The Man With The Golden Gun Film Poster // December 1974 // Analysis
The Man With The Golden Gun Film Poster // December 1974 // Analysis
Product Context
The Man With The Golden Gun was released on 19 December 1974.
It was based on a book written by Ian Fleming, the film was produced by the British company Eon.
The film's budget was $7 million and grossed over $97 million at the world wide box office.
The martial arts film genre there were several kung fu scenes. The film was shot in Hong Kong, Thailand and Macau.
The artwork for poster was illustrated by artist Robert McGinnis.
Part 1: Starting Points - media language
Historical Context:
To the 1990s, illustrations were used on film posters more due to limited technology.
The film was set in the middle of the 1973, the oil crisis had short and long term effects across on politics and the economy.
The power plant was directed at Bond
Consider the codes and conventions of media language and how elements of media language influence meaning:
Visual and images give audience the film genre and narrative. The reader would work through the images to understand the film's plot.
The central image is a mid-shot of Bond holding a gun across his body. He is the film's protagonist and so a 'good guy'. Vladimir Propp's theory says Bond is the 'hero'.
Bond's attire signifies danger and action. Bond is looking directly at the audience, his stare and the lack of smile make him appear as calm. This informs the audience of one of his great strengths.
The film poster would have the actor's name, a way to entice the audience. Roger Moore had starred in The Saint and playing Bond in the previous film, live and let die, his name is above Bond's image.
The title appears the author's name who wrote the books.
The credit block, industry information as not to divert the audience away from the main image from the rest of the poster.
Consider narrative:
There is a close up of a gun, pointed at Bond. The reader can interpret is as attempted assignation on the protagonist.
The colour of the gun connotes wealth, the shooter created intrigue and would term an enigma code for the audience to find out who is trying to kill Bond.
Propp's character theory considers this person as the 'villian'
These images combined with images of destruction and explosions, are codes that signify to the audience this is action/thriller genre.
Typical of the films, the protagonist is with females with few clothes on.
2 of the women are highly sexualised:
wearing bikinis , with slim perfect bodies and long flowing hair.
Body language: one is looking at the gun assassin while the other is putting her arm out trying to protect him. This could be seen as another enigma code, telling the audience that Bond has female enemies yet it's making is hard for him to distinguish between them.
Part 2: Starting Points - Representation
Social and Cultural Contexts:
At the 20th century, film depictions supported dominant stereotypes. While society was progressing towards racial equality by the 1970s. some of these stereotypes were in mainstream films. Also this poster in the context moves to gender equality and women's rights were increased in the 1960s and 70s.
Consider the representation of gender and ethnicity:
Bond was iconic and nations favourites, he was charming and good looking and most importantly caught by the 'bad guys'.
This representation of masculinity told audiences that this man was prepared to put himself in dangerous situations. You would be successful if you were like that and gain respect. The assumption is that men should also be heterosexual.
2 females on the poster are wearing bikinis which shows their slim bodies. To accessories the outfit they had to wear earrings and bracelets.
A feminist theoretical perspective argues that this sexualised presentation of women that they are to be looked at more than just their bodies.
However another women is in a karate uniform, showing a martial arts pose and goes against stereotype. She also has flowing hair but it's much darker and looks like she's from a different ethnic group to other females due to her skin tone so this suggests she does not support dominant sexualised stereotype, and she is seen as exotic.
Consider the representation of issues and events:
The 1937 global energy crisis portrayed through the iconography by including this theme, the producers encouraged audiences to predict the outcomes for society.
Possible areas for further investigation:
Ideas about encoding and decoding texts. Producers have encoded ideas into text, it depends on the viewer's context and how the image is decoded.
The depiction of a female doing martial arts makes her seem dangerous and is seen as a progressive way to look at females who are strong and fearless.
Feminist theoretical perspectives:
Laura Mulvey (in her essay) said 'male gaze, the audience is put in the perspectives of a heterosexual man. In the poster, the audience focuses on the woman's body in the eyes of a man.
Mulvey also argues that woman have no identities and are seen as objects rather than people, they are admired for their appearance which also argues that the producer of the artwork was a male, Robert Mcginnis.
Product Context
The Man With The Golden Gun was released on 19 December 1974.
It was based on a book written by Ian Fleming, the film was produced by the British company Eon.
The film's budget was $7 million and grossed over $97 million at the world wide box office.
The martial arts film genre there were several kung fu scenes. The film was shot in Hong Kong, Thailand and Macau.
The artwork for poster was illustrated by artist Robert McGinnis.
Part 1: Starting Points - media language
Historical Context:
To the 1990s, illustrations were used on film posters more due to limited technology.
The film was set in the middle of the 1973, the oil crisis had short and long term effects across on politics and the economy.
The power plant was directed at Bond
Consider the codes and conventions of media language and how elements of media language influence meaning:
Visual and images give audience the film genre and narrative. The reader would work through the images to understand the film's plot.
The central image is a mid-shot of Bond holding a gun across his body. He is the film's protagonist and so a 'good guy'. Vladimir Propp's theory says Bond is the 'hero'.
Bond's attire signifies danger and action. Bond is looking directly at the audience, his stare and the lack of smile make him appear as calm. This informs the audience of one of his great strengths.
The film poster would have the actor's name, a way to entice the audience. Roger Moore had starred in The Saint and playing Bond in the previous film, live and let die, his name is above Bond's image.
The title appears the author's name who wrote the books.
The credit block, industry information as not to divert the audience away from the main image from the rest of the poster.
Consider narrative:
There is a close up of a gun, pointed at Bond. The reader can interpret is as attempted assignation on the protagonist.
The colour of the gun connotes wealth, the shooter created intrigue and would term an enigma code for the audience to find out who is trying to kill Bond.
Propp's character theory considers this person as the 'villian'
These images combined with images of destruction and explosions, are codes that signify to the audience this is action/thriller genre.
Typical of the films, the protagonist is with females with few clothes on.
2 of the women are highly sexualised:
wearing bikinis , with slim perfect bodies and long flowing hair.
Body language: one is looking at the gun assassin while the other is putting her arm out trying to protect him. This could be seen as another enigma code, telling the audience that Bond has female enemies yet it's making is hard for him to distinguish between them.
Part 2: Starting Points - Representation
Social and Cultural Contexts:
At the 20th century, film depictions supported dominant stereotypes. While society was progressing towards racial equality by the 1970s. some of these stereotypes were in mainstream films. Also this poster in the context moves to gender equality and women's rights were increased in the 1960s and 70s.
Consider the representation of gender and ethnicity:
Bond was iconic and nations favourites, he was charming and good looking and most importantly caught by the 'bad guys'.
This representation of masculinity told audiences that this man was prepared to put himself in dangerous situations. You would be successful if you were like that and gain respect. The assumption is that men should also be heterosexual.
2 females on the poster are wearing bikinis which shows their slim bodies. To accessories the outfit they had to wear earrings and bracelets.
A feminist theoretical perspective argues that this sexualised presentation of women that they are to be looked at more than just their bodies.
However another women is in a karate uniform, showing a martial arts pose and goes against stereotype. She also has flowing hair but it's much darker and looks like she's from a different ethnic group to other females due to her skin tone so this suggests she does not support dominant sexualised stereotype, and she is seen as exotic.
Consider the representation of issues and events:
The 1937 global energy crisis portrayed through the iconography by including this theme, the producers encouraged audiences to predict the outcomes for society.
Possible areas for further investigation:
Ideas about encoding and decoding texts. Producers have encoded ideas into text, it depends on the viewer's context and how the image is decoded.
The depiction of a female doing martial arts makes her seem dangerous and is seen as a progressive way to look at females who are strong and fearless.
Feminist theoretical perspectives:
Laura Mulvey (in her essay) said 'male gaze, the audience is put in the perspectives of a heterosexual man. In the poster, the audience focuses on the woman's body in the eyes of a man.
Mulvey also argues that woman have no identities and are seen as objects rather than people, they are admired for their appearance which also argues that the producer of the artwork was a male, Robert Mcginnis.
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