Represented Points in A View To A Kill

Our task for this project was to be grouped up with people in whom we don't normally work with and recreate a James Bond scene from a randomly distributed set of clips.

The scene we were given as a group was a small segment from the classic 1985 film A View To A Kill. This was the 14th Bond film and the last to star Roger Moore as the MI6 agent James Bond. The total budget of the film was $30,000,000 and made a whopping $152,400,000 in the Box Office.

A View To A Kill - movie posters

As my part of the research, I will be looking into and almost reviewing the fashion/dress sense of the cast. This is one of the most important aspects of a film as clothing and styling can be the key factor to a characters persona and well-being. Stated before, A View To A Kill was filmed and set in the mid-1980's and this was the decade where fashion such as shoulder pads and fluorescent colours were the 'trendy' thing to wear.

It's safe to say that all of the James Bond have always included such classy and sophisticated clothing, with stereotypically giving the men a suit and the women a pencil skirt and blouse. As always, the style depends on the era. In the scene we have been given, Bond Girl Stacey Sutton (played by Tanya Roberts) is seen wearing only one outfit. A white blouse and matching pencil skirt below the knee portrays her, in this scene, as more of an innocent character. Although she is considered the 'Bond Girl' throughout the whole film, her dress sense indirectly tells us otherwise.

Stacey Sutton wears pure white and sophisticated clothing in this scene

In the media eye, colour charts are taken into consideration when filming and characterising different roles within a film or television show. For example, wearing red may be a sign of love or danger, and wearing blue may be a sign of coldness and depression. Previously, when I've studied media and colour charts in films, the meaning towards wearing white has always been innocence and contentment. I personally haven't seen the entire film, so I will only be basing my thoughts on the scene we were given. Throughout this scene, the persona portrayed by Stacey Sutton is almost vulnerable and a little bit lost. The scene as a whole appears to use artificial light from only lights on set, but as we know, this is never the case. It all seems very dark and gloomy as Stacey and James Bond walk through the corridor into the File Room, and this reacts on the white clothing, making it stand out more.

Although we usually see James Bond wearing a suit and looking smart, in this scene, his appearance was more laid-back and relaxed, as we see him in a leather jacket and white shirt. There are many portraying techniques that have been used in this scene, as James Bond seems to act in the opposite way to Stacey. With her being very vulnerable and innocent, he seems in control and dominant, especially in the File Room, as she spends a while looking for the document, and he finds it instantly.

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How the scene was shot - Matthew Jury

This scene has seven shots which captures what happens in the scene. At the beginning of the scene we see a panning shot from the lift level down to them getting out of the lift. This shot is very smooth and it isn’t cut until they get all the way to the door they go through, this creates a motion which we can easily follow without seeing 20 different angles of people walking down a hallway.

An over the shoulder shot allows us to see the map which they were looking for, even though it may not make complete sense it is described quickly in two lines. It is named ‘Main Strike’ then we find out it is an abandoned silver mine. Suddenly we hear the door open, this has been done well as we hear the door before the camera cuts so we wonder what is going on then it is explained after the cut when the lights flicker on and ‘Zorin’ is standing there. 

The scene is mostly silent apart from some office talk coming from another room and the few spoken lines at the end. Due to this we are able to understand how they are not supposed to be there, and without watching the entire film we can understand that they have been caught in the act by the “Bad Guy”.  

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How gender is represented in James Bond - Liam Woodridge

This film was made in 1985, around this time there was an increased amount of pressure against sexism and sexual discrimination. This may have changed how this Bond film was done, this would be because the bond films change and adapt to fit with how society is at that time.

The female character in ‘A view to kill’ called May Day (Grace Jones) was a very physically strong character and she was also very important to the story. This showed less sexism than in some of the other films which only had a helpless female character, too give a female character power was to go against what was considered a norm at this time. She was also a stronger female than others when faces with the bonds sexual desires. There is a scene in this film where May Day walks into her room and Bond is naked on her bed. Bond is confused when she doesn’t speak and she simply says ‘What is there too say?’ (Taken 07/01/14 - http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0000321/quotes)

In all Bond films you will find that the bad guys and nearly all MI6 agents are male (with 1 or 2 exclusions) This is because around the time that the Bond franchise was created men where viewed as the ‘better’ of the male/female equivalent. The franchise has gone too far to change how it’s basis is setup, the only real female characters are the bond girls or the occasional villain girl as well.

When the bond franchise was first made it was considered very sexist, but as the franchise develops and times more on it is becoming less sexist. But even having said this each film has got a bond girl. 

Above is an image of every bond girl there has been. You will see how all these girls are incredibly attractive, this is conveying women to be weak and feeble and always need saving. So even though sexism has been minimised the Bond girl will always be someone Bond needs to save.

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Cheerio. :o)

- Olivia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_View_to_a_Kill - accessed on 7th-Jan-2014
http://www.liketotally80s.com/top-80s-fashion-trends.html - accessed on 7th-Jan-2014
mjjury.tumblr.com - accessed on 20th-Jan-2014