'Brief Encounter' Essay

In the film Brief Encounter which was made in 1945 the overall dominant ideology of women are that they are very sensitive, emotional and weak women. This was shown through the majority of female characters in the film. For example the main character played by 'Celia Johnson' broke
down in front of her husband as she had been secretly having a love affair her tears were from guilt and in several situations she was very emotional towards the doctor she was secretly seeing because her friends were seeing her. Another example of women being represented as very emotional and sensitive is when the lady in the cafe was being harassed by the working men she became very uncomfortable and vulnerable as she called for help by a strong male figure.
In this film there are a lot of different stereotypes for women the first one that I had identified was a 'Mother' this was shown by the the main women played by 'Celia Johnson' who panicked as when she came home her son was hurt and made sure he was not in pain by being a caring mother. This stereotype also is very common as in society women are stereotypically the ones who stay home and look after the children, cook and clean the house. Where as the male's role is to go out to work to provide for the family. The relationship between the husband and wife in this film is that women are represented to be dominated by the men. This is because the husband in this film says 'I want my dinner' as well as being shown with a cross word puzzle to show his intelligence. Another stereotype I identified was the ditsy blonde this was shown in the woman who never stopped chatting. Her prosodic features for example the volume of her voice and laugh was very loud and she never understood really why the character played by Celia Johnson was upset. Her body language was very exaggerated and she was the stereotypical girl who loves to shop.The theorist Richard Dyer says that how we see people is how we treat them this is shown in this film as the stereotypical ditsy women is shown and represented to be very loud and gossipy this then explains why the woman who is having a secret affair doest explain to her why she is very upset as she doesn't trust her. Furthermore the stereotype of women who are vein was shown in this film as well this is through the main character as she was always seen doing her hair and make up. Her husbands reaction to this was 'hurry up beautifying' this shows that in this film the husband role is represented to be very selfish and only be concerned with his needed this could be one reason why the women in this film are very emotional as they don't get any positive attention of there partners.Furthermore young girl who plays the daughter is the stereotypical teenager as she moans a lot and is argumentative. However her brother still manages to over power her through his voice this suggests that from a young age this fil represents women to be the weaker characters. The theorist David Chandler says that representations are a construction of reality this is shown in this film as the main stereotypes of a motherly figure and vein glamorous women are shown in today's society for example celebrity women like Victoria Beckham who is shown in the media to be all about her appearance and style. 

The camera shot which was a close up reaction shot was framed accurately and was at a low angle. This was because the reaction was the women who was having a secret affair being very upset and distressed. The close up shot was when she was on the train and she will never see him again. The reason I feel the producer decided on having this shot at a low angle was because it shows the low status that women had in these times and how they were always the weaker characters. The theorist Jean Baudrillard  says that representations are a myth and that there is a blurred line between real and fictional for example secret affairs exist in real life however they aren't exposed into areas where friends and family live as the cheating behaviour would be found out instantly. 

The sound in this film also helped form the representation of women this is because the diegetic sound of the train leaving the station created the woman played by 'Celia Johnson' to feel very negative this is because the sound of the train leaving meant that she would never see the doctor again. This shows that the representation of women in this film was that they were very sensitive and became attached easily as she admitted to him she was in love however she had only known him for a couple of weeks.
Furthermore the diegetic sound of the classical piano music was very slow and affected the mood of the woman who was having a secret affair this was because when the music was playing it made her think of the consequences of her disloyal behaviour.

The costumes that the women were wearing matched the stereotypes each character was stereotyped to be this is because the women who were working in the cafe had there hair up and wore aprons to symbolise the women being stereotypical house wives as they were working with food. Secondly several other women in this film wore long coats, fur coats, hats and head scarf's this summarises a glamorous look which meets the stereotype of women caring about there appearance. the lighting in the train station is much darker this is could be a denotation that the train station is dark but the connation being that its where the women lasts sees the love of her life therefore its a dark and negative memory for her.