Editor’s Note: This article was originally published May 5, 2015.
Ian Fleming’s James Bond is one of the most recognizable and successful characters in modern popular culture. The novels have sold over 100 million copies, and the film franchise is the second most successful in history, having been recently displaced by the Harry Potter series. For most readers and viewers, 007 is merely a Western pop icon. However, there is much more at work in the novels and films than appears on the surface. In fact, there are deeper undercurrents, themes, symbols, and messages that operate as psychological warfare propaganda and an in-depth semiotic analysis of the novels and films yields an interpretation that confirms this thesis. Much has been written on the subject of Ian Fleming’s James Bond. From Umberto Eco’s older essay “Narrative Structures in Fleming” to Christoph Linders’ modern collections The James Bond Phenomenon and Revisioning 007: James Bond and Casino Royale,...
Ian Fleming’s James Bond is one of the most recognizable and successful characters in modern popular culture. The novels have sold over 100 million copies, and the film franchise is the second most successful in history, having been recently displaced by the Harry Potter series. For most readers and viewers, 007 is merely a Western pop icon. However, there is much more at work in the novels and films than appears on the surface. In fact, there are deeper undercurrents, themes, symbols, and messages that operate as psychological warfare propaganda and an in-depth semiotic analysis of the novels and films yields an interpretation that confirms this thesis. Much has been written on the subject of Ian Fleming’s James Bond. From Umberto Eco’s older essay “Narrative Structures in Fleming” to Christoph Linders’ modern collections The James Bond Phenomenon and Revisioning 007: James Bond and Casino Royale,...
- 11/7/2015
- by Jay Dyer
- SoundOnSight
By: Jay Dyer
Ian Fleming’s James Bond is one of the most recognizable and successful characters in modern popular culture. The novels have sold over 100 million copies, and the film franchise is the second most successful in history, having been recently displaced by the Harry Potter series. For most readers and viewers, 007 is merely a Western pop icon. However, there is much more at work in the novels and films than appears on the surface. In fact, there are deeper undercurrents, themes, symbols, and messages that operate as psychological warfare propaganda and an in-depth semiotic analysis of the novels and films yields an interpretation that confirms this thesis. Much has been written on the subject of Ian Fleming’s James Bond. From Umberto Eco’s older essay “Narrative Structures in Fleming” to Christoph Linders’ modern collections The James Bond Phenomenon and Revisioning 007: James Bond and Casino Royale, there...
Ian Fleming’s James Bond is one of the most recognizable and successful characters in modern popular culture. The novels have sold over 100 million copies, and the film franchise is the second most successful in history, having been recently displaced by the Harry Potter series. For most readers and viewers, 007 is merely a Western pop icon. However, there is much more at work in the novels and films than appears on the surface. In fact, there are deeper undercurrents, themes, symbols, and messages that operate as psychological warfare propaganda and an in-depth semiotic analysis of the novels and films yields an interpretation that confirms this thesis. Much has been written on the subject of Ian Fleming’s James Bond. From Umberto Eco’s older essay “Narrative Structures in Fleming” to Christoph Linders’ modern collections The James Bond Phenomenon and Revisioning 007: James Bond and Casino Royale, there...
- 5/12/2015
- by Jay Dyer
- SoundOnSight
Big studios have poured money into foreign-language films – but is this just a backdoor way to dominate overseas markets?
When the horror film The Orphanage opened big in its home country of Spain in October 2007, distributor Warner Brothers wanted director Ja Bayona to know he was loved. "We call him Jota," says Richard Fox, executive VP of international at Warner. "He's an amazing Superman fan, and I had a piece of kryptonite from the Bryan Singer version sent to my hotel in Barcelona. After this huge opening weekend, we went to a fish restaurant on Monday night to celebrate. I got there early, so I was sat there with my box of kryptonite, looking at the portraits on the wall: Bill Clinton, Tom Cruise, Zinedine Zidane. When Jota arrived, I gave him the kryptonite, and a guy took a photo. We sat and had a three-hour dinner. When we left,...
When the horror film The Orphanage opened big in its home country of Spain in October 2007, distributor Warner Brothers wanted director Ja Bayona to know he was loved. "We call him Jota," says Richard Fox, executive VP of international at Warner. "He's an amazing Superman fan, and I had a piece of kryptonite from the Bryan Singer version sent to my hotel in Barcelona. After this huge opening weekend, we went to a fish restaurant on Monday night to celebrate. I got there early, so I was sat there with my box of kryptonite, looking at the portraits on the wall: Bill Clinton, Tom Cruise, Zinedine Zidane. When Jota arrived, I gave him the kryptonite, and a guy took a photo. We sat and had a three-hour dinner. When we left,...
- 8/13/2013
- by Phil Hoad
- The Guardian - Film News
The Slumdog Millionaire star is returning to her roots in Trishna, but her international roles hint at the declining importance of actors' ethnicity
Since Slumdog Millionaire, Freida Pinto has played a Palestinian orphan, an American primatologist, an ancient Greek priestess and an Arab princess. Either by adventurousness or design, it looks like she's striving to be a new kind of film star: one not bound in her roles by ethnicity, and able to appeal freely across those boundaries, too.
A few years ago, people were talking about Vin Diesel in similar tones. He was a throwback to 80s juiceheads like Arnie, but, with his mixed-race background, he also looked like an action star for multicultural times. That dream ended with the failure of his signature antihero Riddick's "chronicles". But then his Fast & Furious franchise, into its fifth instalment last year, weirdly impervious in its urban-petrolhead elysium, all peoples equally inaudible...
Since Slumdog Millionaire, Freida Pinto has played a Palestinian orphan, an American primatologist, an ancient Greek priestess and an Arab princess. Either by adventurousness or design, it looks like she's striving to be a new kind of film star: one not bound in her roles by ethnicity, and able to appeal freely across those boundaries, too.
A few years ago, people were talking about Vin Diesel in similar tones. He was a throwback to 80s juiceheads like Arnie, but, with his mixed-race background, he also looked like an action star for multicultural times. That dream ended with the failure of his signature antihero Riddick's "chronicles". But then his Fast & Furious franchise, into its fifth instalment last year, weirdly impervious in its urban-petrolhead elysium, all peoples equally inaudible...
- 3/6/2012
- by Phil Hoad
- The Guardian - Film News
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