The Third Man

In The Third Man, the character Baron is supposedly a person of high power based on his royalty.  The word “baron” literally means someone with power or influence.  Although he is supposedly powerful, the Baron shows that he is not as powerful as his name says because of some of the feminine traits that he shows.  In one scene of the film, Baron is holding a little dog.  In this particular scene, Baron is being shot head-on using a medium close-up, which shows that he is powerful, but its also being contradicted by him holding a little dog.  Holding a dog like Baron was in this particular scene, it shows that he has a feminine trait.  Having a little dog is more of a feminine thing, such as when a woman is seen walking down the street holding her small dog in her arms.  While having a little dog is more feminine, having a large dog is more of a masculine thing.  Typically men will be seen walking and owning large dogs instead of carrying little dogs in their arms.  Since Baron was carrying a small dog in his arms, it shows that he is more of a feminine character in this scene since he is going against the male stereotype of having a larger dog rather than having a small dog.  Baron showing that he has some feminine traits through this scene shows that he is not as powerful as he should be, based on his name.  He is not as powerful because he is acting as a feminine character in this scene, which demonstrates the stereotype that feminine characters are less powerful than masculine characters.  Through this scene, Baron shows that he has feminine traits, which then illustrates that he does not necessarily live up to his name that is supposed to symbolize his great amount of power.