How is the representation of ethnicity constructed in this extract?
Within the two minute clip we watched from Spooks, it contained a scene of Danny’s death. There are various features included within it that help construct the representation of ethnicity.
The scene is set up in that Danny (spy) is tied to a chair alongside a woman (another spy), they are being interrogated by a Arab extremist (terrorist, who believes in the Holy War), who is dressed smartly in a dark suit, looks like a business man, speaks very good English. This man is guarded by another man standing by the door, this character is a stereotypical terrorist – dressed in all black and a balaclava, he is also holding an automatic firearm. Danny finds himself in a difficult situation in which he and his fellow spy are being held at gun-point by the terrorist. The terrorist looks of white skin colour, which I feel that this could be representing that whites are held in higher regard than black people, this is because Danny (who is black) finds himself inferior to the terrorist. The terrorist is also holding a phone, which is connected to (I think) Danny’s boss, the terrorist is asking which one he should kill, and the response from Danny’s boss is silent, which shows that he is being indecisive. So Danny decides to take the moral high ground, he first ‘plucks’ up the courage by talking to himself, he could be praying, Danny then confronts the terrorist, and states about evil etc, the terrorist replies, “and you know what my response would be?” and then shoots Danny. This results in two other people listening to the conversation via earpiece (could be at MI5 offices) being shocked .
During the scene we see various representations of ethnicity, evil vs bad, etc. One thing that stood out was that during the whole scene there were always contrasting colours during the images. For example, when Danny is in the chair, one half of the screen is light, and the other is dark. I feel that this is trying to enhance the separation of black & white. Another feature used during the scene was the excessive use of close up shots. The reason why I feel that these have been used is to show the emotions being portrayed by the worried spies. Also I feel that the use of close up shots maintains the tension, and reinforces the suspense during the scene. During the scene, we also notice that there is the sound of the call to prayer, and the drums. The reason why I feel that this has been used is to enforce the fact to the audience that this is a deathly scene, and that Danny is worried about the events to follow, and confirms our suspicions that Danny may have been praying when trying to get the courage to confront the terrorist. Finally, after Danny’s death, we notice that all the different shots shown have a added steak to the pictures. It could also be seen as beams of light (heavenly), which is giving us the message of holiness about the scene.
