Die Another Day : Water Scene Analysis

• The James bond franchise is a clear example of a film objectifying females and forcing the audience to view females via the male gaze. The scene in 'Die Another Day' when James Bond meets Jinx demonstrates my previous statements by...

• Objectifying women through Bonds point-of-view binocular shot. The camera demonstrates the male gaze, and the objectification of jinx as she makes her way out of the water. The post production vignette lets us know that our view is through his binoculars, and by looking through his binoculars, Bond adopts a very masculine voyeuristic position. Bond voyeurism also presents to us the hegemonic value that men are in power, and women are objectified and not as important. This shot is also the film trying to represent a patriarchal society, in where males are the dominant sex and set the rules and ideal visions. In this example it is exhibited by Bond admiring and objectifying jinx, whilst she is the one pleasing him.
• A further point to back up my statement is the shot of Jinx's coded emergence from the sea, accompanied by the post production slow motion and non diegetic sound. Her over exaggerated sexual emergence is not reality, but instead hyper reality; it is unlikely anyone would surface looking so glamourous and with so much rehearsed  overly-sexual elegance. Before we know her role or importance in the movie, the non diegetic sound combined with the slow motion influences our perception of her beauty before we even get to know her. The non diegetic sound is important in moulding our impressions of her, the orchestral over the top romanticised crescendo shows us she is to be viewed as an object of beauty. The slow motion extends the time we initially see her , and allows us exclusively to focus, fragment, and objectify her body.
• The narrative also reinforces the objectification of women in Bond films. The back and forth flirting is mutual but Bond and Jinx position themsleves differently, in accordance with hegemonic values and their accepted patriarchal position. Jinx replys to Bonds Ornithologist occupation with 'Oh... what a moutful' whilst looking below his waste. This further objectification cements Bonds position of power, and the overtly sexual connotations of what she says complies with her accepted stereotypes of being there for the mans pleasure. Bond stating that he is '...here for the birds' when responding to Jinx's question implies more obvious connotations that he does not mean what he says literally. He means he is there for the women, specifically her, and the constructed flirting within the dialogue is there to reinforce Bond and Jinx's obvious sexual tension.

Mulvey: American Beauty Cheerleader Scene

Mulvey and American Beauty

 

Mulveys three ways of spectating cinema:

• The look of the camera that records the film - The camera demonstrates a selection of shots designed to divert and control the audience gaze. The slow zoom of the amera towards the mans face is designed to draw our attentiuons to his expressions, and his objectification of the girl is clear to see. The wide angle shot of the empty stand shows his isolation from the real world, and further presents his fantasy and lust for the female. Her body is fragmented through the camera shots this is design to further immerse the viewer into seeing through the mans obhectification of her.The most common shot of the girl is also shown through the eyes of the male, and we see his gratification from her in the close ups as mentioned before. The scene represents Hegemonic Values. The girl is athletic and attractive, portraying a ideology that all girls must be as such to attract the male gaze.
• The look of the audience that views the film - the look of the audience is dictated by the camera work and how the scene is set up. We are primarily let to see the girl through the eyes of the male character. The obvious gratification on his face suggest he is experiencing scopophilia, pleasure in looking. Also the 'point of view' focus is on the woman, and this, for both men and women, puts us in the mans boots and makes us see the girl exactly how the male sees her.
• The look of the characters in the film - The looks of the characters in the film are very contrasting. the visual objectification of the girl, lustful looks, and close up shots of sexually provocative action such as her unzipping her jacket portray hegemonic values that girls are meant to be attractive to males. This contrasted with the mans voyeuristic gaze upon the girl and the blank expressions, show his gratification and sexual lust for her. We are presented with 2 major stereotypes, the male being in control and voyeuristic, and the woman being there to look pretty and gratify him.

Skyfall: Shot Glass Marksman Scene

• This scene is from the 2012 Movie 'Skyfall'. The scene is one of simple genre conventions and narrative, and presents many genre conventions we associate with  James Bond movie. Propps theory can be applied to this scene, Bond being the hero, the blonde haired man being the villain and the girl who has the whisky glass placed on her head being the princess. We can tell Bond is the Hero through his presentation, the smart suit is something we associate with Bond, and aswell as his determined facial expressions, his dialogue and calm disposition we can identify him as the hero in the sequence.
• The Villain, played by Javier Bardem, presents the accepted genre conventions for a bond villain. his extravagant suit, foreign sounding voice and his calm, smug mode of address, shows the audience he is a villain, and we recognise this immediately through the repetition and mainstream nature of James Bond Films.
• Strauss' theory of binary opposition is shown in the scene through the contrasting styles and dress of the 2 main male characters. One close up of Bond and Silva facing each other presents binary opposition, we can see from their facial expressions and contrasting demeanours that they are Hero vs Villain, Good vs Evil.
• The woman in this scene is easily interpreted as the princess, the blood from her mouth shows vunerability, and the power in the scene lies within the males. We are also shown further genre features linking to the Propps Villain - Princess contrast, Silvas' kissing of the unwilling princess can be likened to the villain keeping her captive and controlling her, with bond being the hero to set her free.This also shows the accepted stereotypes of women in media, being shown as helpless and inferior to men.
• Camera angles are used very cleverly in the aswell, the shot of bond holding the pistol presents iconography, it is a shot commonly used in bond films and we as an audience have come to expect the shot.
• The music played at the end of the scene, the classic James Bond theme music, is iconic and something we have come to expect from the genre, and we know this through the repetition of the piece through the bond movies over the years.

Representation In Film: Django Unchained (Trailer)

• 'Django unchained' is a film directed by Quentin Tarantino and was released on the 25th of December, 2012. With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.

• Representation of Men: The representation of men in Django Unchained is controversial. The film is obviously recalling history, and depicting black men as slaves and as lesser beings than white folk is not accurate in this day and age. However the representation of men in general in the trailer is very masculine and macho, they dominate the majority of the scenes, and we can vaguely tell that all but one of the main characters are male. What we see of the story in the trailer also accomodates Propps Theory, Django being the Hero, rescuing the Princess, his wife. The depiction of men in the trailer show them wielding guns, in high action scenes, and showing aggression, all of which represent the stereotypes associated with males in Films.
• Representation of Women: The trailer represents women as defenceless and destitute, the scenes we see women in are ones in which she is in distress, and relatively helpless. We can tell from the trailer, by the amount of scenes that feature men as oppose the women, that the film revolves around the male stereotypes. Women also are represented to conform to their stereotypes, the scene of a black woman being dragged away and sexualised in a lake reinforce this theory.

Niche or Mainstream?

• Niche : Niche describes a form of media aimed at a smaller, more specialised audience than the mainstream, which usually attracts a smaller and less broad audience than the latter.
• An example of a Niche text is 'Bundesliga Football Highlights'. This is a program aired on ITV4 at 10pm every Monday. 
• The Scheduling/Placement of this program is significant as it aimed at a small, audience. With it being German football, its audience would almost be exclusively European football fans, or Followers of the Bundesliga. Te reason for its late scheduling is that ITV know that the audience of this specialised program is small, therefore there will not be as many advertisers interested in advertising within the breaks between this program. Another reason for the scheduling is that due to a smaller audience, it is important that it does not take up mainstream programs time-space,as that is where the money and the viewing figures are for ITV. The fact it is also broadcast on ITV is important, as it is not anywhere near as mainstream or viewed as say ITV2/ITV1. Also, linking to Audience Access, is is not as such a prime time as for example 7pm on a saturday night.
• The Subject content within the program re-enforces its Niche status. as previously stated the fact that the content is exclusively German football highlights, it will provide gratifications for a small specialised audience. The limited content further stresses ITV's decision to air the program on ITV4, where viewing figures will be lower.
• Audience access, not taking into account ITV Player and program recording, is slightly limited at 10pm on a monday night as some of the audience may have gone to bed, gone out, or are watching more mainstream programs on a more prominent channel such as ITV1 or BBC1.
• The Mode Of Address for a program as such is much more niche than 'Match of The Day', which attracts a much broader audience. Prominently because 'Match of The Day' is an English program focussing on English Football. The majority are in turn not as attached to German football as English football, so 'Match of The Day's narrative understandably merits punditry and analysis post-highlights (as there is an audience for it), whereas this is lacking for the 'Bundesliga Football Highlights'. The simple introduction of each Bundesliga match contrasted to the in-depth introduction to 'Match of The Day', emphasises its niche status.

• Mainstream: Mainstream describes program much more likely to be watched by the masses. A mainstream program will most likely be aired at a prime time, generate a lot of money through advertising (depending on how mainstream the show is), and rake in high viewing figures. 
• A good example of an extremely mainstream program would be 'The X Factor'. This program is aired at approx 8pm-9pm every Saturday of the series.
• The Scheduling/Placement of 'The X Factor' is important as it signifies how popular the show is. It is aired at arguably the most popular time in the week, not too late or early, and it is placed here to generate the highest amount of advertising money and viewing figures possible. 8pm-9pm is a time when a lot of people are able and willing to watch TV, and is the prime time for ITV1 to air their program. The fact 'The X Factor' is aired on ITV1 is further indicative of the fact is it a mainstream program, fitting of airing on a mainstream channel.
• The Subject Content of 'The X Factor' is well known by a large audience, it is a singing competition in which contestant are judged upon their performance and are either eliminated or pass through to the next round. It is a very simple formula, and will appease more people as it does not require a lot of concentration and is a very easy watch.
• Audience access is vital to a program like 'The X Factor', because the audience are responsible for it popularity, so it must fit in with the audiences' free time. Being aired at such a popular easily accessible time means that is appeases the audiences needs, and maximises their access to the show.
• Mode of Address is very crucial in the development of 'The X Factor' and the mode has to be designed around the fact it is a mainstream program. 'The X Factor' vaguely follows Todorov's theory, in which the contestant is presented, this being the introduction of equilibrium. The equilibrium is then disrupted by a judges negative/controversial comments, and then restored when they progress to the next round. The narrative follows a strict order, in which contestant are introduced with a small interview, accompanied by music which alters your judgement of the contestant. The contestant then performs, and focus switches to the next contestant. This structure is important as it gratifies the audience and is what the have come to expect from a program such as the x factor.