Sexuality and Gender: What stereotypes are used, what assumptions are made. What associations come to mind when you hear the word 'straight' and 'gay'

Sexuality and Gender: What stereotypes are used, what assumptions are made. What associations come to mind when you hear the word 'straight' and 'gay'

How sexuality is being portrayed

After watching two different clips from the tv drama Sherlock Holmes I am going to evaluate how Meadows portrayed sexuality through the characters by focusing on Mise en Scene, editing and sound.

In the first clip called “What do you mean gay?” the audience  are introduced to the character Jim who later turns out to be the Jim Moriarty being hunted by Sherlock Holmes and Watson. His sexuality is portrayed greatly by mise en scene. Jim is wearing a skin tight lightly coloured top which seems quite feminine especially when he stands next to Sherlock who is wearing a dark suit which is a lot more masculine. Also when both Sherlock and Jim speak you can again see the difference between Jim being more feminine and Sherlock being the more masculine.  Jim speaks in a quite high pitched, feminine voice and seems quite excitable/emotional when meeting Sherlock, whereas on the other hand Sherlock does not greet Jim as enthusiastically as is more matter of fact and blunt when calling him “gay”. Also Sherlock’s voice is quite deep compared to Jims “So your Sherlock Holmes” which is quite a feminine thing to say when first being introduced to someone.  

I also noticed Sherlock’s instant judgement of Jim when he accused him of being gay, which also showed his homophobic belief. Also this made Sherlock more dominant as Jim did not reply to the accusation pointed towards him and just made a distraction and then changed subject before quickly leaving, which again is a feminine trait of leaving a situation when uncomfortable in and not causing a scene. Also we can tell Sherlock is the more dominant by the Camera shots and editing. There are more close-ups on Sherlock and more long shots on Jim, the long shots allows you to see how Jim is dressed and walks in the scenes which all were quite feminine. Also Sherlock was seen more throughout the clip showing he was the more dominant as he made more time on the screen.

In the second clip called ‘Sherlock meets Moriarty” Jim become much more masculine and a clear change in sexuality has been made from clip one. The mise en scene is one of the obvious places the change has happened. Now Jim is also wearing a suit similar to the one Sherlock is wearing in both clips, now both characters are masculine and are both fighting each other to be the more dominant. Also in this clip Sherlock pulls out a gun which allows him to become the more dominant and Jim also kept speaking in a high pitched voice throughout. Just after Sherlock pulls the gun out on Jim or Moriarty as we now know who is being hunted by Sherlock, have red laser markers on him and Watson. This means that they’re masculine has been challenged and overpowered.  Also the setting is also questionable has to whether being masculine or feminine as they are in a gym or fitness centre and are all standing next to a pool. Also the use of sound is quite important to the scene as the music is slow and builds the tension and continues to play throughout the scene keeping the tension. Its quite slow and classical and deep sounding instruments mostly associated to men. In this scene the dialogue is important as Jim changes between using his natural deep voice and his mocking “gay”, feminine voice. This is clearly Jim showing his masculinity by mocking Sherlock for believing in his gay act. Also the editing shows the battle between the two characters for the masculinity in the scene. The camera shots consist more long shots to show the audience what is happening in the shots and to show how they are behaving, if they acting in a masculine way.  There is a final shot at the end which could be an establishing shot of Sherlock to build the suspense for the audience and shows that Sherlock is holding the power at the end of the scene, he is the more masculine in that moment. This will also leave a lasting impression on the audience as he is the last character they would see.