Angela Dodson | Rachel Weisz

Gabriel | Tilda Swinton

ANGELA MCROBBIE

Angela McRobbie believes that in most media texts, men are portrayed as masculine, aggressive, and powerful. John Constantine is often portrayed as powerful, because he can see the half-breeds for what they truly are, and because of what he does and what he knows. As he is portrayed in this way, it doesn't challenge Angela McRobbie's stereotypes of how men are portrayed, as her theory was developed through looking at the way gender roles are represented as a whole, and John Constantine is a perfect example of her male stereotype.

VLADIMIR PROPP

Vladimir Propp came up with a theory where there was many different character types. John Constantine fits within the hero character type, as he is doing what he needs to do to help people, and he saves people. This is a very common character type within films, and one of the most recognised character types identified by Propp.

LEVI STRAUSS

Levi Strauss came up with the theory that everything has a binary opposite, such as good vs. evil, weak vs. strong, etc. Good vs. Evil is shown all throughout the film, with John Constantine being a key part in this.

HOW THESE REPRESENTATIONS ARE CREATED

Throughout the film we see John Constantine as masculine. This is reinforced by the fact that he wears a suit throughout the film, which is usually seen as something linked with a man being considered masculine. He is also seen as masculine because they chose Keanu Reeves to play the character, who is seen as a masculine figure.

He is seen as powerful because of the way that he can see things that people can't, and he knows how to deal with them. This shows that he is powerful because he can do things others can't, He is also seen as powerful because he has the power to render invisible things to visible. Also, again with the costume of him wearing a suit, people who wear suits are usually thought as people who have power and authority over others, so this reinstates that he holds some form of power.

He is also seen as a hero because he willingly sacrificed the chance to save his own life so that an innocent girl would be sent to Heaven. This makes people see him as a hero because the girl didn't deserve to go to Hell, which he knew, so he risked his own life again for her.

LAURA MULVEY

Laura Mulvey came up with the concept of the male gaze. This is the way that how men look at women, how women look at themselves and how women look at other women. She believes that in films, audience have to view characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male. Usually it means that the camera lingers on the female's body, and whatever happens to a female is presented in a way where it's the man's reaction, rather than seeing what happens. However, this isn't the case with Angela as they don't sexualise her or make her appeal more to the male audience than the female audience. She is shown as a regular person and just another character, so she challenges Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze, and how characters have to be seen from the male perspective.

ANGELA MCROBBIE

Angela McRobbie's theory was that men and women are portrayed differently. She says that women are weak and submissive to men, and that men are more in control. Angela Dodson fits within this theory in a sense, because she comes across as weak when she asks for help to find out what happened to her sister, and also John saves her from being killed, and this would be considered as her not being as strong as him.

HOW THESE REPRESENTATIONS ARE CREATED

These representations are things that are automatically thought of when people think of a female character. Most people will instantly think of a weaker, more submissive character, and that is what they expect when they watch a film with a female character. However, as Angela doesn't conform to the theory of the male gaze, she comes off as being less weak and possibly as if she has more power and authority because as a character she doesn't conform to what the audience expect of her, and what they expect to see.

However this is also contradicted because at one point we see her in more revealing clothing whilst she is wet, which could be seen as part of the male gaze. They also cast Rachel Weisz as Angela, who is an attractive white female, which is what most heterosexual men like.

LEVI STRAUSS

Levi Strauss came up with the theory that everything has a binary opposite. This is relevant to Gabriel because Gabriel is seen as the evil character, and his binary opposite would be John, who is seen as the good character, so they are complete opposites.

VLADIMIR PROPP

Vladimir Propp came up with the theory that every character can be sorted into character types, and Gabriel would fit within the villain character type, because of when Angela is nearly stabbed, and how Gabriel opposes John.

ANGELA MCROBBIE

Angela McRobbie states that men are seen as masculine, aggressive and powerful. However, as portrayed through Gabriel, this isn't always the case, and they can try to make themselves seem like they are but they aren't. Gabriel tries to come across as powerful, however although at the start of the film it may come across as so, as the film continues we see that Gabriel isn't as powerful as initially thought, which is then confirmed when Gabriel becomes human. Gabriel also isn't masculine like Angela McRobbie says men are, as Gabriel is androgynous, so Gabriel challenges McRobbie's theory.

HOW THESE REPRESENTATIONS ARE CREATED

The representation that Gabriel and John are binary opposites comes from the fact that Gabriel opposes John, and calls him selfish, and how he tries to stop John from doing anything good. But also Gabriel is an evil character overall, which the audience can see from the way he tries to stab Angela, smite Lucifer, and also kills Chas. The audience would be able to tell straight away when they first see Gabriel that he isn't a good character from the way he interacts with John. This also ties in with Gabriel being considered the villain character, because of what he does to the others. However, at the end Gabriel ends up human, so it shows that his attempts to ruin others lives, and the way that he killed people ended up with him in a worse situation.

The representation that Gabriel is powerful is created when John talks to him about getting a reprieve from his death, because this shows that he has the power to be able to do that. However, as the film goes on we can see more and more how little power Gabriel actually has, because although he kills Chas, when John finds it's him he gives in and tells John his plans, so he submits to John. He then fails at stabbing Angela because John stops him, and he then fails when he tries to smite Lucifer, then eventually becomes human. Gabriel also isn't masculine like McRobbie claims men are in all media texts, which we can see because Gabriel is portrayed by Tilda Swinton, who has a feminine body. This could be to try and make Gabriel appear as more innocent.