Analysis Of Elizabeth

The purpose of this essay is to identify how a historical woman represents gendre in the media and how she presents herself.

The scene starts off with a good mise-en-scene representation of lighting and colour as there is a long shot of one of her maids cutting her hair while sobbing, this effect is interesting as it also shows the background of dimness and a few Candice lit. When she is about to enter the throne room she comes through in a long shot to show the landscape behind her which is all light and demonstrates that England’s time of darkness has come to an end.
The scissors are a good use of prop as they are a vital object of her transformation from a young full of life woman to a queen. There is a close up of Elizabeth’s hand in her lap grasping her hair as it gently falls over her shoulders, this reveals the transformation in action and that she is cutting away her old self to be a successful ruler. As she drops the hair in her hands is symbolises the people trying to control her decisions, and shows that by dropping the hair she is dropping their advice and opinions. The audience can see that by her cutting her hair she is trying to make herself unattractive to show any man attempting to marry her to back off as she is queen and no one, even a man cannot take her thrown away.
The setting of where the sequence starts is in a bedroom in a faint light, there is a close up of her face when the maid is cutting her hair and show she is emotionless, which leaves the audience puzzled as to what she is thinking. She looks natural with no makeup on and is without any feminine features now that her hair is cut off which makes it easier for her to make herself unattractive. This signifies how dark England was without her guidance; she is composed and prepared about the procedure. When she is about to enter the throne room all the court were expecting the previous woman who was full of life and let people control her but as she entered the whole room moved backwards for her entry showing her respect.
Her body language and facial expressions in the scene are different as in her flash back she is smiling and looks full of life, but when she cuts her hair she is very blank to show the court that she means business and intends to be a great ruler, she has many close ups in this sequence and had another one in the flash back. At the end where she is sitting on the throne she looks like a painting or a portrait, the painting shows all kings and queens had a painting of themselves and all had to be expressionless. In her flashback there is a two shot of her and her lover which shows how easy it was for her to fall in love, but then when her flashback was over she realised that the only love in her life could be England.
Her costume in her flashback is wearing a white, frilly dress with her hair down blowing in the breeze in a mid shot just showing her facial expression as it is the important aspect, as it shows what and who she used to be. But when she transformed into a queen she wears immense layers of clothing and huge dresses that cover all her body, her makeup is paste white and red lipstick, she looks like a porcelain doll, but untouchable, this is positioned as a long shot to show her whole costume. This symbolises that no man can take advantage of her just because she is a woman, the white dress she wears shows purity to England that she is indeed a virgin. She is now a symbol not a human.