Representation of gender established in episode 1 of The Fall

Episode 1 opens with a with a scene of Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson

cleaning her bathroom getting ready for bed late at night, she moves into her
bedroom and looks at files both paper and internet. I think this scene is shot from
the view of a heterosexual man she is only cleaning her bathroom but the
camera is centred on her tight fitting pyjamas. This make it seem very creepy
and makes you think that you may be seeing Stella from someone elses point of
view possibly and a criminals view as you feel as if looking at her like this is
wrong. The next character introduced is Paul Spector you follow him as he breaks
into a house through a dodgy window, you see he move round this house and
eventually be disturbed as the owner arrives home. What you see of him in this
clip makes you think he might be some sort of petty burglar or thief. Then as
focus moves to the owner women Sarah Key you learn he has searched though
her clothes draws and placed her underwear and her phallic toy on her bed. She
has to explain this to two police officers whom one of which a policeman (PC
Brian Stone) presumes that she has done this herself and forgotten as she might
be more drunk then she thinks. The other a policewoman (PC Danielle Ferrington)
is unsure and simply recommends that Key replaces her locks. This presents
Sarah Key in many different ways but as you the audience are aware her house
has been broken into though a way the officers did not notice you believe her
and sympathy lives with her making you look negatively at the officers and
doubt how good they are. This scene also changes your view of Spector you now
see him as more of a threat to other characters as he is presented as a pervert
and very creepy. But then once again you opinions are questioned as he arrives
home to find his young son waiting for him to come home and you question
whether there might be a reason why he steals and hes not just a pervert. The
scene cuts to black and you start the next day with Stella arriving in Belfast,
where Stella is are welcomed by her old partner Jim Burns. He is presented to the
audience as smart and wary with strong intelligence, experience, and confidence
in his job.

I think that there are only two main stereotypical roles in the TV show. The first
being Paul Spector; a creepy pervert man that commits crimes I think it is typical
for this character to be a man and for a women to be this character would be
very weird and surprising to your average audience, it would make the character
seem less believable and more hard to cope with. The other main type role is the
victim slightly drunk women ignored by the police; the stereotype is more in the
women being the victim as women are often depicted as weak and helpless. This
is clearly wrong and I think Stellas character does a good job and fighting this
stereotype. However their still has to be a victim the show clearly thought that it
would be an easy to understand depiction if the victim was a women but also it
fits with Spectors character being a heterosexual male. A different less
important character that is a stereotype is PC Brian Stone a classic policeman
that doesnt fully listen to the victim but also is a bit bad at his job missing clues,
just bumbling along not being sensitive to the situation. But a great contrast to
this is provided by PC Danielle Farrington a Police women being precarious and
not leaving stones unturned in her job. She is not just a good contrast to her
male equivalent but she is breaking regular gender roles as a female police
women.

There are many atypical roles with The Fall, the most obvious being Gibson and
character that could be either man or women nothing in her role has to be of
either gender, this is a similarity the The Fall shares with Luther as apart from
the show being named after his gender could easily be switched. Gibson could be
any gender, any sexuality, and any race and it wouldnt affect her character and
how she is portrayed but would change the actor. This shows that it is a strong
well developed character. Another atypical character is both of the police
officers they are characters that could be played be either gender. Shown in the
episode having one female officer and one male officer. This is a good
representation of gender in media and does not put either gender down.

The Fall can be compared to Luther in many different aspects of gender

representation. The some of the characters are similar, the first introduced
antagonist villains are both male, but in Luther the second antagonist is a
women this breaks gender roles in a way The Fall doesnt. But in contrast the
main character of The Fall is a women which is a rarity to see a women to be a
protagonist of a crime drama which is a great development from TV shows of the
past, and much better representation of gender.

Overall the representation of gender within The Fall is good and does men and
women justice as most characters are well rounded individuals, with strong
storylines and hopefully will be well developed in the remainder of the season.
The few stereotypes are not rude and poorly representation genders but more
making characters that are easily understood by the audience.