Sexuality

Is the sexuality of the characters easily identifiable?
Yes the characters are easily identifiable as there is a first shot of the two young ladies, one of which is trying on a dress. We see that they are quite close friends, but it is questionable. One of the girls is the narrator, and she says the line ‘She looked so beautiful’, immediately after this is said, the friendship barrier has been broken, and we see the admiration towards the ‘lady’. In the next scene we see the two women in bed together, the non-diegetic sound increases in pace to reflect passion and the secretive nature of one of the woman’s sexuality. The woman holds back, and seems to be rather nervous to ‘touch’ the woman, scared for the other to find out her feelings towards her friend. Whilst the homosexual woman is fully awake the other woman is fast asleep, portraying that she doesn’t know her friends feelings towards her and seems quite naïve towards the unknown situation.
 
Is the sexuality represented as being important in their life?
Yes it appears to be a big part in the homosexual’s life, although homosexuality is shunned in this era, she has to keep her sexual feeling aback, and not show them. Within the next scene the homosexual woman is painting in the garden with the other woman painting her young, naïve and vulnerable body. With slightly paced shots of the woman’s body parts shows she is trying hard to hold back but is almost impossible. Going back to my point on sexuality being shunned upon, the man we see recognises the sexual feelings the woman has and attempts to change her mind about the sexuality.
 
Are particular sexualities seen as more powerful, better, and normal? If so, how?
In my opinion the main sexuality which stands out is the heterosexuality, as within the era that was the tradition, it was the unwritten rule, and there is no other way. This was portrayed with the heterosexual man shown with more authority with high angle shots making the woman look vulnerable and an outcast to society because of her sexuality.
 
What message is the clip aiming to portray about sexuality?

The clip is trying to show how the history of sexuality has changed throughout the years and what torture homosexuals went through. One thing I have noticed is that there were no stereotypical views on sexuality within this clip. Nowadays lesbians would be stereotypically seen as dressed in a more ‘manish’ matter, and in a modern day society would have spotted the fact that this woman was a lesbian due to what she was wearing. Whereas in this era it is hard to identify the feelings and the look of a ‘homosexual’ person. It is presented with emotion rather than the aesthetic features. The woman is seen as emotional and never happy with herself because of the major secret which rules her life.