Representation of Gender Primeval

In this extract from Primeval, genders are represented in different ways. The most obvious representation of a female is the clothes. The woman in the barn dresses like a typical detective who cares about her appearance. She could be seen as an intimidating character because of the way she is dressed, with her hair scraped back into a bun and wearing formal clothes. Then again there is also a vulnerable side to her as she seems to back away when the gun is pointed at her and is unable to defend herself against him. The music died down on her clip as she seems to be more of an investigator than a fighter, but the dogs begin barking when she is fighting to show that she is being attacked by an armed man. The camera moves from a low shot when she is quizzing West and looking down on him, but when he becomes angry the camera then is on a high shot facing down on her, showing that she could be being put in her place by him as an inferior woman that is the stereotypical portrayal of a woman as that was the belief years ago. When she is all high and mighty, there is an over the shoulder shot showing her looking down on nim when it is usually the other way round. Abby however is more of an action character, often taking on the role of male explorers doing the more physical aspect of the job. She is dressed in very casual clothes, almost male like with short hair as well, which shows that she has earned her place as being of the same importance as a male member of the team. The camera often faces up to her as she is of high authority in a team which is unusual for a female to take on. The non diegetic music is action like, with strong beats, of a fast pace and very active, which sums up her character, as well as the active males in the scene. She is seen controlling the digger which shows that she could be fighting for females to be treated the same as males in the team, whereas Jenny seems intimidated by violence and focuses on looking feminine. She is using a digger to fight off the lion and the camera points up at this to show her authority and the digger itself is bright yellow, which shows off her authority in a team, like shes doing her bit for women. The male in the ditch seems to be afraid of confrontation as he runs away from the lion, Sabretooth really quickly, although he has a lot of instinct as he uses his belt to slide down the zip wire and ducks when it pounces over the fence. This is a representation of a male as he usually takes on the role of an action figure in a team protecting the other characters. The camera points down at him as he is in the ditch, showing that he is defenceless and not very masculine, and it is edited to show his major comeback as he escapes from the lion, climbing up trees and zipping down a zip wire at fast pace. I think it is edited to be sped up and blurred to show the action of him and he is not to be messed with. The other men are led by the man in a suit who represents a typical man of high authority as he is giving out important information to the other men, who look up to him. He tells the man in the pink shirt to go after him the man in the blue shirt. This shows that the man in the pink shirt takes a back role in the team which is usually taken by a woman. The pink shirt shows that he has this role as pink is a colour stimulus associated with women. West is represented as a burly man who looks very large and masculine although small in height compared to the woman here. He looks very tough and defiant throughout this interrogation of him, as he feels that they are stitching him up. All of a sudden he becomes very angry and aims a gun

at her, which shows that he has defence but doesnt treat her very well although she is being polite. He all of a sudden changes and becomes very angry and violent as he shoots everywhere which is normally what a male does in an action TV show. The camera points down from his shoulder as he is intimidating her and appearing as a dominant male but he obviously has something to hide. When the other team members appear, the camera points up at them from his perspective so he is put back in his place.