Dr. Who - Gender

In this clip of ‘Dr. Who’ gender is represented in both a stereotypical way and a non-stereotypical way. The clip opens with a shot of a small alien looking male trapped in a cage, this straight the way shows a male as being weak which is not the common stereotype we have of males. The second shot shows a man who looks very dirty and appears to have cuts and bruises on his face; this fits with a male stereotype as it shows the male character has been doing some of physical mission.

The next part of the clip shows a male character that is smartly dressed on top of a raised platform. He is looking down at Martha who is a female character at the bottom of the stairs. This shot shows that the male has more power and dominance over the female as he is looking down on the female. To the side of the male is another female who is dressed in a red dress with blonde hair. This shows that she is like an object the male, which again adds to the male’s power. The camera angle in this shot is low and tilted up to make the male look even more powerful by making him look even higher than the female character Martha. The male character then tells Martha to kneel down in front of him this again shows the male’s power that he has over the female.

As the clip goes on the representation of the male character then changes. As when the man is giving out his speech the female character Martha begins to laugh out loud which straight the way make her look more powerful than before. She then begins to talk about how he knew his plans this then make the male character sit down which make him look more defenseless and less powerful. Martha then eventually raises her voices and shows that she is now in control. This shows that the male is now the weaker sex, which is not the common perception we have on males. We are also shown a flashback of Martha and how she carried out her plans this shows her doing a stereotypically male role where she is battling the weather and traveling to complete her mission.

The weak male character that was trapped in a cage then begins his transformation into the doctor. And begins to rise up into the air and eventually higher than the male character this shows that the power has shifted to the doctor which has put a male character back in control which is what we would expect. The evil male character then begins to shoot at the doctor however his laser does not affect the doctor which again shows the doctors power and shows that he is unbeatable.

The clip then ends with the evil male character cowering on the floor with the doctor coming towards showing that the doctor has ultimate control and power over him.