How is gender represented in Shallow Grave?

How is gender represented in Shallow Grave?

Danny Boyle represents women as being quite sexual during Shallow Grave through his choice of costume. Throughout this whole scene, Juliet is shown wearing a low cut, revealing dress. This tells the audience that she is quite a provocative character. By doing so, Boyle has created the effect that Juliet likes to show herself off. On the other hand, Boyle has represented the men in this scene quite differently to each other. David is shown wearing a tuxedo, whereas Alex is shown wearing an open buttoned suit. Boyle has done this to show the contrasting personalities between the two men. As David is shown wearing a tuxedo, it creates the effect that he wants to convey a  more upper class character and that he cares about his appearance; which is unordinary as this is stereotypically a trait carried by women. Alex contrasts David heavily during this scene as he is very sloppily dressed in comparison.  As Alex is shown wearing an unbuttoned suit, it shows the audience that he is not as appearance conscious as the other two characters, and that he is more interested in having fun than showing himself in a positive way.

Boyle also represents the two contrasting genders through his use of diegetic sound. Boyle represents the men in Shallow Grave to be quite aggressive and masculine. David shouts “you’ll end up inside a f*****g bin bag” during this scene which is extremely hostile. Boyle has chosen to do this as it shows to the audience that the men in this film are dominant and they take over the situation without necessarily thinking about the negative consequences. Furthermore, the men in this scene swear quite a lot because it makes them seem short tempered and quite easily aggravated. As well as that, the men shout these swear words as it sounds quite harsh to our ears and it makes them seem more aggressive to us as we aren’t used to hearing these words shouted often. On the other hand, Boyle chooses to use diegetic sound to make the woman in this scene seem quite submissive and innocent. Juliet does not shout during this scene, which contrasts how the men choose to speak. This creates the effect that she is much calmer and collected than the other two, and that she does not feel the need to shout to get her point across.

Cinematography is very significant in Shallow Grave when discussing how Danny Boyle represents gender. Quite an important shot in this scene is when Alex is on the floor and Juliet is standing above him with her shoe placed on his mouth. A low angle shot is used to show Juliet which represents her as being more dominant. This is unusual as the male is normally shown in the more dominant role. By using this particular shot, Boyle has created the effect of giving Juliet more power over Alex in this scene. Boyle has chosen to do this, as it is a flip of what we are usually used to in film. As Juliet is standing over Alex, looking down on him, it tells the audience that she almost has control over him and that she can use her sexuality to make him do what she wants. Alternatively, Danny Boyle uses a high angle shot of Alex as he lies on the floor under Juliet. Boyle has chosen to do this as it almost emasculates Alex as he is shown under a woman. In this particular shot, Alex is shown to be the less dominant character as the camera angle shows Juliet looking down on him as he lies powerless on the ground. Throughout this whole scene, Juliet is shown to be a more submissive character; however in this shot there is a role reversal.  By using this type of camera shot to show Alex, it creates the effect that he is powerless and that he is out of his comfort zone, as usually he can be seen as the more powerful character.

Danny Boyle uses varying types of mise-en-scene, sound and cinematography to represent a particular gender in a certain way. Men are stereotypically and traditionally the more dominant characters in film, however Boyle challenges this idea as he switched the roles briefly in this scene. Instead, the woman in this scene is giving more power over a male. As well as that, Boyle’s use of diegetic sound is very significant as it represents the genders very differently. The men are shown to be more aggressive and masculine, whereas the woman is shown to be more submissive and quiet.