Representation of Gender in Dalziel & Pascoe's "A Clubbable Woman"

Gender is represented in many different ways throughout this episode. Mise-en-scene is a big area of focus for the representation of gender. Firstly, one of the first scenes is of an all male rugby team. After the game the men then go into a pub for a drink. This instantly shows that the episode will be a male dominated one, as we see men playing rugby then going into the stereotypical ‘male dominated’ pub. Men apparently always go down to the pub and get drunk. This is already creating characteristics and ideas about gender in this episode. Secondly, the whole police force is denoted as male dominated. This connotes that during the time of this episode being set, it was the men who went out and worked, whilst women stayed at home. This is backed up by the scene where the officer returns home to his wife at home cooking a meal. This shows that men are seen as the ‘more important’ gender at the time as they got the higher importance jobs (police) and the women were ‘less important’ housewives.

Camera is also used to represent gender. One of the first key shots is a low-angle shot of a male officer. This connotes that the men are really important and have a high status within society. There is also a shot-reverse-shot of the injured rugby player and his wife. It goes from the man, to the woman; who is sitting at home bored, and then back to his wife. This, again, connotes that the woman has been sitting at home, maybe doing house work, whilst the husband has gone out to have fun and work. Another key shot is when ‘Mrs Evans’ is in the pub. When the shot turns to her, she is surrounded by men all flirting and chatting with her. This connotes that the men ‘pounce’ on any woman they can in the pub. It could also connote that woman vary rarely enter the pub and have a drink.

Sound can also represent gender and stereotypes. One of the first key sound areas is the dialogue between the men at the bar. This shows that the men use ‘slang’ terms and have a laugh with each other; they are talking about girls and sport (stereotypical conversations between men). One line in which one of the characters says is “You know women”. This is said in context when talking about the pub. This connotes that woman don’t go drinking in the pub and that they are boring. There is a twist in the gender representations. Throughout the episode, men are seen as strong characters, but when the man gets injured at rugby, he turns into a weak character. The non-dietetic sound of a heartbeat and a sound track supports this twist that the male character is now a weaker person.

There is a limited amount of editing that can represent gender. One bit of editing is a transition and opening shot of a male police officer banging on a door for entry. This connotes men have a physical strength and are dominant. The scenes (when changing from a male scene to another male scene) the transitions and editing was smooth and effective, but when it switched to a woman scene, the editing was more jumpy / overt.

Overall, Mise-en-scene and the use of camera were the most important areas in which gender was represented in this episode of Dalziel & Pascoe.