Media franchise phenomenon in cinematography МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ
РОССИЙСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ СОЦИАЛЬНЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ
Факультет иностранных языков
Кафедра английской филологии
КУРСОВАЯ РАБОТА
«“007 AGENT” AS MEDIA FRANCHISE:
STORY OF SUCCESS»
по дисциплине «История и культура стран изучаемых языков»
Специальность: перевод и переводоведение
Выполнил:
студент 3 курса группы ЛПЕ-0-Д-2010
Губейдулин Тимур Дамирович
Научный руководитель:
к. культурологии доцент
Левашкина Ольга Юрьевна
Москва, 2012
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION3
CHAPTER I. “JAMES BOND” BLOCKBUSTER AS MEDIA FRANCHISE 6
1.1. Media franchise phenomenon in cinematography6
1.2. “Bondiana” as mixture of different genres7
1.3. “Blockbuster” as movie concept9
1.4. Blockbuster features inside “James Bond” movie12
CHAPTER II. TWO “AGES” OF “JAMES BOND” MOVIE………………….... 16
2.1. “Bond movies” industry in 1962-200216
2.2. New type of “Bond movies”: prequel or reboot20
CHAPTER III. “JAMES BOND” TECHNOLOGY25
3.1. Military Intelligence in “James Bond” novels and movies 25
3.2. James Bond as Ian Fleming’s creature26
3.3. “Movie Bond” versus “Book Bond”28
3.4. James Bond and women: from true love to senseless co-operation...31
3.5. “Villain of the piece”32
CHAPTER IV. “JAMES BOND”CULT IN WORLD CINEMATOGRAPHY35
4.1. Product placement as very feature of the “James Bond” series35
4.2. James Bond in hierarchy of movie spies36
4.3. “Bond movies” impact on world popular culture 37
CONCLUSION39
BIBLIOGRAPHY40
APPENDICES43
INTRODUCTION
The relevance of the research. “James Bond” franchise is one of the most famous and significant events in the modern history of the cinematography. The series are stood out for its length and longevity among other movies. “James Bond” series include more than 23 official episodes and each of them succeeded in distribution, earned more than $5 000 000 000 at box office. A stir, evoked by the last movie of James Bond named “Skyfall” just proved its status. The topicality of turning to the screen versions of James Bond by Ian Fleming as an embodiment of the success of the large-budget movies is caused by the inextinguishable popularity of the series among the filmgoers and a huge influence on the development of the action-thriller genre as well as spy themed movies. The constant struggle between the good and the evil, where evil forces are always defeated, goes through all the “Bond movies” as a leitmotif of the stories and the main character, as a prototype of a man who saves the world from the terrorists and maniacs and their evil plans time after time, can’t lose its topicality nowadays when the terrorism becomes one of the most dangerous occurrences and the audience needs such hero as never before.
The object of the research is “James Bond” movie as a product of the British cinematography.
The subject of the researchis the “007 agent” series as a media franchise: main features and characteristics.
The aim of the research is to find out the components which characterize the “Bondiana” as a media franchise.
The tasks of the research are:
- to examine the concept “media franchise” and its relevance to the “Bondiana”;
- to define different movie genres inside the “Bondiana”;
- to examine the history and development of the blockbusters;
- to follow the evolution of the blockbuster features inside “James Bond” circles;
- to describe the distinctive features of “James Bond” era 1962-2002;
- to describe the distinctive features of “James Bond” era after 2002 and find out whether it is a reboot or a sequel;
- to examine the importance of Military Intelligence in “James Bond” movies;
- to investigate the image of James Bond in books;
- to compare the differences between the cinema image of James Bond and his book variant;
- to examine Bond’s attitude to women;
- to study the antagonists in “James Bond” series;
- to scrutinize the phenomenon of product placement in the “James Bond” movies;
- to analyze the influence of “Bond’s franchise” on the development of the spy movies;
- to analyze the influence of “Bond’s franchise” on world popular culture.
The novelty of the research. Our research work stands out against a background of other researches, devoted to this theme, because we have followed all the history of James Bond series, scrutinized all possible angles of “Bondiana” and made it for the answer to the question that had been never stated before: “Can we consider and characterize the “James Bond” movies as a media franchise?” The society and critics used to nickname such movie series as a media franchise but have they ever thought about the appropriateness of such mentioning? We have sorted this issue out.
The hypothesis of the research. “James Bond” is used to be named as a media franchise. In the research this issue was examined and the concept of “media franchise” was thoroughly described. The general components of the media franchise were also found out and described as well as the elements it consists of. The research was started with the efforts to define the possible meaning of the media franchise and its components. These components are: 1) at least three films in the series: 2) good results in the box office (in the neighbourhood of 400 000 000$ in total and more); 3) specific genres such as adventure, sci-fi films or action starring Hollywood stars and big budget production values. Three genres which “Bondiana” included were singled out (action-thriller-crime) and the phenomenon of blockbuster and its connection with the concept of the media franchise and with the whole series of “James Bond” were singled out as well. In continuation of the subject, the movie sources of “Bondiana” were examined. Followed the movie industry of “James Bond”, the attention was moved towards the different aspects of the “Bond movies” such as characters, novels etc. In the end, such points as influence of “Bond” on other movies and popular culture as well were highlighted and also the topic of advertisement in the current movie series was examined. Generally, the phenomenon of the media franchise was pointed out and, looking through all possible aspects of the James Bond series, the conclusion that all the movies joined the concept of “Bondiana” can be considered as the brightest example of the media franchise was drawn.
The research material includes movies that we correlate with the “Bond series” and the book basis: novels, written by Ian Fleming.
The structure of the research.The paper consists of introduction, four chapters, conclusion, bibliography and appendices.
CHAPTER I. “JAMES BOND” BLOCKBUSTER AS MEDIA FRANCHISE
Media franchise phenomenon in cinematography
We may understand the word “franchise” in different ways, but the main lexical meaning of it closely connected with a right or privilege. Thus, it can refer to: “a business method that involves the licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business” [32].
One of the ways of doing it is a media franchise. The media franchise is the certifying of property (from the patents till the trademarks) of an original work of media (a film, for example), to others. Mainly, movie franchises are series of stories, characterized by the fact that the same characters can be transferred from film to film. Media franchises became to play a general role in the life of the cinematography approximately since the 1970s, starting with the Planet of the Apes series, and then the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films. After the emerging of this concept and the movie series connected with it, the community began to estimate films as “products”, by naming the series as “franchises”. Normally the so-called media franchises have three major components:
- at least three films in the series;
- good results in the box offices (in the neighbourhood of 400 000 000$ in total and more);
- specific genres (basically, the most popular ones) such as adventure, sci-fi films or action starring Hollywood stars and big budget production values.
Commenting upon the first component, we should mention that the concept “movie series” is a part of movie franchises and a very important and distinctive feature of it. Generally it means a compendium of linked movies in succession.
Most of the franchises also have the book source in its basis (Twilight, Harry Potter etc.) Besides, the last two points are closely connected with the blockbuster term. We can say already on this stage that each media franchise includes blockbusters in its composition but not every movie, called blockbuster can become media franchise.
Actually, we have already mentioned that film industry erroneously continue to use the word “franchise” for the describing the film series. Though it’s very important fact that, if the producers of the series don’t trademark the parts and key elements (personalities, for instance) in the films and don’t certify the use of these to others, a film series can’t be considered as a franchise [36].
As for the “specific genres”, it’s a very important for the producers to choose the popular genres for the franchise in order to make it more profitable. Sometimes they tried to combine various elements together and it’s a difficult task for the critics to distinguish one from the other. “Bondiana” as a classic media franchise isn’t an exception.
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