How is gender represented in the primeval extract?
In the Primeval extract, common features about both genders
are emphasises in order to portray them in a stereotypical way. However, these
stereotypes are challenged in certain ways.
Abby driving a tractor, which is thought as being a man’s job,
is subversive of the stereotype of women being the homemaker and having
‘feminine jobs’ such as nurses and nursery teachers. When nick told Abby to
stop digging, the silence and the digetic sound of a mysterious row foreboded
that something dangerous was about to happen; which led on to a non-digetic
action-like soundtrack, this built tension in the atmosphere. The low angle
shot of the tiger attacking the male protagonist and Abby trying to save him
suggested that Nick is the subordinate character, whilst Abby is the dominant
character. This challenges hegemony because it is archetypical of the male to
save the female; this is supported by Vladimir Propp’s narrative theory of the
eight key characters. Propp states that the hero (Nick) rescues the princess
(Abby) from an unfair evil (the tiger) and weds her.
However, due to the stereotype of a macho, alpha male, Nick
tries to save Abby as if she was a ‘damsel in distress’ in order to retain his
archetypical masculine status. Unlike Abby’s, Nick’s attempt to defeat the
tiger took a lot of effort, which is shown through the variety of follow up shots
that were used, then there is medium shot of Nick on the floor while Abby kills
the tiger with very little attempt, there is a role reversal as nick becomes
the inferior gender while Abby is superior. This subverts the stereotype of men
being the stronger gender and the conqueror of all things
The medium shot of three men walking towards the camera alongside
a woman connotes that both genders are being portrayed as being equal; this
challenges hegemony because it is traditional for men to have power over
women. Therefore, this shows the modern view on how women are now perceived in
society. In addition, a stedi-cam was used to show the group having a conversation,
the camera kept cutting back to nick when a member of the group had spoken,
this shows nick as being the leader in charge of the group; according to Vladimir
Propp’s narrative theory of the eight key characters, Nick would be seen as a
hero, as the donors (the other members of the group) prepare the hero by giving
useful information about the tiger and the dead bodies, in order to defeat it.
This supports the archetypical stereotype of a man being the gender with power
and respect. Furthermore, the lighting was quite naturalistic which was contrapuntal
to the incident of danger that occurred.
Moreover, there was a scene with a stereotypically feminine
woman, this was shown by her appearance; her red lipstick suggested danger and seductiveness,
she was showing a little cleavage which implies that she is flirtatious and she
is well dressed which connotes that she is of a middle class background. This
woman is an opposite of Abby as the feminine woman supports hegemony whilst
Abby challenges it; this is supported by the “father of modern anthropology”
Levi Strauss, Strauss stated that we understand the meaning of words through
their opposites. For example, we can only truly understand what ‘light’ is if
we can identify ‘dark’. Words themselves are therefore symbols used to allow us
to garner a deeper meaning about what separates them from their opposites. In this
context, we can only identify how different and modern Abby’s way of life is because
we are aware of the traditional, stereotypical and archetypical woman like the feminine
woman. Realism is being attempted here because we are shown how far women have
come from having the expressive role in the home and being home maker to
actually progressing to doing what is stereotypically thought as being “a man’s
job”.
There is an over the shoulder shot of the feminine woman,
looking at the farmer. This suggests that the woman is the dominant character
while the farmer is subordinate, this is also supported by their dialogue; the
feminine woman was threatening the farmer. This subverts the stereotype of men
having power over women and women being weak. The farmer then regains the
status of being stereotypically superior and the feminine woman; inferior. However,
the farmer’s physique is bigger than the woman’s, so it should be fairly easy
for the farmer to tame the feminine woman, but the fact that the farmer needed
a weapon to threaten an unarmed, stereotypically feminine woman suggests that
the farmer is actually the subordinate character because the reason he is
currently the dominant character is because of the weapon. This challenges hegemony
because men are thought to be naturally biologically stronger than females. In addition,
the digetic sound of the dogs barking and the non-digetic soundtrack being
played in the background build up tension in the atmosphere and forebodes that
something dangerous or a climax change
is about to occur.
In conclusion, hegemony is also challenged when the feminine
woman is rescued by a man and a woman. This goes against Vladimir Propp’s
narrative theory of the eight key characters as the feminine woman wasn’t saved
by a specific ‘hero’ who was to wed her. In this context, the heroes are Abby
and the other two men; this subverts the stereotype of the female always being
the victim. This shows the new era of how women are perceived in society.
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