Outline:

• Skyfall as a case study

• Promotion

• Reception and success

• Bond legacy

• Consideration of genre, narrative, representations

• Key sequence 1: Casino

• Key sequence 2: Tube

Skyfall as a “rich text”

• Contemporary film production, distribution and exhibition

• The problems of defining a British film

• Star study – Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem

• Audience reception and fandom

• Representations of Britishness and British national identity

• Representations of gender, class, ethnicity

• Genre classification and its problems -is Bond a genre in its own right?

Skyfall (Mendes, 2012)

• Released in the UK on October 26, 2012

• Highest grossing film at the UK box office (over £94m)

• The first Bond film to have an IMAX release

• Eon Productions, MGM Studios, and Sony Pictures Entertainment

Skyfall as a British film (?)

“It can be argued that they are not really British at all, given that they are backed by American dollars. By this token, however, films such as Tom Jones, A Hard Day’s Night and Chariots of Fire would not qualify as British either. Ever since the 1930s, American studios have provided financial backing for British productions”

“The Britishness of Bond films has been one of their main selling points, a factor which differentiates them from all other action movies which have followed in their wake”

What is British about Bond?• Production base• Most of the technical personnel• Generic roots• Ideology of national identity

James Chapman, 2009, p.13

Promotionhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15579556

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb_WDsg9oxg

BBC News: Teaser trailer release

Trailershttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ4dAY3DW4c

Teaser trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgr2syY_OU4

International trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFNv5nDYMsU

USA – TV spot aired on NBC during Olympic Opening Ceremony

Cross-promotion

Synergy

Global Heineken Campaign• Launched 20 September 2012• TV commercial and ‘Interactive experience – Crack the Case• Created by advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy, Amsterdam

Alexis Nasard, Chief Commercial Officer of HEINEKEN said: "The creativity and progressiveness of the Heineken brand combined with the legendary James Bond franchise will provide viewers with high entertainment values. Not only a hero, Bond is the ultimate 'Man of the World' – confident, resourceful and ready for new experiences, personifying the values of the Heineken brand."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txTdiofEJwQ

Fans’ reaction• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txTdiofEJwQ

BBC News: Is Beer Damaging ‘Brand Bond’?

Success Box Office Mojo (Online)

Success• The most successful series of films in box office history.

• Consistently successful over a long period of time.

• Skyfall – The most successful film at the UK box office

“Despite their political correctness – or perhaps even because of it – the Bond films have been enormously popular with cinema-goers around the world, suggesting that either audiences do not pay as much heed to the ideological content of the films as do academics, or that the films provide a particular sort of pleasure which mediates their sexist and racist overtones.” “It has been estimated that between a quarter and a half of the world’s population has seen a Bond film, either in the cinema or on television, video or DVD.” Chapman, J. (2009), p.12

Analysis

• Representations: gender, age, ethnicity, national identity, social class.

• Narrative: story and plot, binary oppositions, characterisation.

• Genre: ‘Bond film’, thriller, action, blockbuster.

Representations: Eve Moneypenny

Representations: Masculinity

Representations: Masculinity

Representations: The monstrous ‘other’

Britishness“The connection between James Bond and British identity is visually achieved through the alignment of the title character with notable British popular cultural iconography, including images of Big Ben, the Thames, and Whitehall.”Funnell, Lisa (2011) ‘‘I Know Where You Keep Your Gun’’: Daniel Craig as the Bond–Bond Girl Hybrid in Casino Royale. The Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 44, No. 3, p.458

Britishness• Nostalgia• Austerity Britain: ‘Keep calm and carry on’ mentality.

Britishness

• Visit Britain advert

Representations of Londonhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl218z68iC4#t=82

Skyfall London Videoblog

Genre• Self-reflexive anniversary film• Nostalgia

Generic contexts:1. The British imperialist spy thriller

2. Cliff-hanger adventure serial (“thrills, spills, master criminals and imperiled heroines”)

3. Hollywood action film:-emphasis on action over plotting and characterisation-reduction of narrative complexity to series of set-pieces-foregrounding of technology and firepower-dispatching of the villain with a witty one-liner

4. The ‘Bondian’-a series or subgenre in its own right-development of a ‘production ideology’ –a set of expectations about what a Bond movie should be like

James Chapman, 2009.