Representation of Sexuality

Sexuality has been represented in this extract through a number of ways, such as through sound, mise-en-scene and editing. In this essay, I shall write about how the sexuality of the characters in this clip have been portrayed, and why they have been portrayed in this manner.

Body language is the first way in which sexuality is represented to us in this extract. Opening with a two shot of a woman holding a dress up to another woman in quite an eager manner shows us that they are comfortable around each other, and they have somewhat of a close relationship. One woman then proceeds to move herself behind the other woman, placing her hands on her shoulders in a comforting manner. They both appear to be breathing quite heavily and rapidly, which suggests excitement at the prospect of the dress, but could also suggest excitement at being close to each other. Narration then begins in the clip, which the audience can assume comes from the woman looking at the other woman with the dress. The narrator says "She looked so beautiful". Although this cannot confirm romantic feelings, due to the fact that she may have just been admiring her beauty (perhaps jealous of it), it can be assumed from the way the woman looks up and down at the woman with the dress with a look of guilt on her face. The woman in the dress speaks, saying "Oh my goodness, miss". From this dialogue, it can be inferred that the women are not close enough to call each other by their informal titles, instead settling with "miss". The woman continues to talk, stating that she "looks like a real lady". To this, the other woman smiles, but her facial expression returns to that of neutral, or slightly guilty.

Later on in the clip, a zoom panning shot is introduced, showing one woman asleep and another awake, leaning over her. The woman that is awake begins to hover her hand over the woman's body, but not quite touching it, indicating that her feelings for her are forbidden, or must be kept secret. This indication is further reinforced by the fact that she is wearing a glove, keeping her even further away from touching the other woman. The woman's facial expressions are that of sad, or desperate as she hovers her hand over the other woman's body, allowing the audience to understand that there is not a mutual feeling of lust in the relationship between both women.

A close up of the woman painting is then shown, and she appears to be concentrating a lot. A long shot of the woman she is attracted to is shown, and she is sleeping. A man then appears, and tries to convince the woman painting that she must act in love with him. She ignores him, however, indicating that she will find it difficult to do such a thing. The music used is quite mysterious, or something that would be used for something sneaky or forbidden, reminding the audience that the woman is feeling guilty for having this emotions. The woman then tells the man to "wake her or she'll burn". This suggests that the woman cares for the safety of the other woman, reinforcing that she has feelings for her. The next shot is a close up of the sleeping woman's breasts, and a reaction shot from the painting woman. She appears to be captivated by looking at the other woman's body, her mouth opening slightly and her eyes going glassy. She then is shown to be so distracted that she doesn't notice that the man has taken notice of her staring. The woman's paint the begins to drip from the brush onto her dress, reinforcing the fact that she is distracted by the woman's body. As each drop hits her dress, the music intensifies, suggesting that her clumsiness is becoming evident to the man, and that it is quite dangerous for him to know about her romantic feelings.

The man then grabs hold of the woman and forcibly drags her away from the sleeping woman. She makes several attempts to leave before the man starts talking. He mocks her by stating that she ruined her dress with a "retched little finger smear", indicating that whilst it may have appeared to be such, he knows it is due to her distraction from looking at the other woman's body. He then proceeds to mock her saying that the other woman would "laugh in her face" if she found out about the woman's sexuality and feelings for her. The man then starts to threaten her by saying "If I told her…". The woman appears terrified at the prospect, whispering in a frightened manner "You mustn't". The fact that she whispers suggests that with the man blackmailing her, she is trying to appear weaker or less authoritative in order to please him, and make sure he doesn't reveal her sexuality. She also appears to stop looking at him in the eye, another sign of weakness. It can be inferred from this that the woman finds the thought of her sexuality being revealed as mortifying, and/or embarrassing, and she is prepared to act wearier in order to prevent that from happening.

However, when the man tells her what she must do, which is to "Appear to love him, marry him". The woman looks him in the eye and tells him that "She can't", indicating once more that she is not heterosexual, and she doesn't wish to marry a man, despite his threats. The sleeping woman wakes up and is shown to be calling out to the other woman. The woman looks up at the man, who raises his eyebrows at her, and she says "please" very quietly, which suggests that while she is not happy marry him to prevent her sexuality from being revealed, she is not unprepared to still act weaker, or in his debt. The woman that was sleeping is getting closer, however, and the other woman appears to give up and nods her head to the man, allowing him to start acting romantically towards her. Whilst this is occurring, she has a look of disgust on her face, once more reminding the audience that she is not heterosexual and does not enjoy contact with a man.

Later on, a mid-shot of the woman who had been sleeping taking off her top is shown, in slow motion. This is to show that the other woman's eyes are fixated on her every movement. The body language shown here indicates that she is trying to restrict herself from getting closer to the other woman, for she is looking up quite slowly and reluctantly. Later on, a high angle of her lying in bed with her hand on her mouth, looking very afraid is shown, to once more indicate that she is scared due to her sexuality, and she wants to keep it a secret evidently extremely desperately.