1960's Essay (The Town Of No Return)

How Was Media Language Used To Show The Social Context Of The 1960's?

Camerawork & Mise-En-Scene:

During the Avengers 1960 episode, The Town Of No Return, camerawork is used to show context of the 1960's. This is shown in the first scene where the door bell labelled, 'Mrs Emma Peel' is pressed by a gentleman with a cane. Firstly, the cane connotes the man in this scene to be one of upper class without even seeing his face. Also from this scene, we can see that the woman whose apartment the male is visiting is a married woman, 'Mrs Emma Peel'. Next, we see a tilt shot from the door bell introducing a 1960's pop art eye. This eye shows both 1960's pop art but also quite a flirtatious effect seeing as the eye - although not human - has a made-up effect which can be seen as a flirtatious approach towards the male. Next, we see the male who previously pressed the door bell with the cane. He is presented as a man of power with up-standing authority through the use of a low-angle medium close up showing only his head and shoulders. This shows him as a figure of power through only seeing his head and shoulders but also the low-angle shot portraying he has more importance than the viewer. Later in the scene, we see Mrs Peel's apartment which is shown off using a panning shot across the stage. From this we see a modern-1960's decor to the room showing what art and decor was popular in this era. Also, when we are introduced to Mrs Peel, it is a full-body shot shown through a high angle shot. When we see this, Mrs Peel is shown in a full black leather suit holding a sword which although being dressed in this manner, holding the sword gives her a sense of liberation or power to a female character. This shows power to a woman in an era where women had less rights than men. This, combined with the development with the contraceptive pill, gives the women more power than usual in this day and age.