Jay Franks

Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of gender Luther
There are a variety of ways in which the extract, Luther, constructs the representation of
gender. This gained through the use of a range of camera shots, camera angles,
movements, editing, sounds and Mise en scene which create ideologies to the reader
and makes them believe certain things within the extract, gender being the main focus
for this question.
Firstly, as soon as the extract begins, there are connotations portrayed about the
character Alice. Through the use of a mysterious sound which creates tension and
anxiety for the viewer, linked with the facial expression of the character given off by
Alice, suggests that she is an antagonist in this show. It connotes that she is up to no
good, immediately gives the viewer the impression that Alice is an unstereotypical
woman, which is shown in the extract. The reason for this is because of the use of the
non-diegetic mysterious music, it makes the reader believe that she isnt a nice
character. Through the mischievous look on her face coupled with the fact that she is
avoiding eye contact with the camera indicates that she is a bad person. This is
unstereotypical for a woman who is upper class (which Alice is because the connotations
from her house which portrays her to have a lot of money), because stereotypically
woman of this class are generally nice people, this is the dominant ideology given off
from Alice form the offset.
Moreover, near enough straight after this example, dialogue is used to show Luthers
dominance over Alice, which is reinforced using camera work by which a two shot is used
with a high angle shot which emphasises that Luther is the taller and more dominant
character in the stereotypical connotations associated with this human characteristic. A
representation of gender occurs when Alice says they burned my dog which is an
emotional thing for a woman, but for Luther to reply with Its protocol, implies that
Luther follows the stereotypical traits of a male which are having a lack in emotion, and
that he is trying to remain professional and live up to his role as a police officer. Which
has its stereotypical traits associated with that job, in being tough towards others and
upholding the law, therefore he wants to remain this attitude in his everyday life to
represent his job which shows he feels proud of what he does. His dominance is then
quickly reinforced again with an establishing shot, which highlights that Alice is a lot
smaller than Luther which is reinforced because of its side on view and that it has tall
buildings in the background. This idea suggests that Luther has dominance over Alice
because of his physique.
However, the Mise en scene, soundtrack and movement question this idea further on in
the extract. This is because through the use of the Mise en scene, it portrays Alice to
actually be a dominant figure herself, which is unstereotypical because of her size and
the fact she is a woman. This is reinforced through the size of her house, which I have
mentioned in the previous paragraph, but also because of her clothing and make up it
shows she has been successful and gained a lot of money through her profession. Alice is
dressed in a formal manner, wearing smart clothing to meet the formality of her job as
she is a research scientist. Which possess her with power, as not many women have that
intelligence capability based on gender stereotypes because not many women are very
intelligent scientists as a stereotypical job for a woman would be a housewife, or them to
be more bothered about the way they look than earning money. As stereotypically,
women leave that job for the men. This is also the case for Luther as he dresses up in a
suit and tie which represents power, upper class and that he has a lot of money which
are all contributing factors for him to seen as a dominant character. This is stereotypical

Jay Franks
for a male. However, she does wear makeup, and wears red lip stick, which gives the
reader connotations of her being seductive and flirty towards men which I reinforced by
the dialogue in the extract when she softly speaks Did you come here for sex which is
shown through the user of a two shot, and that Alice is becoming closer and more
seductive towards Luther in the attempt to tempt him in. This brings out her stereotypical
side to being a woman as generally most woman are curious over the actions of men,
and dont want to get upset again if another man is just going to dink and never re link .
On the other hand, the fact that she has to wear make up for her to look attractive could
also indicate that maybe she doesnt have self confidence in her natural appearance and
has to wear this extra layer of make up as a mask of protection to hide the fact that deep
own she is actually weak, even though she makes out herself to be strong. As most
women are inferior to men, but she doesnt want this to be the case with Luther, and this
creates a battle of authority between the two characters, and creates a battle of male
and female gaze for the character on which gender impacts the audience the most in this
theory.
Onto the idea of soundtrack, there is an example displayed in the extract, form the
moment of from when she says This is a black hole, tense, dramatic soundtrack (nondiegetic) is added to the scene which creates an sense of authority over Alice and that
she is dominant in this situation because of the music and it gives her character a sense
of power because of the soundtrack added.. Coupled with the fact that when she says
Something that drags you in and crushes you are all negatively portrayed words that
are associated with her character. As well as the movement features involved in this
moment. She puts her hands together and walks around like she is circling Luther and
casting her power over him. A close up is shown which highlights to the audience her
facial expression while talking on this subject. She showed a smile and which indicates
she has a sense of enjoyment when talking about his subject which is a dark topic. This
indicates that actually Alice has authority over Luther, even though he is taller than her,
has a stereotypically harsher job than her; she is portrayed through the use of
representations in the extract to be more powerful than Luther. This is unstereotypical
because she is a woman, and men are stereotypically more powerful than women. A
camera movement which is relevant in this extract is the side was tracking shot of the
camera following Luther walking away from Alice. This indicates that Alice has more
dominance over Arthur and that he needs to move away to be able to get out of her
space otherwise she might possess him. This reinforces the idea that Alice has more
power than Arthur which is unstereotypical for a woman having power over a man.
Progressing further on in the clip, a conversation occurs between Arthur and Alice,
starting from the quote Henry Madison, where also the mysterious soundtrack is also
added to the scene, involves fast paced editing in the conversation between them going
back and forth in a fast pace between the two characters.. This is to add to the tension of
the conversation and to engage the audience with the conversation more, which also the
effect of the mysterious soundtrack as well. The reason this represents gender is because
it reinforces the idea that Alice has power of Arthur. She is constantly asking him
questions and it is flicking from the shot on her to him, him to her (which is a shot
reverse shot), coupled with the faced paced editing it highlights that Arthur is getting
intimidated but her constant power she possess which is reiterated through his body
expressions. He starts to rub his beard which suggests he is getting nervous over the fact
that she has dominance over him which can be a rare thing for Arthur because he is a
police officer. Furthermore, the whole conclusion of the extract ends by Arthur saying
Im coming for you, with a reply from Alice saying Not if I come for you first, which
leaves the extract on the assumption that Alice has dominance over Arthur, as it makes

Jay Franks
the audience feel that she is always one step ahead of him. Resulting in the idea that as
a woman, and that she has gone against the stereotypical codes and conventions of
being a woman of being inferior and scared of dangerous men, she stood up for herself
and outwitted Arthur which he clearly didnt like in the extract.
To conclude, the extract displays a number of connotations associated with gender
through the use of camera shots, camera angles, movements, editing, sounds and the
Mise en scene. The ideas created were that Alice is a mysterious character, and is
actually unstereotypical for a woman to be powerful. Luther is also portrayed as a
powerful character through the use of Mise en scene (clothing), as well as Alice through
the use of makeup and connotations of being seductive. But the competition of power in
the clip is resolved at the end of the extract through the use of the dialogue, which is a
clear issue between the two characters in Luther, where Alice, a woman, who is small,
and would stereotypically weak, comes out on top is the dominant character in the
dialogue.