ART-MOVIES

Representation of London (Britain) in Skyfall movie

Representation of London (Britain) in Skyfall movie

Introduction

The British humor may have an international impact and the suitable films on spy novels of Ian Fleming created a hero, an international craze for the famous secret agent, phlegmatic and charming, James Bond. The bond books were written in the post-war era. It was the time when Britain was an imperial power, however, with the progress of the series, the British Empire faced decline. Journalist William Cook observed in his article that the bond has an indulgence of protecting the insecure and inflated image of Britain to flatter the audience with the charm the Britain still have great weight as an empire (Cook, 2004). Skyfall is also a movie that is exclusively concerned with the blowback to the British implicitly and imperialism structured. Skyfall, in many respects is about resurrection, both for the James Bond and for the role of British in this chaotic new world order (Bradley, 2012, pp. 3-4). The presence of Bull Dog with Union Jack and involvement of MI6 illustrates the legacy and culture of Britain.

Discussion

Critics too often see the James Bond series, an example of American cultural imperialism. However, the films aim to save the British cultural identity against the famous American imperialism (Chapman, 2005, pp. 129-143). Same is the case with the Skyfall installment of the movie. Sam Mendes says: “Turn London was very complicated. This is my hometown, I have focused my efforts to give it a mythical scale - I tried to give it an atmosphere, an atmosphere with something threatening. It is true that we turned in some classic places, but the way we filmed it, there is nothing classic!”

Skyfall is an extreme British movie which can be observed in its language, locations, symbolic elements and different events. For instance, M writes to the obituary of Bond along with a bottle of whiskey and china bulldog that is painted to give the look of Union Jack at her desk. This crouched china bull dog with the Union Jack on its back was not especially made for the movie. This bull dog jack is designed at produced by the Royal Doulton Company since 1941. The placement of bulldog on M's desk was has its significance. It was apparent throughout the movie as if England was watching M. When M gives the bulldog to Bond, it meant that she was passing responsibility for England to him. The Russians also used to call the war time Prime minister of Britain, Winston Churchill”, the “British Bulldog”. An American reviewer suggested the bulldog a four-legged twin of Winston Churchill as well as a talismanic British tenacity symbol which is prominently featured in the film. This ceramic bulldog also survives the explosion that happened in M's MI6 office. The old bunker of Winston Churchill has also is also an important factor in the movie. For example when MI6 relocates, it went to that very old bunker. In an era when Britain is ...