James Bond Lecture

Popular Fiction Lecture: James Bond

The Aim of this week’s lecture was to examine popular fiction as a cultural phenomenon. The James Bond book Casino Royale’. The James Bond series is an example of how popular fiction has become acceptable rather than a secret vice to be ashamed of. Casino Royale the novel was released in 1953 and by 1965 it had sold 27million copies, as it was available in paperback it was available to everyone and was easily consumed.

The novel is advertises loads of consumer luxuries, the character of James Bond loves fast cars, beautiful women, cigarettes, luxury food and to gamble. In the book we see Ian Flemming list Bond’s breakfast and his cigarette count. This book becomes a consumer product about consuming products. The audience for these novels were primarily the working class, as they were cheap and easily consumed. The books also show the readers a flashier life style. In the novel women are also presented as consumer items, who can be brought and sold like women.

In the 1950’s Britain faced an identity crisis as they had lost its colonies and was dealing with shortages after World War 2. America was now seen as the ultimate country. James Bond helped to deal with this crisis and Bond became an icon, as he helped to promote Britishness, Bond was a suave and sophisticated British man who always got the beautiful women and caught the baddie. Bond always saves the day before the American C.I.A. With During the War it was seen that American helped to save Britain during the war, yet in the bond films it seems that it Bond himself that saves the day instead of America, this helps with Britain’s identity crisis to promote Britishness. We also how current events in society were portrayed during the Bond series; we see the battle between Britain and Russia representing the cold war.

The Bond films still represent consumerism however there seems to be a switch in the luxuries that bond indulges in. In the films today Bond is more interested in the gadgets. However we still see him dressed in the best suits and driving the best cars. James Bond has now become an iconic figure in Britain today and has become easily recognisable. Bond is so iconic that the franchise provides intertexuality in other forms of popular culture such as films like Austin Powers which is loosely based on the bond novels.

The union Jack is also seen various times in the bond films, however it is not used to show how great Britain is, instead it is used as a symbol of sarcasm to show that Britain has gone downhill. We see the parachute open after Bond falls off a cliff and Union Jacket parachute opens, this now mocks britishness.

The Culture Industry

The aim of this lecture was "to examine the culture industries, and the work of Walt Disney as an example". We looked at and recapped such topics as Adorno's concept of 'candyfloss entertainment', fordism, fandom, Andy Warhol and standardization among others.

The culture industry covers many topics and themes. One dominant figure regarding this area is Theodor Adorno -  a German sociologist/philosopher who was known for his critical theory of society and was very pessimistic regarding the concept of the culture industry. He came up with the phrase 'candyfloss entertainment' and is believed to have had fascist, revolutionary views.

Standardization and mass production are reoccurring phrases when looking at the culture industry and relate to the term fordism (like a car manufacturer) meaning something is being standardised and made to be exactly the same.

On the handout given (p. 121) the quote "Movies and radio need no longer pretend to be art. The truth that they are just business is made into an ideology in order to justify the rubbish they deliberately produce"   demonstrate Adorno's view of the culture industry and how he views art as hiding real economic qualities of social reality. Culture can be seen as being injected into us through the "hyperdermic syringe", classifying, catergorising ans labelling consumers, limiting our choices as consumers.

Rebecca Smith

Press and Popular Culture Review

In this lecture we looked at how the press represents stories in newspapers and how newspapers in general have changed more into a commodity based product rather than a reliable source of information. It is quite evident that the media like to construct stories creating myths and ideologues however it is also important to know that it all depends on how the reader receives and interprets the information, whether he/she is a passive or active consumer. As time went on newspapers eventually became much more visual in it’s layout, saturating the page with pictures and keeping words to a minimum and straight to the point. When looking at newspapers from the 1830s we can see that there are much more stories on the page but no use of colour what so ever. Nowadays many newspapers rely heavily on adverts and commodity based items on the front page in order to draw more people into buying them. “The image does not illustrate the text; it is the text which amplifies the connotative potential of the image.” Only in the 1980s did colour start to feature in newspapers.

It can be argued that the press has become more of a commodity and are purposely more colourful and entertaining, sensationalising quite trivial events on the front page while leaving the more serious stories as an afterthought. Stories can often be exaggerated, creating a blur between fiction and reality. Is this becoming way of dumbing down news papers for it’s target audience? The Sun newspaper can be considered as a demotic voice of the people in which it addresses it’s readers in a language they can understand whilst celebrating quite consumerist values at the same time. It is important to realise that we don’t all believe what we read and we are not as passive as we used to be. Although there is still an attraction to gossip and exciting stories, audiences still need to challenge stories and make their own meanings of what they read. Interpreting current media in this way can be seen as a form of empowerment.

Quote from, Pg 107 from Cultural Studies and the Study of Popular Culture, John Storey.

The Press and Popular Culture

In the last lecture on Quadrophenia, we saw the construction of media. As shown in today's lecture, media plays an important role within popular culture.

The change in newspapers from 1830 till today is drastic. In the 1830s front pages of newspapers were black and white, contained no pictures, and had serious headlines. Thus, these newspapers were targeting older generations. Now, we have colour pictures throughout newspapers, minimal text and headlines contain puns, aiming more at younger generations. This leads us to the question: Does image triumph over stories?

We now look more on trivial news than serious headlines by putting trivial headlines on front pages and serious ones further into the newspaper. An example of this is 'The Sun'. This newspaper prioritises shallow over serious news stories. This is because they try to relate to the masses by showing a demotic voice. Another example was the New York Sun (“it shines for all”), where they made a joke about the length a new telescope could view, in the same week that slavery was abolished.

Over time, newspapers and magazines have become more entertaining in order to sell, and so have become commercialised. When the Daily Mail started in 1896, it wrote that is was “a compact reader friendly newspaper”, and was aimed at lower middle class people (such as office workers). This was a way to sell to the masses and become commercialised.

Commercialisation of newspapers creates people who resist, and people who are dominated. There is a constant ebb and flow between people and dominant ideas. Finally, popular newspapers use a popular folk voice as a way of backing up a view. For example, The Sun portrays a conservative view within the popular voice.

In conclusion, the press have started to address ordinary readers in a voice they can understand.

John Storey: 'Newspapers and Magazines': page 87

Quadrophenia Review

“I don’t wanna be the same as everyone else, that’s why I’m a mod – see?” In that sentence Jimmy Cooper sums up the feeling of many teenagers in the early 1960s, mods or not the general consensus was that this generation set out to be different and to leave their mark on the world forever.
Quadrophenia (1979) is a film about a young mod called Jimmy Cooper (Phil Daniels.) Jimmy, like many young working class men of the time, had a reasonably well paid job which funded his fast lifestyle, he was intent on being “one of the faces” and this eventually costs him everything, his family, his job, his friends and most painfully to Jimmy, the love of his life Steph (Leslie Ash). Although there are historical inaccuracies, such as the pork pie hat worn by several of Jimmy’s friends, the film really encapsulates what it was like to be a mod in 1963. The soundtrack especially, which includes The Ronette’s, The Who and the mod anthem ‘Green Onion’ by Booker T, gives the film an authentic feel.
The sharp suits, the Vespa’s and Lambretta scooters, the coffee bars where they would hang out, the music show on Jimmy’s television, the Bank Holiday weekends in Brighton and the ‘Blues’ (Amphetamine) they took tell us how Britain was changing into the consumerist society in which we live today. For the first time the working classes had spare cash and they were ready and willing to spend it on looking and feeling good!