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.