Discuss the ways in which the extract creates representations of gender and lifestyle.

Holly oaks is a TV drama based around the loves and lives of the inhabitants of this area, it focuses on the younger age group from teenage life to the lives of the 20’s and 30 year old category also. This soap through mise en scene, camera, sound and editing techniques conveys issues that could seem quite deviant in society today through drama, and in this essay I am going to focus on how Gender and lifestyle is represented.

Firstly setting is established, a long shot of a lady whom is referred to as Bernadette is partaking in river dancing, this long shot we get a full view of what is happening in the mise on scene. It denotes to the viewer a front living room of an ordinary semi-detached or terrace house; we see a sofa, curtains, netting on the windows, things in which are normal within a household, this instantly tells us of the lifestyle and class of these people, it suggests that they are working to middle class.

The use of diegetic sound is important within this extract as it connotes the cultural back ground, it suggests that these people are of an Irish heritage and they show this through the traditional river dancing which is a typical Irish dance. This is representative of lifestyle as this shows the different cultures that may be living within one society as holly oaks is based in Chester.

The camera shot changes between the river dancer ‘ Bernadette’ to a medium shot of the three grievers whom are sat on the sofa, one an middle age-elderly lady who seems to be revelling in the river dance and this suggests that she is quite proud as she leans over to the other 2 characters in order to promote this excellence, even though they both seem rather disinterested as there posture is slack, and there responses to questions are merely grunts, this is connoted because the character of Bernadette as achieved something that is initially quite classy and of cultural importance she is valued for showing this as a sign of respect for someone who has died. The lady is dressed all in black as would be the attire for a situation such as this, but we can tell of her class by the way she I sat, she seems of quite an aristocratic background as she is sat with her legs neatly crossed, her hands over her knees and she is prominently enjoying the entertainment she is receiving. We see Bernadette’s legs dance across the fore ground; this enables the viewer to keep in touch of the type of cultural background these people come from. Camera shot cuts to a two shot of Malachy and another women whom are sitting having a more private conversation that is irrelevant to the situation itself.

The diegetic sound is also important as the Irish music suddenly begins to fade and this could be quite ironic to what is coming up next. We next see a series of two shots, along with a head shot of the women who seemed extremely joyous by the river dancing in which had just taken place, the camera does a short and fast zoom in closer to the woman’s face in order for the viewer to recognised the shock that has covered her face. We then see another series of two shots that are used for use to see the looks and shock of the other people inside the room. Through these shot types we can see here how certain people within society looks down on gay/bi-sexual relationships and people whom cross dress because they feel the need to do this as it makes them feel better with in them selves. Are all of societal views focused on the negative outcome of not conforming to what they deem correct?

We then jump to a direct long shot of Chris, just like the one we see of Bernadette, this is a master shot so that we can re-establish what is going on in the scene. We see the rest of the company looking at him, mise en scene through Chris’s costume denotes red lipstick long red socks and a white jumpsuit, this resembles something Kylie Monogue wore in her ‘cant get you out of my head’ music video. The costume is white which contrasts with the rest of the company as they are dressed in black in sign of respect. This is suggestive of Chris's non-conformity in character. The use of the Kylie Monogue attire also gives a sense of peoples cultural knowledge that the viewer has as lifestyle within today’s society is very much influenced by sexual representations within the media view point of characters such as her, everyone knows who she is.

‘I’m a cross dresser’ he exclaims as we cut back to the mastershot view of the whole lounge area staring at him in disbelief, the people in the room seem quite disgusted by this which suggests how the elder generation, such as the middle age women of whom seems extremely shocked by this announcement aren’t as excepting of things such as bi-sexual and gay relationships. As being homosexual is more accepted within today’s society than say the 20th century societal views. This is also represented through the different reactions of characters in this extract, the people of a more younger generation seem more angered about the fact they didn’t know, such as the young girl who ran away crying clearly upset as she had some form of relationship with the bi-sexual cross dresser, and also Bernadette who claims that Chris is selfish for releasing this information on a day that is not about him. This is representative of the more open lifestyle that people in modern day society live, things are genuinely more open when its come to things such as sex. Gender issues are more blurred and as things are becoming more obsolete within society. The fading away of the Irish music at this moment in time is also suggestive of his disrespect for his father, the cultural references throughout the scene suggest his father was in touch with his nationality and the fading of the music suggests Chris’s disrespect for it.

A sound bridge is used as a form of transition between the cut into the next scene, the backing soundtrack is non diegetic and the music plays quite sad balled music; something in which you would listen to when you go through heartbreak. We then see a close up shot of Mercedes, whom is quite a flamboyant female character, her use of costume and makeup accentuates her female sexuality. Use of editing is relevant here as a cross fade is used with quite a blurry effect; this is a useful effect as the lighting and colour changes to a colourless screen. This technique is used in order to give a sense of what is happening on screen not being realistic within the versilamilitude. Mercedes is imagining what life use to be like with Malachy. This is representative of gender and life style as it is suggestive of women’s delicate role in the image of love, and it is also representative of the drama in which happens in everyday life such as romance, and break ups.