Gender Representation In Film

A representation is a set of images on individual people, social groups or events that seeks the audience to identify and understand them. Depending on who the audience is, each representation is interpreted differently. It contains a point of view that describes what and why it is happening. Representations influence the way we think because we imagine ourselves in the same situation. When we study film, representation is essential because it reflects our attitudes in real life.
According to Bill Nichols, representation develop images of different people, places, or things. Mise en scene, lighting and sound are key factors that creates the representation of a character. In every film, mise en scene arranges the setting, the props, the actors …show more content…
It sets the mood of the specific scene which affects our perception. Without lighting, it would be hard for the audience to tell if a scene is happy, depressed, mysterious, scary or dangerous. Sound refers to everything we hear in a film such as background music. It determines the location of the scene and foreshadows what is bound to happen. All of these elements identifies how a character is represented.
In the film Blue Steel, there is a lot of gender representation on the female heroine, Megan Turner. She faces a huge crisis when she is accused of shooting and killing an unarmed man in a market. Turner claims the suspect was in possession of a gun, however it was not found in the scene which left her stunned. While Megan Turner attempts to clear her name, there were mysterious brutal murders happening and the serial killer is still on the loose. Kathryn Bigelow attempts to create a female lead that infiltrates masculinity traits. In the beginning, we thought that Turner is a male because she has short hair and is dressed in a cop uniform. Most cop films always show male protagonists who becomes the heroine while female protagonists always die early. However, the audience has a different view of Turner when she