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.