This clip is funny because Will tries to represent himself as the dominant character by insisting playing Frisbee over football will win over the girls. Then not only is he proved wrong when the girls do not look interested to play but it also goes very wrong for him when it hits the disabled lady. It is funny due to the change in power of Will as he goes from leader of the group to someone very venerable as the women shouts and him and no longer respected by his friends. Moreover, the idea that Will does not give up on trying to receive his Frisbee and insisting he has a receipt to prove it when he is being chased makes it more amusing for the audience.
How is the disabled girl being represented?
The disabled lady is being represented as helpless and vulnerable as not only does her friend stand up to Will for her but also the boys playing football. The lady is shown to be in distress when she is hit by the Frisbee and does not appear to be angry at Will herself unlike her friend; she relies on her friend to make it right and emphasises the reliance on her friend by leaning into her and letting her make justice for her. However, she does try and hold onto the Frisbee showing how she was one step ahead and would not Will take it back.
Are we meant to laugh at the disabled person?
I believe that the audience is supposed to laugh at Will and how this game has gone disastrously wrong for him rather than laughing at the disabled person. The audience cannot help but laugh when the disabled lady is hit but not because she is hurt or disrespected but because of how bad it immediately makes Will look. The various shots of the different characters expressions around when she gets hit highlight how awkward the situation is for Will and is echoed by the fact he immediately starts apologising even though he is no where near the girl yet. The audience does laugh at the disabled person for example, when she is first hit and then when she holds onto the Frisbee when Will wants it back but at both times Will is trying to show off and take control of a situation but it has gone the opposite way to planned and therefore makes the audience laugh at him. I believe that if it had hit any other person the audience would still have laughed however the joke would not have worked the same way if it had of hit someone who was able to fight back at Will or someone who was unaffected by it and accepted his apology.
Are they the 'butt' of the joke?
I do not believe the disabled lady is directly the butt of the joke as the main target is Will and how it all went wrong for him. Although the audience is not directly laughing at her pain and disrespect they cannot help but laugh when it all goes wrong for Will and for this to happen the Frisbee must have hit someone who would not have been easily able to defend themselves which is why I believe a disabled person was chosen.
How do you think disabled people respond to this?
I think that a disabled person would laugh at this scene because of how Will is portrayed; the scene does not directly disrespect the disabled person and she is actually shown to be more respected than Will as the other boys playing football help her when they believe that he is stealing her Frisbee. It may have been offensive to some people to have the Frisbee hit the disabled person but I believe it had to have been an innocent person that may be helpless for this act to make Will seem like such a bad person and this is how disabled people are often viewed.
Are we as a society cultivated to think we should pity the disabled?
I think that we are a society that think the disabled should be pitied to some extent; disabled people are shown to need extra help when it comes to doing certain things and although the idea of the disabled person in this clip makes them appear very vulnerable and helpless not all disabled people would have reacted the same way. Many disabled people are just as able to do the same things and act the same way as people without a disability however they are looked upon different because of their situation. I do not believe that the way disabled people are looked at is a bad thing, I think that most people would help disabled people if they needed it as the circumstances are clearly very different for them and therefore they have to be treated slightly differently as people may feel as though they have to respect them more and look out for them. This is shown in this clip where the boys playing football automatically help. However, they should not be pitied in a way that makes them seem like they cannot do anything for themselves as they should be just as respected as any person without a disability.
Camera shots/movement:
Both clips start with close-ups of the character's faces showing different emotions. In the first clip the shot is of Alice who looks smug and is obviously in control asking Luther questions about her dog which is irrelevant but he answers anyway doing as she asks making Luther the weak character here; in comparison to Ian who is answering the questions from Luther and is not in control. In the first clip point of view is used to frequently to show that Luther is studying Alice and is trying to work out whether or not she will have committed the crime, this is seen first when Alice is placing her dog's ashes in the room and then again at 1.46 to close in on her face and again at 2.37 when she is stood silently and he moves around her which is shot using a pan movement. Similarly the shots at the start of the second clip are used to show how Luther is studying Ian and how he is trying to get him to conform. At 0.46 Luther moves the gun up to Ian's forehead which makes Ian panic and shows the audience how he is scared, this shows Luther's control over him, also at 1.08 Luther moves Ian to show his power over him and how he doesn't need a gun to kill him as he could do it with his bare hands if he wanted to. From both of these occurrences Luther is seen to be dominant over the others as he is the one studying them and how he moves around them to create different emotions for the others. In both clips over the shoulder shots are used to show the conversation and how it quickly moves as it becomes balanced as the power changes between them. During the first clip Alice draws Luther in firstly by mentioning the black hole and the power it has to reduce anything to nothing, metaphorically linking herself to the black hole. This shows her gaining power and is portrayed firstly by the zoom on the picture and then a zoom into her as she closes her hands together. After this she continues to gain power by bringing up Luther's wife, this appears to draw him in and is shown, once again, through the zoom of Alice's face at 1.47. At 1.56 Alice is shown to almost have complete power over Luther as she seduces him until there is a sudden long shot which shows how quickly the tension was broken after he said "no". The tension is also quickly broken in the second clip where it changes form the fast pace action of the fight between Luther and Ian to Alice entering and with one word stopping Ian from attacking Luther. When Alice enters at this point, 1.56, she is shown to have power over both of the men (not traditionally seen within gender representation), Luther because he is injured and cannot stop her from using the gun, and Ian as she knows what he has done and she gets to decide his fate. At the end of the first clip it ends on Luther's face as he realises that Alice is threatening him and although the shot shows him at an equal height to Alice the audience knows she had more power from his facial expression. However, at the end of the second clip the power is shown more directly as after the shooting there is an extreme long shot where it shows Alice stood tall, Mark stood covering his ears, Luther holding his wound bent over and Ian laying on the ground. This distribution of height shows clearly that Alice is the dominant one as she caused this and she was the one to decide what happened to Ian and clearly shows both Ian, who lost his life, and Luther, who was injured and could not convince Alice to not shoot Ian, as weak characters. Sound: From the word "black hole" in the first clip there is background music that is introduced to build tension and to make her seem more daunting. Also when she is describing the black hole she claps her hands together; this sound is magnified to make it more noticeable to the audience and therefore highlights the word "nothing" which foreshadows what Luther will become. The background music plays out and gets significantly louder at "It is because you shine so bright?" which seems to be the key point of this scene and shows how their relationship changed through the scene.
In the second clip non-diegetic music is also used over the natural action to create tension and to produce emotive feelings in the audience. At first there is similar tension building music that gets louder, especially when Luther almost kills Ian which stops as Ian pulls out a knife to stab Luther, but then more peaceful music is played when Alice appears and talks to Ian which at first appears to calm him down. However then it becomes more sinister as the audience realises she is debating to kill Ian and therefore it ends at "do I pull the trigger or not?". The gun shot is greatly amplified to signify the dramatics of what has just happened and it is partnered with an overlay of a song that only the audience can hear to show something of great significance has just happened. The song is also related to what has happened as the lyric is "no one alive can always be an angel" which signifies all the bad things the characters around have done and as the song is about being misunderstood it could represent how Alice was wrong to kill him as she only saw the things he had done from one perspective.
In both of the clips there are certain phrases that are used to make Alice appear mentally unstable, for example when she is describing the black hole. "When I first heard that I thought that was evil in its purest form" makes the audience believe that she has changed her mind about the black hole being evil foreshadowing how she may have done something bad but she does not believe she is evil for doing it; also she asks Luther if he was referring to her as someone he has seen madness within. Luther also uses other phrases such as "You will never be able to understand love", "it was a compulsion, you did it 'cus you needed to do it" which make Alice appear inhuman and as though she has something wrong with her. Furthermore she appears unstable by the way she tells Luther that she would "be hurt and angry" if he threatens her, the way she asks if his wife left him because he "shines so bright" and she says Luther will not come for her if "I come for you first".
Luther appears to have changed dramatically through these clips as he goes from acting rational in the first clip with Alice to acting as unstable as Alice is to him in the second clip with Ian. He states that Ian "can't choose" his own fate as it is all down to him and he also says "you can't play me" and "you cant' make me shoot you" to remind Ian that he has the power and there is nothing he can say or do that will make him change his mind. Editing: The editing used within both of these clips is continuity as it is set out in a logical order that describes the story to the user in an order that would occur in the real life of the story. Throughout both of these clips shot/reverse shot is used to show the conversations between the characters and to show how the power is distributed and there fight for the dominance. Moreover, short takes are used to keep the pace of the action quick and keep the audience up to date with the drama that is going on; it is especially used in the second clip when the audience does not know whether, at first, Luther will hurt Ian and then whether Alice will shoot him or not. Mise en scene: When the couple first enter Alice's house she asks if they are being listened to and then whether Luther is there to interrogate her. When he says no she calls him a liar which shows the user she either has previous reasons not to trust him and therefore knows his reasons for being there or she does not trust him straight away showing that she is a private person that does not easily let anyone in to her secrets.
When Alice describes seeing Luther with a ring to show he was married she uses hand actions which make her appear like she is enforcing it more, making sure that he knows exactly what she is talking about and to make him feel uncomfortable. Also it may have been to suggest that she did not have a ring there showing the sexual tension between the two of them which is shown more clearly later in the scene where the two pause close together after Alice says "Did you come here for sex?".
Luther's reply to the comment about his wife is "I'm not here to discuss that" but when she asks if he's handsome he replies "if you like that kind of thing" which shows he did want to talk about it at first but it may have been a relief to have someone ask about it especially when she says "are you in pain?". It also shows her power over him where by not giving up asking questions Alice got an answer out of him that he did not want her to know. During this part of the conversation, 1.37, Luther takes his coat off which suggests he was going to stay for a while to talk with Alice however, only two minutes later at 3.34 he picks up his coat and leaves which suggests to the audience that the conversation did not go as planned for Luther. It shows how her power made him feel uncomfortable and how he did not want to stay and be manipulated by her anymore as it unsettled him.
Luther suggests that Alice kept the gun as a compulsory decision, something she could not control. He suggests how she would have kept it as a trophy, as something to be proud of for what she had done which shows the audience what kind of person Alice is and shows how she needs material things to prove that she has power.
Throughout the first clip Alice refers to Luther's wife which gives her power as he is clearly unsettled by this conversation and Alice quickly learns that this is his weak point. She uses this topic of conversation to win power over him when she feels threatened for example when he threatens her at 3.11 she brings up why his wife left and from this Luther turns and leaves.
In the second scene Ian does not seem phased by Luther and provokes him in a way similar to how Alice did in the first clip, by mentioning his wife. But, when Alice enters he is immediately under her control. This could either be because he knows what kind of person Alice is and he does not wish to mess with her like Luther because he knows he cannot win or because she has the gun. The gun automatically gives Alice a lot of power and is shown by the fact that none of the men try to take control over her to make the decision even though Luther shows clearly he feels she is making the wrong choice. The gun gives Alice power that she may not have had before being a women as the men are normally dominant over her but this gives her the edge.
The first clip is filmed in a private apartment which shows the conversation to be more discreet and something they want to keep between the two of them whereas the second scene appears to be shot in a train station or something similar which is more open and public. It shows how the death of Ian needed to be a statement and something to be feared giving Alice the power, as she kills him, but also Luther as he set out to scare and then arrest Ian in the beginning.
Camera shots/movement: The start of the clip shows a tracking shot of the two people coming out of the house arguing, moving from over the wall to in front of the people. It is also a point of view shot showing the view of them arguing seen by all the other police officers on the case. It immediately shows the power of the two people which goes against the male gaze in this case as the women appears to be in charge over the man. This then changes to a close up of the women's face to show her frustration against the man and then it switches to an over the shoulder shot, making the audience feel awkward as they are in the middle of the conversation and therefore the argument. The power changes at the next shot as the women goes to give orders to the team but the man believes he is not needed so leaves and its only when she asks him to stay that he says he will look at the work. It zooms into her face to show her desperation as she says "please" to get the man to do what she wants, showing his power and the traditional male gaze of the male having power over the female. The clip ends with an establishing/high angled shot of the scene showing the audience the scene of the police officers and showing the audience the chaos which the women thought she had under control.
The next scene is a mix of close ups of the evidence the man is looking at, close ups of his face when he figures out what each one represents and long shots of him moving around trying to work them out. It is put together using the tracking shot of him walking around to show his stress and the chaos of the case as he tries to work it out. The final shot of him is at a low angle which shows he is dominant as he has worked out what each thing means towards the case and showing the traditional male gaze of the man being able to sort something out when the women could not.
There is an establishing shot to show the change of scenery as the car pulls up to the abandoned house, the men are filmed at a low angled shot as they break in showing that they clearly have a lot of power and the people they are about to face are weak. These men are viewed in the male gaze as they appear to be dangerous and dominant towards the people in the house and project a lot of fear towards them and anyone else who would upset them. Sound:
Non diegetic sound is used to overlap the beginning scenes in this clip to make it seem more mysterious and creepy for the audience watching. This is also used during the evidence scene getting louder to build tension and to make it seem like he is slowly figuring out the answers and working out the case. Similar tension building music is also used in the scene where the two men enter the house to make them appear more violent and fearful. This quickly switches to the care free music of popcorn popping and TV background music to the man babysitting the child, this shows the difference between the scenes. This shows the difference in the male gaze as the males in the house are the traditional male gaze showing strength and power compared to the man babysitting who appears to have no control over the child and popcorn and is not respected as much as the other men. Editing:
The shots in this scene are cross-cut simply showing the quick changes of shots and the quick decisions that are being made. Also it is used to show a two way conversation and to switch between each character showing their facial expressions.
During the scene where the men enter the house there is a cut to past shot which shows the 'man who gives the orders' to have been locked up when the man asked what happened to him. This could show a previous episode and what happened to him or only something that man knows that has actually happened to the leader.
Most of this clip is fast pace showing the fast past of the police case that is happening. It uses jump cuts to quickly switch between different shots such as in the scene where the man is looking at the pieces of evidence and quickly figuring out what one means before moving onto the next. Mise en scene:
The women appears to have authority at the start of this clip as she tells the other police officers what to do. The police uniform the men are wearing automatically gives them authority and by her ordering them shows the audience that she is in charge and that she has power.
At the start of the scene with the child the women is shown to have the power as she gets the man to babysit even though he says "me?" showing he doesn't want to/feel like he should. This gives her the power and which goes against the male gaze however, this changes later on in this scene when the child tells the man about the previous nanny. The women refused to explain why the nanny had left but the child easily tells the man about it, giving him the power and undermining the women which shows the traditional male gaze.The house in this scene is also very messy as she tells her child to put the toys away before she 'breaks her neck'. This resembles her chaotic job and lifestyle as she often is unsure on what's going on, also it goes against the common stereotype of the male gaze that the women should stay at home and keep a tidy household showing she is clearly to busy for this with her job.
In the abandoned house shot the lighting is dark which automatically makes the audience assume something bad is going to happen and making them more cautious. The males that enter the abandoned house show their automatic dominance by the way that they act and the way they treat the other people in this house, this leads to them being viewed in the traditional male gaze way.
Camera shots:
When the video first starts there is a close up shot of the waves which signifies danger and makes the audience feel cautious. The first shot of Beyoncé is a tilt shot, it starts at her head and then moves down to her feet as she gets closer, always showing the trophy. This shows that the trophy is the important thing for the audience to notice rather than Beyoncé and her face at first; it shows her to be less important than the trophy showing how she is objectified by the trophy signalising how she is denied of her identity . The next shot of her is from a high angled shot which shows her to be less powerful and as she is bent over in the sand it makes her appear weak. Close up shots of the trophy follow this which highlights its importance and shows that it is more important to the story than Beyoncé herself as the start showing how the male gaze traditionally works. At 1.18 there are multiple shots of Beyoncé either close up shots of her facial expressions or of the whole of her where her body language suggests vulnerability and adds to the idea of her being weak. At 1.42 she holds the trophy above her head which makes the audience believe that she has won it and suggests that she is also the trophy which leads to her being objectified and shown as an award for someone of higher dominance e.g. a male. At 1.50 she begins to appear more sexual in the video and the shots of her show her body and show how she is being filmed to show certain parts of her body to show how she is only admired for her physical appearance. This shows that this is more important than what she is singing or what she is doing as it is all modelled around her physical appearance. Beyoncé is constantly shot within the water such as at 2.15 which shows how she is powerless against the waves around her and it also adds an element of danger which again, shows her weakness. At 2.24 Beyoncé is filmed with a close up showing how she is viewed sexually and is an attractive object for a male to view rather than a dominant character which shows the male gaze. At 2.20 Beyoncé is filmed from a low angled shot which makes her appear more powerful and from here the shots of her become further back and show her to appear more open and less nervous. She begins to dance around 2.33 which shows her to have more freedom and to be more open with the audience which goes against the male view as she starts to become more dominant in the video. She is stood in an open space and appears powerful as she is in charge of it as there is no one around her and she is no longer being affected by anything. At 2.54 she walks towards the camera which shows her dominance and the camera tracks her movements which shows how she is in control. The high angled shots of Beyoncé now only appear when she is being viewed in a sexual way (3.26) which is traditionally how the male gaze would view her and shows how when she is under the male gaze she is less powerful and is controlled by having only a small amount of movement compared to when she is stood on the beach moving around (3.32). At 4,10 Jay Z is introduced to the video and Beyoncé plays up to her role of being under the male gaze as she is leaning on him and listening to everything he is saying showing how she is reliant on him as he is male and therefore dominant. Beyoncé also shows to only speak after he has (4.21) and repeat what he is saying showing his influence on her and showing how she respects him by looking up to him, 4.26. At 5.04 he puts him arm around Beyoncé but not in a way that symbolizes how he cares for her or wants to protect her but more to show that she is his and to show how he has possession of her. Beyoncé does not reject this and instead takes advantage of him wanting to show his dominance over her and she appears to feel safer with him,6.05, and she continues to be more open with his presence, showing more of her dancing rather than her being viewed in a sexual way. Editing:
Smoke is used at 1.53 to create a more unusual setting that appears more mysterious and adds an element of danger. Its also used later on at 2.32 but appears to be a lot quicker and aggressive which helps to show how Beyoncé's attitude has changed and how she is more free now than she was before.
This video is filmed in black and white and therefore shows the setting to be a darker and more mysterious place which allows for the aspect of danger within the song/video. It also adds to the idea of Beyoncé being viewed as a sexual object and the lyrics being based around sexual desires as it is dark and gives the impression of it happening at night where no one will see as it is something to be hidden and not acceptable during the day. Sound:
At the start of the song there is no singing and is just the natural sound of waves before a backing noise starts to play which is an creepy sound and as it gets higher pitch it builds tension and makes the audience feel cautious of what is going to happen in the video. This is broken by the title image and introduces the song. The lyrics in the song suggest two things, danger and sexual desires. This can be seen from the things that she puts in the lyrics that either show she is scared or represent something that causes danger such as 'cigars on ice, cigars on ice'. Cigars are something which causes damage to the body and by having them 'on ice' shows that there is no shortage of them and how they can have as many of them as they like which shows they do not care about the possible dangers. Another lyric is 'how the hell did this shit happen?' which shows how she was unaware of what she has done and shows how she was clearly under the influence. This shows danger and she has done something that she did not realise and is obviously something she regrets as she describes it as "shit". Beyoncé also shows danger through the lyric 'if you scared, call that reverend' which shows the audience that someone is afraid of something that could or already has happened. The song also suggests a lot of sexual desire through the lyrics of'I want you', 'drunk in love we be all night', 'our beautiful bodies' and 'No complaints from my body'.
The end of the song ends by playing the sound of waves which is the first thing the audience hears at the start of the song. Mise en scene:
When the audience first sees Beyoncé she is holding a trophy which makes her appear to be an award and shows how the male gaze views women as being an accessory for a male and being a prize.
Throughout the video Beyoncé is wearing a black bikini with a transparent long, skirt over her legs which shows a traditional outfit for the place it is being filmed, the beach, but also adds to the idea of her being viewed as a sexual object and weak as she is not wearing anything to give her power or authority.
This is in comparison to Jay Z who is wearing wearing clothing rather than swimwear and even has jewellery to suggest his wealth or power in comparison to Beyoncé. Beyoncé also goes in and out of the water which means her hair and outfit gets wet which makes her appear like she does not care about her appearance whereas Jay Z does not and looks smart in comparison.
Also throughout the video Beyoncé appears to play up to the camera by walking up to it and looking directly into shot whereas Jaz Z keeps his head down a lot and his face hidden by hugging Beyoncé.
