An analysis of Gender in “Cold Feet”

An analysis of Gender in “Cold Feet”

After watching the small clip of ‘Cold feet’ I can distinguish how gender has been represented. Male and female are shown very stereotypically. Women are shown to be the typical ‘housewife’ where as the men are shown to be the characteristic ‘working’ husband.
This essay will explore how gender is represented through Mise-en-scene. The first female character we see in the clip is denoted to be in the kitchen, cooking, this emphasizes what a stereotypical ‘housewife’ does. This representation of women has a polysemic effect as the audience may see it positively or negatively. If the audience were old fashioned, they would see it to be an positive, accurate representation as they agree with what is being shown, however if a younger audience was to watch this they would see it to be a wrong representation as they believe that women are not only suppose to be a ‘housewife’ and can have a career. We also see the first male sitting at the dining table that seems to just come back from work, which is portrayed through his costume, since he is wearing a suit. This signifies that he is the typical ‘working’ husband. To support the idea that he has just come back from work, the lightening in the dining room/kitchen has a low key. This conveys the time of day, which is evening.
In the next scene we see another couple at a supermarket, shopping for ‘baby materials.’ However, what we see is that the female character is the one doing the shopping and knows what the best materials are, where as the male character does not really now what he is getting and what is the best. He would rather go for the cheaper materials. This connotes how stereotypical of the two genders are seen. The female character who knows what she is doing and the male character who is confused about the whole thing. This is clearly shown when the female character picks up an expensive item which is supposed to be the best, but the male character insists they go for the cheaper one as he believes there is not a difference but the price. This representation of men also has a polysemic effect, as the audience may see this to be accurate or inaccurate. The majority, female audience would see this to accurate as it goes with what they believe in, there ideology of this representation, however the male audience will find this to be inaccurate as they feel that they are just as good at shopping for baby materials as the females are said to be. The lightening in this scene is shown to have an ambient type of lightening to create the atmosphere of it being in a natural environment.
To conclude, in this clip of Cold Feet, the representation of both genders are shown through Mise-en-scene. The female characters portray the characture representation of women, being the typical housewife, which is connoted through the actions/performance they do. The male characters are shown to be the stereotypical ‘working’ husband and also being the classic father who doesn’t know what he is doing. Both representation has a polysemic effect, being either negative or positive, depending on the audiences point of view.