In our thriller opening we have challenged the stereotypical gender roles often portrayed in film. In particular we are challenging the traditional role of women in society through our use of them as the main characters in our thriller opening. While in almost all thrillers- including film noir and British gangsters- women are portrayed as the secondary gender behind the protagonist male, in our thriller we decided we wanted to challenge this stereotype and flip this around, making the two main characters female.
By challenging gender stereotypes in the way our film is very modern and anti-traditional. This modern representation of women fits with the gritty, realistic tone of the film as a whole and this anti-sterotpyical portrayal of gender is initially created by the opening scene and titles. The first shot of our thriller is an uncomfortable, birds
eye view shot of the main female character entering a gritty, dirty toilet. This first shot instantly gives the audience and idea of the bleak, realistic and more importantly modern tone of the film throughout. This is strengthened by the fact that the first character the audience sees is a female one, immediately challenging the tradition of placing the focus on men rather than women. This challenging, modern tone is reinforced through the font of
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| Modern, brutal font for credits |
the titles. The bold sans serif font "Bebas Neue"we chose for the credits is very modern and brutal and again reinforces the realistic and gritty nature of the film. By immediately linking the main, female character with this realism and grittiness the role of women throughout thrillers is already being confronted and challenged. In film noir women were either glamorised and sexualised or seen as femme fatal characters simply there to entice and endanger men. The portrayal of women in our thriller contrasts this completely by placing the main female character immediately in a dark, bleak world.
By making links to the way older thrillers such as film noir style films depicted women, our challenging and altering of the stereotypical portrayal of women in such films is made clearer and more effective. For instance in the toilet scene there is a claustrophobic, close up of the main female character applying a dark red lipstick. This is a reference to the way scarlet lipstick and clothing is
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| Film noir femme fatale |
traditionally used in film to portray a woman as either lustful and sexual or dangerous such as a femme fatal character in film noir. However by using a very claustrophobic, close up shot of our character applying the lipstick in combination with the bleak, gritty setting, it signifies the fact that the makeup, and furthermore the glamour associated with it, doesn't quite fit her. It's as if she's trying to plaster over the cracks in her broken personality with the lipstick in an attempt to make her seem more classy and glamorous. By including this reference to the film noir portrayal of women, our realistic, modern one is strengthened as the lipstick highlights the contrasting nature of the two representations.
By having the main protagonist as a woman, the audience is left in no doubt that our film is using a modern and challenging portrayal of gender roles that fits the realism and grittiness created by the plot and locations. This portrayal of gender is is further made parent by the detective character.
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| Detective from film noir |
The costume and role of the detective character are direct references to film noir: a rogue, corrupt, secretive detective dressed in a long overcoat and dark glasses that portray his enigma and isolation.
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| Detective from our thriller opening |
The character is an incredibly masculine one with almost every detective of this nature in film noir being played by a man. Left is a photo from a film noir showing the traditional male character of the detective in the classic costume. By taking this role and keeping everything the same except the gender of the character, the stereotypical roles of gender in thriller is confronted and challenged. By doing this women in our thriller are seen entirely as the dominant gender as both the main character and the secondary one are female. It shows the women are capable of being not just either sexual or dangerous but everything in between. From a damaged but resilient protagonist looking for answers in a modern, bleak world to a corrupt, rogue detective who has seen it all leaving her hard-boiled and dry.
Our thriller entirely marginalises men. Both the main protagonist and the detective are female leaving only the final hooded figure. The final character who only appears briefly in one shot is not specified a gender however. While in reality the actor was male, as the audience only ever see their hooded behind there is no way of them knowing for certain.
By not including any characters who are clearly men, the modern representation of genders in our thriller is made more effective. In many thrillers women are either secondary character or are completely marginalised and left out of the film. By flipping this concept and making women the absolute dominant gender in our thriller, we are creating an original and challenging representation of that particular social group. In many other British Gangster films such as 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Essex Boys" the dark, gritty world focuses around masculine criminality. We wanted to obtain the bleak, hopeless tone that is synonymous with British Gangsters while challenging the stereotypical representation of gender and by making women the predominant gender and by marginalising men I think we have achieved this.
