Smita Roy.

Make reference to audience theories.

Bond movies were and still remain to be one of the most popular franchises in the world. It has always been highly appreciated by the masses. So what is it about Bond Films that still succeeds in attracting the masses? Is it the genius behind the camera or the actual story line or is it, at the end down to the audience? The concept of James bond initially started from the 1953 novel Casino Royale, authored by the renowned Ian Fleming who became hugely popular with this particular series and thereby the novel ended up selling 11 more. The very first of Bond films was introduced in 1962 called Dr. No, which starred the legendary actor Sean Connery, who arguable remains to be the most significant and popular of the Bonds and undisputedly Bond is the role that took his career to heights. Like most good films, this very movie was also adapted and influenced by Flemings second novel of the same name and was created by Richard Maibaum. The plot of such films are likely to be the key feature that helps these movies remain timeless and unforgotten in fact even till now, if there is a Bond film on T.V, one cannot help but switch on to the channel and stay stuck on it to continue watching further. Such is the amazement in these stories that it still succeeds in attracting audience. The stories provide escapism into the world of adventure and action. It portrays an image of a deviant world where on must be physically competent and extremely cunning to survive. This then leads to the construction of the main protagonists character, Bond. Bond is no ordinary guy, he is one man who can overcome any challenges, and thereby more than relating to the characters, viewers, particularly men aspire to be like him and women want to be with guys who can provide protection and love at the same time just like how Bond does to his love interests in these films (Dyer). After all Bonds character is likely to be the one which single handily introduced the idea of macho, in the modern generation. Keeping realism to a side, when watching Bond films, it is obvious that a lot of the action cannot be performed in the real world and thereby Bond represents an ideal world for an ideal action man (Dyer), nevertheless audience are always intrigued by such concept as even if viewers are aware that its fake, you cannot help but be amazed by it. In fact a lot of times, when watching such movies, people feel part of the scenes as if theyre actually involved in the film. Such elements have been enhanced in the modern generation through the st development of convergence. Technology such as 3D was introduced in the 21 century and therefore you can compare the very first Bond films to the more recent ones such as Sky Fall. These convergences have helped grow the popularity of the Bond franchise as it only helps attract the younger audience that may have not been too familiar with the previous one. Different products have now joined hands with this franchise, and just recently with the release of Sky fall, a new cologne was introduced to the market in the name of 007, which reinforces both parties and increases the sale of the cologne as well as raises awareness on the new Bond film. Even Sky Movies, recently used images of all the Bonds to promote their channel which implies to the long lasting interest that audience has on the Bond franchise. This association help build the brand Bond and also adds to the long lasting appeal. This franchise has been around since the early 60s and therefore adults particularly the older generation have grown watching them and therefore have developed a familiarity with the characters and the concept which is a key aspect in the long lasting appeal as even when the latest Bond film came out a few weeks back, people will still be enthralled and excited to watch the next adventure. The concept of James Bond revolves around what Barthes will describe as Good vs. Evil and therefore all ages of audience can relate to the understanding of this conflict. The predictability of the protagonist will always

Smita Roy.
win at the end does not ruin the plot but in fact helps increase the appeal as viewers will want to watch how Bond will overcome the threatening challenges that are thrown to him. This predictability allows audience to feel a part of the adventure as it puts them on Bonds side of the argument where throughout the movie the audience will continually back up for the protagonist and want the Baddie, to lose. Antagonists are very much popular in all Bond films as they are one of the key characters that help enhance Bonds hero status. Some audience remember a lot of the Bond films through the villains that were involved for example in Casino Royale, people often recall the main antagonist Mads Mikkelsen who played the character Le Chiffre, which proves that the characters play a key role in the long lasting appeal of Bond films. Throughout the years we have seen several actors portraying the role of Bond. Initially Ian Flemings interpretation of Bond was imaged to the audience through Sean Connery. His attractive rugged looks and macho personality anchored the representation of what we believe Bond is. This portrayal of Bond developed a hegemonic expectation of the character Bond throughout the audience which successfully remained consistent and continued through all the films with each changing actor. This helped construct the brand Bond which everyone is now familiar with and can immediately recognise anywhere and everywhere. The latest of the Bonds is Daniel Craig who had become extremely popular since his first venture in this franchise, Casino Royale. As well as Bond, the women in Bond films always caught the viewers eyes for various reasons. Initially all the women in Bond films were represented as mere sex objects for example Kristina Wayborn in Octopussy, and were only used to attract audience as eye candies in fact these characters were primarily represented as damsels in distress, and nothing more. They were present to be dependent on Bond who assumingly succeeded in accomplishing in his mission as well as impress the girl. The girls elements gratified the need of such audience who looked for lust in these movies which goes back to Blumler & Katz theory of successful films attending to different needs and desires of various different audiences. However this representation changed along with the change in thought of society where women are now seen equally competent and powerful as men. A key Bond film that illustrated this change in the way audience looked at women was seen in the film, Die Another Day, that featured Halle Berry. At first she was yet again introduced in a bikini which conformed to the conventional representation of women however as the story progressed it was revealed that Halle Berrys character of Jinx, was equally values and significant in the plot in fact near the end, even Bond required her assistance during the climax fight scenes which for the first time showed Bonds character being dependent on someone else. This subversion from the typical not only provided something new for the audience but also increased the popularity with the women who now saw an adventure being accomplished through a joint contribution of both the male and female protagonists. The latest that the Bond franchise has to offer to the audience is Daniel Craigs Sky Fall. The last Bond film we saw was back in year 2006 Quantum of Solace, and so after a gap of 6 years, one cannot imagine what excitement has risen and the anxieties surrounding the audience. People are still intrigued by what actions James Bond will perform in this movie and what more do the makers have to offer after all these years. Sky fall released 2 months back and has grossed $805.1 million worldwide which demonstrates the on-going appeal of Bond films till date. With this note, as I type I believe there are many more Bond films to be made and such movies will always conserve their appeal no matter when it releases.