faces
• Julie’s actions reinforce however that she is clearly unafraid of this situation. This constructs a highly atypical representation of women for the target audience. This confusing and atypical subversion of genre expectations may make the target audience feel uncomfortable and even creeped out. Why is isn’t Julie more scared, and why isn't she behaving like women stereotypically would in this situation???
• However, the soundtrack, which combines a thrumming bass noise with eerie sound effects, which is highly typical of the horror genre. Additionally, the iconography of a creepy child all by himself