Representation of Men, 'Shutter Island'

'Shutter Island' a 2010 psychological thriller starring Leonardo Dicaprio as Marshal Teddy Daniels on an case to Ashecliffe Hospital- a fortess-like insane asylum located on a remote, windswept island.  A women appears to have vanished from her locked cell with subliminal hints of terrible deeds happening behind close doors of the asylum. Deeper into the investigation, Marshal soon realises that he will have to face his own fears to make it off the island alive.  The movie, 'Shutter Island', was set in 1954 a time when women's equality was very low and the male characters present was given the power of sanity, this is signified throughout the representation of men in this movie through the four following micro-elements;

Mise-en-scene:

Instantly the trailer signifies, ‘Shutter Island’ as a patriarchal cast. Female cast members are seen as passive, objects obstructing the flow of the narrative. ‘Shutter Island’ represents Laura Mulvey’s theory- influenced by Freud and Lucan- where male roles are outnumbering the womens', causing them to become side-lined, with no lead roles for female characters. This conforms Laura’s theory as males are constantly connoted as driving the narrative; with few step backs or obstructions in caused by females. The protagonist and other surrounding important characters are male; as the movie is a psychological trailer it signifies the mental state contrast between males and females. 

Editing: 

During the slow faded cuts, signifying equilibrium and the fast-paced flash cutting and subliminal cuts, connoting disequilibrium; a male figure is presented in each shot or scene. This conforms the importance of the male gender role in the film production. The manner of flash and subliminal cutting are very fast and violent, at a connoted level this can signify a very stereotypical masculine fashion; this represents males as violent and strong in a hegemonic masculinity society.

Soundtrack:

Similarly to the editing processes, soundtrack conforms the patriarchal society of the era, and the hegemonic masculinity; the non-diegetic soundtrack playing throughout the trailer is denoted as very harsh, deep and low beaten, which signifies the masculine vibe. This is also conformed in the diegetic deep voices of each male character, which signifies the society expectations flaws of it's time. This music is parallel and synchronous to the images, which added to the ideology of man being in power, signified has a routine and has been practiced and repeated perfectly. However there are certain times, when women as present in the frame when the non-diegetic soundtrack is contrapuntal to the image, this signifies that women have no place in power therefore it is seen that it, 'does't fit'. On the other hand the contrapuntal music can subvert of this ideology and connotes that it's empowering women and soon a time will come when women will over power and become equal.

Camerawork:
Dominance of the male characters is also represented as strong and powerful in the camerawork of the trailer. For example; in every single shot of the trailer, there is at least one male present in the frame, and if the woman is the focus point- we know this from how much the woman takes up of the screen- this is called 'rule of thirds', theres is a male character represent behind them, or somewhere in the frame. Secondly, the different angles used represent different characters in different lights, this  conforms that males are strong and powerful as low angles, close ups or mid shots are all used to represent male characters. The low angles connate the ground they stand are higher therefore us as an audience and everyone is below them. Close-ups and mid shots are types of shots where the subject is seen in each third of the frame, therefore this signifies the importance they have as roles or the impact they make on the narrative, creating the sense that, 'nothing would run without them' this brings back to the initial ideology of Laura's theory; that men drive the narrative.

Below is the trailer: Shutter Island