Detailed essay plan

'Historically, James Bond films have confirmed to Laura Mulvey's theory. Is this still the case today?' Looking at Casino Royale (2006) as main text.


My independent study is all about whether or not the recent Bond movie Casino Royale (2006), obejectifies women and whether or not it still confirms to Laura Mulvey's theory of the "male gaze". The main reason i have chosen to look at James Bond movies in particualar is because the Bond movies have a wide range of followers, which makes the issue of women being objectified more controversial and looked at more. The other reason why i chose to look at this particular James Bond movie is because of the 'Bondgirl', who for the first time in any of the movies challenges the James Bond character. (T, A, N, Mulvey)


The other texts that i have decided to focus on partly are Dr No (1962) and Die another day (2002) and from a different genre, Cool Hand luke (1967), just for a comparison with a different genre and to see how women are represented in other movies. The Bond movies are important to my study as they will give an indication of how far the roles of women have come in the same genre of movie over a 40 year period. 'Cool hand luke' will allow me to determine whether or not the same representations of women are widely distributed around the movie industry. (OT, R, H)

Casino Royale confirms to Mulvey's 'male gaze':



-It is easy to make the decision that Bond movies on a whole confirm to mulvey's theory of the male gaze, as specific scenes in the Bond movies all point in the same direction, however in some cases it is argued that the objectification of women in Bond movies goes beyond just sex objects, as David Gauntlett argues that "Bond and moneypenny's flirtation could be seen as sexual harrasment".

-These scenes and examples from the Bond movies would make it easier for the audience to interpret the movie in any way, this view from Gauntlett is his own interpretation, which makes it easier for the audience to judge the movie and what they see of women. (Gauntlett, R, A, T)


The fascination of women and sex lies within the character make-up of James Bond.


-As well as certain things being drawn from the text, most interpretation would point in the direction that the sex and women is all part of the charcter of James Bond and needs to be to make him Bond and play his role well.

-Looking at Dr No (1962) and Casino Royale (2006), there are specific scenes in both movies that show off Bond's fascination with women and having sex, most notably the scene with Ursula Andress coming out of the water and Bond watching her in comparison with Casino Royale when Bond is having sex with Bondgirl Caterina Murino, as these scenes demonstrate no change in representation of women over a period of 40 years. (N, R, H)

-Another key point concerning the representation of Bondgirls and women in general has to do with the narrative and the ending of the movies. In all of the James Bond movies, Bond saves the woman, as she is presented as a 'damzel in distress'. (R, N)



Womens roles are limited to being "merely token females"?



- Another arguement stems from the other and it concerns how seriously women are taken in film. At the moment, womens roles are limited, as Barry Gunter describes it as being "merely token females", which takes all seriousness out of the womens roles. (Gunter)

- Going along with this quotation from Barry Gunter, some scenes could also be looked at, for example the scene with Bond in Casino Royale where he gives Eva Green the dress and tells her exactly what to do, where to walk and how to act, as he tells her to walk in front of the players so that they notice her. This is a clear demonstration that women are being led on and not able to express their opinions in the industry or in the movies. (ML, N)



Some problems may lie within genders of directors



- More emphasis could be placed upon this dilemma by argueing that the problem may have been caused due to the lack of female directors and producers. As already known, the movie industry is lacking a womans perspective on things and with most directors being men, this could lead to marxism in film where only males point of view is being portrayed. With a womans perspective, female roles would be given more thought. (T)

-"All the actresses had to perform a bedroom scene with Daniel where Bond says he's leaving the service to be with Vesper Lynd. Barbara Broccoli was particularly impressed by Rose."This is a clear indication of the intentions of the directors where this example shows a hint of patriachal society within the institutions and directors and producers. (SHEP, I)



Casino Royale disagrees with Mulvey's theory:

- Even though it can be argued that women are partly presented as sex objects and it is argued that women do not get the parts and the attention that they may deserve, they do however play a massive role in the narrative of the Bond movies. Even though the narrative of the films is to save the world, Bond gets side tracked by love and women and in most movies, the women who become bondgirls help him to beat the villian in all cases. (R, N, G)



'M' being the lead lady in Bond movies



- The leader of the 'MI6' organisation is 'M' who is being played by Judi Dench and she has played the character of 'M' for a number of years now appearing in various Bond movies and her power is demonstrated through her leadership and telling Bond what to do. In the case of 'M', the directors and producers have chosen a woman to show the power women have and to show that rather than men and women being equal, women can be more powerful than men. (H, N)

- "His boss 'm' is now Judi Dench, an authoratative woman who tells him, 'you are a sexist mysoganistic dinosaur, a relic from the cold war". Bond isn't used to this kind of thing, as David Gauntlett puts it and he draws more attention to the evolution of the women in James bond, when he says "Although bond changes little, the female characters have become more resourceful as the series progressed". (Gauntlett)



Bond having met his match?



- Some have argued that in the previous Bond movies, the women that have played roles have been presented as passive and haven't been given challenging roles however in Casino Royale, Eva Green who plays vesper lynd has been hailed as Bond's match from the first time they meet.

- This has been achieved mostly through the use of media language and the mise-en-scene, especially through the clothing of the character. In the scene where they first meet, the woman is wearing black, which in her case presents mystery and masculinity to her character. Bond makes an attempt at guessing vesper's past and she has a go aswell, both of them getting it right, showing equality amongst their brains and judgements. (N, ML)


Role reversal during the series of movies

-One major factor to consider with the presentation of women is also how the men are being presented through the movie and whether or not they are being objectified and the answer to this question can be easily found by looking at a particular scene with James Bond coming out of the water with only his trunks on and this could be percieved as him being objectified. This scene has been in several James Bond movies dating back to Dr No, where it was made famous and in 2002, Die another day re-inacted this scene using a highly recognised actor in Halle Berry. The scene is all about portraying women in a sexy yet aggresive manner with the women coming out of the water in their bikini's but on the side of their costumes having a weapon, in both cases a knife. In Casino Royale however, Daniel Craig is the person being objectified, however in this specific case, he is unarmed and has no weapon, which makes him seem powerless. (ML, I, SHEP)

Key scenes that will be focussed on in detail:

All of the presentation is done through the media language and done through the connotations behind the scenes and that is why i have chosen a few specific scene to focus on, as they best typify the symbolic and literate presentations of women and how the institution has been able to adapt and confirm or not confirm to the male gaze theory.

The main scene that will be the main focus of the older texts will be the iconic scene from Dr No where Ursula Andress comes out of the water in nothing but a bikini and James Bond is singing along with her, after watching her for some time, illustrating the male gaze to an extent. Other scenes that will be focussed on during the course of this essay will be the identical scene from Die another day (2002), when Halle Berry arises from the water in an identical fashion to when Ursula Andress done her scene. The main reason for looking at this scene is because of the fact that, with the scenes being identical it shows the pattern of no change in the presentations and attitudes towards women. The other main scene that will be looked at will be the scene from Casino Royale, where the structure of the scene is identical to the previous scenes however in this scene, rather than having a woman arising from the water, Daniel Craig is shown coming out of the water, which shows the change of attitudes of gender over a period of 40 years.

List of (book) references to include:

1. Gauntlett, David, (2002), 'Media, gender and identity' (published by Routlage)


2. Tuchman, Gaye, (1978), 'The symbolic annilation of women in the mass media'


3. Gunter, Barry, (1995), 'Television and gender representation', London: John Libby


4. Turner, Graham, (1989:20), 'The film cultures reader'


5. Mulvey, Laura, (1975), 'Visual pleasure and narrative cinema'


List of (website) references to include:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casino_Royale_2006

http://www.007.com/

http://cid.nada.kth.se/pdf/cid_51.pdf

http://www.jahsonic.com/VPNC.html

http://www.sonypictures.co.uk/movies/casinoroyale/index.html

Historical texts

Text: Cool hand luke (1967)

Scene: Car wash scene

Analysis: This scene is very symbolic of what the attitudes towards women were back in the 1960's and essentially these perceptions of women and their roles in movies and the media became fixed stereotypes.

The scene starts off with a bunch of sweaty men doing manual labour with their shirts off and this could be percieved as the female gaze as the men are being shown as pieces of meat literaly and figuratively. "Am i not gonna see something look like that", is the reaction from one of the men who spots a woman coming out of her house and immediatly stares at her because of her clothes and her breasts. This was a typical woman representation in the 1960's when women had no secure place in society. "Look at that" is the phrase uttered by paul newman and by calling the woman 'that' he gives her no identity in the film but only as an object. The fact that the woman comes straight out of the house and starts washing a car, which confirms to the stereotypical assumtion of what women are really after and what they are most concerned about, which was cleaning and family. The segment of the scene when the woman picks up a hosepipe is very significant as it represents two things, one being a phallic symbol which shows that she needs a man in her life and the other being that she is far from the stereotypical woman who is just concerned about cleanliness, as she is playing with phallic symbols, which portrays her as promiscuous and provokative towards the men who are working. "She aint got nothing but a safety pin holding that thing together", this is very symbolic of what men used to think about women other than beneath them and this thought is all to do with sex and what women are wearing and its shown well, as it distracts the men from their work and their task in hand.
The sex factor fo the woman is emphasized upon even more as the camera only zooms in to the body and doesn't look at the face and the womans hair is covering her face aswell as her face not being focussed upon at all. This woman is definately seen as promiscuous and very provokative, as she squeezes the sponge and all the foam and water 'accidently' drops down onto her dress, which arrouses the men as in a sexual way it symbolizes the mans pleasure. She is not the typical passive woman who doesn't take notice of whats going on around her and she plays upon the feelings and the attention that the men are giving her and starts to play with them again, portraying her as promiscuous and provokative and sexually being able to dominant the men.

In comparison with my main text and my second choice of text, it goes some way in showing what the typical representations of women were and what kind of stereotypes they had to confirm to and what they still have to confirm to. Comparing the woman in 'cool hand luke' and 'casino royale' is a comparison with a lot of similarities and alot of differences, one of the differences being that the woman in 'cool hand luke' is only shown as a sex object and only her body is being looked at whereas, in 'casino royale' Eva Green plays a key role throughout the movie and is portrayed as abit of a 'tomboy' as she dresses up in trousers at the start while trying to gain the upper hand on the male gender. The only similarity between the two women in the two texts in the fact that even though they are being represented as sex objects in parts of the movie, they are smart enough to realize that they can use their charm and sexual appeal to their advantage and it works well for both.

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Contemporary texts

Jadore dior
This advert is a bit different to the other contemporary adverts chosen as their is one character in the advert and the only character in the advert in a celebrity, charlize theron and that adds a credibility factor to the product which will attract an audience of both female, who would want to buy the product because of the actress and males who would be gazing at the woman.

The actress in this advert is one of high recognition and it makes it even more eye catching in the advert when she takes her clothes off and is representing a pure woman with her body but also at the same time she could be seen to be representing the promiscuous and provocative woman, historical stereotypes are shining through in this advert, the male gaze.

Contemporary texts

'Diet coke break'
The advert for the diet coke is one of the adverts that presents women in a very contrasting ways, as they are presented as having the same interests and concerns as the men with the women working in the first part but then taking a break to have some coke, which presents them as being all about fun and temptation, which in essence presents them as weak.

The most contrasting and obvious change in the advert is the fact that the roles have changed between the two genders with the women taking a break, having fun and looking at the men, opposition to mulvey's male gaze and the men are the ones who are being sexually objectified. The men are seemed to be the bait for the women who in the advert are looking at the can of coke and not the men, which makes it even more ironic.

Contemporary texts

Sheila's wheels
This advert represents women in a different light as the women in this advert are not trying to attract men towards the product but are trying to attract more women then men as they make the females feel independent with their own car insurance and 'for ladies who insure their cars' obviously confirms that point.

The whole theme of the advert is all about the independence of women and the colours in the advert emphasizes the theme and the attitude of the women, which is independence and the pink, which is seen as a 'girly' colour is the main colour.

Historical texts

Cadbury's flake advert
Chocolate is something which is widely associated with women and what women stereotypically like and the first scene in the clip is a woman who is eating the flake chocolate, but in this case its not a product that is associated with domestic things.

The facial expressions of the woman in the advert connotes alot of sexuality and adds sell factor to the product and most of all it will attract the male audience as well as the female audience which has already been secured by the product itself

Historical texts

Flash
Being that 'flash' is a domestic product and this advert is all about 'spring cleaning' and it contrast with the time of the advert, as the 1960's was all about the revolution about sex and the pill and this advert contrasts with the time of the advert.

Again in this advert, much like the last one is about cleaning and again the first person we see in the advert is a woman, which again illustrates that women were in the fireing line when it came to cleaning. Also women still being passive toward the way advertisers are presenting them, confirming to their stereotypes.

Historical texts

Shake and vac
The shake and vac advert is a typical example of an advert which objectifies women not sexually but domestically, which is one of the main features that women are associated with, historically and in modern times.

The fact that a woman is the first person we see, gives the female a leading role, however in domestic adverts like cleaning products and other things only women were in these adverts and men were no where to be seen when domesticated things were about.

Having a woman starring in a advert about cleaning is one issue but the other notable thing is that the voiceover is done by a woman as well, which makes it seem as if no men at all are interested in housing or cleaning, the things that women are most concerned about.

Exploitation of women in advertisment
The first scene in the clip there is a woman being sexually objectified by the man and by the advertisers, as again they are playing a big part in the way women are being represented and they way that they are beng presented as confirming to their stereotypes.

"Women projected as bodies only". This is the attitude of all feminists towards how women in the media are being represented and it is a growing way of looking at the representation of women througout the media world. The fact that the background to the text is black, shows the darkness behind the quotation.

Most of the scenes in this clip are of women being objectified as sex objects with them showing different adverts where women are being dressed up in skimpy clothes and showing them to be enjoying it, which is presenting the men as being passive to the treatment that they are recieving, also showing evidence of a patriachal society.

The 'get the power advert' is one of the few adverts in this clip that shows women in any position of power and even though they are being shown in positions of power, 'power to clean anything' is the most notable thing about this adverts as it contradicts the original message being sent about women actually having the power.

At the end of the advert, there is a chnage in the way that women are being presented and it comes in the form of them being shown as having some power and achieving major achievments, which is one of the things that men were said to be most concerned about in their minds, for example the woman with the medal and the woman who is a politician, shows wmen as having alot of power within their professions.

Gender in advertsing

The representation of women in commercials
The first scene in the commercial is of two women cleaning their clothes, which still shows abit of the stereotype of women, which is that women historically have been more concerned about cleanliness it is shines through even in modern advertisment.

The men in the advertisment are seen as having fun, which is what is said about the male gender, that the only things that men are concerned about achievements and having fun, in the case of this advert having fun is top of the conerns for the men.

The woman who walks into the house has a bag of shopping in her hand, again the stereotypes coming into light with the woman being concerned about family and domesticated things, but then another concept is shown in the text, the concept is that of a patriachal society with the woman being dominated by the male askin for pizza.

The role of the woman then changes as the clip continues with the woman taking on the more sexual role as she gets herself dirty and rips her skirt off revealing her legs and this can be seen as provocative on the womans part. "Thats okay, i'll clean up" is what the woman says at the table, which again goes someway in agreeing with the idea that women are more concerned with cleanliness and domesticated things.

In the rest of the clip, various products are being shown as on different adverts, but the most notable thing to take note of is the fact that only women are being shown in the adverts, especially when the cleaning is being shown it is the woman who is doing the cleaning, which again matches with the stereotypes. There is one notable segment of the advertising products section and that is when the woman is doing the dusting inside the house and the mans part in is lifting his legs so that the woman can clean. This is a perfect example of the dominance that the males have over the females even in the adverts and the advertisers are partly to blame for the women being subverted to their historical stereotypes.

Theorists in 'gender in advertising'

Gunter- Gunter(1995) is a theorist who is focussing on how gender (specifically women) are being represented in magazines, comparing their representations in different decades. He found out that women in magazines adverts prior to the 70's were hardly shown in paid work and if they were shown in paid work then they would be in jobs that would usually be associated with the female gender, for example a secretary or a hairdresser. Gunter also concludes that the 'housewife' image was in decline after the 50's but was still quite common in the 60's and 70's. Even though women were shown more as working women, Gunter still found that women were still assumed to be performing domestic duties.

Cumberbatch- Cumberbatch (1995) done a study of 500 prime time tv ads in the uk and found that advertisers had seemingly become wary of showing women doing housework, which was seen in 7% of the ad's, but also it was shown for the first time that men were shown in the kitchen doing the cooking more often than women. This could be described as one of the instances of the 'new man' coming into affect and men were introduced to more domesticated jobs and women were shown as more dominant than men with there being a role reversal.

Scheibe- Scheibe (1979) done a study of tv ad's and included an assessment of what male and female characters were shown to be concerned about. He concluded that women in ad's were shown to be more concerned about beauty, cleanliness, family and pleasing others, whereas men were only more concerned about achievements and having fun and even if both gender groups were ahown in unusual places or settings, these characteristics were seen to be shining through their role at the moment. This goes some way to show that once a group in the media has been placed in a catagory or has been given a 'label', that stereotype stays with them even when not in their 'mediated habitat'.

Macdonald- Macdonald (1995) was taking an oppositional view to the concept that groups in ad's were normally confirming to their stereotypes in other forms of the media and he noted that "advertisers generally lagged behind women's magazines in the cultivation of new modes of address, even when the evidence suggested that commercial advantages could be gained from modernising their approach", this is macdonalds arguement that advertsiers were doing nothing to update and modernise womens stereotypes and how they were shown and the conclusion can be drawn that advertisers were the group of people who carried on with the stereotypes given to the women.

Greer- "every woman knows that she is a failure if she is not beautiful", this is one of the more noticable quotations from greer as he sums up the representation of women both modernised and stereotypical, even in the news where all of the news readers are good looking and young as half of the hype about the news shows is if the news readers are good looking or not. This quotation is a reminder from greer that the gender equality situation remains unchanged nowadays. "Thirty years ago it was enough to look beautiful now a woman has to have a tight, toned body, including her buttocks and thighs, so that she is in good touch all over", this quotations best describes what messages modelling agencies send out and what attitudes women have these days.

Walter- Natasha walters (1998) quotes suggest that women nowadays are more or less happy with the way they look and instead of women being the unsatisfied with the way they look, it is actually the vast majority of the men who are left feeling unsatisfied with the way that they look, which can be co-insided with the new man and even further towards the metrosexual man who is alot more feminine. "If only 4% of men think that they are attractive, we should not be too quick to argue that only women feel cast down by the pressures of beautiful ideals" (1998). She then goes onto making the point about how more attractive people earn more money than their plain counterparts and this was more apparant for men then women. However, there have been statistics who disagree with walter as it was concluded from a survey that women are ten times more likely to be more unhappy with their body image than men.

Cortese- Anthony Cortese, who wrote in a book called 'provocateur', argues that women are more or less shown to be the perfect provocateur as they are made to look provocative through editing and make up and clothing. " Displays youth, good looks, sexual seductivness and [beauty] perfection", and this is very illustrative of how various companies make women look for any type of commercial or tv advert and this is a common factor, for example in the 'male gaze' theory where mulveys argues that women are just sexual objects and have no purpose in the media, this is going some way as to why this is the case, as women are made to look sexy and seductive, therefore attracting the males attention.

Bibliography books (so far)

Gauntlett, David, (2002), 'Media, gender and identity' (published by Routlage)
- "Bond and moneypenny's flirtation could be seen as sexual harrasment"p49

Tuchman, Gaye, (1978), 'The symbolic annilation of women in the mass media'
- "symbolically annilated"

Gunter, Barry, (1995), 'Television and gender representation', London: John Libby
- "merely token females"

Turner, Graham, (1989:20), 'The film cultures reader'
- "figure in a landscape"

Gauntlett, David, (2002), 'Media, gender and identity' (published by Routlage)
- "His boss 'm' is now Judi Dench, an authoratative woman who tells him, 'you are a sexist mysoganistic dinosaur, a relic from the cold war'. Bond isn't used to this kind of thing. p49

Gauntlett, David, (2002), 'Media, gender and identity' (published by Routlage)
- "Although bond changes little, the female characters have become more resourceful as the series progressed". p49

Mulvey, Laura, (1975), 'Visual pleasure and narrative cinema'
- "Woman then stands in the patriachal culture as signifier for the male other, bound by a symbolic order in which man can live out his phantasies and obsessions through linguistic command by imposing them on the silent image of women still tied to her place as bearer of meaning not maker of meaning"

Mulvey, Laura, (1975), 'Visual pleasure and narrative cinema'
- "The image of woman as (passive) raw material for the (active) gaze.....The arguement returns again to the psychoanalytic background that woman as representation signifies castration".

1990's

Second clip: Basic Instinct
Basic instinct is a movie that follows on with the plot of the previous Michael Douglas movie 'Fatal Attraction' where he comes to discover that a woman is a killer who murders her victims in strange way and with strange weapons. This scene is the famous scene with the 'leg cross' and it shows her power as she refuses to answer their questions and puts them under a spell by being seductive, showing her power over men.

1990's

First clip: Goodfellas
Goodfellas is a movie that tells a real life story of Henry Hill and in this movie the men are represented as dominant even when they go to jail as the are still running the cells and smuggling food into the prison. The women however, are presented in a very different light with the two main women actresses being portrayed as sex objects at least once in the movie and this confirms to Mulvey's theory.

1980's

Second clip: Three men and a baby
This movie was a movie that didn't follow any feminist theories however, it did bring another theory to the frontline and that was the theory of the new man who is shown in this movie as three men find that they have to take care of babies. This movie revealed a more sensitive side to the male character in the movies.

1980's

First clip: Terminator (1984)
The first of the terminator movies reinforced the final girl theory even though at the end of the movie she survives with a man at the end, but the woman at the end symbolizes women being in a mixed role as during the movie she is portrayed as a sex object when having sex, however the other role she plays is the fighter and the surviver, perhaps a mix of male and female gaze?

1970's

Second clip: Texas chainsaw massacre trailer (1974)
This movie is another good example of the concept of the final girl as she is the last person surviving. In the trailer we first see the woman getting captured by 'leatherface' but towards the end we see the woman fighting back from his torture and this is a symbol of the females getting some leading roles within the movies.

1970's

First clip: Alien trailer (1979)
Signory Weaver is the female in this movie and she is represented as a heroin however, at the start of this trailer she is running away from the aliens which portrays her as weak and unable to defend herself but at the end of the movie the final girl comes into effect as she is the last surviver of the aliens.

1960's

Second clip: Dr No, Ursula Andress scene
This scene is very important as it has been voted and thought of for some time as the most iconic scene of all time, due to the context of the movie and how sexual nature has been incorporated. Also important as it was made in the 60's when the revolution of sex and drugs were going on and the woman in this is attracting the male gaze by wearing provokative clothing.

1960's

First text: Cool Hand Luke
The scene that i have chosen is a scene of a woman washing a car, a stereotypical way to show a woman being promiscuous and sexy, and she catches the full attention of the men, which is a perfect example of Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze.

Representations of gender in the past and present

In the past the representation of women was somewhat degrading and even can go as far as mysoganistic with the poor allocated jobs that the women especially in the media used to receive. Examples of these women in the media not getting decent jobs but getting unrecognisable jobs very much run throughout the media arena. For the women who were working very much in the media, they would not get the top jobs but would mostly be taking orders from their male counterparts who were all ways above them in the job ranking throughout numerous countries. For the women who were acting in the media, their job titles were obviously actor however, the acting would not be seen as major roles in the programmes as they were still playing second fiddle to the men who ere involved in the same job title. The description of the james bond series is significant as it shows how the role of women has changed over a period of time in the same series, which shows the different attitudes of the producers and the directors, what they feel should be the role of the woman. 'M' shows a solid female character throughout the bond series as she is the leading woman and she is also the most powerful character in the movies however, even though she is the most powerful character because she is in charge of bond, he still goes out of his way in order to disobey his boss and it is seen quite often during the bond series.

Gender in the present
With the issue of gender in the present time, there are various arguements to suggest that gender has become more advanced and that it has become more about equality and less about a patriachal society, however strong cases can and have been made to suggest that the roles of gender and the gender roles have not changed the slightest bit. One of the arguements to suggest that gender roles have become more advanced and alot more different can be seen by some of the texts that have been talked about, for example in the hit sitcom show 'Friends' the male characters have often been shown to have a very feminine side to their personalities and the women in the show have been seen to be wearing the trousers in the text and equality can be seen from the same text as a group from both genders are in one apartment where they are being represented as being equal to each other, which goes some way to suggest that there is no such thing as a patriachal society in todays world. An example to show that men are still getting the more prestigious roles in the media were seen and witnessed during the 2001 election where people like paxman and snow were taking care of the more serious things like the heavy, solid interviews and the bbc correspondant Fiona Bruce was taking care off and just giving little interviews to the 'ordinary people'. So by the two examples that have been given it is easy to see why there are strong arguements against both sides of the arguement however in my opinio women are coming up in the media world but not quick enough, judging by the media guardian top 100.

5 key points of the essay

1. "Loaded and FHM both feature women on the front cover scantily dressed or even naked as their sales lure, a common convention followed by most pornographic publications."

2. "The scantily dressed females represent women as sex objects and exhibit an overpowering masculinity to the audience and therefore re-enforce negative stereotypes in the media".

3. "hold an overriding emphasis on penetrative sex and repeatedly represent women as the weaker gender who were made only to make men's life more enjoyable and entertaining".

4. "Modern magazine follow the conventions of Playboy, in which women are depicted as objects for men's contemplation and enjoyment".

5. "Cynically, the lifestyle "labelled" magazines for men are simply a way for the publishing institutions to make a lot of money".

Pluralistic or Marxist?

The idea based around the hegemonic model is the "ability of the ruling classes to rule by consent by envolving a consenseus for the ruling sentiments through everyday cultural life, including media representationof the world". Basically in simpler terms, this is describing how the hegemonic model works and that is, the higher classes who are involved in the business are able to portray to the members of the audience what they want them to see, basically one group is dominated by another. In media terms, the truth will be mediated in a bias way to control what another group see's.

On the pluralistic model on the other hand, is a model is more of a peoples theory and model as it takes into considereation completely what the audience wants and it is described as being "diversed and full of customer choices". This is a theory for the people as it takes into interest the peoples choice and it doesn't try to hide or mediate the truth in anyway from the audience. In this theory there is a sense of equality amongst the people as no one or no particular group is discriminated in any different way. "The main function of the media is to please its audience, it therfore seeks to fulfil their needs, and its representations meet their expectations.

The model that most suits me and that one that i most prefer is the pluralistic model as in that model i would be seen as an equal and the institution in control would not be mediating the truth in anyway and everything that i would see would hopefully be satisfying my media needs and the representations would meet my expectations.

Detailed texual analysis on bond scene

The scene that i have chosen is on of the starting scenes with Bond with Judi dench at the start who is and remains throughout the series as the most powerful person in the bond movies as she tells bond what to do and is the only woman who retains their power in the bond movies.

At the start of this scene, M played by Judi Dench, keeps a close eye on the movements and actions of James Bond by having a microchip inserted into his arm to keep track of him. This is one of the most significant scenes in the movie has it shows what kind of and how much power some women do posses over the men in this movie. 'M' being the main person behind the operations, posses all of the power over James Bond and is the only person who pulls his strings. "We'll know where you are" is the signification to james bond and men in general that women posses most of the power in this movie and in the previous James Bond movies.

The next segment of the scene is the important first meeting of James bond and vesper lynd, who is played by Eva Green. "I am the money" is the first thing that is said in this significant meeting and that quotation shows the value of the women in this film. This is a very important saying from vesper lynd as it goes against the historical value of the female, which was to leave the bread-winning, the harder jobs and manual work to the male and the woman was supposed to stay at home and do the cooking, cleaning and looking after the husband, whereas in this scene she value herself, which is showing confidence and it gives Bond an indication of what confidnece she has.

The media language and the mise-en-scene in the scene gives a very indication also of what kind of a Bondgirl will be like in this movie. The fact that she is wearing black and is carrying a brief case shows that she is a very confident person but black also gives off the connotations of sectretive and mysterious, which we find out to be true later in the movie. The brief case carrying shows the business woman side of her character, which is who she goes into this mission as.

The next part of the scene is when both Bond and Vesper lynd are sitting down in the train and are both trying to guess the backgrounds of each person, and the fact that Bond and both Vesper lynd both guess right shows the equality of the two sexes, which was historically and issue in society as women were seen as being unequal to their male counterparts, which is probably what has prompted the change of characteristics and the change of personality in the more modern Bondgirl.

"You think of women as diposable pleasures rather than meaningfull pursuits". This quotation is very symbolic of the attitudes and the thoughts of the men towards women, at least that it what has been represented through the series of Bond movies and the women in this movie confonts the attitude which has historically and socialogically been an issue for a number of decades . This quotation shows the change in the position of the bondgirl as this bondgirl confronts bond, equals him in their first meeting and even goes as fae as calling him a "cold hearted bastard", showing her feelings towards men of his position and beliefs.

The media language during this scene changes even further as we later see at the end of this scene that vesper lynd changes her clothes and also her connotations from black and mysterious to white and pure and angelic. This shows to side to her personality, also the camera angle which is shown is looking directly at them from no particular angle, which shows the men as being equal to the women and at no particular level are the men more valuable or better than the women in these Bond movies.

Plan for answer

Major things to make sure i do

Examples of critical autonamy early on

examples of sophisticated language

firm grasp of the text

incorporation of other key concepts and inclusion of all other aspects of media AS level and what i've learned so far in A2 media.

to make sure i highlight the key points of the study

most important thing is to include my question in the opening paragraph or straight away in the introduction.

include aspects of SHEP in my intro or my first paragraph

to write in a confident manner and a commanding style

perhaps note down a comparison to draw in other texts to broaden my knowledge of the genre and also to make links fairly early on.

10 keywords for study

1. Contexts- relevant historical, social, political and economic contexts. This is very important as i will need to try to interpret and to view my text from different contexts, also looking at the different contexts incorporated in the film.

2. Further reading- further reading is very important aswell during my independent study as i will need to do more further reading as the time goes along in order to bring my research and my answer to a more rounded conclusion.

3. Bibliography- a detailed reference of all texts and resources used. This is one of the most specific and vital details in the whole study as i will need to record every website, book or other resource that i use as the examiners will be checking where all of my information has come from.

4. Theorists- theorist such as stuart hall, richard dyer and ray stafford all need to be researched as they aswell as their theories are all un heard of. could use one of their theories in my study to see whether or not they match with my topic or with my text.

5. Gauntlet.D- A media, gender and identity theorist. It will be interesting to see his/her complete idea and complete theory because at the moment with me having no knowledge of his/her theory its impossible to include this theory in my study.

6. Feminism- this is one of the main keywords that i will be using in my study as my topic which is the representation of women, is very much to do with the theory of feminism, looking at the first and the second wave of feminism.

7. gender- male or female, this is a keyword that i will have to look at in a different context in relation to my film as i could interpret the movie in many different ways however, i have to be careful not to only focus on one side of the gender scale.

8. mulvey- the feminist theorist who believes that women are being objectified in the media. obviously i would include laura mulvey in my study as my question very much stems back to her original theory of the male gaze.

9. representation- the process whereby the media construct versions of different people. the key work in my study out of them all as this is the main focus, the main focal point of my study, to focus on the representation of women in the james bond movies and how or if they have changed over the years.

10. institution- the company who makes and produces the text. this is not a major keyword in my study however it is a good thing to look at as i can look at previous movies worked on by this institution and determin from that what are the typical representation of women by this particular company.

Other theorists and critics

Professor Sue Thornham
1. Professor of Media and Film Studies

2. Professor of Media and Film Studies (Material Digital Culture

3. Her research interests focus on feminist theory and its applications to film, media and cultural studies.

Some books to look out for to help with my study: Feminist film theory, Feminist theory and cultural studies, Television drama (theories and identities), Women, feminism and media.

Elaine Showalter

American litrary critic and has a theory on the different phases of feminism.

Has had problems with other critics and other theorists like Toril moi, who argued that showalter has a limited essentialist view of women. Moi particularly criticized Showalter’s ideas regarding the Female phase, and its notions of a woman's singular autonomy and necessary search inward for a female identity.

Rotten tomatoes links

I have done furthe research into my text however, going onto the rotten tomatoes links i didn't manage to find any links that were specifically related to my text, however i did manage to find a few links which had alot to do with my main focus of the question, representation of women.

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/gaze/gaze09.html: This link is to do with laura mulvey and how she came about with her theory and it would be very useful to me to price my opinion on it and also to try and understand her theory in more depth.

http://www1.medialiteracy.com/representation.jsp: this is a link to a website, which focusses on the representations of women and the general roles of gender, race and representation. This will be of good use to me as it will allow me to get a broader sense of the way in which representation of gender is seen and how the roles of gender affect the media.

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Modules/MC30820/represent.html: another link to a website which focusses on the representations of different groups in the media and how they affect the media. Useful to me as it will again give me a different aspect of representation.

http://bananaboijohn.blogspot.com/: A link to another blog by another student, which concentrates on the roles of women in the media and how they have changed over time, the text is not relevant to my text. Will help me with getting another opinion of the roles of women and how their representation has changed over time.

Another resource to consider is the book by Ziauddin sardar and Borin van loon, which i have nicked from moe's blog as he is doin a similar topic it will also help me with my study as it is all to do with the representations of women and the fact that they are all seen as objects of 'the male gaze'.

http://www.ltcconline.net/lukas/gender/gaze/gaze.htm: A link to a site which focusses cleanly on the male gaze which in essence is the focal point of my study. This will help me by giving another side to the male gaze story and how it has come about, it will also show how this theory is being interpreted in different ways.

Martin campbell's view of the movie

Laura mulvey

We all know Laura mulvey's theory on the male gaze, however we have covered the basic aspects of the theory and i have come across her essay which talks about her theory in more detail and delievers her opinions. Her theory has most likely derived from the first wave of feminism during the 1920's and it expresse the role of the woman since before, during and after those times.

The title of the essay is 'visual pleasure and narrative cinema', i haven't found the complete essay and im not going to post the essay on my blog but i have found extracts of the essay and i will supply the link: http://www.jahsonic.com/VPNC.html

General biography of Laura mulvey: Laura Mulvey was born in Oxford on 15 August 1941. After studying history at St. Hilda's, Oxford University, she came to prominence in the early 1970s as a film theorist, writing for periodicals such as Spare Rib and Seven Days. Much of her early critical work investigated questions of spectatorial identification and its relationship to the male gaze, and her writings, particularly the 1975 essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, helped establish feminist film theory as a legitimate field of study.

Between 1974 and 1982 Mulvey co-wrote and co-directed with her husband, Peter Wollen, six projects: theoretical films, dealing in the discourse of feminist theory, semiotics, psychoanalysis and leftist politics. The first of these, Penthesilea: Queen of the Amazons (1974) explored concerns central to Mulvey's writings: the position of women in relation to patriarchal myth, symbolic language and male fantasy. Penthesilea represents an experimental British venture into territory pioneered by the likes of Jean-Luc Godard. With its counter-cinema style and relentlessly didactic approach, however, its appeal was inevitably limited to a restricted audience.

Some films she has helped create: Riddles of the sphinx (1977)

AMY! (1980)

Crystal gazing (1982)

Frida kahlo and tina modotti (1982)

The bad sister (1982)

Female gaze

Haven't found much at all about the female gaze, however i have been doin some research and i have come across an essay on whether or not there is a female gaze. The main text which is being looked at in this essay is 'Fatal Attraction', however at this point any view on a female gaze will do as there hasn't been any proof, so far as i can tell, to prove that there is a female gaze.

Check it out: http://cid.nada.kth.se/pdf/cid_51.pdf

Hope it will help you uncover some aspects about your text.

Bibliography (so far)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0381061/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casino_Royale_2006

http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/casino_royale/

http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/casinoroyale

http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/7349978/review/12450444/casino_royale

http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2006/11/06/casino_royale_2006_review.shtml

http://movies.nytimes.com/2006/11/17/movies/17roya.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Propp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Strauss

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/gaze/gaze09.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Mulvey

http://www.007.com/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2006/nov/10/jamesbond.danielcraig

http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=153830

http://www.klast.net/bond/fleming.html

http://jmsbond.tripod.com/girls.html

http://www.sonypictures.co.uk/movies/casinoroyale/index.html

http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/566978/

Have tried looking for books specifically linked to my text and the specific aspect of my text, however so far i have been unable to find anything specifically related to my text, all abit to vague, however will try further.

Self evaluation of performance in classes

Attainment:1, my level of work and achievement has been outstanding as my work has been spotless.

Effort:1, i put full level of effort into the work that i do on this course.

Punctuality:1, always turning up to lessons and turning up on time.

Homework:1, my homework has been top class and i have handed my work in on all of the deadlines set.

Independent working:2, i am capable of working by myself, however i need to work with more resources.

Quality of writing:?, not sure because only one essay done this year and it hasn't been marked.

Media Folder:3, i have all of my notes but i need to update my media folder to keep myself and my work up to date.

Class contributions:1, always contribute in class and most of it is right.

Med 5 blog:1, up to date with all of the work, standard of the blog has been very high (didnt get 3 credits for nothing).

Med 6 blog:3, average blog, not much has been put on the blog because not much work has been set on the blog.

10 targets on what to do next

1. Do more research on mulvey and her theory and research on other theorists on women.


2. Start to keep an up to date and a detailed bibliography so i know and the examiners know where i got my resources from.


3. Try and find out if there is a theory on a 'female gaze', useful in study as i can show contrast or similarities between the two theories.


4. Try and research on the directors and producers and try to find their point of views and opinions.


5. Start to look at specific details which i could include in my answer and bullet point list of plan for essay.


6. To see if my question could be improved upon, and to work out a new title if possible.


7. Use some of the women representation links that are provided on the rotten tomatoes page and use more of my delicious tags to dig up more research.


8. Maybe read through past independent studies that recieved A grades to try and see what makes a good essay.


9. Perhaps look at moe's links and see if anything related to my text, since our topics are very similar.


10. Try to find books that are specifically aimed at my text and my title.

Self assesment of blog

AO1- A01 being the key concepts play a very important role in answering a question on representations of women looking especially at a movie. Overall, i think i've done well in analysing my text as i've looked in depth about the connotations of scenes and payed particular attention to represetations of women.

I have covered representation and audience the best because i've covered those in alot of depth as my main focus for my study is represetation and audience because they get the first impression of the characters and get to take a preffered reading or a oppositional reading.

I think the key concepts that need more work are definetly ideologies and theories and the theorists themselves. For example, i've not done enough research into Laura Mulvey herself and why she came up with this theory. Another thing is to research the female gaze which was talked about in class and was thought to be a good tool to my study.


AO2- I haven't looked at the zeitgeist theme because that doesn't really affect my text because of the context of the movie. The reason for that is because this movie is a remake so it would try to employ the same conventions as back then, that's why there are no gadgets in this movie and no Q, so in a nutshell the zeitgeist period hasn't affected my text in any sort of way.

SHEP is an important aspect of my study because i need to be able to know the historical aspects behind the text which im pretty confident with as i know the previous movies and the institution of the text, however i need to know more about the text based on the socialogical aspects, the political aspects and the economical aspects of the text.

In order of covering the rest of the SHEP aspects what would be ideal would be to do more research behind the directors, producers and the makers of the text and look at what made them make this movie, what they wanted to prove and what problems they established during the making of this movie.



AO5- Since my chosen text is one of the newest and most modern texts, it wasn't hard to find reviews and articles on my text. Most of the reviews and quotations i researched were mainly based on the role of Bond, since he is the main character, however within the reviews and articles i did manage to find sections on the role of the bondgirl and how well that role was played. A basic overview of the reviews were all in favour of the bondgirl being played very well by Eva Green and one the most memorable quotations was "she's a cut above the average bondgirl".

As said previously, one of my main targets of my study is to focus more on and research more on the issues and debates which will enhance my knowledge of the background of the text and will allow me to answer my question in more depth. In my opinion, my hypothesis is detailed enough for me to see what i have to do and what i have to achieve in order to complete my study. I have included all the nessecities that i need for my study and outlined clearly what it needed.

I have done alot of texual analysis looking specifically at particular scenes that prove my study and the trailer as it gives a more direct and a better overview of the movie than trying to interpret what the movie is about just by looking at scenes. The most analyised aspect of my movie has been the trailer as it gives a better view of the characters and what their specific role is in the text. It is easier for me to analyise my text from different points of view on one hand as i've seen it so many times however, when watching the text my first instinct is not to make notes on key concepts shown in the text but it is more to enjoy it.

I have analyised other texts other than my main one as i am looking at two more texts as background texts from a few years back and one from forty years back to show what the difference is between texts back in the olden days compared to what is portrayed in the newer text and showing the main difference in how the women were treated before and now.

Synoptic ability- I have linked my text to other aspects of the media, for example i did look at aspects of what we had previously studied in med 2 last year like the narrative and different audience theories especially the uses and gratifications theory and taking a preffered reading or an oppositional reading.

To be honest i haven't done much reading from the media guardian website but i do intend to do some research into the site very soon into my study as it has decent info about the current state of the media which i can then link to my study and interpret what issues and debates go along with the making on the movie.

Critical autonamy- I have been very self driven, (no one else is gonna do this study for me), but i have enjoyed it so far, hope it will stay that way. I have been thinking for myself along with the different interpretations that i can draw out from my text, but most of my ideas have been based purely on my won interpretations and opinions of the movie.

Quality of written communication- Take a look at my blog yourself you'll see all you need to see, i didn't get 3 credits for nothing you know.

Quotes from reviews

"her character is a cut-above your average Bond girl". Film 4, I agree with this quotation as it confirms to my opinion of her character, which is she is a top class bondgirl.

"Lynd is the most interesting woman Bond has encountered since he got hitched to Diana Rigg's Tracy Di Vicenzo". Film 4, I agree with this quotation as it also confirms to my theory that women in bond movies are becoming more interesting and challenging James Bond more and more often.

"But it's Eva Green as Vesper Lynd, a British treasury operative sent to stake Bond at the poker tables, who lifts her role to class-act status". rolling stone, I do agree with this quotation as this seems to be the opinion of many members of the audience, including mine because she behaves in a more classy manner than the rest of the bondgirls.

"But Vesper intends to maintain a professional distance from her temporary colleague". variety.com, She does accomplish this in the movie even when bond tries the 'bond charm' on her she resists and carries on as usual, however she gives in at the end.

"she will become the only woman ever to make him distrust his alliances with his government and his job". blu-ray review, I agree with this segment from this review as shown in the movie she does make him distrust his job and his allies like mathiues.

Migrain on a scene from Casino Royale

The media language in this scene creates a serious impact on the audience because of the props used in this scene and also because of the setting of the scene. The opening of this particular scene shows the height of the scene possibly connoting the mountain that James Bond has to climb to be a worthy 007. The use of using the industrial buildings and the work site works well with the context and the narrative because it creates a more realistic and authentic feel to the scene.

The values and the ideologies of the scene are particularly interesting as certain members of the audience would take an oppositional reading and say that the makers of 007 are still goin along with the stereotype that only black people can commit a crime, however the prefered reading would be that 007 is in a country where there are mostly black people. This is also a chase down on terrorism with 007 chasing a terrorist who has a bomb in his bag.

This movie is a hybrid genre movie as it combindes two genres such as action which is well represented in this short extract and spy which is well represented by the rest of the movie, especially in the scene with the poker game. This scene very much swings to the action side as it is all about Bond chasing the terrorist through walls and buildings and shooting goin on. The actor playing the terrorist is a specialist in parkour which is all about action and jumping on building so it fits in well with one of the genres.

The kind of audience that will be attracted to this particular scene would be an audience that are attracted to the action genre of movie as this scene is specifically for that reason, to seduce different sectors of the audience in. Even though action scenes have always been in bond movies none have been like this one, jumping from building, most of them envolve shooting at each other. In this scene bond is represented as the hero as he is trying to catch the villian who is represented by the black guy, which is controversial in itself.

Self evaluation of presentation

On friday we had our presentatons, which in my opinion were unfair because even with myself doing all the hard work of the blog i still had to present. Anyway i think the presentation went decent as i to be honest couldn't be bothered to present so i couldn't be bothered to look at everyone (even though i still looked at everyone in the class).

My actual powerpoint presentation was alright since i had a sufficiant amount of work on it but the main critisizm i recieved was that there was a lack of visual aids like pictures and videos and so on. Everyone gave their opinions on what i done good and what i could improve on (don't really know why we have to do this on the blog when we've done it already), and i made a note of the things i could improve on.

Objective targets

A01- Not much improvements needed by myself as the only aspects of the key concepts i have to focus on are audience, media language, institutions and representations and i have done all of those very well indeed.

A05- With this target objective a little more work is needed as i am a little short of research however the only research that is nessecary at this point is a bit of research on Laura Mulvey and her theory. The research that i have done on the text it self has been very good as i know most of the techniques and the background of the text.

A02- For this target objective again a little more work is needed as i haven't gone that much into detail about the shep of the text however it's all in my head and in the internet.

Is this the true intentions of the makers of Bond

Much has been made about the true intentions of the makers of Bond, whether they just want to cast the bondgirl just as a sex object or is there really a reason behind it that will enhance the effect and like-ability of the movie. Well, this is a section of a news article which is written by Stella Papamichael and it reads:



After smooching Brad Pitt in Troy, Rose Byrne looks "fairly certain" (according to her spokesperson) to play kissy-face with Daniel Craig in 007 flick Casino Royale. She's just auditioned for the role of spy seductress Vesper Lynd who breaks Bond's heart. An insider says, "All the actresses had to perform a bedroom scene with Daniel where Bond says he's leaving the service to be with Vesper Lynd. Barbara Broccoli was particularly impressed by Rose."

This section of a news article serves itself as proof of what the single intentions are of the directors and producers of Bond as it states here in this article that all the bondgirl is supposed to do is to perform a bedroom scene to make it in the movie. The fact that this is happening even before the movie has begun shows that these women are turned passive right from the start and it carries on in the movie with numerous scenes of women being passive and displayed as sex objects.

Review of Casino Royale

James Bond gets a hefty whack in the testes in Casino Royale, both literally and figuratively. The 21st installment of the world's longest-running movie series strips away the gadgetry to focus on action and character, introducing a younger, tougher James Bond (Daniel Craig) struggling to complete his first major mission. The target is terrorist banker Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), whom our hero must defeat in a high stakes poker game at the swanky Casino Royale in Montenegro.

First things first: Daniel Craig is not a good Bond. He's a great Bond. Specifically, he is 007 as conceived by Ian Fleming - a professional killing machine, a charming, cold-hearted patriot with a taste for luxury. Craig is the first actor to really nail 007's defining characteristic: he's an absolute swine. Following his example, Martin Campbell's film hits the ground running with a breathless chase through a building site, a sequence so impressive that the rest of the action struggles to trump it. Bond takes a tremendous battering throughout the movie. He's beaten senseless, thrown off ledges, poisoned and tortured. Even his withered heart takes a whupping when he falls for slinky treasury agent Vesper Lynd (Eva Green). It's all thrilling stuff, closer in tone to The Bourne Identity than the camp quippery of old-school Bond.

Interview with Bondgirl

Media audiences

James bond has a vast following which includes all types of people from ethic groups to gender and race and that is the main reason why it's hard to pick out the specific target audience. Nowadays, there would be an expected following from the older generation as james bond goes back 40-50 years, however many members of the younger generation are getting more interested in james bond.

The scheduling and the positioning of the text is often a good indicator to what target audience the text is being aimed at, however for Casino Royale it came out in 2006 in the cinema, and it remained in the cinema for quiet a while showing that there was no specific target audience and that it was aimed at every member of the audience. After being in cinema Casino Royale was being shown on sky on the sky movie channels. Again that is a open invitation to newer members of the public as most of the public have sky. There is one issue and that is, members of the audience who don't have sky have not been able to see the film as it has not aired on any of the main channels ie. channel 4, itv, or bbc, so there is a segment of the audience missing.

As spoken about before the size or the constituency of the audience would be difficult to determine because of the fact that the movie is being shown in every cinema all over the country and other countries and because James bond has a large following that would go back some years it would be hard to determine the estimate number of audience members who follow the film.

The opinion of the audience will be different no matter what however there will be a number of oppositional or preferred readings that will come out and they are most likely to be based on the issue of women and wealth. On the women front, most arguements will be that women are still getting portrayed as sex objects and that they always have and on the wealth front the arguement will be that this movie is only aimed at wealthy people because of the settings and the mise en scene used in the movie.

I have followed james bond for some time having seen all of the bond movies and me as a audience member believe that the role of women played in the bond movies has gone back to the helpless and passive female that we saw 20 or 30 years ago. My age does have a big part to play in my opinion because i've grown up in a society where in the media sex is mentioned as one of the main things so one of the things that i've picked up on is the fact that women in Casino Royale hav gone back to being passive.

Values and ideologies

Values and ideologies play a major part in movies and james bond films are no different with there always being a hidden message in the movie. In this movie the messages are mostly based upon two things they being gender , race and wealth.

Gender because of the bong girl being and looking very masculine, as the first time we see her she is wearing black which is seen to be a masculine colour which is a colour which hides the characteristics and personalities.

Race is another major issue because in the movie the makers show that every race can have wealth and be wealthy and that is no better shown then at the beginning with the african actor being rich and having his onw army.

Wealth however is most likely the main one as i have already talked about wealth with the other two however it is more the setting and the mise en scene that makes wealth the most interesting one. The settings are in monaco and montenegro which traditionally are wealthy places, the mise en scene is significant as expensive care and agdgets are used that not everyone would own.

Another thing that is significant is the use of guns, which are phallic symbols and they are interesting because of the fact that both men and women in the film use them. There are numerous scenes in the movie where james bond uses his gun but there is one particular scene that engages alot of interest and that is the scene where bond hands the gun to the bondgirl in the lift showing a shift of power with the woman being in control in a bond movie, which can only be compared with The world is not enough where the villian who is a woman ties up bond and threatens to kill him showing control.

Genre

The genre of Casino Royale is a hybrid genre containing spy and action, which could be regaurded as a hybrid genre with the mixture of the spy genre and the thriller genre. Right from the start of James Bond, the genre has been a spy thriller with the use of the gadgets and other spy equipment, whereas the action side comes into play with the scenes of gun violence and usual violence.

The movie contains stars specifically the main actor Daniel Craig who has made other movies that have not been specifically related to the spy- action genre. Certain movies which he has starred in have been movies such as Tomb Raider, which was specifically aimed at the action segment of genres, however the other movies which he has done have been more classical movies which are mostly to do with war and they are aimed at the elderly section of the audience.

The main generic conventions of the text would be conventions that are appropriate to the genre of the text such as the gadgets and the vehicles, however in this movie there has been a cut down in the use of gadgets, which could be seen as un-characteristic. In the previous Bond movies there have uses of gadgets such as ejecter seats in the cars or the watch that bond would use would traditionally contain lasers and grapples and things of that nature. You could interpret the lack of gadgets as being okay as this is a remake of the very first bond movie, maybe a remake of a movie where gadgets were not in technology because of the time of the movie.

The characters in Casino Royale are generically determined thorugh their behaviour on screen and their behaviour on screen is what gives them their characteristics in the movie. For example, James bond's generic characteristics are defined by his high tech technology and weapons which assigns him to the spy genre, whereas the villians in the bond movies are all about trying to capture bond and kill him, which assigns them to the action genre out of the two.

Going into a James bond movie the audience will automatically be thinking of spy- action movie and will thik of weapons, violence and gadgets and the movies rather portray that with the conventions of the genre. For example in Casino Royale James bong has a gun conpartment in his car along with a first aid kit of sorts which he uses in the scene when he takes a break from the poker game. There is another sgement of genre that the real followers of the bond series will be expecting and that is comedy. Traditionally, bond is supposed to clever and funny which adds to the entertainment of the film and that is included in the film where he is getting whipped and starts laughing saying "i have an itch do you mind". Comedy will always be apart of james bond and that is carried on in this film.

Narrative

The whole concept of the movie is to show the first episode of Bond in a more modern way because Casino Royale is a remake of the original movie, which was the first in the bond series. The narrative is a linear narrative as it moves on and keeps moving on foward without any flashbacks which keeps the story and the text more organised and less confusing for the audience.

The audience is very much nowhere in relation to the narrative, unless the audience members are rich and have alot of material things to show for, there can not be a personal relationship or personal identity to the film as it is set in the Monaco and Montenegro area. The audience can however relate to the text if they aspire to be like someone in the text.

The heroes and the villians are not that hard to create as James Bond will always be the hero along with the 'Bondgirl' and the villian is always looked up by MI6 as being the main target, so in that aspect the hero is not created but the villian is in a way created by MI6. The hero being James Bond will have the most important narrative function as he is the narrative as he is envolved with everything that happens in the movie.

The main ideologies of the narrative are good will always overcome evil as shown by the narrative, which shows exactly that with at the end of everything James Bond overcomes everthing to be perfectly fine. Even though in most of scenes there is no divide between the wealthy and the middle class people the settings in the whole movie are aimed to show the wealthy nature of the movie with the big houses, casino's and the fast cars.

Media languages and forms

In Casino Royale there are great levels of meaning as there are mysteries to be revealed in the movie, however they are not all obvious for example 'Mathius' appears to be working with James Bond as a friend however it is later revealed that he is actual friends with the enemy.
There can be different denotations and connotations drawn out from the movie like he could be friends with both or he was secretly paid by the enemy to give them information that they needed, both of these suggestions can be true and that's because the truth isn't revealed in the text it is simply left a mystery. The mysteries of the text are left to an open interpretation by the audience which engages the audience in the movie.

There is a great significance of the texts connotations as that's where the mysteries and the answers to the questions lie. There are, as said before, many things left to own interpretation, however there are some examples in the movie of the questions being answered in the text, which disengages the audience's thought's. One example of this is the mystery that is left to the very end of the text, that being the behaviour of Vesper Lynd (bondgirl). It's later revealed that she traded some money with the enemy to save James Bond's life. This is a perfect example of leaving the audience passive.

The non verbal structures of meaning like the facial expressions and the gestures are not that self explanitory. Obviously the facial expressions like the angry looks and the smiles are easy to interpret, there is one facial expression however that explains alot and gives away a characteristic of the villian and that is in the middle of the poker game where the villian flicks his eye to reveal a plan of the game.

The settings used in the text are interesting because it is all in public places apart from the shots with the hotel rooms. Examples of public places are the man being chased by Bond over and thorugh the work site, a crash in the middle of the road, the fight and bomb scene at the airport and the end scene with Bond trying to get his money back in the middle of a town which shows there is no stereotyping of any people.

The sound track plays quiet a big rol ein the text because it lets the audience know when the really intense and violent scene arrive because the pace of the soundtrack would normally change to a fast paced track or slow to show intensity. In the poker game however they have chosen not to use a soundtrack but only the noises of the people in the room at the time to make it more authentic. The soundtrack thorughout the whole movie is quite fast paced as there is only fast paced action in te movie apart from the tragic scenes where the soundtrack is alot more slower.

There is an interesting mix of the soundtrack and the movement of the camera, being when there high paced action the camera moves the pace a the soundtrack making the sudden movement to blend in with the track. There is one scene however when the movement of the camera is limited and that is at the start with the jumping in the scene, because the camera very much stays still to give the audience an observent angle to the action.