representation of Age in ER clip Oscar perillo

Representation of Age in the ER clip Oscar Perillo

 

The representation of age is generally that the older you get the more intelligent you seem, however past a certain age you become more of a nuisance rather than an intellectual and through the use of sound, mese-en-scene, editing and different camera angles this is all clear.

 

The scene opens with a female doctor and her older co-worker talking about a recent diagnosis and how well the doctor had done, asserting her higher status above him even though he is clearly older. It is clear that she is trying to seem younger as with dyed hair to erase the greys in her hair. This could be to avoid becoming too old, and no longer feel respected. The director of this episode moves the camera backwards at this point, tracking the two doctors. This gives the audience the impression of authority and the idea of control that the doctors have.

 

As the male, older doctor enters a room after being congratulated, he then confronts a younger child. The child is instantly seen as intelligent as he has a Sudoku book in his lap. And on closer inspection, the lighting reveals that he has large dark circles under his eyes, meaning that he is seriously ill. The SRS used places him as the doctors equal rather than the young child he really is. When the boy speaks he uses large words like “invariably fatal”, a clear indication to his intelligence, as these are words that would never be used by someone of his age.

 

The older doctor in the scene does however retain his status as he speaks directly to the boy and gives him a command with “you know you have to tell her” when referring to the boy’s mother. As the boy is then in shot the audience can see that he is reluctant, but willing: Similar to the idea of most children his age. The use of Technical Jargon in this scene also helps to prove the point that the boy is on an intellectual balance with the male doctor, however the male doctor still has the authority in the situation as although the boy is intelligent, he still respects the people older than him because they have more experience than him.

 

The young boy in the scene is represented as a reverse to general stereotype of younger children. The comparison between the two children occurs once a cut transition goes from the intelligent, terminally ill boy, to the slightly hurt and seemingly un-intelligent younger boy, whom nurses appear to be talking to in an almost patronising tone. This conversation between the nurse and small boy occurs with a SRS and also when viewing the nurse we see a low angle shot, and looking at the boy a high angle shot, depicting him as the clearly less intellectual of the two, whilst the previous conversation occurred at the same height for both doctor and patient, implying a balance between the two of them.

 

The Old woman featured in the scene represents the stereotype for the elderly, as she is seen to be a nuisance to the doctors in their efforts to work out who is sick and who is not. She states with confidence that she is here for the air and that the air is very good for her. The on-call doctor responds with a sarcastic “nock yourself out” as she moves on throughout the room. The diagetic background sounds of ambulances and dying people help to emphasise how inconvenient and foolish her request is.

 

Later when we see two younger doctors in a relationship communicating it is clear that what they are discussing is relatively minor in comparison to other events occurring. They are talking about going away on holiday, and how the male cannot attend, as he would burn up in the sun. This conversation has a tracking camera following it as they move onwards though the hospital, giving the audience the impression of a more gossip based conversation, rather than the more serious scenarios that are occurring throughout the hospital. There is then more conversation between the young male doctor and an older male doctor, who insensitively tells the boy that his girlfriend is part of a gypsy whore tribe. This idea that the older character does not correctly consider the emotions of the younger doctor is the stereotype of old people being, once again, seen as foolish. The older black doctor featured at the front of the shot in a MCU also uses the Jewish slang term “Tuckus” which he then cringes at. This could be because the term is also associated with age and he does not want to seem older than he is.

 

The middle-aged doctor and surgeon have a situation where the surgeon has been forced to remove a bullet from a patient for a police report. In doing this the surgeon “accidently” lost the bullet, performing a rather childish stunt in an effort to create his own justice. The close up on this doctor’s face when he says that he accidently lost the bullet makes it clear to the audience that he did not loose it accidentally. This connotes the idea that these doctors are not as adult as they seem.

 

To conclude, the representation of the young is seen as careless in most circumstances, although the stereotype is broken under finite situations.  This means that as characters seem to get older they either try to seem younger and therefore less serious, or they will age gracefully and end up as a burden upon their younger co-workers such as the researching doctor that referred to a woman’s heritage as

Doctor Who analysis. Oscar Perillo

Doctor Who analysis. Oscar Perillo

 

The doctor who clip, Men are seen as the more dominant gender, however women are capable of turning this around with the power of words, the stereotype being that women will often use words when men are using physical strengths.

 

Opening with a high angle shot over the shoulder of the Master looking down upon Martha connotes the idea that she is imprisoned by him and now beneath him. The tall security guard also helps this, as she appears much smaller in comparison.

 

As the scene starts goes on, we see Martha’s family who have been imprisoned; and the women are seen wearing maid uniforms, and the men are wearing uniforms designed for manual labour. This is the stereotype that men are good at only manual jobs and women are not.

 

The low angle shot of the master from Martha’s perspective implies that he is very powerful and above Martha and this is the idea that men are more powerful than woman and remain dominant over her because he has the power to do so.

 

He commands her to kneel, a symbol of power over someone in all known societies. This very much represents his need to be feared and have power over people; the idea that men are controlling and only consider physical aspects, such as a person kneeling.

 

The clip of rockets edited together is a visual representation of the Master’s power being used for chaotic purposes, as a male character he must be represented as powerful with something physically dangerous such as launching rockets into space to take over the universe.

 

The dark tinted image used during her flash back implies that he had been through some difficult times, the idea now being that she is now becoming more powerful than him because she has been through this difficult act. The use of jump cuts also during this flashback explores once again that she had been through difficult times.

 

The song that introduces the clip is almost Wild West fashioned. This is the idea of a duel about to occur. And the sound gradually builds up until she turns the tables upon him.

 

As Martha starts to sarcastically talk to him, implying that she doesn’t fear him, and that his power is meaningless against her. She is still seen in High angle shots because the master still has control over her but these responses from her imply that his control is only physical. The music builds up to an almost angelic song, the implication being that this is a religious copy, and that she is the saviour and point is also reinforced by his line “is that your weapon? Prayer?” The religious ideal meaning that Martha is the saviour of the human race just as Jesus was.

 

The two stereotypical characters in the scene, Captain Jack and the Master’s wife are seen chanting the doctors name in this, defying their stereotypes as the man hasn’t done something physical and the woman no longer belongs to the Master or is seen as her property. The woman chanting especially implies that she is no longer a servant to the master. She is often seen in mid-shots, meaning that we are always able to see her cleavage and view her as something rather than someone.

 

The moment when the Doctor rises above the master with a high angle shot of the master to represent this change in power combined with loud biblical type angelic singing means that we view him above all in this clip, and this is possible thanks to Martha.  His stance is like Jesus’ when he was crucified showing him off as the saviour for the human race. Another religious point occurs earlier when 

 

The use of a ticking clock is used for suspense during the clip, giving time for Martha to counter the Master’s plan. This countdown is of course a way of building suspense ready for the seen, as if a fight would occur, only we see nothing physical occur.

 

The Master’s final plea for people to obey him: “stop it, I Order you!” is the implication that he has resorted to using words as well as a final attempt and the use of editing to transform the doctor into a younger version of him means that we see the power of prayer in this situation. The scifi Jargon used is an attempt to explain what is occurring.

 

Women are seen at the beginning of the clip, we see women are not in control and silent. The males in the clip are all attempting to assert their dominance through physical movements. This later flips around once Martha starts talking and then we see the effect of her words.