The Male Gaze: James Bond clip

     

           


The viewer is forced to take on the male gaze as the camera is narrowing to represent the use of binoculars. The focus is on Halle Berry and she is objectified as she leaves the water. The focused close up camera angles create the masculinisation of the audience. Pierce Brosnan's diegetic sound of "magnificent view" as a double entendre again shows objectification. Towards the end of the clip, Brosnan says "I'm only here for the birds". This could be a reasonably innocent statement, however as Brosnan is a British/Irish actor and the film is British, this quote has British connotations, of 'birds' being a derogatory term for women. In relation to Laura Mulvey's Female Gaze theory, Halle Berry has only 2 functions, both of which are clear in this clip. She is an erotic object for the characters (James Bond) within the narrative to view and she is an erotic object for the spectators to view. This is created by the exaggerated technical conventions to focus attention on her. The use of slow motion and high key lighting allow her to be watched very carefully. The mise-en-scene of her costume also adds to the objectification. It is a small, skimpy bikini that is orange, which draws attention and typically makes people stop (relating to the convention of traffic lights) and stare. This scene creates scopophilia which allows males to voyeuristically view women, and also forces women to take on the male gaze due to the strong patriachal society the film was made in and the dominating stereotypically male protagonist role of James Bond. Similarly, Brosnan has the power over the conversation, and at one point forcefully hands Berry a drink and instructs her to try it, even though they have just met. He is very overly flirtacious and quite 'full on' for a first encounter. Halle Berry appears from the water looking flawless. She doesn't gasp for breathe or splutter as she emerges from the sea water like most people do. She isn't even dripping wet when she gets out. She has a brief and gentle rub on a towel, but does not vigorously or unflatteringly dry herself. When we see an extreme close up of her face, her skin is flawless, her make up is intact and very complimentary and her hair is damp but styled. She is also wearing simple, but pearl-like earrings. This is a hyper reality and convinces the viewers that that is what people should, and do, look like.