Compulsion Extract task

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzlH70WpO3c

In this scene, there are many different representations of ethnicity.There are many representations of an Indian culture, such as looks, accents, clothing, furniture and personalities.

 One of these representations is showing wealth. This is represented through the character's clothing, which has an expensive feel. In the establishing shot it shows the area and the house. The house is clearly very large and expensive, and the furniture inside also reflects this. (Big lamps, bright curtains etc.) We can tell that this is an Indian family through looking at their clothes and accessories in their house, as there are bright colours and iconic Indian objects. The costumes for the British guests are very different in contrast to the Indian hosts' outfits, which have lots of patterns and colours.

For the majority of the scene there's an Indian song playing throughout which gives an exotic feel and shows the family's nationality and setting. The music also reflects a characters' emotion, such as when a white man is told to call down the daughter. When the daughter comes down, she looks beautiful, and we can tell what the man's emotions are by the music slowing down and the mug shots of the man's face that he finds her beautiful.

In the media, lots of Indian women are represented as being very beautiful. In this scene the daughter is attractive and elegant, and we can tell that the other characters in this scene agree by the way they look at her and by the compliments they give. When her father points at her, he says "There she is" as if she is an object.

The people at the party are expecting a lot from this girl as she went to Cambridge. She looks elegant, mature and grown up, but she doesn't actually know what she wants to do with her life yet as she is only young. Everyone was expecting more from her.

When she gets alone with her friends, she doesn't sit or talk in a polite or elegant way- she looks very comfortable and casual. She talks about being irritated with everyone coming up to her, making her look slightly two-faced as she looks so beautiful, and is actually talking about the guests with her friends. "My face hurts from smiling". Her friends seem fun and young, which everyone at the party isn't expecting as she went to Cambridge University. "After another glass I might have the courage to go up to him."

At the start of the scene, we see a British guest greeting the mother of the daughter who has just graduated. She looks very made up, well dressed, has good manners and a posh British accent. This represents the British guests in this scene to be polite, interested and happy to meet this clever young girl. The girl's family seem very proud of her, by smiling, hugging and greeting her.

The editing technique used in this scene is called "Invisible cutting", showing that the shots are very simple and change angles without the audience really noticing. There are no obvious cuts or translations, making this editing technique recognisable.

The white man who is told to call down the daughter doesn't take his eyes off her in this scene. In the second half of the scene the camera angle changes as if we are looking through this character's eyes- what he can see and hear which is an interesting way of editing and showing his emotions.

There are many different ways representing Ethnicity and representations through media in this scene. Some of these things are wealth and manners representing Indian and British people.