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
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