All That Heaven Allows
In the scene where Ron invites Carrie to the barn, it starts with her being very womanly, saying I hurried as fast as I could when you called. Sort of being at his beck and call. When they are entering the barn, they seem to be as their stereotypical genders would be. He is carrying firewood and she is just fawning over how wonderful the place looks since the last time she was there, and just how great his work is. She goes over to the window, which serves as a common ground sort of place in the scene where they are both equally lit up in the scenes lighting also signifying that they are equals. When he helps her with her coat that is a very manly gesture, but when she goes over to the couch and sits down, he helps her to take off her boots and I feel that this is somewhat of a shift of the stereotypical male action. I would think that it is a more womanly sort of thing to help their mate take off their shoes. Especially for the time the movie was made. Women helped their husbands take off their shoes after a long day at work.
When she notices the teapot and how he put it back together I think that it introduces that teapot to signify his heart, his feelings for her. That it took days and days and days to find all the pieces, I think this is how he feels about her. That it has all come together and he realizes how he feels for her.
Then when the scene shifts to them standing in front of the fireplace they are both equally lit up and he proposes to her. I think that right after he proposes the music and lighting sort of darken him out and immediately gives her a little more power in the moment. She has the power to say either yes or no to his proposal.
Then she walks to the window and he is almost just a shadow, she has all the lighting on her and she is very dominant in their common ground spot in the scene. She has all the