Ashes to Ashes - Textual Analysis

The clip from the television drama set in 1980s is a representation of sexuality depicted through mise en scene, camera angles, sound and editing. Representation of homosexuality is most highlighted through the close up shot of the first gay man shown wearing a blue button up shirt, the mise en scene includes bars as an effective prop which obstructs the view of the man. This connotes him being caged or troubled by his sexuality and the basis of his identity being structured around it. This is relevant to representation as the 1980s was a trying time for the LGBTQ+ community seeing how according to Watney, news coverage of AIDS in the 1980s stereotyped gay people as carriers of the plague, which developed mainstream society’s fear and dislike of gay people. Moreover, homosexuality at the time wasn’t an accepted or normal way of life and seen as immoral or unnatural unlike today, leading to feelings of oppression and shame among gay people.

The location of the scene takes place in a gay bar where most of the men don tight, skimpy costumes and vests which places the audience in the position of voyeur, allowing them to be subject to objectification and fetishization. A stereotypical representation of homosexual people is that they are shown as hypersexual and their clothing suggests towards that idea. Jump cuts and fast paced editing captures men kissing or dancing while half naked, to make the audience understand that in gay clubs, the only safe space for gay men, is where sexual activity is common, again insinuating that gay people are inherently sexual.

Their clothing also suggests that they’re less masculine and conventional. It also fits them into the stereotype of gay men as outgoing, flamboyant as their clothing deviates from the regular clothing style of men.  In binary opposition, the establishing shot shows the heterosexual males dressed smartly and professionally in suits which is more in line with the common norm in relation to how men dress. Two gay men, one dressed in a blue button up and one in a grey jacket counter the stereotype of gay men dressing up in tight, feminine clothing and portray gay men as how any normal man would dress which shows transgressive representation.

A mid shot of the three heterosexual men as they enter the gay bar cuts away to men dancing from their point of view and reverses to include reaction shots which depict them as confused. Two of them are reduced to sniggering which shows due to heteronormativity, homosexuality is often viewed as amusing to heterosexuals or something that is unnatural or unethical which is in line with the time period of the 80s when homosexuality was still an unpopular concept and gay people were ridiculed and discriminated against.

Another scene where the camera cuts away to the heterosexual detectives trying to persuade their partner to act as a gay man for the sake of their case, the man seems offended by the idea and one of his partners is constantly shown finding the situation amusing and chuckling at innuendoes regarding gay men, further highlights how heterosexuals are ignorant and untouched by the implications of being gay at a time when it was extremely dangerous to be one, fail to realize their privilege by turning the prospect of being gay into a joke.

The dialogue, ‘leather, boys, bears’, spoken by the heterosexual woman regarding the fetishes of gay men suggests that she thinks that gay men would have unconventional sexual desires that she as straight woman wouldn’t identify with. This again illustrates how gay people are treated as foreign, uncanny concept.

A two shot between the detective pretending to be gay and the gay suspect shows as their proxemics grow intimate and the gay continues to whisper something suggestive into the straight man’s ear, the camera zooms out, connoting that homosexuality is something immoral and should remain in the closet and be practiced privately. The straight man’s outraged reaction accentuates the idea of straight people’s dislike for homosexuality and that they aren’t comfortable or confident in their sexuality to even pretend to be homosexual. Through parallel editing in the same scene, we see reaction shots of the betrayal felt by the man’s boyfriend at his infidel behavior which reinforces the stereotype of homosexuals as deviant and having multiple sexual partners.

Gay people are often stereotyped as deviant or evil in television dramas. Another example of this would be the interaction between the woman and the gay man in the grey jacket as insists on calling her sweetheart and a close up of her facial expressions suggests that she is uncomfortable. Throughout their dialogue, the song in the background fades, to be replaced by a gloomy and daunting soundtrack creating suspense. This could direct towards him feeling threatened by the heterosexual character as homosexuals are the oppressed of the two or it could suggest exhibition of predatory behavior which seems in line with the news in 1980s pitching gay men as sexual predators. Homosexuality is represented negatively keeping in mind the historical context of the time period being represented.