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.