The Hustle clip immediately starts showing representation of
gender through the use of the shop keeper, elderly women, the women in the grey
suit, the man that comes into the shop, and the two men in the lounge bar. Who
all challenge and conform to the typical gender stereotypes through their
actions.
The shop owner is
immediately labelled as post masculine, this is due to the fact that he works
in an upmarket, designer clothes shop, meaning he doesn’t conform to the male
stereotypes of the business man. Furthermore he is not given much power in the
clip, if he is the main shot and the centre composition it is only to show his
conflicting emotions when he is being hustled, which quick shots flitting to
the other person in order to not give him enough screen time to give him the
power people thought originally thought he had or when he is being rude to the
older women, where he is given the high angle shots to give him power and she
is given the low angle shots, as well as that he is given the longer shots but
sneakily you can see the women in the grey suit behind him so that he has power
but once again it is taken away from him. Otherwise he is always shown with
someone, with once again shots going to the other person. He is shown wearing a
black suit with black shirt which contrasts with the white shop as it the white
shows purity whereas the black in his suit makes him stand out as the villain
even though the women in the grey suit and man are suspicious. There is no real
music around him, only when he gets involved with the hustlers does the comical
music start as if a joke is being played on him. Also when there is no music an
emphasis is put on his voice showing how feminine it is. This character
represents gender as the post masculine from a stereotypical males perspective
that post masculine men are like women; that women are money grabbers, who only
care about money and fashion and would do anything for it.
The women the grey suit, the
women hustler, is given much power throughout as she is a sexual object. She is
this due to the way that she dresses, as she shows more than a women should, even
the dress that she was trying on was very revealing, the way she wears tightly
fitted clothes, the way that she talks, she talks provocatively and makes
sexual noises. Instead of head on shots she is always panned, as if the
audience if the audience is checking her out, which fits in with the tight
fitted clothes. This gives her the power as it means that the shots follow her,
even when it’s not it’s to make her look even more sexual than before. These
slow, long shots give is her power. But towards the end her role in the shop
scene she looks and the camera, smiling she says ‘oh I know you will’ as if it
was all a huge joke even though she had made a huge scene about it before. She
is always the centre composition or in a shot in some way, even if it’s in the
background. The music surrounding her is either slow as if she is going to do
something or comical as if she finds this funny. Towards the end of the clip
she is shown now having long, dark hair talking on the phone to the shop
manager. Though frantic before her smirks tells the audience that she thinks
the conversation with him was comical, much like the music before. She is
meeting up the male hustler, this then puts her from the position of the sexual
object to post feminism. This character represents gender as a post feminism
through again a male’s perspective, this is that even though they say that they
don’t need a man in order to get what they want they must make themselves as
‘sexual objects’ in order to get what they want, even if they are in charge of
the operation.
The man that comes into the shop, the male hustler, is a
good example of a stereotypical male. He said that he was looking for clothes
for his ‘new bird’ implying that she is one of many and doesn’t care enough to
name. He wears a suit which immediately labels him as a business man that has a
lot of money, especially coming into this shop. He wears a necklace that makes
him look feminine as it would not typically be ordinary for men to wear
necklaces but in this day and age it might be more acceptable to a younger
audience compared to an older one. The shots on him are either medium shots or
one with him sharing the shot with the shop owner. The medium shots show him
with a mischievous, smug face as if he knows something that the shop owner
doesn’t which the audience can see from the way he picked up the ring. When
having an argument with the shop keeper however they are both shown together to
show that they are on equal grounds and that without one the other cannot win.
His accent is common with contrasts with his suit, stereotypically he would be
more in the working class than in a business class which makes him seem
suspicious, but his medium shots are longer giving him power, as well as that he
leads the shots as well.
The men in the lounge bar, are the stereotypical males in
this clip. One is dressed smart casually and the other is in a suit insinuating
that they are middle class working men. They seem to be having a serious
conversation at first that leads to the shot, putting the emphasis on the fact
that they are stereotypical men that only talk about serious matter. There is
no music around them to put emphasis on the seriousness on the conversation to
make them seem important, even though they do not have a lot of screen time
before it cuts to the next scene where the story is taking place. Also the shot
shows both men talking in a medium shot to give them more power but the man in
the suit had more alone screen time to signify his importance in the story, the
suit emphasising this more. This means that they are both the typical male
gender.
In conclusion this clip shows that the stereotypical male
and female gender types do not only apply to that sex, it can stretch through
both in different variations. This is shown in this clip through the use of
costumes mostly in this clip and how the character presents himself. Also the
way that the men are shown to have more power in the shots and if they don’t
have it is portrayed so that they think they do. Overall it shows that the
older member’s society still conforms to the typical stereotypes of men having
the most power, whereas a more modern view would say that this is perfect
representation of how women have more power over men even when they refuse to
see it.
