Critical Investigation Task #4 - Essay plan

Intro

"Waste of a Good Scotch"

Skyfall marks the anniversary of the James Bond franchise marking it as the 23rd instalment in the iconic franchise and marking 50th years of James Bond films and it couldn’t have been celebrated any better with the film winning an Oscar for best original song and it being held as one of the best James Bond films of all time. But behind all of the action, drama and fast cars lays a foundation of outright sexism that hasn’t been properly addressed in the past 50 years of this iconic franchise, ever since Dr No James Bond has hardly evolved as a character since the early 60’s and beyond. Looking at the character in-depth you see a man who only cares about himself and how he doesn’t let anyone else in even if he has slept with 55 women in the past 23 films. But due to this James Bond films following a set structure that mirror’s Propp’s film theory on character stereotypes leads to the James Bond character showing no potential to become a character that in the 21st century. But the iconic Bond girl has become an importance in every James Bond film and despite everyone acting ok with this the way James Bond treats them is beyond belittling. But the question is has James Bond shown any progression since Dr No to now in Skyfall with women.

Paragraph 1

Historical Context
Swinging 60's
Ian Fleming and his questionable character as a person and his views
The representation of Women in the 1960's
"Ian Fleming hates women and I don't buy into anything to do with that. The Bond films are generally sexist. I don't like anything that descends from a sewer of misogyny." Bidisha, writer of Venetian Masters
"Now, I don't want to be too much of an apologist here; Bond's attitude towards women isfrequently chauvinistic. But it's worth remembering that these novels – at least the ones I'm considering – were written in the early- to mid-1950s, when chauvinism wasn't exactly out of the ordinary." Nick Jones, blog, 2012
Damsel in Distress
Personal Identity
MIGRAIN

Paragraph 2

Dr No
Make links from previous paragraph 
They sexualised and dumbed down certain parts of the book for the film (Quarrel, Honey Ryder and the theme of the book being changed)
Built the foundation
"“As well as the girls, guns, gadgets we expect from the typical Bond storyline.” Lisa Funnell, For Her Eyes Only
Views and Ideologies of the 1960 are more male dominated in comparison to modern day
Follows Uses and Gratification (Personal Relationship) / (Personal Identity)
James Bond is based on the character of Ian Fleming (Misogynistic)
“Bond's body becomes an object to the gaze in Casino Royale the reverses an objectifying gaze that has focuses solely on women.” 
Follows Propp's Theory of Character Structure
MIGRAIN

Paragraph 3

Skyfall
Massive Success (Best James Bond film)

"Skyfall, the latest James Bond film, smashed through the $1 billion mark at the box office tonight as it continued its record-breaking showing in cinemas worldwide." Andrew Hough, Telegraph
Severine (Macguffin) (Very little scenes)
Moneypenny's Decline in rank (Shooting Bond)
Gender Stereotypes
Black Stereotypes
Every women after Skyfall is worse off (M dead, Moneypenny out of the field, Severine dead and Bond's wife abandoned beginning of the film) 
MIGRAIN

Paragraph 4

Comparison
The ideologies between the beginning of the James Bond's and the most recent is completely different
Both follow Propp's Character Theory still
"“You’re a sexist, misogynist, dinosaur.” - M, on James Bond, played by Dame Judi Dench, in her first Bond film, Goldeneye."
Moments of progress
“Bond's body becomes an object to the gaze in Casino Royale the reverses an objectifying gaze that has focuses solely on women.” 
Vesper's Romance with Bond throughout Casino Royale
Moneypenny portrayed as equal in beginning of Skyfall
"The film had just introduced what had appeared to be a fresh femme fatale, and promptly thrown it all away to use her as a plot device so that Bardem's villain could be introduced. As a casual viewer, this was upsetting. As a feminist, it felt personal. While was still largely able to enjoy the remainder of Skyfall, since then, I've been more wary of the Bond franchise. It might sound naive, but I had never considered that the new Bond films (which mask their misogyny far more stealthily than the older flicks in the franchise) were still treating women like such expendable figures—and now I've become incredibly conscious of it.” - Jade Budowski of Trifecta
But the progress is fake due to longevity of the franchise and how the franchise is too big to take down
MIGRAIN

Critical Investigation Task #3 - Historical text analysis and research

Dr No Trailer 1962

Dr No is the first James Bond film that was made by the famous Eon Production team that is still producing the James Bond franchise to this day. And it was the first official James Bond film ever made in 1962 with Sean Connery playing the iconic James Bond character. This film is highly regarded as the best James Bond film of all time with a masterful performance from Sean Connery and Jospeh Wiseman and won the Golden Globe as well.

This film is perfect for my critical investigation because of the fact that the older it becomes more and more people realise how sexist and in parts racist the film gets throughout the film with changes from the book to the big screen with Honey Ryder name changed from Honeychile and how all she did was be a damsel in distress throughout the entire film even if people see Honey Ryder as one of the most iconic film characters of all time due to her introduction ever if James Bond also had sex with Miss Tao during the film.

In the film as well was a character called Quarrel who in the book as a iconic character who was a very good friend to Bond throughout the film and played a much bigger role in the Dr No novel and a lot of people felt generally sad when he died in the novel a black character in the 60's got genuine remorse but in the film he was reduced to a stereotypical black male to just follows orders just like any other person in the James Bond franchise who is a white male. Also the actor who played Quarrel wasn't a random no name actor it was John Kitzmiller and he was the first black actor to win a best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Skyfall - Glass Marksman Shot

In comparison to Spectre they have made very little progression with the representation of women in the James Bond franchise over the past 50 years. With one of the worst Bond Girls of all time with Sévérine with her only appearing in a few scenes before James Bond pointlessly sleeps with her and then a few scenes later she was shot dead that's it their was no connection between the characters and not even James Bond acted liked he even cared about her playing her off comparing to a drink "Waste of a Good Scotch". Also after he says that he kills every single guard in the area which makes no sense because if he could have done that why didn't he do it before Severine was shot and Sliva killer her just to make a point to James Bond that not even James Bond cares about ever so her death is worthless and her only purpose was to be a Macguffin for the plot and because James Bond films have to have a Bond girl she filled the status quo.