How is gender portrayed in the opening sequence of ‘Sugar Rush’?
The representation of gender in the opening sequence of ‘Sugar Rush’ breaks the typical conventions expected by a specific gender, although it does also fit the conventions at the same time. It presents different stereotypes of the two genders, some being the feminine gay men to the masculine females.
The opening sequence begins at a fair ground, on the waltzer, with two teenage girls. This is seen as a typical teenage activity to do. The bright lights and loud music show that they are having fun; this combined with the fast edits shows the excitement of the two girls. The music playing is pop music, which is what teenage girls are expected to listen to. The fast edits give the impression that it is dream-like. When the two girls kiss, there is an extreme close up to show the importance of the shot. When this shot fades out along with the music, and the next scene fades in with the diegetic sound, and we realise it was just Kim’s fantasy. At this point, conventions have been broke, as it is not a stereotypical thing for a girl to dream about kissing her female best friend, whilst masturbating. Although she says it’s fine as it is the 21st century. This shows she is quite masculine, yet she has floral pattered bed sheets, which we assume was not picked by her.
When her father walked in, he is completely clueless to what his daughter was doing. This is known as a typical male thing, however in the next scene we see he is not the typical manly man, as he trying to do DIY but his wife downgrades him saying “we’re going to get a man in”, and he corrects her saying “I am a man” but she replies with “a real man”, which suggests she does not think he is a man and that he is incapable of doing male activities. We assume the dad is not respected in their family, as if he isn’t actually the man of the family, because when Kim mimics him, we can see she is being sarcastic and he is constantly repeating the same thing.
In this same scene, where they are all in the kitchen, we see a lot of different representations of gender. One being the mother, and by this part we see that she is not the typical mother, as she does not want to be called “mum”, so she isn’t reminded of her motherly responsibilities. And she is also drinking which is usually the man thing to do. This breaks the conventions. In fact, it is like the mother and father is in reverse roles and she is the ‘man of the house’.
We next see another male representation, being two feminine gay men. They are the typical gay man, with their language such as; “he’s a darling”, this is usually a womanly thing to say, which makes them fit the conventions of a gay man.
The voice over is in a one-tone, drone voice which is how a stereotypical teenage girl would be known as talking like.
Finally, in the last scene, Marie Sweet or ‘sugar’ is introduced. Her character is in contrast to Kim’s. Firstly she is presented as being a flirty, seductive teenage girl, with the biting lips and her tone of voice saying; “Kick ass baby”. Then there is the clothing she wears, which is tight and revealing. Sugar dresses and acts the way a man would want her to act. The close ups on her legs and cleavage suggest she is flirty. In this scene they are playing pool which is usually a masculine game for girls to play.
Overall, in the opening sequence of ‘Sugar Rush’, there are many different stereotypes of the male and female gender, either breaking or fitting the conventions.
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