Ian Fleming and James Bond: The Cultural Politics of 007 - Essay Example

 Ian Fleming and James Bond: The Cultural Politics of 007 Introduction Durkheim defines society as a human body that has different institutions that act as different organs with a defined task. As per the organic analogy Comet and Durkheim emphasize that just like a human body parts need to work together in order to stay healthy, the entire society must work together in order to remain healthy (Roxbury, 2013). Functionalists believe that the women have a certain defined role in a society such as raising children. Women who work are viewed as greedy mothers who give preference to the materiality of the society. Moreover, it is staunchly believed that working mothers appear as a threat to the society for they falter in raising the children with appropriate values and norms. Functionalists are of the view that the change in role of men and women will the society to de-shape as the values of society will be confused with the roles portrayed in the Bond movies (Roxbury, 2013). However, constructionists highlight that race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and social class has no meaning to the individual until the media gives it a meaning. Therefore, watching films is a process that involves immense interpretation and it is through the films and that individuals perceive what it takes to be a man, woman, gay lesbian, black, white, Asian, Latino, middle class or working class. Thus, images reinforce the roles of individuals to such an extent that the reality and constructed reality infuse with one another to form the factual living standards. It is these standards that confuse women and men alike. This implies that the roles of men and women become more complex as they start to believe and adopt images portrayed in the Bond films. Basing on this, it is not incorrect to highlight that the bond movies set standards for women as well as men; making their roles more complex in the society (Sutherland & Feltey, 2010). Therefore, is not incorrect in saying that media is a tool that communicates to a mass audience. Although, images may not be real and the information is most of the times a creation of the writers who develop content for the media; yet these images eventually start to define the roles in the lives of audiences. It is these images and strong communication that with the passage of time becomes common sense despite the fact that in the factual world they may not hold any significant value. This construction of reality has so much of an impact upon audiences that they start to take it as the reality of life and live in accord to it. In accord to this, it is not incorrect to highlight that the roles in the society such as of a father, mother, sister, brother, women, and men are also defined by images presented by the media making it the ground reality with the passage of time (Sutherland & Feltey, 2010). The paper that follows has used authentic articles, websites, and journal articles as its building blocks to present the argument based on the topic gender representations in the James bond movies. It presents a detailed and well-rendered sketch depicting a comparative analysis of the characters. Gender Representation One of the major reasons for analyzing the content was the emergences of the modern women’s movement that began in 1950s. In the 1960s, the content of media was paid much greater attention in terms what did it offer to its audience to view. It is imperative to highlight here that Stern mentioned that the early researchers of feminist were more interested in surfacing the portrayal of women in media in the western culture. James bond, a fictional novel based film made its way in to the media in the 1950s during the sociopolitical awareness. The movie portrayed high-tech equipment; alcoholic beverages, a demonic villain, and a superfluity of attractive women were the building blocks of the James Bond movie. Moreover, it depicts the character of James Bond as the epitome of masculinity. However, females are used as a tool to keep the movie famous among the audience. Every Bond movie heavily relies upon the portrayal of attractive females who are an integral part of the story line. Every Bond movie has a multiple female’s characters who try to distract, lure, and assist Bond in the mission. Nevertheless, the character of the women are portrayed as possessing an adventurous nature, cunning attributes, and has a significant potential for romantic relationship with Bond. Moreover, the female characters name is as much provocative as the character itself (Rudy et al., 2010; Neuendorf et al., 2010). In accord with the observation of d’Abo and Cork, there were Bond movies without a demonic villain and innovative gadgets, but a Bond film was never made without a Bond girl. Hence, most of the attention paid by the media was upon the Bond girl rather the entire movie. The portrayal of women in the Bond movies has attracted the attention of the scholars to point out that the element of sexuality is prominent in the Bond movies depicting a Bond girl as symbol of sex. A study of 20 James Bond films examined the portrayal of 195 female characters the major findings revealed that the element of greater sexuality has done a significant harm to the females over a period. Nevertheless, across the Bond movies the portrayal of women has been similar. Bond movies present the element of sexual activity in accord with race, attractiveness, size of the role, and aggressive behaviors towards bond. This element has been noted and highly by the media as well as scholars and is part of the sex role literature (Neuendorf et al., 2010). It is essential to mention here that bond movies generally promote sexuality either between bond and the girl or the girl is depicted a lesbian or a homosexual who is not only involved with James Bond but is also interested in women. After the movement, the character of bond matured to a man where he was more of a woman’s man. Many theories such as social cognitive theory suggests that each individual learns and imitates the behavior that he or she takes form the environment. Therefore, in accord with the behavioral theory an implication can be drawn which highlights the fact that media plays a vast role in how women are portrayed and seen in a particular society. Bandura has observed that individuals learn from what they see and tends to imitate the behavior; these stimuli are collected from the environment of each individual, which further defines the values and actions of an individual (Neuendorf et al., 2010). Hence, consistent portrayal of women in the certain manner stereotypes the image of women in society. The media clearly portrays that hot women are always slim, where women generally pick up the concept and take up crash diets, which further generates different kinds of eating disorders. The entire James bond movies depict women in a very sensual and sexy manner giving women and men the image that a woman is attractive only if she looks like the Bond girl; this further damages the self-esteem of the women in general (Comentale et al., 2005; Neuendorf et al., 2010). However, limited-effects theory suggests that that media plays an insignificant role in shaping up the roles of gender along with the general views and believes. Hence, in accord to the theory it is inappropriate to believe that the content of the movies or media plays an important role in shaping the gender roles (Baran & Davis, 2011). Content Analysis Goldfinger is a novel-based film holding the same name, written by Ian Fleming. Goldfinger is the third film in the James Bond series. The movie made its breath taking entry into the cinematic world, won the hearts of its audiences, and is considered as one of the iconic movies. The character of James Bond is seen wearing sophisticated clothes such as tie and suits; emphasizing upon the classier side of England. It will not be wrong in saying that the movie through the character of James Bond depicts the upper class with the aid of clothing and the background sets used in the movie (Goldfinger, 1964). The film also covers a deeper aspect of human relations in which women has a very elementary role to portray. Honor Blackman casted as a Bond girl in the movie depicting how a woman can change negativity of the society. Jill Masterson who was casted as another agent woman “Shirley Eaton” also reflected the important role of women in the society. The cops’ appearances of the women restricted the stock maker “Auric Goldfinger” in his ambitions”. This particular role clearly washes the previous portrayal of women as being more of the species who are domesticated in nature and are to take care of more femininely defined tasks (Goldfinger, 1964). Bond movies, therefore, contradict the functionalist perspective by portraying women in the opposite role that they structural sociologists believe that women must possess. The humble and meek women are now given a more masculine role in as the women in society will adopt the role from movies of the sort (Roxbury, 2013). Nevertheless, most of the Bond series depict women as a symbol of sex and more or less facing the masculine side of Mr. Bond in the movie. Therefore, it can be said that the sharp edges to the character of Bond has mellowed down in the movie. Furthermore, women were portrayed as dependents on male counterparts and ones who lacked the art of decision-making; perhaps because they were seen as less mentally competent and intellectual than men were. Moreover, most of the Bond films sketched a picture that made the audience construe that women always required a man to save her from troubles. The women audience did not appreciate such idea (Gilpatri & katy, 2010). Moreover, research suggests that violent female action characters shown in American films are mostly based upon three aspects such as the gender stereo types, demographics, and quantity and type of violence. Findings revealed that 58.6% violent female characters were exerted submissiveness to the male hero, where as 42% were in a romantic relationship with him. Therefore, it was analyzed that such elements were put forth in the movie to secure and reinforce the feminine element. It also helped in debriefing the audience, as women were shown violent as well in the films. Hence, the element of romantic involvement covered the man aspects portrayed by the women (Gilpatri & katy, 2010). It is essential to highlight here that women continued to secure a stereotypical image in the Bond films whether it was the old version or the recent ones. However, the only element that changed over time in the Bond films was the subtlety of images and depiction of sexuality along with the portrayal of women as the weak counterpart. The stereotypical image continued to co-exist in the bond films along a violent framework of contemporary American cinema (Gilpatri & katy, 2010). A perspective taken from a male’s perspective can also be questionable that males in the contemporary American cinema are depicted as more submissive roles; hence, generating confusion amongst males. In accord with the masculine conflict theory, a study was conducted where young males, their fathers, and uncles were interviewed; the study revealed that there was confusion among the younger generation in terms of adopting their roles. Many men remain confused as to whether they have to be dominating or submissive to their counterparts (Pompper, 2010). Thus, not only the theories of feminism highlight the factor of sexuality but it also the theories of Marxism and social constructivism theory. Moreover, functionalists believe that media provides a platform to women to think beyond their household chores and deviate from their prescribed roles in the society. Nevertheless, as per the above literature it can be concluded that women’s role have become more complex due their portray in such bond movies such as GoldFinger for women now compete in society to achieve feminism depicted in the bond girl in reality. List of References Baran, S. & Davis, D., 2011. Mass Communication Theory: Foundations, Ferment and Future. New York: Cengage Learning. Bright Lights Film Journal, 2010. Unique (and Just a Little Queer). [Online] Available at: http://brightlightsfilm.com/70/70bond_faunce.php [Accessed 6 March 2013]. Comentale, E., Watt, S. & Skip Willman, S., 2005. Ian Fleming and James Bond: The Cultural Politics Of 007. Indiana: Indiana University Press. Gilpatri & katy, 2010. Violent Female Action Characters in Contemporary American Cinema. Academic Journal, 62(11/12), p.p734. Goldfinger. 1964. [Film] Directed by G Hamilton. UK: Eon Productions. IMDB, 2013. Plot Summary for Goldfinger. [Online] Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058150/plotsummary [Accessed 6 March 2013]. Martina, R., 2007. Analysis on James Bond’s Love and Its Effect on His Attitude Toward His Career in Casino Royale Film. [Online] Available at: http://lib.uin-malang.ac.id/thesis/fullchapter/03320062-rini-martina.ps [Accessed 2 March 2013]. Neuendorf, K. et al., 2010. Shaken and Stirred: A Content Analysis of Women’s Portrayals in James Bond Films. Springer, 62(11-10), pp.747-61. Pompper, D., 2010. Masculinities, the Metrosexual, and Media Images: Across Dimensions of Age and Ethnicity. Sex Roles, Vol 63(9-10), pp.682-96. Raymond, C., 2006. The Posthumous Voice in Women's Writing Form Mary Shelly to Sylvia Plath. Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Limited. Roxbury, 2013. Structural/Functionalism Theory. [Online] Roxybury Available at: http://roxbury.net/images/pdfs/eftchap1.pdf [Accessed 11 April 2013]. Rudy, R., Popova, L. & Linz, D., 2010. The Context of Current Content Analysis of Gender Roles: An Introduction to a Special Issue. PMC, 62(11-12), p.705–720. Sutherland, E. & Feltey, K., 2010. Cinematic sociology. London: Pine Forge Press. Read More