Bond as a text


Bond as a text



During the early stages of the Bond films, women were depicted as sexual objects who were vulnerable and weak. Hence, James Bond would come to their rescue as they were too inexperienced and cowardly to fend for themselves. While some of these values still hold true for current Bond movies, women are now seen as slightly more confident and capable to carry through tasks independently. This is evident when M, a female authoritative figure, is giving Mr Bond orders in the movie Skyfall. However, women are still sexually gratified in this franchise and still remain to play the role of ‘damsel in distress’. In this advert, females are clearly sexually objectified. Their lack of clothes portrays them to be sexual objects who attend to Bond’s every need. The variety of women in this advert illustrates the idea that Bond avoids emotional connections with women and prefers them to be their when convenient. The pompous expression on Bond’s face highlights how proud he is of himself on the note that he can attract many women. The gun further develops the idea that women are submissive characters in the movie and have to obey the commands of Bond. It can therefore be argued that the movie targets a male audience as they are likely to share a similar mind-set to Bond.  





 This advert presents Bond in a different image. It is almost as if gender roles have been reversed. The female character is positioned to look as if she is protecting Bond. Bond seems unaware and distant while she seems to intimidate those that try to come close to Bond. This intimidation is represented through her direct mode of address. She appears to be powerful and resilient which completely defies the values from the older advert. However, the low-cut silk black dress as well as the make-up and jewellery still sexually gratify the female character.  The producers of the movie are not likely to hire someone who is of a different race or body shape. In other words, qualities such as a skinny body, flawless skin and features are what is required to play the part. This is most likely because audiences will repel a female of this nature.   
  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tide advert

Image
A vast majority of Tide adverts are controversial as they connote many stereotypical ideologies. Tide adverts conform to the notion that women should be domestic servants and undertake any chores in order to gratify their husbands. In this advert, the dominant reading suggests the wife finds pleasure being subjugated to her husband. The washing powder clearly brings  a sense of happiness as the wife can bring joy to her husband by cleaning his clothes contentiously. The phrases that join the advert are also stereotypical. While 'He wears the cleanest shirts in town' is in a larger and brighter font, '...his 'Misses' swears by tide' is smaller and harder to read. The red font dominating over the black font could connote the husband taking credit for his wife's work therefore highlighting his dominance and superiority over her. The fact that she is referred to as 'Misses' also connotes this idea as she doesn't have an identity without other tha
Read more

Binary Opposites

Image
The Amazing Spider-man and the Harry Potter franchise In both Harry Potter and The Amazing Spiderman franchises, the binary opposites, the protagonists and antagonists, hold specific values that reinforce their role. Firstly, Voldemort’s role as an antagonist is exceedingly stereotypical in regard to the mise-en-scene, soundtrack, editing and camera work. The black clothing and evil actions empower darkness upon the world. His followers also wear similar clothing. This, among other factors, present Voldemort as the epitome of evil. It is ironic however, that most tyrannical characters don’t kill other people but rather, their disciples commit the crime for them. Thus, most characters in the movie refer to Voldemort as ‘the dark lord’ or ‘he who shall not be named’. Harry goes against this rule by addressing Voldemort by his real name emphasising his heroic traits of bravery. He is not afraid to confront this demonic being. Furthermore, it can be argued that Harry is an a
Read more

Post-colonism and orientalism- Gilroy and Said

Paul Gilroy:  - Student of Stuart Hall  - Colony: The countries that we control  - The British took over many countries in the world  - Decolonisation after WW2 Post- colonialism:  Political or cultural condition of a former colony "Colonial discourses continue to inform contemporary attitudes to race and ethnicity in the post-colonial era." - Gilory  Colonial discourse:  behaving as if we are superior to other races. This is similar to when the British white people used to treat those who were black or brown as inferiors.  Civilisationism constructs racial hierarchies and binary opposition.  Edward Said  Focused on the discrimination of those in the East. He argued that people in the west have little knowledge of what occurs in the east.  Orielantalism: How we look at those who are different to us Otherness: Those who are different from us    Said argued that the west allowed stereotyping to become a justification 
Read more