Gender representation in Wire in the Blood

Gender representation in Wire In The Blood

At the beginning of the clip there is a panoramic shot of Tony and Alex leaving a house filmed using a hand held camera. This gives the effect of a shake, which is used to make it seem as someone is walking along side the characters. It quickly appears that the two characters are beginning to have an argument. This is a very common stereotype, men and women arguing, and is seen across all of TV drama. It also appears that the two may be used to entering a verbal battle with each other due to the fact that they work together. After the panoramic shot, there is a consistent use of over the shoulder shots. Their particular shots are used to focus on the conversation between Tony and Alex and allow the viewer to see the expressions and emotions displayed on the face of the character who is speaking. Near to the end of the scene there is a over the shoulder that shows the viewer Tony walking away from Alex as she begs for his help. he is heading up the street which is slanted and this is used to show that the man has more power than the women and is more important due to his higher positioning in the shot. This follows the stereotype that women rely on men and are lost without them. At the very end of this opening scene a crane shot is used. This specific type of shot is used to represent the distance between the man and the women and also show the fact that the Tony has more power than Alex.

The next scene in the clip was of Tony analysing the files that had been sent to him about the case. This scene consists of a number of jump cuts that switch the viewer’s attention from Tony’s face and the evidence he holding. These shots are used to highlight the intelligence of the man and hard and quickly he is working. The scene is also casted under the sound of some tense and atmospheric music used to highlight the fact that Tony, a man, is dealing with a very serious and violent case. This scene presents the stereotype that men do all the dirty work and women do not. We can see this due to the fact that Tony has his sleeves rolled up. This is a universal image that someone is working hard and is in control, especially for a man. The walls in Tony's house are a dark red colour. This is used to represent the aesthetics of blood which links to his job as some form of criminologist. Even though this scene is dominated by serious and 'manly' aspects, there are some hints that suggest Tony has a more caring nurturing side within him. I get this impressions from the plant that he has in his house and can bee seen in the background of this scene. He also has multiple framed butterflies that are either real or fake, we are unable to gain this information from just watching this clip. If the butterflies are real, than this adds to the idea that Tony has a nurturing side but if the butterflies are real, it may suggest that the has a keen interest in science and learning more about animals and insects.  


The next scene takes place in Alex’s house and begins with her rushing down the stairs telling her son, Ben, to clear away his toys whilst she is on the phone trying to hire a babysitter for the night. This entire shot plays upon the stereotype that one; most women are mothers and two, women are always busy and stressed out. The colours of Alex's wall are pretty much the same as Tony's walls. For him, the colours represent his masculinity however for Alex, it shows that she is in need of some form of masculinity in her life because she is a single mother. When Tony enters the house he is reluctantly hired as Ben’s baby sitter for the night. This is a clear example of role reversion as the man is staying home to look after the child whilst the woman is going out. However, this act still highlights the stereotype that women are reliant on men because without tony, Alex would have been able to get a babysitter due to her poor planning and the fact that it is clear she has it is clear she had been rejected by the women on the phone. We know that Alex has been rejected by her reaction when talking on the phone.

Following the scene in Alex’s house is a scene set in an abandon house, which, at first glance, seems to have been converted into some sort of drug usage facility. The scene starts with an establishing shot that is used to give us an overall view of what is featured in the scene. We are able to see a black Mercedes which indicates a high level of wealth, alongside the abandoned house. A group of men enter the house and are what would be described as a typical ‘bad-man’. This can bee seen by their type of clothing they’re wearing (All black, leather) and the way that they speak (Very intimidating and poor pronunciation). I noticed that in this scene, there were no women involved at all. This plays upon the stereotype that women are not involved anything illegal or dangerous. In this scene one of the men smashes another’s head into a wall. This is a clear representation of the stereotype that men love to fight and women do not.

The clip then returns back to Tony and Ben who are in the kitchen and poorly attempting to make microwave popcorn. This is a clear example of the stereotype that men are not good cooks and that even though Tony is an adult, he is no better at making the popcorn than Ben is. After making the popcorn, Tony and Ben are sitting on the sofa watching TV. In this scene Ben tells Tony about how his mother is always stressed out, angry and tired. This represents the stereotype that women have a much more stressful and demanding life than men do. Also, when the two are making the popcorn, there is a quite up-beat and high tempo song being played in contrast the quite dark and sinister music that could be heard during the scene in the abandon house involving drugs and violence.  When Tony talks to Ben about girlfriends it quite clearly shows that Tony is much more able to relate with Ben than how maybe Alex is. This is due to the fact that they are both boys and Tony has a better understanding of Ben. Another thing that we can learn from this scene is how much time Alex actually spends with her child. Tony asks Ben why the original babysitter was fired and he replies it was he accidently called her mum. This is an indication that Ben is so used to having a babysitter around and not his mum that he was staring to see the babysitter as a better mother figure for himself. Throughout this scene, Tony is seen with his sleeves rolled up, just like they were in the scene in which he viewed the evidence for the murder case. This implies that for Tony, and men in general, looking after a child alone is hard work that requires all of his focus and energy. When the two are sitting on the sofa bonding, a thwo shot is used to show just the head and shoulders of Tony and Ben. In this particular shot, Tony is displayed behind Ben. This signifies that Tony is watching over Ben.