How do micro-elements construct representations of social groups in Skyfall and The Dark Knight Rises?

 Discuss how the films you have studied use micro-elements of film form to construct representations of social groups. You must include examples from one British film and one US film you have studied. [35]

- The Dark Knight Rises and Skyfall

Both Christopher Nolan's 2012 film 'The Dark Knight Rises' (TDKR) and Sam Mendes' 2012 film 'Skyfall' utilise aspects of mise-en-scene, editing, cinematography, performance, and sound to construct representations of their projected worlds, notably in a post-9/11 one, and the social groups that inhabit them, in a verisimilitudinous representation of sociopolitically encoded events and groups as both employ an 'impression of reality' (a Richard Allen theory). Such representations are contextually sparked by political and historical concerns, events, attitudes, and the tropes of the action, superhero/spy genre and blockbuster mode.  

Contextually, both Nolan and Mendes present encoded representations of the social and cultural landscape of 9/11 and the 'war on terror', then a large Western concern which manifests itself within both films' representations of villainy. The 2000s marked a significant rise in terrorist organisations, with bombings of Western landmarks and terrorists disguised as pedestrians. In Skyfall, this is symbolised through the cross-cutting between Proppian villain Silva, who appropriates a police uniform (in costume) to project British protection while seeking to destroy it in the dismantling of London's underground roots (an attack on Britain), and the governmental court hearing on the relevance of MI6 as the national security in the new technological age, the ageing M representative as the parallel to an ageing and outdated Britain, becoming an empirical relic in the modern world. Significantly in a close-up, Mendes in M's dialogue highlights the 'frightening' point that 'enemies are no longer known to us, they don't exist on a map...they're individuals...[the world is] in the shadows'. The parallel editing between Silva, M, and hero Bond creates tension for the spectator in the simultaneous action, Silva pursuing M to kill her, and places them together as a representative unit reflecting the ideology in the film as M versus the betrayed or as Silva puts it, mother versus sons. The non-diegetic music builds in a staccato brass rhythm as M says 'who do you fear? Can you see a face in uniform?' with a cut to Silva pursuing the hearing, his henchmen shooting the guards. The camera also has a kinetic energy between Silva and Bond in tracking shots versus M's static close-up, a slow zoom emphasising her words as they overlay in a sound bridge between each cut, encouraging the audience to recognise the encoded acts of terrorism against the West: Mendes through the Tennyson poem 'Ulysses' that M recites acts as an allegorical message regarding this representation of terrorism and the declining power of Britain as a force and nation - 'We are now not that strength which in old days ruled earth and heaven' - persuading a sense of unity among British spectators or those situated in British culture, this extreme patriotism communicated through the rising triumphant brass instrumentation, with Mendes cutting to Bond as the poem references the nation's strong will and heroism, the leitmotif - an iconic Bond paradigm - another patriotic symbol as Bond enters the hearing to protect M and defeat Silva.  

Nolan tackles this encoded terrorism in a similar way through the bombing of an American football game, the citizens of Gotham congregated patriotically, a diegetic singing of the national anthem encouraging, Like Skyfall's use of 'Ulysses', a sense of spectator unity - perhaps in a cinematic viewing inhabiting a 'social self' in reference to response theory - against the terrorist threat. Comparable to M's dialogue, the singing overlays, in a sound bridge, a tonal montage (an Eisenstein theory) of various mid-shots and pans of the crowd, hands placed patriotically on their chests, with diegetic cheering on 'land of the free'. In contrast to this imagery, villain Bane stands backlit in the shadows intending to blow up the stadium in order to fulfil his Marxist-style revolution by symbolically 'starting a fire' within Gotham. Thus both directors code villainy as terrorism, represented as the West versus the East: both representations of villainy are ambiguously encoded with connotations of the Middle East potently through the mise-en-scene, casting, and sound. In TDKR, the land of the 'League of Shadows' where Bane came from is an archaic desert setting, with its inmates ambiguously racially coded as middle eastern, their costume a rough drapery, Bane in a flashback is shown to wear a draped head-covering furthering Islamic connotations, and twist villain Tate is made racially ambiguous (with a non-American accent) as the daughter of Ra's al Ghul (an Arabic name). As Batman miraculously escapes the 'pit' in this desert setting, symbolic of his mental and physical conquering in order to be 'reborn' as the hero of Gotham - this a very machismo representation of masculinity -, the inmates diegetically chant the vaguely Arabic phrase, 'Deshi Basara', of which Nolan described as 'primaeval', this in itself an oriental perspective on Batman's heroism, significantly the only character, the white American hero, to be able to escape the pit. 

The coiner of the term Orientalism, Edward Said, argues that by minimising and abstracting the diversity of Asian and North African cultures, Orientalists turn them into a 'contrasting image' against which the West seems culturally superior. Thus, the people of the Middle East are often portrayed in Hollywood as weak, barbaric, irrational, hostile, and/or culturally degenerate. Skyfall similarly employs vague connotations of a Middle Eastern threat through sound and setting. For example, the opening of the film is set in Istanbul, where Bond must chase the (racially encoded as Middle Eastern) antagonist Patrice who stole MI6 data. As Bond walks out into the streets, non-diegetic music of 'Eastern' instrumentation encodes an exotic, otherworldly, and antique landscape of the Middle East; a trope of action films set in Eastern desert regions. Orientalism pervades through various stereotypes in Skyfall in the characterisation of 'Bond girl' Severine whom Bond meets in the flamboyant and stereotyped vision of Shanghai; in a multitude of aerial establishing shots of traditional Chinese buildings, with red the dominant colour aesthetic to further this Western image of the 'brave new world' as Bond remarks, Bond travels across water to a Chinese gambling house, another Hollywood stereotype of Chinese culture, with a flamboyant red dragon dominating the frame, this representation crafted as a tonal montage, the non-diegetic 'Bond' theme further creating a separation between the West and East in the contrast of sound to imagery. Inside, set with (CGI) komodo dragons, gambling tables, lanterns, and Chinese design, Mendes furthers this oriental representation as exotic and, through the low-key lighting and lack of communication between Bond and Chinese men delivering him money, dangerous. Theorist Manuel Alvarado argues that non-white characters are often represented in 4 distinct ways in dominant media, comparable to Stuart Hall's reception theory whereby media reduces social groups to stereotypes in accordance with the hegemony (then white and male). In Skyfall these ideas can be applied; Severine can be seen as 'exotic' in a fetishized and sexualised way and Laura Mulvey's 'male gaze' is applicable through her backless sheer and figure-hugging dress, her body the introduction of her character as she is framed from an LS from Bond's POV, standing behind a stair railing creating the impression that she is an object of sexual desire literally barred from Bond; red lipstick connoting sexuality and dark eyes connoting mystery and seductiveness; and objectification within the narrative as she functions as a tool to demonstrate Bond's charm, sexual appeal, and cruelty of Villain Silva. This means she also becomes 'pitied' as she is revealed to have been an enslaved child prostitute, her pretence of power slipping as she begins to shake her hand when smoking after Bond has revealed her past. Such representation through her costume, makeup, and framing encode her as the Hollywood stereotype 'Dragon Lady', a trope in both Hollywood and Bond. Silva is ambiguously racially encoded through the casting of Javier Bardem and the character's blonde hair, but, as is the case for all Bond films, he remains a foreign threat. Such representations show how Bond changes with the era; in Skyfall, the villain is no longer a vague Soviet threat, but a vaguely middle eastern one, attacking through computers. This presents a hostile image of the East; Said argued how the West exploited these representations to justify their imperialist policies in the Middle East: from a targeted Western audience (situated culture) and Western perspective, negative perceptions of the East are constructed as a preferred reading (Stuart Hall) in both TDKR and Skyfall through the various uses of mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, casting, and sound. 

Gender is also represented largely conventionally in both films as high-budget blockbusters and existing franchises, mostly through mise-en-scene, cinematography, and performance. For example, the representation of each hero; In TDKR Batman's costume, canonically black as the 'dark knight' with a chiselled facial mask, carved breastplate,  and performed low-pitched, gravelly voice presents an image of extreme masculinity, and as the superhero, the idolised vision of man. Interestingly these elements are used as the visage of Bruce Wayne's identity as Batman: the representation of a hard, masculine body protecting the vulnerability of the character beneath, this being obscured and presented as the weaker representation of masculinity considering TDKR begins with Wayne as physically inferior to Selina Kyle, encoded (Stuart Hall) as Catwoman (the male gaze can be applied to her character through her 'seductive' performance of slow and drawn out speech and feminine gait; skin-tight costume with high-heels; red lipstick; and shot mostly in MS/LS to focus her body in the frame), easily overpowered as she knocks him over by kicking his walking stick. Despite this example presenting a reversal of traditional gender representations, the narrative events focuses on the rise and 'rebirth' of Batman, ultimately the true hero who overrules Miranda Tate as the betraying temptress, and Catwoman submits to a maternal role in the final scene, ambiguously 'retired' along with Batman in Italy, this scene resolving Batman and Alfred's relationship arc rather than the various political narrative exploration in the film, the aesthetics significantly light and colourful, and both characters representing the realistic 'ideal' of their gender roles through costume to present this representation as a preferred reading to spectators. In Skyfall, Bond is similarly represented as the 'ideal' man (with the additional factor of the typically sophisticated mannerisms, speech, and costume suited to the Bond characterisation, such as when he adjusts his suit after breaking into the back of a moving train in the opening). This identity is largely presented through editing, sound, and cinematography. For example, the spectacular stunt-filled action sequence immerses the spectator into the world of James Bond in the film's opening, (passive engagement is the overarching spectator response because the morals and messages are not made particularly challenging). Notably, the editing is rapid with short durations of action shots - match-on-action, diegetic sound, and sound bridges utilised to create continuity and an 'impression of reality' - as Bond pursues the antagonist Patrice, with ELS and LS, for example as they battle on top of a moving train and chase each other on motorbikes across a rooftop, to emphasise the magnitude and scale of the situation, this imagery in combination with tense, thrilling, orchestral non-diegetic music crafting spectacle for the spectator. Bond's athletic prowess is emphasised in such stuntwork and is ultimately hyperbolic despite the impression of reality Mendes puts forth; Bond runs across the arm of a digger to get on top of the moving train, the Bond Leitmotif contributing to this constructed image of Bond as the 'ideal' vision and pinnacle of male athleticism, this serving as the preferred representation of masculinity. Typical in action films, the narrative conflict between the villain and male hero in both TDKR and Skyfall resorts to a physical battle as a 'traditional' representation of masculinity, the projected 'necessity' of brute force to defeat evil. Again in Skyfall, the camera remains in quick-cut MS, CU, and LS of Patrcice and Bond fighting on the train to immerse the spectator and construct Bond's representation as the ideal man through the glorified music and physical dominance over Patrice, and when they fight in Shanghai, the non-diegetic music a staccato rhythm, their battle shot comparably a long take in a LS, aesthetically glorified in a low-key silhouette, with the camera moving to Bond's POV as he holds Patrcice off the edge of the building. In TDKR similarly, Batman ultimately defeats Bane in hand-to-hand combat despite owning a multitude of gadget weaponry, this shot in reverse CUs, with the diegetic sounds of deep masculine grunts dominating the scene. Exaggeratedly, when Batman returns to Gotham, his extreme masculine image is enhanced through the low-angle framing and lighting as he takes out a large gun to shoot at the enemy, and spectacle is constructed as he escape the oppressive police force in going over a ramp, his hyperbolic and cartoonishly large motorbike dominating the low-angle framing, the music building to a triumphant crescendo. Thus such aesthetic qualities in both films externalise the character's masculine prowess and idolises their characters through the cinematography, setting, music, and props.  

Atypical of the Bond paradigm and action genre, gender is subverted as Bond is introduced as enigmatic, showing humanity and compassion in the attempt to 'stop the bleeding' of a fellow agent while matriarchal M is cold, distant, and a heartless killer in a voiceover ordering Bond to abandon the dying agent (the absence of cross-cutting reinforces this representation). With this representation, Bond's 'death' is made far more significant and shocking (audience theory) because it is the death of a Bond we care about. The sound in this event reflects this, the passive engagement abandoned once the non-diegetic music cuts abruptly as Bond falls into water, the diegetic splash high in volume to cement this in reality, this captured from a low-angle within the water to show the apathetic handling of his character via M.  As he sarcastically 'enjoys death', Bond practises 'Machismo' activities at his lowest point such as sleeping with women and drinking alcohol with a scorpion on his hand in a rowdy masculine bar; in a provoking cut Bond sits at the bar, the lighting bleak with blue undertones, resting his head on his arms in a deadpan expression, the following shot a low-key shadowing of his figure in a LS, emphasising his loneliness and melancholy. Therefore, Mendes presents this as a pretence of masculinity  Though both directors attempt modern representations of gender with subverted representations of traditional masculinity, the message in both still prevails that men get the job done and women aren't to be trusted: in Skyfall, this permeates with the death of M - also linking to representations of age as outdated, much like how Britain is. Perhaps Mendes asserts the need for patriarchal dominance as Britain moves into the new age, which seems fitting as the film emphasises the relevance and necessity of traditional, 'old' methods in the face of an over-reliance on technology. Thus, with the repositioning of Mallory's character as an alliance to MI6 - exampled during the court hearing as the camera cuts back to his subtly embarrassed expression when the minister acts patronisingly to M - he rules as the new head of MI6, a re-implementation of patriarchal dominance, glorified through the Bond leitmotif and shot-reverse-shots in the film's final scene. Agent Eve is also revealed to be the paradigmatic Moneypenny and submits to a secretarial desk job rather than fieldwork in a traditionally gendered subservient role, this being projected as not sexist because she reveals how fieldwork isn't cut out for her; this is supported by the fact that Mendes shows her earlier in the film as being an incompetent agent, performing the harmful 'women can't drive' stereotype in knocking off both wing mirrors, Bond having to steer the car for her in order to advance their battle against Patrice. Eve, under M's apathetic guidance, is also the one who shoots and presumably kills Bond. 

In conclusion, both Mendes and Nolan shape the representations of their projected worlds and social groups, notably in a gendered and oriental perspective, through the scope of each paradigmatic genre of Bond, Batman, action, and the high-budget action franchise, ultimately through a conventionally male perspective to construct preferred spectator responses to the film's representations of events and people.