September 2018 – Page 5 – English 1102: Television and Feminism

Other than the main plot, cinematography is another essential factor directors use to communicate with the viewers. The way the director has designed the lighting, color themes, and shot choices can drastically change the viewer’s experience and the way the show is perceived. Lighting and color scheme can determine the mood of a particular episode and shot choices can create dramatic effects for action or dialogue. I decided to look how the directors designed the first episode of season two of Fresh off the Boat.

The episode begins with a flashback of scenes from the previous season, which is slightly darkened to give the typical “flashback” effect; however, it is not completely black and white like other scenes of flashbacks. It then changes back to the usual calming color theme that was predominant in season one. Since the show focuses on a family in a suburban neighborhood, it doesn’t necessarily have the vibrant colors of a big city but rather the color theme of a middle-class neighborhood in suburban Orlando. The shots vary in length as conversational shots are short and switches from character to character to focus on their facial expressions and responses to the conversation. Other shots could be longer but most of the comedic effects come from the conversations between the characters; therefore, the show has mostly short but well cut shots.

I chose the first episode of season two: Family Business Trip as it isn’t shot in the Huang’s house but rather at a resort that they went to. Instead of being mostly filmed in an indoor setting, many scenes of this episode showed the Huang family hanging out at the pool or at Gatorworld. As the scenes were shot in an outdoor setting, they were very well lit and portrays the idea of a family vacation in the hot, sunny summer. The indoor shots’ color theme and lighting remained relatively consistent with other episodes of the show.

Grandma enjoying her new hair at the pool

I think it is very interesting to notice how the show is filmed; I don’t always notice the cinematography behind each episodes but deliberately thinking about these factors made the show much more interesting to watch.

A New Safety, Scenery, Screwdriver

By Justin Lau

On September 24, 2018

For this blog entry, I will be focusing on the cinematography of the episode “Imaginary Enemies”. In this episode, there are a lot of major plot twists and surprises. Piper is struggling especially adjusting to prison life, she seems to be at a low point, hallucinating, but is pulling through day by day. We get a glimpse of Piper’s new roommate Mrs. Claudette and her backstory of how she got here. At first, Piper was afraid of Mrs. Claudette as a result of her serious demeanor and brevity to call out whoever she likes. Mrs.Claudette is well-known for her seemingly wise personality and courage as a person. Piper’s issue with the screwdriver and constant memory loss suggests her mental health may continue to decline and suffer as the show goes on. One of the inmates Mercy has gotten an appeal accepted for her case and was released at the end of the episode, creating a flush of emotions and change throughout this entire plot. This helped the prisoners see that there is possible hope in their cases, and to never give up.

With the cinematography, scenes in the prison were shot pretty blandly. There are numerous long takes when focusing on a specific person’s important commentary, likely shot to help viewers concentrate more on each individual’s traits and details they contribute to the overall plot. However, in the midst of sensitive scenes dealing with racism or stereotyping where the details aren’t as important to the whole plot, I noticed that there are much more quick cuts and switches to different parts of the environment.

A large detail noticed in this episode is the lighting of various scenes. In the prison scenes, the lighting was dull and it was clear enough to see items clearly and distinguish faces easily, yet it was obvious those scenes weren’t well-lit or anything like that. On the other hand, in the scenes where they throw it back to Mrs.Claudette’s past, the house present in the scene was extremely bright, and immediately lightened up the mood of the plot. Also, in Mercy’s farewell scene at the end of the episode, the lobby room was unusually more lit up than the other scenes in the prison. I believe the screenwriter intentionally did this to signify two different scenarios and that emphasize the fact that although all of these women are dangerous and potentially bad characters, the portrayal of these scenes reminded the viewers that the women had a previous happy life and the actions that led them into where they are right now(prison) are not necessarily just.

Boo with Piper’s stolen screwdriver

Making Prison Feel Like… Prison

By Lauren Garrett

On September 24, 2018

A typical episode of Orange is the New Black goes like this: we open a relevant scene from Piper’s pre-prison life. Flash to Piper’s life now, in Litchfield. Plotline begins to develop, related to another character as well. Flash to that character’s past life. Flash back to Piper, in prison, with said plotline. More flashbacks to reveal the background of the other character. Repeat.

Although difficult to follow sometimes, the transitioning back and forth through different scenes does wonders for how the story is told and for the viewers’ understandings of each character. Episodes tend to follow one character and their involvement with Piper heavily, so the exposition of each character comes out by episode. For example, while Piper fights back and forth with Red, the kitchen boss, we see scenes of Red’s past life in Russia where she is alienated and rejected by upper class society. These flashback scenes allow us to understand Red’s deep pride, which Piper repeatedly accidentally insults, and to empathize a bit more with her. She is no longer a crazy, evil Russian lady but instead someone who has also loved and lost and is suffering her punishment.

We love a humanized character.

Flashing back to Larry, Piper’s fiancé, and the rest of her family and friends allows the audience to also remember that life is continuing without Piper, bringing up a very real conflict that many long-time prisoners experience – they are disconnected from their families, friends, jobs and all other aspects of their life, leaving them with very little left of what they had before when they are finally released. Although Larry attempts to continue to involve Piper, including trying to have her listen in to a call with a Barney’s executive regarding her soap line, there are small signs that he is beginning to re-adjust to life without her, including hiding her picture as he watches Mad Men without her (something that he had promised not to do).

Notable also is the lighting, and the stark variance of the lighting between real-life and flashback. While showing prison scenes, the lighting is fluorescent and sterile; it gives the impression that the inmates are just that, and there is no coziness. Even at night, the highlighting that allows the audience to observe what is occurring is white and cold instead of yellow and warm, as a night light would be. In contrast, almost all flashbacks have softer lighting. They feel homier, friendlier and happier, even when the events depicted may not be. Here, the filming clearly aims to invoke feelings of emptiness, general hopelessness and longing for freedom while the inmates are shown in prison and aims at showing their happiness and satisfaction with life outside of prison.

Through this method of storytelling, viewers find themselves respecting and empathizing with each character, not just the protagonists, and they can begin to see the events of the show unfolding from different perspectives. It is genius, really – and we get sucked into it every time.

New Girl: Re-writing what humor is:Topic 2

By Anika Islam

New Girl is a show that has relatively light-hearted humor that really registers with the target audience.

The writers of New Girl don’t like to take anything too seriously. This is obvious when Nick has a cancer scare and everyone acts in a humorous way, and Schmidt even uses this as an opportunity to hit on Cece. The show writers are very aware of the fact that this show is a comedy, not a sob story or a philosophy 101 class. The writers make the audience have laughs by creating characters that are ridiculous and eccentric yet oddly relatable and loveable. The characters have a lot of flaws, all of which surprisingly make them more likable not less.

Elizabeth Meriwether and Berkley Johnson are both credited for writing episodes of New Girl. Both people also wrote for other comedy works including Conan and No String Attached.

The references the writers make are also funny because of how out there they are. Like for example “‘Cece: I really felt that Gavin was different. Didn’t you feel like Gavin was different?

Jess: Yeah, I mean he seemed like a really nice…European DJ with a face tattoo.'”

But I have also noticed the writers also assign certain types of jokes to certain characters. For example, Schmidt mostly gets jokes making fun of how he’s into some really exotic or peculiar things like when he told his roommate ” Can someone please get my towel? It’s in my room next to my Irish walking cape.” Jess also says the more nerdy, awkward or naive jokes, like the line in the screenshot below.

Screen-shot of the types of jokes Jess usually makes

Another thing that I have noticed is that the writers base almost all the plots in season one about relationships. I think what happens with the couples is a great way to create more drama and keep viewers around for the next episode. Almost all new characters introduced end up becoming someone’s love interest.

The final and most important aspect of the writing in New Girl to me is the sense of camaraderie. The writers create a real sense of community between Jess and her roommates. You know that no matter what they have each other’s back- and you root for all of them to be happy- which is what makes the show so enjoyable. This was shown in the episode titled “Injured”, where everyone helps Nick pay for his treatment. The characters are written out to be both emotional support and reason for emotional insanity for each other.

Gender in Jessica Jones

By Matthew Ramberger

In Review Topic 5

The gender spread in Jessica Jones is pretty even, but it probably edges towards more women. The main protagonist, Jessica, is a female, and the villain, Kilgrave, is a male. The other main characters on the show are Trish, Jeri, Pam, Malcolm, Will, and Luke Cage with the first three being female and the last three being male. Jessica Jones even features mental disorders such as OCD and a main character, Jeri, who is lesbian. The show definitely focuses more on female characters overall, but that is mainly due to the main protagonists being women. The show focuses on Jessica struggling to overcome and defeat an old enemy, Kilgrave, with the help of a few friends. We see Jessica struggling in both her private and public life as it is thrown around by Kilgrave. However, the show also takes breaks to show the hardships of other characters such as Malcolm with his heroin addiction, and Luke with losing his wife.

Jessica Jones Characters

From what I’ve watched so far, the main characters making tough decisions are mainly Jessica, Malcolm, Trish, and Luke with most of the other characters just reacting to what happens and following orders. Jessica Jones definitely focuses more on women making the main decisions and driving the show than men, which is a nice switch up for a change. This is important because most TV shows have men as the driving characters in the show who make all the decisions. It is important to show how women have to make tough choices and decisions on television.

Jessica Jones shows a lot more women in higher classes than men. A lot of women characters are very successful in jobs such as TV star, law firm owner, and doctor. The main male characters don’t have it as nice with them being a struggling heroin addict, small bar owner, and police officer. This show does a very good job of showing career women in television in high up jobs in society. There is also a very big emphasis on mental illness in Jessica Jones with Jessica, Luke, and Will all having trouble with PTSD, and Jessica’s upstairs neighbor having extreme OCD.

Overall, Jessica Jones features and focuses on slightly more women than men, but does a very good job in representing multiple genders, races, and mental illnesses.

Sitcom Cinematography in Fresh Off the Boat: Similarities and Differences

By Jason Howard

From the first glance, Fresh Off the Boat may seem to be shot similarly to most sitcoms, going so far as to have an establishing shot over each new location, but in reality there are several key differences between how Fresh Off the Boat is shot and other sitcoms that we are all familiar with. For this post I will review season 1, episode 3: The Shunning. In this episode the show begins with an expositional recap of the show that highlights Luis’s struggle to run a restaurant and Jessica and Eddie’s struggle to overcome their otherness in the community. This recap consists of quick shots of dialogue that help to reinforce the ongoing conflicts between Eddie and his peer group, and Luis and his restaurant.

Similarly to most sitcoms, a lot of the comic and dramatic action unfold in a common gathering area, in this case, a living room. Early in the episode Jessica visits with the other neighborhood wives to shoot the breeze and discuss an upcoming block party. The camera zooms in on the character who is talking at the given moment but it keeps a wide enough shot to include the surrounding characters, which helps to reinforce Jessica’s overwhelmed state as she tries to blend in with the neighbors.

(The Huang parents while still being shot together are given a wide enough shot to convey both their body language and a full background.)

The dialogue between two characters in a sitcom will usually switch camera angles to focus on the character who is currently speaking in the show. In Fresh Off the Boat that is most certainly the case but the camera will also include the shoulder or back of the person being talked to, so as to give a sense of their presence in the dialogue. This practice reflects the shows overall tendency to rarely depict the Huangs by themselves. Since one of the focuses of this show is to portray the struggle of members of the Huang family to fit in, most of the show is designed to feature interpersonal interaction rather than individual experience.

Voice-overs v. Silence in The Bold Type

By Evelyn Pike

If you have ever worked out to one of those exercise videos, you know what I am talking about when I say the person teaching those workouts could definitely have a second job as a motivational speaker. As weird as it sounds, however, it’s actually true. The coaches have a knack for getting people to “keep going” far past the point of when they would much rather give up.

The Bold Type - How To Negotiate Your Salary Like A Queen - 1002

Jane waiting to find out if she will be sued.

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Sutton speaking to Oliver about giving her benefits.

The Bold Type uses the voice of a cycling class instructor as a voice-over in the episode “No Feminism in the Champagne Room”, as multiple major events are happening in each of the main character’s lives. The instructor’s voice reigns over the images of Sutton as she goes into her new boss’s office and demanded benefits since her new job does not pay enough and she knows that she is worth more than what he is willing to offer. The inspirational voice continued as Jane sits in a conference room facing the threat of a lawsuit from a woman she has written a story on and who is now blaming her for some misfortunate events that happened since the release of the story.

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Kat telling Adena that she wants to be in a relationship after her spin class.

The voice of the coach continues still, from its original source, where Kat is in the cycling class listening to the encouraging words as she is trying to sort through her own feelings of confusion where Adena is concerned.

Words like, “you are here for a reason!”….“test what you are capable of” ….“ the journey is just as important as the destination, so embrace the incline!”… “push through, you are stronger than you think”, are playing in the background of the episode. Though it is an exercise instructor who is originally only speaking for her students, her words are universal to all of the obstacles faced by the girls in the show.

There are also moments of silence within the episode. Set in between louder music, everything will stop in order to bring attention to a few words or one specific event. Like when Kat poured her heart out to Adena, the music played loudly, yet when Adena said she was leaving for Paris to try and fix things with her girlfriend, all music faded away. This happens again when Jane finds out that she has the BRCA gene mutation and is more at risk to get breast cancer than others.

Image result for gif the bold type jane finds out she has brca gene mutation

Jane getting a blood test to see if she has the mutation.

The use of a voice over is typically not used in The Bold Type, however, in this episode, it makes an impact on the viewer, as do the moments of silence. Both affect the emotions of the viewer. Unselfconsciously making viewers feel as if they are a character on the show themselves.

‘The Bold Type’ Changes Its Colors in for a More Somber Hue

By Jessica Barber

During the binge-worthy first season of The Bold Type, the audience is constantly provided with an array of color and various objects in the background of the show’s predominant scenes. Light pastels and trendy patterns always seem to be floating around behind the characters’ faces and in their wardrobes. The show is filled with natural light and warm tones, and these entities add both interest and comfort while watching the show.

However, in “The Breast Issue”, the sixth episode of the series’s first season, this story changes. For example, Jane’s usual peppy, colorful-yet-professional outfits have been replaced by an all-black ensemble for this episode. This episode features more artificially-lit spaces, and there are definitely more struggles and personal issues presented across the board in this episode than in comparison to others.

In this episode, Jane has been assigned to write an article about a female health professional who is adamant about performing breast cancer-related tests on women at very early ages. The audience later learns that Jane lost her mother to breast cancer, and this provides an uneasy feeling as the episode progresses.

Flash forward, and Jane interviews the doctor in her office for the article. Careful observation of this scene gives a feeling different than in other episodes. The doctor’s office is a bland, off-brown color. This is a stark contrast to the abundance of color seen in the Scarlet headquarters building, a popular setting in the show. This purposeful occurrence changes the happy-go-lucky theme of the show, and the sheer importance of this scene is established by the lack of natural light. A cold manner is observed in the ambience of the room in which Jane and the doctor sit, and a coldness is equally seen in the women’s interaction.

On the other hand, the actual mechanics of the show change in this episode. This being a show about female empowerment and all, there is definitely enough extended shots to go around. However, in this episode especially, there comes a point where Jane loudly expresses her opinions to her boss. As the screen focuses on Jane, the manner in which she gets more and more upset as she cries builds upon the suspense that the shot places on her. This suspense is equally augmenting for the other characters as they come across struggles within this episode — Kat knows that she must fire a worker, and Sutton realizes that she misplaced a $5,000 necklace in a cab. The screen’s intentional, extended focus on the women in the midst of their struggles and fear connects the audience to their feelings and struggles throughout the episode.

Image result for jane the bold type crying gif

A drearily colored Jane apologizes to her boss after yelling at her in front of the rest of the company.

As compared to the previous episodes in the show, one ultimately sees that the unusually lengthy shots of the characters and their altered presentations through darker color schemes set this episode apart from the others in terms of importance and ominousness. But hey, of course, the girls resolve their issues as always, and we’re still on the hook for watching the next episode.

The Subconscious Effects of Visuals

By Tanishq Sandhu

In Uncategorized

(Topic #3)

Although I was a bit reluctant when I started watching Grey’s Anatomy, I have been absolutely hooked. To be honest, I finished a season and a half in one night! Grey’s Anatomy is shot in Seattle at the Seattle Grace Hospital. It is a lesser known fact that Seattle has, statistically, the most suicides in a year in any US city. This may seem like a random fact but it is actually very important to setting the tone in this show. Research shows that because it rains so often in Seattle and because the sky is often grey, it causes Seattle citizens to subconsciously feel gloomier. And coincidentally enough, the main character’s name is Grey. This setting factors in to allow the viewer to share the gloomy and scary reality of working at a hospital: the 48 hour shifts, the helplessness of losing one’s patient who you were talking to just an hour ago, breaking the news to family, giving up social life, etc. Furthermore, the doctors wear shades of dull blues to add to the melancholy and serious vibe at the hospital. However, whenever there is a scene where a patient miraculous defeats the odds and survives the background colors are always noticeably more vibrant and brighter. It’s amazing how a simple play of colors can affect the viewers’ experiences so greatly. Generally, the show has longer cuts, especially during medical procedures to show how the tedious the work can get. For example, they removed a 20-pound tumor and the long cut showed how difficult and uncomfortable it was for intern doctors to hold up the tumor while surgeons operated. In these specific scenarios, quick cuts would undermine the amount of diligence and patience required from these doctors.

Above are the somber colors typical of the normal day at the Seattle Grace Hospital (SGH).

Power Play: Women Can Do It All

By Jadah Peters

In Review Topic 5

The Bold Type tends to turn gender representation into a battle of the sexes. Episode 6 is a perfect example of this.

There always seems to be a power struggle between women and men. This image represents that struggle.

Women make the decisions that matter while the men end up being the ones ignored even when they have valid points. For example, Sutton misplaced a valuable pendant that she borrowed from a fellow assistant of another company. Richard, Sutton’s forbidden lawyer boyfriend, advises her to come clean about the missing necklace strictly based on his legal expertise. Sutton ignores his advice, and Richard is left watching things unfold from the sidelines. Because this is a TV show, everything falls in to place so that Sutton gets back the pendant and is vindicated in her decision to dismiss Richard. If this were real life where things don’t always work out so rosily, not taking Richard’s advice would likely have been a tremendous mistake. The show glosses over these kinds of alternatives because women are right and men are wrong. Although I am all for women empowerment, the show could afford to work a little harder to strike a balance between how each gender is represented. Within the same episode, Kat is on a rampage to “take down the patriarchy” through a free the nipple social media campaign. She justifies her actions as fueling women empowerment and breast cancer awareness, but with Jacqueline’s wise words, she realizes that her fight was less about the cause and more about winning. Kat’s actions were stemmed in her need for control. Everything really comes down to power.

When I searched girl power, and this image came up, I knew that The Powerpuff Girls would be the perfect representation of the girls in The Bold Type. Sutton is Blossom. Jane is Buttercup. Kat is Bubbles. No further discussion is necessary.

Kat, Sutton and Jane make many impactful decision that affect the course of their individual lives and the supporting characters around them, but Jacqueline is a sun so massive that its impossible for them to escape her gravitational pull. Although Jacqueline exudes power, the looming male force of the executive board eclipses her power. In spite of the limitations of her control, no one can question that Jacqueline is the boss. Often times women in such positions of power are seen as cold, calculating and bossy which aligns with what Jane says to Jacqueline in a fit of fury. Jacqueline invites Jane to see the other side of her which is when the show reveals that Jacqueline has a husband and two sons. Typically such a thing wouldn’t serve as a twist or a surprise in any capacity, but in all the preceding episodes Jacqueline was only shown as the woman in charge. The show establishes Jacqueline as a boss first and a wife and mother second as a weapon against gender roles. In traditional gender roles, women are supposed to be wives and mothers first otherwise they are neglecting their families for their careers. Being a good mother and wife and being a career women are not mutually exclusive. Jacqueline is a boss at work and at home. Likewise, every episode Jacqueline somehow manages to be the girls’ biggest critique and biggest cheerleader which just goes to show women can do it all.

This clip is not from the particular episode I describe in this post, but I think it perfectly sums up Jacqueline’s mindset as a boss.

The Backstory of the Hilarious Dialogues of New Girl

By Navya Katragadda

New Girl is a show that is known for its simple and hilarious jokes. This episode of New Girl called “Cece Crashes” is written by Rachel Axler. She has also written episodes of How I Met Your Mother, Parks and Recreation and Veep, which are all shows that are somewhat similar to New Girl. The dialogue is structured to maintain a constant dialogue between the characters. There is not a voiceover on the show unlike some others, so there isn’t a narrator to fill in the gaps. Since this show is light in terms of plot, a narrator is not necessary. Shows usually use voiceovers to inform the audience about the plot or more about the characters and what they’re thinking. But in this show, it is usually pretty evident on the motives and situations of the characters.

Silence is usually not very apparent in the episode. When there is silence, it is usually to set up an interaction between two or more of the characters and to create a sense of build-up in the plot line for the episode. Otherwise, this episode was very dialogue heavy. Especially since this episode created a high amount of tension between Jess and Nick, there was a lot of dialogue especially from Jess about her dilemma of having a romantic relationship with one of the guys that she lives with.

Finally, the writing of the show always seems very natural. Sometimes, in sitcoms, the writing, and dialogue is usually somewhat forced and awkward because the writers try too hard to be funny. The humor is always forced but in New Girl, merely the interactions between the characters are what makes the show humorous and it is very easy to watch. The writing is along the style which I prefer which is why I choose to review this show. I am very excited to see all the jokes New Girl has in store for the rest of the season (:

Jess/Nick and their quarrels

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Handmaid, Blue Wife

By Emily Sheng

On September 22, 2018