Gender Representation in Waterloo Road

In the clip we see a high school that has introduced a scheme to split male and female students during lessons, this essay will show how camera, editing, sound and mise en scene represent gender throughout. The clip begins with male students in a food technology lesson, this contrasts the stereotypical view that women usually cook and men do more manual or academic work. Sound is used to represent gender as the music during the scene is fast paced and the ambient sound reflects the behaviour of the boys as they throw the ingredients for their food around and generally misbehave. The female teacher is an authority figure, which again contrasts the stereotypical role of men and women. Mise en scene highlights the gender representation as the teacher is wearing a blue, floral apron emphasising the fact that her character is feminine but still in control whereas the boys are wearing darker, more masculine colours. She states that the boys' food is already measured out for them, as if to say that they are incapable of cooking and therefore need a woman's help to prevent them from making any mistakes. The camera is filming from outside the classroom, through the blinds which makes it hard for the audience to relate to the characters. A shot reverse shot is used throughout the conversation the teacher has with the deputy head and shows her reaction in response to his comments about the new student. The editing during the scene makes the situation feel more chaotic around the boys as the cuts are quick and short. This is in contrast the the classroom of girls as the cuts are slow and calm, as though the audience were in the classroom with the girls. The camera pans around the room and allows the back of students' heads to be in the shot, making the audience feel like they are in the lesson amongst the girls. The camera angles throughout the clip are low angle, looking down onto the classroom to enable the audience to see that the girls are sitting in an ordered fashion, not standing and throwing things like the boys had previously been doing. This, and the lack of music and background noise denote that the girls are calmer and more mature than the boys as they can follow instructions and sit civilly. In addition, the girls suggest that not only can women cook, like the teacher in the previous scene, but they can carry out academic discussions and work intelligently. However the rules are being reinforced by a male deputy head teacher, giving him a rol of higher authority and making both the female teachers and the female students seem inferior to him.