Film directors have a unique way of presenting the signs and issues they want to portray to the public. Semiotics is just one of the ways of communication they use to get their message or signal to the audience. Semiotics used is used in all forms of film today both knowingly, and unknowingly. I see it in every film I watch. But most of these signs aren’t just sitting on the surface for everyone to see, sometimes they are hidden in a character or an important scene, and you don’t pick up on the sign until the third of fourth time you see the movie. I’ve chosen to analyze two film scenes I feel are iconic and fit in well with Semiotics. They come from The James Bond 007 film series the films are Goldfinger, and Quantum of Solace. The directors of the James Bond films got to deal with the biggest issues in the world going on at the time: Gas shortage, mostly the Cold War, Economy, and World War Three. All of these scenarios are important to the people of the world at any given time. The directors try to use what is happening or important in the world at the time to make a point or put an idea in the audiences head. Females in the James Bond movies are known for dying, anyone of the opposite sex Bond gets close to usually bites the dust in every movie. There is usually more than one Bond girl two is the preferred number one usually dies while the other survives and goes for a ride with James sexually that is. This is another semiotics use being
James Bond himself is an iconic figure in film, and literature he has been played by many different actors and has tackled some of the greatest threats facing western society since the early 1960’s. He was created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. The character has also been used in the longest running and most financially successful English language film franchise to date, starting in 1962 with Dr. No. He was created using a semiotics approach he was used as a symbol during the cold war to show that the Western world had their fictional hero who could battle any foe Soviet, mad scientist, or other corrupt organizations hell bent on destroying the Democratic world. Anyone who dare challenge the might of Democracy would fall victim to the suave secret agent from England with his high tech devices, and dazzling charm with the ladies. Bond was used as a symbol of what every man wants to be like Hip, smooth with the ladies, dresses nice and knows how to win at gambling I can say that’s what I like in a movie hero. Growing up as a kid I always knew him James Bond was we had the same name, I remember one time when I asked my dad if he just named me after him, or was their another reason. He said to me and for James Bond of course my dad is a huge James Bond fan having grown up in the 50’s and 60’s during the height of the cold war James Bond was a symbol he grew up with and he carried that with him and he still does.
Their have been 22 James Bond films and from those 22 films I have chosen 2 scenes not an easy thing to do but I picked the two scenes I thought were the most iconic for the times we are living in now. One of the scenes I have chosen comes from Goldfinger Bond is back and his next mission takes him to Fort Knox, where Auric Goldfinger and his henchman are planning to raid Fort Knox and obliterate the world economy. To save the world once again, Bond will need to become friends with Goldfinger, dodge killer hats and avoid Goldfinger's personal pilot, the sexy Pussy Galore. She might not have feelings for Bond, but will 007 help her change her mind? This is the third film in the Bond Series. The scene I focused on is a death scene of Jill Masterson played by Shirley Eaton. In this scene she is murdered by one of the main antagonist of the Film Oddjob A tiny Asian hitman. But they way he kills her is the most iconic part he covers her skin in gold and she dies of suffocation. This I think is a sign from the director saying back in 1964 gold was are most important resource and we were to dependant on it and if we weren’t careful it could bring down our entire way of life. The United States economy was backed by gold for a long time only recently has it changed from gold. It can also be read as if we don’t defend ourselves from developing countries like China or Japan they could sink our country with our most valued resource.
Gold is a calm color something soothing about in the scene where Jill is killed she looks so peaceful covered in gold. It really is something you need to see to have an effect on you as a person. Using a woman as a victim is always a signal because they are seen as the second sex but women are more innocent and seeing a woman killed might enrage the audience or gets them to have more or emotional connection to the movie and its villains and heroes.
Their have been 22 James Bond films and from those 22 films I have chosen 2 scenes not an easy thing to do but I picked the two scenes I thought were the most iconic for the times we are living in now. One of the scenes I have chosen comes from Goldfinger Bond is back and his next mission takes him to Fort Knox, where Auric Goldfinger and his henchman are planning to raid Fort Knox and obliterate the world economy. To save the world once again, Bond will need to become friends with Goldfinger, dodge killer hats and avoid Goldfinger's personal pilot, the sexy Pussy Galore. She might not have feelings for Bond, but will 007 help her change her mind? This is the third film in the Bond Series. The scene I focused on is a death scene of Jill Masterson played by Shirley Eaton. In this scene she is murdered by one of the main antagonist of the Film Oddjob A tiny Asian hitman. But they way he kills her is the most iconic part he covers her skin in gold and she dies of suffocation. This I think is a sign from the director saying back in 1964 gold was are most important resource and we were to dependant on it and if we weren’t careful it could bring down our entire way of life. The United States economy was backed by gold for a long time only recently has it changed from gold. It can also be read as if we don’t defend ourselves from developing countries like China or Japan they could sink our country with our most valued resource.Gold is a calm color something soothing about in the scene where Jill is killed she looks so peaceful covered in gold. It really is something you need to see to have an effect on you as a person. Using a woman as a victim is always a signal because they are seen as the second sex but women are more innocent and seeing a woman killed might enrage the audience or gets them to have more or emotional connection to the movie and its villains and heroes.
The second scene is from the recently realized movie Quantum of Solace directed by Mark Foster in 2008. This is the 22nd James Bond film starring Daniel Craig in his second outing as the Younger James bond focusing on his start as 007. The Film is starts out with Bond and "M" sniffing a shadowy international network of power and corruption reaping billions. As Bond pursues the agents of an assassination attempt on "M," all roads lead to Dominic Greene, a world-renowned developer of green technology. Greene, a nasty piece of work, is intent on securing a barren area of Bolivia in exchange for assisting a strongman stage a coup there. The CIA looks the other way, and only Bond, with help from a retired spy and from a mysterious beauty, stands in Greene's way. "M" wonders if she can trust Bond, or if vengeance possesses him. James still wants revenge for the death of his lover Vesper in the previous film Casino Royale. The scene I’m focusing on in this film is the death of another one of Bond’s female friends who goes by the name of agent Fields. He has an intimate relationship with her, and after a chase in the dessert he comes back to find her covered and apparently drowned in oil. The main theme of this movie is that Dominick Green has found an oil supply in the Bolivian Dessert and The CIA and the MI-6 are willing to let a Coup happen just to get at the oil, because oil has become the most precious resource over the last 30 years. But you find out later the Dominick Green hasn’t found oil, but what he is doing is draining all the water out of the country and creating a drought to make every South American country turn to his ecological country.
Oil is a distraction in this movie it is supposed to be the most important resource and what keeps the world running not gold anymore. But the director Mark Foster throws a curveball at you and says wait hold on a second, oil isn’t the most important resource anymore it is just a smokescreen to distract everyone from water, which without water there would be no living thing on this planet. Water keeps us alive oil just keeps us moving in cars, boats, planes.
Directors are an interesting breed of people they know just the right buttons to push for their audience that is why they are so good at what they do. There good at misdirection distractions. I didn’t notice this scene in the film the first time I watched the movie, it took me till the third time to pick up on it, and then I read more into and became intrigued with the genius of this idea. Semiotics plays a big part in film making and being able to get the type of message you get across to the audience. The James Bond directors get to play with many ideas and world events that why they can send a variety of different messages. I think that the directors of these two particular films Goldfinger, and Quantum of Solace did an excellent job using a semiotics approach to these two films and the two scenes I have analyzed.
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