Skyfall and The Dark Knight Rises Essay - Representation and Genre

How far does the genre of a film shape audience expectations of how society will be represented in the film? Discuss this in relation to examples from one British film and one US film you have studied. [35]

- Skyfall and The Dark Knight Rises

Christopher Nolan's 2012 Batman film 'The Dark Knight Rises' (TDKR), canon with Nolan's early neo-noir style films from the recognisable muted tone, hyperreality, and typically masculine aesthetics applied to his rendition of Gotham most resembling New York, presents messaging about the Americanised/Western 2000s politics and society it represents. Sam Mendes' 2012 'Bond' film 'Skyfall' similarly presents political encoding reflecting the issues and anxieties of its 2000s British era, and like the 'batman' film in TDKR, audience expectations of a 'Bond film' - of which included generally a lack of representation beyond a white, male Hegemony as a reflection of its 1950s audience - altered from Mendes' fresh and impactful threading of a verisimilitudinous representation of a 2010s British society. 

Trends of blockbuster cinema, directors revaluating characters in their modernised landscape for audiences, reshaping expectations of their genre:

Following the spectacle trends of films in the last 20 or so years, younger spectators grew up with appreciating and expecting the generic high-budget blockbuster films to be of a cinematic and/or spectacular quality that have some overarching meaning and represent reality; the director and producers of the 007 franchise were conscious of that, so, Bond was reinvented in the 2000s with the Daniel Craig instalment of 'Casino Royale', steered in a new direction that aligned with the changing views of the new decade, most notably in a post 9/11 world. Skyfall is the standout example of this, including a fresh aesthetic quality owing to Roger Deakin's stylised, cinematic lighting and Mendes' conscientious approach of representing a Bond that audiences could identity with. Vulnerability and relatability, particularly in James Bond's character relate to the repositioning/re-evaluation of masculinity atypical in 'Bond' and blockbuster films. A new and enigmatic representation of Bond as the generally projected 'ideal man' is presented to the spectator right from the opening long shot: Bond stands as a blurred silhouette, his and the film's identity as a 'Bond' film solidified to the audience from the leitmotif. Bond walks to the camera, his face obscured in shadow though his are eyes lit up, creating a sense of mystique and enigma around his character arc, then an unfamiliar representation of Bond. The camera tracks him going to a fellow agent to 'stop the bleeding', anchoring spectator relatability in presenting him as a humane and compassionate hero. 

With the Bond genre becoming dated, parodied, and stagnated with audiences, Craig's re-invented Bond brought the traditional generic elements like action, romance, spy, and thriller combined with an approach of drama and mystery in an attempt to sophisticate the franchise within the modern era. Skyfall has both a descriptive and functional approach to its genre: it uses its paradigmatic sets, often through nostalgic references such as the Aston Martin from the Sean Connery era and self-parodic reference to an 'exploding pen', to create, most suitably put to Steve Neal's quote, 'Instances of repetition and difference'; familiar and nostalgic paradigms of Bond combined with a fresh representation of Bond's character, such as his sense of masculinity, identity, and duty to MI6 and by extension Britain, while asking questions that remain relevant with audiences over time. In Skyfall these questions are about the representation of Britain as a demoted global power, technology and fears surrounding it, war on terror, and duty/loyalty to the establishment; contextual issues of the 2000s which re-shape audience expectations of how poignant, impactful, or historically relevant a Bond film could be. 

generic representation of groups, audience expects this from action and blockbuster films:

Both films as products of large blockbuster films part of a popular and established franchise/fandom cater to a wide marketable audience - both franchises having an existing male audience - and thus the encoded representations are more reflective of the general society the films are placed in rather than niche audiences. Stuart Hall theorises media uses encoded stereotypes, reducing social groups to characteristics that are easily recognisable and decoded by a wide audience. TDKR as an action 'batman' film presents the expected typical masculinity of its hero and villain; costume, voice, prowess, power, and mental and physical conquering; pit thing. Skyfall is less typical in its representation of its genre (for the time period), subverting audience expectations; scorpion scene. however, there is a dominant reading of Skyfall (British patriotism through iconography and powerful stills), and an intended dominant reading of tdkr (a generic action good vs evil) though its political representations of an Americanised society are contradictory and ambiguous; wall street - this resembling new york than his previous films - representing capitalism and greed, staging and performance reflects power dynamics, chaotic masculine scene, 'theres no money to steal', 'then why are you here?'. Nolan intends for audiences to have a dominant reading, he wants us to see the capitalists as evil and bane, who represents the political Marxist 'alternative' as also evil, the archetypal villain from his framing, costume, and positioning against batman. though of course batman as bruce Wayne represents the capitalist system that nolan criticises, though no attempt to evaluate batman's position in this system in made, leaving an unanswered and ambiguous message about the represented politics. in the end bane's plan to redistribute gotham's wealth and dismantle the city in rousing a populist force succeeds just as much as batman's 'sacrifice' in blowing up a nuclear bomb in the protection of the city and Gotham's people; it becomes order vs chaos rather than good vs evil. thus tdkr has a conflicted representation of American society despite its generic action and superhero visage. In this regard, Skyfall as a representative of the 'bond genre' is more powerful to audiences, from a cemented filmography and well-loved franchise, Skyfall reinforces this through its descriptive and functional approach to its bond genre, while 'tdkr as a batman' film is not as powerful, suffering as a more generalised action superhero film than something profoundly relatable with audiences - spirituality, conflicted politics, a sense of Americanism only through wall street, new york, and baseball game, though not as overt perhaps because its a British director; a forgettable part in his repertoire. less relevant than Skyfall. 

opening action sequences expected of genre and spectator in awareness of Nolan's style of complex themes which here are political atypical of action blockbusters. compared to sky falls opening, but old versus new is introduced; parallel to british insecurity, patriotism as result. also comedy used to make bond relatable:

The genre of TDKR is heavily reliant on Nolan's auteur style which caters to a wide marketable audience (generally targeting at males), and in context of the 2010s whereby a resurgence of superhero and action blockbuster films typically neglected its audience's capacity to understand complex themes, Nolan threads impactful and thought-provoking ideologies that the Batman comics reflected in parallel to the ideologies of 1940s film noir: Nolan's franchise inhabits a much darker approach aesthetically and thematically while presenting an engaging 'impression of reality' to subvert and forever alter audience expectations of a 'batman' or action film; an inadvertent revolution in cinema of the 'dark reboot'. This is attempted in TDKR an action sequence typical of superhero films opening- audience expects something thrilling, stunts, usually masculine, but a spectator in knowledge of Nolan's auteur approach would expect some complex ideology generally atypical of superhero and action films. the opening high-budget action sequence delivers in this generic expectation, with Nolan shaping representation of the Americanised CIA against the archetypical villain Bane, represented as a Marxist-type revolutionary plotting to take down Gotham's elite. Ambiguous political messaging is threaded about such representations. Skyfall has most suitably put to Steve Neal's quote, 'Instances of repetition and difference' which makes a proportionally successful film in context of the 2010s society it represents and Mendes' careful handling of Bond in a modern world. a simultaneous recreation of James bond to suit modern audiences while conforming to a traditional mould of Bond.  the film going back to its generic roots just as much as Bond is. heritage project - iconic references, start anchoring this. skyfall utilises comedy to represent British humour - nostalgia self parodic wink to spectator exploding pen reference. helps to make the film more grounded in reality, identifiable to audiences. positions them more with q and bond because they relatable. reference the gallery scene. both Skyfall and tdkr position audiences to inhabit a social self response theory

War on terror represent western society's fears. real life issues then uncommon in action films, though audiences knowledgeable on bond would expect this -written in cold war, soviet threats now made sort of middle eastern:

both films present more western values - both war on terror. skyfall there is a dramatic shift to british patriotism - London Olympics, britains global insecurity, loss of empire - marketing material used union jack provoking unity among British spectators or those situated in British culture. mendes pushes the audience to inhabit a social self in relation to response theory - a collective response between spectators especially in a collective viewing, reinforcing the patriotism enhanced by the film's impression of reality. a collective interpretation of this ideology. heavily representative of western society and values/issues, like 9/11 still in people's minds. the cross-cutting between MI6 court hearing and silva bombing tube train. enemies no longer marked on a map - harps back to cold war - in the shadows. terrorist disguised as pedestrians, unassuming. silva appropriates british protection in costume while trying to dismantle it, symbolically dismantling Londons underground roots. the cross-cutting reinforces mI6 and by extension bond as the needed protector during such times, the film's moral being a push towards collective unity as represented in bond's reassumed role as protector of London and by extension britain. tdkr presents war on terror through an attack on 'America', representing American societal values of patriotism - baseball game- and banes bombing of it to use a marxist populist revolution to people of a capitalist Gotham.