Sherlock and Rebels

Analysis
Film Studies

Sherlock
In the opening episode to the second series of Sherlock, Homes seems to meet his
match when he encounters Irene. In this scene there is a clear power shift, from
Irene, in the first half of the scene, then to Sherlock, in the second half of the
scene. This power shift is symbolized in a couple of different ways throughout
the scene, however I will be focusing on how it is symbolized using Irenes red
high heels. At the start of the scene, Irene is naked with the exception of her red
high heels. This fits with how she holds power over Sherlock, while she is naked
and wearing her red high heels. The high heels are a metaphorical and physical
representation of how she holds the power in the scene. The high heels make
Irene taller. Being tall automatically makes people feel inherently more powerful,
especially over small people. This is the reason why, in films such as Rocky IV
and 300, the antagonists of the films are much taller then the protagonists. In
Rocky IV, Ivan Drago is a giant Russian boxer, who is the embodiment of
intimidation, power and athleticism. He also has the nickname Death from
Above, which adds to his formidable size. The five-inch height difference
between him and Rocky makes Drago seem like such an unbeatable force. In 300,
Xerxes is the King of the Persian Empire, one of the largest empires in history.
Throughout the film his reputation is so great that people see him as a God
amongst men. The filmmakers portray this by making him nine feet tall. His vast
height subconsciously makes us feel like he is of immense power. There are
many more examples of how filmmakers use height to portray power. This is
why Irene uses high heels, and once Irene is clothed and removes her high heels,
she is now physically smaller then Sherlock and therefore has less power. This is
when the power shifts to Sherlock. In this scene the high heels being red is also
an important metaphor, following the power theme. The colour red generally
evokes feelings of danger and angry, which are feelings that can be linked back to
power. So when she removes the red high heels, not only is she shorter, she no
longer has those feelings of danger. This removal of the feelings of danger and
the height that the high heels give Irene, then allow Sherlock to take over the
power in the scene.

Rebels
In the climax of the first Star Wars rebels episode of season two, our main Jedi
characters, Kanan and Ezra, find themselves fighting Darth Vader to protect the
other rebels and help them escape. In this fight, Darth Vader is shown to be
toying with the two Jedi. He does this because he knows that he is far superior
then everyone he encounters, in every way. This can be seen throughout the fight
and even before the fight commences. An example of this is when Darth Vader
enters the courtyard which the fight takes place. He stands in the doorway in a
dramatic fashion. He also, slowly walks towards the Jedi, with no rush. He does
this to intimidate and scare the Jedi. He uses psychological warfare to gain an
advantage over the Jedi before the fight begins. The creators of the show will
have done this to help build upon Darth Vaders terrifying reputation and
enforce his ruthless nature. Another example is, during the fight, Darth Vader
begins to dual with the Jedi, however he is only using one hand, while both the
Jedi are using both hands. Even with one hand he over powers the Master Jedi.
This again, just adds to the intimidation factor. More examples of how this scene
adds to Vaders intimidation factor include when, Vader picks up Kanan (Master
Jedi) with one hand and throws him across the courtyard, and, he almost kills
Ezra, with his own light saber. Towards the end of the scene, the two Jedi think
they may have dealt with Vader by pushing him under a burning piece of empire
technology. As they walk away, Vader lifts the massive amount of burning rubble
above his head and just drops it behind him. He does this pretty nonchalantly,
again toying with the Jedi. They also admit defeat once they see him do this,
another example of Vader using psychological warfare to win his battles. The fact
that Darth Vader is about a foot taller then everybody else in this scene, helps
him with the way he goes about toying with his opponents. He uses his
expectable size, skill, and mind to intimidate and terrify his opponents
throughout the Star Wars franchise, and, in this scene.