Gender representation

In the start of the clip we see Martha’s mum and sister dressed in maid uniforms, this shows us as the audience that females are typically meant to be the ones who clean up after everybody. The fact that the outfits are black shows that they are less important, therefore don’t need to stand out. Martha is also dressed in black, showing she is part of the representation that females are less dominant than males. Black shows that the women are made to be formal and presentable at all times. Having black clothing would usually mean that the person has power, but in this instance it is made to be the complete opposite, in fact, instead of standing out, their outfits/uniform almost blends them into the background. The fact that the women are being made to wear uniforms could connote that because they are women, they have to work and they cannot wear their own clothes, again showing that they are powerless compared to the males.

The master’s wife is dressed in a silk red dress, this shows that she is respected as she has not been made to wear any uniform and gets to wear a vibrant colour. Silk is a quite elegant and expensive material so her wearing this shows that she could be quite seductive and is an important woman. Though she seems to be quite powerful, she does not speak, this connotes that she is still not as powerful or equal to the males, which was how it was a while back, women did not speak unless they were spoken to because they had no power and they knew their place.

Martha and her sister have their hair tied up and out of their face. Tying up their hair could reduce feminism as there is not much you can do with it while it is tied up. Having hair tied all back again shows formality, meaning they cannot look messy or like a slob because women of work are supposed to look smart and presentable. Tying up of the hair could connote that the women are made to be quite closed off, like they’re not allowed to express themselves so they wrap it all up, just like their hair.

The master straight away is shown to be more powerful as he is higher up than everyone else and gives the orders, so straight away we know that he is the most dominant out of everyone. The master wears a suit so he is represented as a strong, powerful character.

The doctor seems like a small powerless character, even more so than the women. This is shown because he is put to the side, out of the way, in a cage, nobody in a cage is powerful.

As Martha walks in, she is shoved forward, showing she is treated as a lower status as she is a woman. Her facial expression shows she is quite intimidated by the whole situation and that she is worried about the safety of her friends and family. Not only does she just look at everybody, she maintains eye contact with them, all with expressions of fear or worry, but the eye contact could mean that she is discreetly reassuring everyone that everything is going to be okay. The eye contact could suggest that Martha is actually quite a strong character because she is keeping herself together and maintaining eye contact is something someone with confidence would do. When Martha see’s the doctor, her expression changes to a sort of relief and happiness, this reduces the amount of power she gained when getting eye contact with everyone else, making her seem weak as the doctor is her weakness and maybe the Master knew that, which is why he put him so clearly on display.

The Master tells Martha to kneel and she does as she is told, so she becomes a submissive and once again is seen as weak and helpless, while the Master gains more power by Martha doing so.

Martha is told to bow her head, she does so and The Master is giving a speech about what will happen and then Martha does a slight chuckle, throwing out the idea that she could be afraid, while she slowly gains some respect as The Master stops speaking and ask why she is laughing. Martha starts to speak about ‘a gun’ and she is almost mocking him, she even says ‘a gun scattered in four parts across the world, I mean, come on did you really believe that’ so she gains more power by basically telling him that he had been tricked.

The master then sits down, levelling the power between them. Martha tells her story of how she had to travel around telling everyone about The Doctor and she says ‘I love him’ this shows again that the Doctor is her weakness and she is foolish when it comes to love.

As Miranda stands up the power is passed to her and she becomes more superior and in control, The Master then becomes threatened by this so stands up trying to claim back the authority.

After the countdown finishes The Doctor is restored to his original self and is floated up into the air, making him higher than The Master, and taking all power and dominance.

We learn that all in all, The Doctor is most powerful, though we thought it was Martha, she was doing everything because she needed the doctor, so this connotes that women need men to be in control, because stereotypically that is how it has always been and I think I even in the future, men will always be seen as more dominant than women.