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

GenderAgeEthnicityNationality Sexuality“Issues”

EVE MONEYPENNY

GenderAgeEthnicityNationality Sexuality“Issues”

SEVERINE

GenderAgeEthnicityNationality Sexuality“Issues”

SILVA

GenderAgeEthnicityNationality Sexuality“Issues”

“M”

GenderAgeEthnicityNationality Sexuality“Issues”

“Q”

GenderAgeEthnicityNationality 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

Britishness• Nostalgia• Austerity Britain: ‘Keep calm and carry on’ mentality.

Britishness

Representations of Londonhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl218z68iC4#t=82

Skyfall London Videoblog

Genre• Self-reflexive anniversary film• Nostalgia

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.