In class we looked at gender stereotypes. Here are a few that we came up with in class which are opposites to each other, which we matched up for which gender we thought were the stereotypical ones. Many of these are represented in the media, either that conform with these stereotypes or subvert with these stereotypes, this depends on what the producer and writers are trying to portray - and this may be influenced by their personal views on men and women. (For example showing a man as being tidy - this was shown in The Hustle by the man in the shop compared to the woman who is represented as being messy and frantic. These both go subvert the stereotype, yet the woman was also very emotional which conforms with the stereotype of woman).
In our thriller the gender stereotypes that were firstly used was in our cast. The fact that we used two men, and no women immediately presents a stereotypical view. The reason for this being is that men are seen as being good with technology and practical - two things the men would need when in a submersible. The reason that we picked two men was because we wanted there to no question about whether or not they were good with technology - firstly for everyone in the audience to buy into the plot, but also because we didn't want anyone to think that the reason the submersible went missing was because the men could not handle the technology in the submersible. We also used two men because we wanted there to be a hardness about our characters, and not too much emotion - which is often the stereotype of a woman. We didn't want there to be any panicking as we thought that may take away from what happened. We didn't want there to be one male and one female as this could put up questions like 'are they a couple?' and we wouldn't want any signs or flirting in our thriller as this was not the aim. By having the men sitting back and watching the screens it represents a stereotypical view of men just sitting around watching TV, although this wasn't a reason for doing this it does make it easy for it to seem real for the audience. Men are usually seen as being logical and rational thinkers and we wanted to show this in the two male characters, we didn't want them to get flustered and loose their cool as this would detract from the action of what was happening and make us just focus on the actors acting. We wanted to conform with the stereotypes because we wanted the audience to immediately believe and buy into our thriller sequence. Men are seen as being dominant and having control and by having a woman there it may have been hard to make sure that the roles were equal and if they weren't this may put up questions as to who is the more in control gender.
My group and I have discussed many possibilities of what could happen in the film after the title sequence. One of the ideas that we came up with was, after the crash, the two men in the submersible are unaware of their whereabouts and have to prepare themselves for the greatest fight for their lives and have to make themselves seen by people. However there is a creature that lies beneath the sea that is tracking their every move in the sea. It is a mystery why this creature is there and it is a mystery what the creature is. They eventually find an island which is isolated, remote and completely inhabited. When they are on the island we want there to be a sense of them constantly being watched. (We also thought that there could be a element of The Lord of the Flies.) They have a massive fall out, yet they both decide that they need to get home so they decide to build a boat with the things that they find on the island. This is one of the only parts in the film that is uplifting as they become friends and stay up till dark until they have got their boat made. They start their journey on the boat yet something awful happens to one of them so the other has to continue on his own.
In our thriller the two men, are shown positively as they are represented as almost heroic as they are going down under the water to get ancient artefacts. They are in control of the situation as they are steering the submersible, this is a positive representation of a stereotype of men being dominant and in control. However they do have a side to the characters which is fearful when an element of danger is added to the situation. We thought that this was essential even though it isn’t necessarily a stereotypical view, but it was needed as anyone in that situation we thought would be scared of what could possibly happen. Its important for the audience to know that isn't down to their lack of knowledge about the technology or their failures with the submersible, it is due to something underwater that makes the submersible have a crash.
Through costume we showed representations of men being smart in their work clothes, wanting to get their job done. This is a stereotypical view of men being the breadwinners and doing their jobs to put money on the table. By them having the same costumes it shows that they are both equal and not fighting for status and both have the same ambition for this trip. Although their costumes are work clothes they are quite relaxed, so it could also represent the stereotype of men just sitting back doing nothing.
Through sound - especially dialogue - we created some stereotypical representations of men. Although one of them spoke more than the other, they both had the same control in the situation. We wanted to show friendship in the dialogue however we found this tricky as there isn't usually much dialogue in title sequences. In the panic of the situation the man that started off less vocal becomes the main voice that we hear, we wanted there to be a contrast between how the two men reacted because this would make the situation seem more real to the audience as usually two people don't have the same reaction to situations. So we worked on the idea that one of them was panicked and the other was trying to the calm the other one down. The calmer man is quite a stereotypical representation of men as men don't seem to get as panicked as woman, or as emotional as woman in situations. Yet the panicked man is quite anti-stereotypical as men aren't usually flustered, emotional and anxious. We thought that this made a nice difference between the men and gave the title sequence and the characters a bit more personality. It also helped with building suspense because if they were both relaxed and calm it wouldn't be thrilling at all because we wouldn't panic for their safety as they weren’t, but if they were both worried, scared, and all over the place the sequence would loose control and it would all become a bit too manic and unbelievable. Also because the actors we used weren't actually actors we were limited as to what we could get from them, but we were fine with that because we just made it fit to what their capabilities were. Also through camera we showed how the two men were equal as we didn’t use any high angled or low angled shots. Another reason was because we wanted the audience to get a sense of the submersible without them focusing on the camera angles. The two men were not vulnerable or low status in the title sequence that’s also a reason for keeping the camera angle at there height at all times. We wanted the audience to see both of the men at all times because we didn’t want there to be more screen time for one of them so we made sure that they were both in the frame for every shot – this again emphasises the fact of them having the same power, and being equal to one another.
