Narrative - Skyfall

James Bond - Skyfall

For this scene in Skyfall, Propp's theory of character roles can straight away be applied. The villain, Raoul Silva, is easily identified as an extravagant character from the first time we see him in the scene, by how he dresses in a white jacket with bleach blond hair, he stands out immediately compared to James Bond, the hero. Bond is in a slick black suit with dark sunglasses, which is his identity in all of the films. We see him as a hero through the use of straight on shots and low angle shots, showing a sense of power. Also the way in which they use dialog can help us define the hero and the villain, Bond has the more familiar accent so we automatically assume his role in the film.

Strauss' binary opposition can also be applied. There is a sense of good and evil between Bond and Silva, we can relate this to how we indentified the character roles by how they dress and talk. Also there is a shot of their faces in the same frame, which we compare good and evil. As well as this opposition, there could also be powerful and vulnerable. Severine is the princess in the scene, she has no power at all compared to Silva. We can tell this through her body language, especially in the shot of him kissing her she looks resistant and uncomfortable, but cannot do anything about it. Long shots of her also make her look small and vulnerable, whereas there are more close ups on Silva which show his emotions and his power, he laughs in the situation but close ups on her show her crying.

There are a few conventions of genre that we see in this clip. Close up shots of guns and focusing of the barrel while he points it at Severine, shows that there will be some action and it is also specific of the spy genre. Bond's  attire also portrays this genre, a black suit and dark sunglasses is another convention of this specific style of film. Also the music cuts out when the scene gets tense, which leaves our focus purely on whether she will get shot or not, an enigma code.