Ideological Construct and Intertextuality in the James Bond Franchise

                                                                  (Figure 1) Based on the 1950s spy novels by Ian Fleming, James Bond is officially the longest running franchise in the history of cinema. It has expanded across numerous media platforms, including film, fashion and the gaming industry. The franchise has become so engrained in contemporary culture that it is viewed as a part of the British heritage and stands as an iconic institution for British culture and identity. Over time the representation of Bond has adapted to suit contemporary audiences- from Sean Connery’s 60’s suave yet misogynistic characterisation of Bond (“man talk”) to Daniel Craig’s rugged hero who struggles with a painful past. Spanning nearly 60 years, the continuation of the film series has allowed the text to evolve along with the societal developments of the time. The series is unique in how viewers may interpret the earlier films against the newer renditions, where ideologies of the past

                                                                (Figure 2) While the cultural and ideological landscape of Britain continues to evolve, Bond was first created in an older Britain, where traditionalist ideas and gender stereotype dictated the films’ ideological position. What can be argued as a highly masculine focussed film series, the representation of quintessential Britain remains firmly at the heart of the franchise, along with this unfortunate gender bias.   In contemporary society it is viewed that “gender is not biological but it refers to a socially constructed set of behaviour patterns” (Poppa & Gavriliub, 2015, p.1200). Film theorist Laura Mulvey analyses these gender positions, labelling ‘the male gaze’ (Hein, 2006, Laura Mulvey, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema ) as the dominant perspective presented in mainstream media. The theory of the male gaze describes the objectification of women, whom are frequently presented as sexual objects

(Figure 3) It is argued cinema imitates the real world and often facilitates society’s “eagerness to escape from ordinary life” (Addis & Holbrook, 2010, P.821). The Hollywood film industry produces motion pictures that impersonate reality in order to fulfil idealisms that in turn offer escapism for the audience. By portraying perfected versions of reality; cinema creates illusions, which are just close enough to the real world that the audience can believe and become affectively immersed into. The high concept Bond franchise is a stellar example of a piece of cinema that succeeds in presenting both idealism and escapism. The film series portrays an idealised and heightened world, where the powerful Bond charms doomed lovers and defends opulent London with effortless style and competence. French theorist Jean Baudrillard argues how, “we anticipate reality by imagining it, or flee from it by idealising it” ( Baudrillard, Smith & Clarke, 2015, P.25). To society, reali