Monday 10 November 2014

Representation of ethnicity


Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of ethnicity:
In this extract the mise en scene represents ethnicity in the way the characters are shown. All the characters are wearing dark colours and in suits and formal attire which is not stereotypical dress for a black man. Both Danny and the woman in the clip look as if they are spy's, this is against the stereotype as he is a black male and the woman looks eastern European. The man in the background is in typical terrorist costume wearing a balaclava and holding a gun. The room this clip is set in is very dark and oppressive reflecting what is happening within the clip linking back to ethnicity and the idea of terrorism.

The sound in the clip also links to ethnicity as the diegetic music sounds like the religious song Muezzin which is the call to prayer. The music sounds Arabic and very intense, there is also a Spanish guitar in the background which gives a sense of otherness as it is not British. The music and the Arabic sound reflects the mood in the scene of the black versus Arab between characters showing hatred and a culture clash. At the start of the clip there is also diegetic sound of drumming creating suspense and this highlights that an event is about to happen.

As for the editing there are lots of cuts used, this links to ethnicity as this shows the bravery of the black man and shows he is strong, the short cuts show that the Arab character is stereotypically evil, shifty and untrustworthy. There is also use of longer cuts where it shows the white man crying linking to binary opposites where the black characters are shown in shorter cuts and the white character in longer cuts.

In the clip the camera angles and shots represent ethnicity, there is many uses of close ups in the clip which shows the characters reactions. When the camera is on a close up on Danny the camera slightly shakes as it is being hand held, this shows his anger towards the other character and links to ethnicity as black people are stereotypically loud and angry. There is use of low angle shot on the black character which could show he is less important as it shows him looking up at the terrorist which shows that he holds all the power in the situation. This reflects ethnicity in society as black people are known to being at the bottom holding no power. There is use of slow motion when the white people react to Danny's death, they only show slight emotion showing his death could be less important to them. The white people are shown in a different location as they hear over the phone, this shows that white people are law abading and safe, out of harms way. This links back to the reflection of society in the way the white people are safe and higher and at the top in the social heir achy.

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