Movie Poster Analysis - Skyfall, Moonlight, Kingsman.

 

Analysis of Skyfall Movie Poster. 

Skyfall's poster fits in with the classic reoccurring theme of the Bond franchise. Its very monochrome and barely features any colour apart from the gold for the title and other parts of important information that is needed to stand out, such as the release date and the classic '007' symbol to further signify that it is part of the Bond franchise. The title of the movie is the largest font on the entire poster and stands out against the otherwise dark poster. There is no one else featured on either poster apart from Daniel Craig who is famously known for being Bond so stands out immediately to be a Bond film. 

In the second poster the London skyline can be seen very clearly in the background behind Daniel Craig, there is also an English flag to top it off and further show the importance of UK National Identity to the franchise. 

The film directly contrasts the poster as on the poster he looks very put together and is clean shaven whilst wearing a suit whilst in the actual film we see the degradation of Bond as a character as he gets old and useless to MI6 and goes off the rail and becomes messy as he rarely wears a suit and doesn't shave before he tries to get back to being a field agent and then starts to resemble the classic look again. 

 

Analysis of Kingsman. 

The poster for this resembles the Skyfall poster quite closely with the use of the colour scheme throughout being gold, white and black, particularly the gold title and gold for the important information which is exactly the same as the Skyfall poster. Unlike the Skyfall poster, pretty much all the main cast members are featured on the poster with the main character 'Eggsy' in the centre and also being the biggest individual to show his importance. 

Unlike the Skyfall poster, all the characters are portrayed exactly the same on the poster as to what they are in the film, except 'Eggsy' who starts off looking like he does on the poster, in a tracksuit and then as the film progresses he becomes more professional and starts to dress in a suit which resembles Bonds look more and therefore relates to the spy, action genre. 

In bold writing at the bottom it actually compares itself to the Bond franchise. However Kingsman is much more comedic compared to Bond films and plays on the fact that it is a spy film with the overuse of weapons and gadgets to almost mock the spy genre. These posters both feature the names of the main characters as even though it has a sequel now it was a new film that had unrecognisable characters unlike Bond who remains constant for a while. 

 

Analysis of Moonlight. 

This is the only poster to feature extremely vibrant colours in the poster. This movie poster directly links in with the film as it is a visual representation of the journey the main character goes through in his life, from being a young boy to a teenager and finally an adult. Out of all the poster this links in with the film and accurately represents it the most due to the use of using all three stages of his life into one image. The title is relatively small compared to the rest of the poster and therefore draws more attention to the main image which at first glance just looks like a normal image and then the more you look into it you see what is actually being shown. At the top of the poster it has a tagline of 'This is the story of a lifetime' which correlates directly with the story line of important parts of his life being shown that shaped his end character. 

Skyfall Analysis

'Skyfall' is an Action, spy film that is part of the 'Bond' franchise. 'Skyfall' is a standalone film and does not have any obvious narrative tie ins with the other bond films featuring Daniel Craig, however it does feature specific bond examples such as, a car chase or dramatic fight scene. 
The estimated cost of the film was $200,000,000 and was the highest grossing bond film making $980,000,000 worldwide and was nominated for 5 Oscars and won a Golden Globe. 

The lighting throughout this movie is fairly dark and gloomy to portray the downfall of Bond as he gets older whilst the movie explores him becoming weak, however towards the end there is warm lighting, particularly where Bond starts to get back to winning and during this scene the music, which is the classic Bond theme song, really picks up to emphasise the triumph of Bond and to dramatise the situation. 
During suspenseful scenes the shots are mainly close ups to show the expression within the characters but during fight scenes, etc the shots are long shots as there is a lot going on in one shot to be shown.

Representation of Women. 
Bond films have a tradition of representing women in a negative way. Earlier films in the franchise have portrayed women as sexual objects who could be 'used' by Bond as accessories and then discarded when he moved on. Recent Bond films have had to address how they represent Bond's masculinity and the representation of women in the narrative to adapt to the changing roles of women in society. 
'M' as a character is very ambiguous. She is interesting to the franchise as she is not defined by her beauty or body image as many women have been in Bond films in the past, but is defined by her brain and the ability to act and control situations. Her relationship with Bond is positive due to there not being sexual attraction or having ownership over each other. She is seen as a mother figure to both Bond and the Villain 'Silva'. Overall she is a massively positive representation of both age and gender in the film. 
'Severine' is a more traditional representation of women in regards to the Bond franchise. She is a victim but also a survivor in a world in which she was abused and degraded. In terms of the plot she is used as a traditional Bond girl, particularly with her beauty and role in the film. She is represented as a weaker woman and her death signifies her role throughout the film, a pawn in the game between Bond and Silva. 
'Eve' is a very feisty field agent who initially challenges the more traditional role of the 'Bond' girl. Her 'Love scene' with Bond is not a one sided seduction and she shows her power throughout that scene. At the end of the film, she becomes the new 'Moneypenny'. This is the traditional role for the passive female in the Bond franchise, who's role is to worship Bond behind a desk. 

Representation of British National Identity. 
Although 'Skyfall' has settings in exotic locations, the narrative and most of the action is set in Britain thus presenting the audience with a representation of Britain and national identity. MI6 offices, the National Gallery and other British locations feature heavily and the theme is essentially the threat to British security. Throughout there is iconic images of Britain, M has a British Bulldog on her death which she passes to Bond after she dies. In one scene Bond is looking over London on top of a roof which features iconic landmarks being shown, signifying tradition and heritage. 

Representation of Men. 
The Role of Bond in the recent films has seen a new, more modern representation of masculinity created to match the expectations of a twenty first century audience. This representation is an ambiguous one. The Bond in 'Skyfall' goes some way to challenge the audiences expectations of the heroic agent and undergoes an arc of transformation. In the early scene he is seen gambling, hiding and drinking, as the film develops he has to overcome his physical decline and prove himself. The range of close ups exposes his features, tired expression and wrinkles which is something that is rarely seen in Bond films. Bond vulnerability is exposed when he has trouble shooting when going back into the field and is therefore reminded of his ageing. 
Bond relationship with Silva is particularly interesting as there seems to be sexual tension between them, particularly in the scene where Silva unbuttons Bonds shirt and strokes his legs. They both share similarities in the fact that they were both agents and had a special bond with M. 
However, we can apply Levi-Strauss' binary opposite theory to Bond and Silva in that they are very clearly hero and villain. 
Silva feels betrayed by M and therefore her a personal vendetta to settle. This becomes more evident when he refers to M as 'Mother'. He is a classic villain with the physical disabilities, facial structure, his accent, etc. There is a homoerotic relationship between Bond and Silva which makes their characters more interesting. Silva explicit flirting with Bond is met with challenge rather than evasion thus, placing Bond firmly in the modern world. In the end it is Bond who personally kills him after a dramatic sequence where Silva id filmed against the backdrop of Bond's childhood home. 
Silva isn't portrayed as masculine at all throughout the movie, whereas Bond always has been throughout the franchise and despite his decline still has sexual relations and elements of masculinity evident within the movie. 

In the opening scene the film is started off with a dramatic car chase and fight scene. This is how all Bond films start off with a very dramatic, action packed opening sequence in order to captivate the audience. However, this opening sequence is slightly different due to the use of Eve being featured a lot, not only is she a powerful women working in the field but she is also a black woman which is extremely rare to be featured in a Bond movie. As well as this Bond is also 'killed' in the opening sequence which kicks off the film, this part is particularly important due to Eve being the one that fired the shot that hit Bond. The sound is very loud throughout this entire scene and the lighting is quite bright to symbolise the chaos that is occurring in the scene. 

In the scene where Eve and Bond have a 'sexual encounter' there is a lot of play on the fact that she is in control which is not something that is normally explored in Bond films. We see she is in control as she is using the cut throat razor on Bond and has the ability to be able to kill him in a second if she wanted to, this also shows the trust within their relationship also and that maybe there is a sexual relationship between them in an unconventional way as she isn't the typical 'Bond Girl'. The lighting in this scene is fairly dark to connote a mysterious feel which links in with their relationship together as to whether its platonic or something more. 

Comparison of Moonlight and Kingsman

'Moonlight' is a coming of age drama that explores a lot of subjects throughout that normally would not be mentioned in this particular genre of film, it particularly focuses on sexuality within young black boys. Whereas, 'Kingsman' is an comedy, spy, action film that takes classic spy films like Bond films and adds a comedic value to it. Initially 'Moonlight' and 'Kingsman' seem like two completely unrelated movies in regards to the genre and overall narrative of them both. However, the films have a lot of similarities particularly when exploring masculinity.
In both the films there is a lack of biological father figures, but there is an unbiological father figure and dominant male to look up to. In 'Kingsman' this was 'Harry Hart', who mentored the main character 'Eggsy'. In 'Moonlight' the male role model was 'Mr. Pierce', who helped 'Little'. In both these films the male figures acted as mentors and role models for both of the main characters to look up to, particularly during times of crisis or when in need of support.
Another thing these films both have in common are the lack of support from the mother figure. In both films the mothers are dependent on drugs and men for sexual relations and pay more attention to that than their children. Due to the absence of the mother in these films the main characters find support through the use of the mentor instead.

The representation of masculinity is explored highly throughout both films, in 'Moonlight' masculinity is explored through the use of the main character, particularly during his teens, not dressing and acting like the rest of the boys did. This is shown in one scene where two of the boys from his class come up to him and start to make fun of him for his jeans being "too skinny". Contrasting this, the use of how male sexuality is explored in this film links in with his masculinity, his friend 'Kevin' boasts to him about a girl he is with and is later on shown to be gay. This denotes that he only boasted about being with girls to appear tough and masculine to other boys when in reality he was hiding from his sexuality. Towards the end of the film, the aforementioned character 'Little' is now grown up and is muscly and tough. His outside demeanour portrays the epitome of a masculine man but this is later on contrasted by him being with his mother and trying to keep up his tough exterior but eventually ends up crying, also when he sees his friend 'Kevin' again after a long time apart and how they instantly connect shows a relationship between them is more important than keeping up the masculine appearance.

In 'Kingsman', masculinity is explored evidently throughout from the use of body language and overall language as well as clothing and the type of job that he goes into. At the beginning of the film he is a tough male who gets into trouble with the police and doesn't have emotion but as the movie goes on he becomes more in touch with his emotion, this is shown through the use of the dog as at the beginning he disregards the puppy as it is small and useless but as the film goes on he grows attached to it and when he is told to shoot it, he goes against the instructions due to the emotional attachment that has grown. His masculinity is also shown massively towards the end as he has to take control of the situation and kill the 'villain', due to him succeeding he gets the princess and the job he wanted.

In conclusion both 'Moonlight' and 'Kingsman' explore the use of masculinity and the role of a supportive male throughout as well as the movie going on a journey to see the main character grow into a more successful person overall through the use of their struggles and how they overcome them.

Exam Question - 2C

Question 2C: With reference to your own detailed examples, explore representations of older people in the media today. 

Older people in the media today are normally seen as quite weak and inferior to the young people in the movie, But some movies show older actors and actress' as the complete opposite of this and make them seem like the 'hero' and the most important part in the movie. 

The first representation of older people in the media today that i have chosen is, 'The intern', starring Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway. In this movie Robert De Niro plays a retired widow who sees an advertisement for an intern, he takes on this role and at first all the younger people at the job don't understand why he is there and disregard him as he is dressed formally compared to everyone else just wearing casual clothes. The representation of older people in this is that, they can look quite helpless at first but are well put together and just as capable as younger people are. There is a classic representation of older people not being very modernised with things such as 'slang', social media and technology in the movie as well. 

Bruce Willis is the exact opposite of every stereotype there is of old people in the media. Throughout all of the movies he has starred in, he is seen as the action/hero type of character. He is represented as powerful and strong, he often plays a role that typically a much younger actor would take. Bruce Willis is also seen as a 'heartthrob' and is one of the most well know actors for his role in movies like 'Die Hard' and 'RED'. 

An Actress that goes against typical stereotypes of not only older people but women as well is Meryl Streep. In movies, such as, 'The Devil Wears Prada' she is represented as a successful, stern business woman. Whereas in the movie 'Into The Woods' she plays the role of an old witch, which could be quite stereotypical due to old women playing the roles of witches and hags in movies and plays. 

Someone who does fit the stereotype of older people quite well is, Michael Gambon for his role of Professor Albus Dumbledore in the Harry potter series. Even though he is very powerful in the movie, he is also very wise and humble which is what most people think of when they think of older people. Although in the movie he is powerful, compared to the younger actor Ralph Fiennes, who plays Voldemort, he is fairly weak and get defeated by him. 

Through my examples i have come to find that older people are often represented in a positive way through film and often go against the classic stereotypes but often have a few minor ones slipped in to show that they still have older peoples attributes as well.