Gender Performidity/ Humans End Montage Analysis

Gender Performidity theory by Judith Butler

Sex does not equal Gender.

Gender is a performance. According to Butler, there are not just two genders, there are far more beyond male and female, a whole range beyond this.

'Are you a lesbian?'

A question Butler says she was asked by a teenage girl due to her appearance, this is the workings of gender performativity.

Anita for example from Humans, for example, has  a huge amount of gender performativity. Her stereotypical representation of gender entirely shifts the dynamics of the household.

Lizbett Van Zoonen - 'Men and women are treated differently in our society.'

bell hooks - 'Feminism is for everyone.'

Bell considers herself an intersectional feminist, the idea that feminism isn't just women, its all different kinds of women. 

The way in which women are treated in society greatly affects the way in which men are treated. (EG:  A middle-aged man works at a primary school and is asked why he works there. 'Because I like kids.' and is looked at funny, exchange him with a woman and this wouldn't be the same result for the most part.)

Remember to use media language during exam questions when referring to how it affects the representation of gender (Mise-en-scene, shot types, lighting, etc.)

How does the way in which X change the world around them with their gender performativity? More specifically, the way in which east-Asian women (Anita) affect everything?:

Notes on feminism/ gender performativity in the Humans episode one ending scene:

The scene is difficult as per its extreme amount of crosscuts between all the various A and B storylines of the episode and their respective locations in a montage.

The montage contains scenes that position the audience in a particularly uncomfortable mode of address. The scene is deliberately and intentionally trying to make the audience feel this way. 

Leo and Max are staying in a car place with dark and gloomy lighting which would be a stereotypical 'manly place', whereas Nishka is staying in a brothel with bright pink lighting and Anita is serving as a housewife, which are stereotypical jobs for women, even when they are hiding they are conforming to gender performativity. Nishka is represented 

Leo is presented as a knight in shining armor saving the damsel in distress (Nishka) - Liesbet Van Zoonen's feminist theory, but in subversion to this trope, he deeply fails in his task to rescue her, his intentions upon his visit are only to inform her that he cannot do so yet. 

Close up shot of Niska's green eyes, over the voice-over of their creator talking about consciousness. Direct address to the audience, presenting the difference between Humans and synths.

The direct address is extremely painful in that we the viewer are powerless, we cannot change the result of the scene even though Nishka looks directly at the viewer.  Allegory via metaphor, reflective of real-world issues. Nishka is for all intents and purposes, weaponizing her gender performativity as a disguise until she can eventually be rescued. Performing as a prostitute because she knows it's what will allow her to get through her situation, as opposed to acting like her true self that we see in her interactions with Leo.

The preferred reading of the Nishka assault scene is to feel deeply uncomfortable, anchored by the lingering usage of the slow pan and zoom close-up of her face, paired with the direct address. Her body is not emphasised as sexually arousing for the viewer, the scene is horrible, and makes an effort not to actually sexualise her body in any manner in the s

Anita is represented as domestic, she is a housewife. Whereas Leo is the binary opposite within his positioning as hypermasculine, out on the street. There is also binary opposition to be found between Leo and Matty's representations in the montage. Primarily due to the Settings in which these characters are placed, Leo's low-lit, secluded setting with urban mise-en-scene (male) juxtaposed with Matty and Sophie (female) being at home in bed with warm lighting.

Matty is not presented as sexualised within the episode, her voice isn't overtly feminine, and her costume design is relatively androgynous.

The mise-en-scene of Sophie being tucked into bed is an extremely stereotypically motherly, feminine notion.

Anita is practically represented as a new stepmother to the Hawkins, she has replaced  Laura of her hegemonic roles that she used to fill. Laura cannot get along with Anita as per her gender performativity changing the entire dynamic of the household, this is presented by their two-shot close-up of them when Laura is staring her down as if she is some kind of monster.

Anita is constructed within the text as 'the other' she is entirely different from everyone else, this is added to by the casting of the stereotypical white middle-class Hawkins family, as opposed to Gemma Chan as Anita who is a beautiful east-Asian woman. She is almost too beautiful to be taken seriously by the other characters.

Within the Swedish, original version of Humans, the role of Anita is also cast as an east-Asian actor, thus this appearance is entirely intentional in its inclusion.

Paul Gilroy - Postcolonialism theory -

'There are subtle differences between the representation of non-white and white people in media products.'

The idea that there is this hierarchy in society, with all contemporary media products (focused in the UK) are made primarily first and foremost for a white target audience.