Gender Representations: The Amazing Transparent Man

The Amazing Transparent man is a B-picture production from 1960 that follows Paul Krenner as he plots against Peter Ulof to form a potion of invisibility with the use of radiation to form an imperceptible army. A heavily critiqued film that follows a coincidently similar mythos to H.G Wells ‘The Invisible Man’ with short lived success, though still cleverly made using visual techniques for a time when editing was not a pictures strong point.

From the cover, there is a violent portrayal of both men and women, but particularly a more menacing stance from the men. At this point in time, rights and equality of women was still not above the point of women expected to remain as a submissive housewife, while men were to go out and work. The large wad of cash in the transparent man's hand (Paul Krenner) may be a representative of this.

Television at the beginning of the 60’s portrayed women as happy domestic housewives, teachers, nurses and secretaries. The woman in the poster (Laura Matson) is dressed in a nightgown and in accordance with the era – she is not dressed provocatively, and her beauty may show she is a respectable person. However, we see in her hand she holds a gun, which enforces the idea she could be dangerous or at least protective. She does not appear particularly hostile and instead looks at the transparent man in wonder. The way she holds a gun seemingly to fire towards the transparent man shows David Gauntlett’s theory of identity – she is a female role model fighting against the male narrative. Other than Paul Krenner, she is the most visible character despite the other 4 men that can be seen.

The transparent man is centre of the poster, in a Full Shot showing he is the main character, with the title of the movie along his body. He stands in a menacing pose, holding a smoking gun that has clearly just been shot from, and a large amount of bills in the other hand. This shows him as dominant and represents the gender standards at the time of men being powerful, independent and possibly even threatening.

The colour scheme of the poster is quite dark, which may be to display the disturbing background of the movie itself. Looking closer, we can see a scientist in the bottom right corner as he seems to conceal a body. Stuart Hall’s theory of representation is followed as we attempt to decode the iconography – why is he sealing up a body? Who is this character and where did the body come from? Did he kill someone or is he helping someone else? These are all enigma codes that make us question what is happening in the poster.

There are police officers in the poster below the transparent man's legs, and this shows his dominance and the hold he has over everyone with this power he seems to have obtained. He is above everyone in the poster except a man above on staircase holding a gun, and this shows the powers of a transparent man are limited and he cannot overpower and be above everyone – especially when from what the movie cover makes it seem, many people are out to get him.

There is humour alongside the bottom of the poster with the title ‘WARNING!’ capitalised to add emphasis and draw attention to it. The text then reads ‘THE AMAZING TRANSPARENT MAN has vowed to appear ‘invisibly’ IN PERSON at every performance of this picture in theatre. Police officers are expected to be present.’ This makes those viewing the poster find something to laugh at amongst the serious tone of it and may intrigue people into going to see the film. This is a proairetic code that gives further narrative action.

Along the bottom is intertextuality with the names of the actors in the film, as well as the production company and director. It could also be suggested that the poster may be recognised by people as similar to the 1933 ‘Invisible Man’ film.

There is a shared conceptual road map in the poster and links between the characters – they all seem to be doing something violent of sorts for example. They all hold guns except Peter Ulof in the bottom right corner who seems to be secreting a body. This is an insight on the world of the poster and what the film overall will be like and may entice those who are fans of this genre of film.