Queer

How is sexuality portrayed in the extract?

Andy Medhurst 1997- “In the real world you cannot “see” sexuality”. He states the sexuality is invisible. In the world of television and film however, a certain aspect of a particular sexuality is chosen and is magnified in order to make it easier for the audience to see which characters are heterosexual or homosexual or bisexual. Characters made out to be homosexual or bisexual are often seen as a minority in television, which again links to Mehursts theory that theses characters are shown as “awful because they are not like us”. The stereotype as noted by Medhurst says that gay men are “screaming queens” and gay woman are “butch dykes”.

This particular extract goes against the idea of “butch dykes” as both of the characters are very feminine in appearance and neither fit the stereotype of a lesbian woman. The extract begins with a medium shot at eye level of a female sitting upright in her bed reading a book, eerie but relaxing music can be heard at the beginning of the scene. The scene progresses to an eye line match of the mistress watching the maid getting undressed