Representations Initial Ideas How are the following represented in the opening sequence of Skyfall? Gender Age Sexuality Disability Regional Identity National Identity Write your answers as a series of mind maps.
Conventions What Generic Conventions did you see in Skyfall? List as many as possible. What ideologies were present? Narrative. Can you apply Propp s character theories. Can you define the 5 act structure? Binary Oppositions?
Outline: Skyfall as a case study Promotion Reception and success Bond legacy Consideration of genre, narrative, representations Key sequence 1: Casino Key sequence 2: Tube
Skyfall as a rich text Contemporary film production, distribution and exhibition The problems of defining a British film Star study Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem Audience reception and fandom Representations of Britishness and British national identity Representations of gender, class, ethnicity Genre classification and its problems -is Bond a genre in its own right?
REPRESENTATION Look at the key characters in Skyfall. Analyse the individual characters and comment on how they are re-presented to us, are they stereotypes. Specifically consider: Gender Age Ethnicity Nationality Sexuality Issues
Skyfall Cast Poster
JAMES BOND Gender Age Ethnicity Nationality Sexuality Issues
EVE MONEYPENNY Gender Age Ethnicity Nationality Sexuality Issues
SEVERINE Gender Age Ethnicity Nationality Sexuality Issues
SILVA Gender Age Ethnicity Nationality Sexuality Issues
M Gender Age Ethnicity Nationality Sexuality Issues
Q Gender Age Ethnicity Nationality Sexuality Issues
Skyfall (Mendes, 2012) Released in the UK on October 26, 2012 Highest grossing film at the UK box office (over 94m) The first Bond film to have an IMAX release Eon Productions, MGM Studios, and Sony Pictures Entertainment
Skyfall as a British film (?) It can be argued that they are not really British at all, given that they are backed by American dollars. By this token, however, films such as Tom Jones, A Hard Day s Night and Chariots of Fire would not qualify as British either. Ever since the 1930s, American studios have provided financial backing for British productions The Britishness of Bond films has been one of their main selling points, a factor which differentiates them from all other action movies which have followed in their wake What is British about Bond? Production base Most of the technical personnel Generic roots Ideology of national identity James Chapman, 2009, p.13
Success Box Office Mojo (Online)
Success The most successful series of films in box office history. Consistently successful over a long period of time. Skyfall The most successful film at the UK box office Despite their political correctness or perhaps even because of it the Bond films have been enormously popular with cinema-goers around the world, suggesting that either audiences do not pay as much heed to the ideological content of the films as do academics, or that the films provide a particular sort of pleasure which mediates their sexist and racist overtones. It has been estimated that between a quarter and a half of the world s population has seen a Bond film, either in the cinema or on television, video or DVD. Chapman, J. (2009), p.12
Analysis Representations: gender, age, ethnicity, national identity, social class. Narrative: story and plot, binary oppositions, characterisation. Genre: Bond film, thriller, action, blockbuster.
Representations: Eve Moneypenny
Representations: Masculinity
Representations: Masculinity
Representations: Masculinity
Representations: Masculinity
Representations: The monstrous other
Britishness The connection between James Bond and British identity is visually achieved through the alignment of the title character with notable British popular cultural iconography, including images of Big Ben, the Thames, and Whitehall. Funnell, Lisa (2011) I Know Where You Keep Your Gun : Daniel Craig as the Bond Bond Girl Hybrid in Casino Royale. The Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 44, No. 3, p.458
Nostalgia Britishness Austerity Britain: Keep calm and carry on mentality.
Britishness
Representations of London http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl218z68ic4#t=82 Skyfall London Videoblog
Self-reflexive anniversary film Nostalgia Genre
Generic contexts: 1. The British imperialist spy thriller (British agents defending Crown and Country against foreign threats) 2. Cliff-hanger adventure serial ( thrills, spills, master criminals and imperiled heroines ) 3. Hollywood action film: -emphasis on action over plotting and characterisation -reduction of narrative complexity to series of set-pieces -foregrounding of technology and firepower -dispatching of the villain with a witty one-liner 4. The Bondian -a series or subgenre in its own right -development of a production ideology a set of expectations about what a Bond movie should be like James Chapman, 2009.
Britishness Visit Britain advert Links to 2012 Olympics https://youtu.be/1as-dcdyzbo
QU/ With reference to your own detailed examples, explore the representation of national and/or regional identities in the media today. [30] Candidates must use 2-3 specific examples of how media texts represent regional or national identities and analyse them in detail focusing on the concept of representation. There is an expectation that candidates attaining the higher levels will demonstrate an understanding of the concept of representation and be able to anchor their chose examples in terms of context and purpose. The chosen examples should be analysed in some detail and the more able candidates must engage with them on a more sophisticated level that goes beyond simple descriptions or assertions of positive and negative. The examples used must be contemporary in order to reflect the representation of national or regional identity 'in the media today'.
Question 3 Mark Scheme
SKYFALL Audiences & Appeal Please read the article What s the big idea Mr Bond and answer the following questions: 1. How can we measure the success of this film? 2. List some of the criticisms levelled at the franchise. 3. Who is said to be the stereotypical target audience? 4. How does this film try to anchor itself in reality? 5. What effect do intertextual references have on the audience? 6. Explain what the Oedipus theory is and how it is used here? 7. What synergistic relationships are present with this film? 8. How important are the Stars & Oscar winning director in ensuring this film s success? 9. Now write up 2 contrasting audience profiles for this film. 10. Now write up a narrative analysis using Propp s character theory and then apply the 5 Act stage to the text.