Representation of Sexuality Homework

In this extract of TV Drama, Fingersmith, we are presented with three characters: a homosexual female (Maud), an assumably heterosexual female (Sue) and a heterosexual male. The producers have used camerawork, mise-en-scéne, sound and editing in order to represent the sexualities of these characters to the audience. In this essay i will be analysing examples of where they have done this.

Immediately, as the opening scene begins, a long shot is used which quickly cuts to a two shot to introduce the two female characters. We can see from these shots that one of the women, Maud, is appearing the help dress the other, Sue. From this we can see that she feels comfortable in touching her, showing the characters' close relationship. However, whilst Sue is making eye contact, the other girl denies herself from doing so until Sue's eye contact has broken. This may suggest that she feels uneasy or nervous in the situation. After this, a narrator that we can assume to be Maud, the woman at the back of the shot begins to speak (non-diegetic), saying "she looked so beautiful". This accompanied with the soft piano (also non-diegetic) background soundtrack - which could be considered to be of a romantic nature - could suggest that the woman is showing emotional affection towards Sue.  In many of the opening shots, Sue is placed at the front of the frame whilst the other woman (the lover) is placed behind her. This composition along her negative facial expression creates the impression that she feels secondary and insignificant in the relationship. Next, Sue says "oh my goodness miss. I look like a real lady". This makes Maud feel further discomfort and shame, shown by her giving a half smile in response to this statement. This is due to the use of the term "real lady" which Maud may have perceived to mean a heterosexual woman, something that she knows she is not. This may be considered to be conforming to the stereotype that homosexual people are often in denial of their sexuality.

In the following scene, a mid-long shot is used to show Sue asleep in bed whilst Maud is sat up next to her. During this scene, Maud places her hand just above Sue's body as though she has the desire to touch it, but is hesitant and doesn't fully commit to doing so. The use of a zooming followed by a tracking camera movement intensifies this action, and also allows us no observe the facial expression of her as the does this, which appears sad and almost desperate, giving us the impression that she wishes that she was touching Sue for real but she cannot bring herself to and she feels restricted. In addition, she closes her eyes during part of the movement, which gives us the idea that she is imagining touching Sue.  Furthermore, from observing Maud's costume, we can notice that she is wearing a glove. This could represent the barrier in between Sue and Maud's relationship, as it denies them direct skin-to-skin contact with one another. Now, the non-diegetic soundtrack makes use of stringed instruments, which are played in a minor key, further increase the emotion felt on behalf of Maud. In this scene there is only one single shot used, rather than cutting between many, that last approximately 25 seconds. This makes the pace of the scene extremely slow, which not only reflects Maud's relaxed state of mind, thinking of her ideal (to be touching Maud) but also the lust that she feels.

In the following scene, Maud is shown painting Sue whilst she sleeps. A dissolve is used between the two scenes implying softness, which could reflect that Maud feels content and relaxed as she is with Sue. Also helping create this relaxed atmosphere is the use of the asynchronous diegetic sound of birds tweeting, as it aids in giving the scene a very natural tone. Not only does the fact that Maud is painting Sue illustrate her affection for her, but also from the use of Close up shots of her face, we can see from her facial expression and body language that she is taking great care in producing the painting and we can see the detail and intricacy of the procedure, which again shows that she cares about making it good for Sue. Whilst she continues painting, she is interrupted by a man who violently removes her hand away from the canvas and says "she must think we love one another" before continuing to speak in an aggressive tone. These actions conform to the stereotype of heterosexual men, as it shows that the man considers himself to be dominant in the relationship. As this takes place on screen, the tension in the music increases, as it appears to become more minor. To this action from the man,  Maud fails to respond and a shot that was shown before the man was introduced is repeated (Close up of Maud's face) this re-use of the shot suggest that in her mind, she is not phased by the encounter and she wishes to carry on as previous. This implies that she does not care for being in a heterosexual relationship with the man, as she is already focussed on Sue. Her caring for Sue is further reinforced when she says "Wake her. She'll burn", as it shows that she feels responsibility to keep her safe and her well-being good. In return, a mid shot presents the man, who is now standing up, putting his finger in against his mouth and saying "shhh.". Here the non-diegetic soundtrack becomes more tense, as the more stringed instruments (cellos) are introduced. This is another example of where he considers himself dominant as a heterosexual man.

Just previous to this response, a shot reverse shot sequence is used, cutting from close ups of Maud's face to Sue's breasts and then her hands in her lap. When Maud's face is cut to for the third time, she licks her lips and flares her nostrils slightly. Culturally, this body language would indicate sexual arousal. This sequence suggests that she is also sexually attracted to Sue, not only due to this body language, but due to the close up shots of Maud's breasts and hands in the shot reverse shot (sexual body parts). After this, we are shown a series of close up action match shots of paint dripping from Maud's brush onto her dress. The dripping action of the paint had been slowed down somewhat in order to intensify it, so that it appears to become more dramatic to the viewer. This shot sequence tells us that she is completely in awe of Sue as looking at her has distracted her from what she is doing. Also, the slow pace of editing gives us the idea that this was taking place over a prolonged period of time, emphasising this fixation further. Eventually an eye-line match shows Maud and the man make eye contact. This editing process conveys that the man has figured out what's going on. As this happens, the music becomes more tense still, as a low-pitched piano is added. From here the pace of editing increases further as the man grabs Maud by the throat and holds her against a tree. Once again, the way in which the man is coming across in this violent way could be representative of the stereotypes of heterosexual men, that they can be overly dominant. When Maud says "I've lost heart for this" the man responds "lost it to a wretched little fingersmith". The way that he is cursing Sue by the use of the word "wretched" in his dialogue, may show that he is embarrassed about being replaced by a woman instead of a man. He then continues by saying things such as "she'd laugh in your face if she knew", acting as a way of trying to turn Maud against being a lesbian, presenting homosexuality as something that is looked down upon. This may be representative of the era in which the drama was set, as contextually, homosexuality was considered a taboo subject as it wasn't as widely accepted as it is now.

After this, the man leans in to kiss sue, and in return she refuses to make eye contact and then moves away. This shows that she is now accepting of her sexuality, as this is an indication that she has chosen to oppose heterosexuality. In this scene, the same shot is used for approximately 30 seconds, as the pace of editing decreases massively. This creates the impression that Maud's emotions have become more flat and bland as she is no longer around Sue. However, the pace of editing increases again towards the end, after a tilt shot is used to follow the man getting onto his knees before kissing sues hand. There are a series of very quick cuts between this and close ups of sue's face which represent her feelings of fear, discomfort and agitation.