The Town Of No Return.

How was MEDIA LANGUAGE used to show the social context of the 60s?

Camerawork and Mise-en-Scene is used to portray the sexual developments of the sixties as well as the class and spy genre conventions. To start, there's a close up of a doorbell which is rung by an umbrella, this clearly represents the genre conventions of spy genres with special gadgets such as umbrellas. This also shows the upperclass attitudes in that they wouldn't even touch a doorbell. Secondly the camera tilts to a feminine flirtatious eye on the door which represents the female sexual liberation in the sixties as the contraceptive pill was created. The camera then tilts down to a low angle medium shot of Steed, this gives him power and contrasts the high angle long shot of Mrs Peel in the next shot as she appears in a tight leather suit. The shots show the power of the genders as Steed is shown as more powerful due to his camera angle, you then see Mrs Peel in the tight leather suit which clearly shows sexual preferences on men but also of feminism as she's able to do as she pleases in her home and has a job which contrasts the sixties' expectations of women staying home while their husbands work, she obviously has a husband as her name is Mrs Peel so to also have a job follows feminist guidelines, however still being objectified in the leather suit contrasts this feminism. Then while speaking, eyeline match shots show that both characters are checking each other which is flirty and follows the sixties' liberation of female sex. Then while fencing, Mrs Peel hits Steed with her sword on the backside which shows how she's powerful and has her own sexual desires, soon after however, Steed does the same to her but the camera tilts and zooms in on her backside as he does it, showing the male's sexual objectification of women. The art all over Mrs Peel's apartment represent the pop-art conventions of the sixties being very popular and therefore that she's a young woman who's very trendy.

The sound also clearly shows sexual developments and genre conventions of romance. As soon as the scene starts, a non-diegetic music is played throughout the whole scene. This music is quite calm and romantic which hints that Mrs Peel has a more-than-professional relationship with Steed which is controversial as she's clearly married however it also underlines the female sexual development within the sixties with the creation of the female contraceptive pill. To further present this the music suddenly has a high pitch jolt when the camera tilts to the eye as well as when an item of clothing for both characters come off, showing excitement in their relationship. There are also diegetic sounds such as the dialogue which is quite flirty, one example of this is Steed calming Peel has “not enough flexibility in the wrist” which is a clear inuendo to portray women’s sexuality. Another diegetic sound is the fencing and Steed’s sword hitting Peel in the bottom adds excitement to the action for the viewers and follows the action genre conventions.

Finally the editing of the clip shows what story the characters will take. For example the parallel editing of the beach in the previous scene and the main characters at Mrs Peel’s apartment show that Mrs Peel and Steed will be on that beach at some time in the episode. There’s also the long-take camera shot which was highly uncommon in the sixties since it’s so difficult to do, This is when Steed rings the doorbell, showing a clear uncut relationship between Steed and Mrs Peel, the next shot is then also an action match, graphics match and movement match to show the progression of the episode. The editing of the sound also connects these shots as it’s a sound bridge since it continues throughout. Lastly the continuity editing shows the action between Mrs Peel and Steed which allows for hidden behind the scenes action to occur such as Steed picking up his coffee after he traps Mrs Peel in her curtain.

In conclusion, the camerawork, dialogue and mise-en-scene represents the sexual developments of the sixties (contraception) by following Mrs Peel around in tight leather, the flirtatious dialogue and physical interactions shows her sexual identity. The non-diegetic sound bridges represent the romance between the two characters and therefore also represents female sexual identity. The editing progresses the narrative and foreshadows the future events of the episode.