MAPACA and Yale Conferences

Sorry this post is rather delayed as I have been busy with various things including applications for PhD study and funding.

My recent travels around North America culminated in two tri-state conferences. I very much enjoyed returning to the PCA/ACA community (I have previously attended SWPACA and EuPOP) and presenting at the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Drawing on the construction of the films' posters to demonstrate my points, I compared Daniel Craig's latest portrayal of James Bond in Spectre with his initial interpretation in Casino Royale, and I discussed some of the possible influences on and implications for this. My abstract can be viewed here: https://mapaca.net/conference/2016/p/contemporary-british-hero-daniel-craig-james-bond

The discussion following my presentation raised some really interesting questions around differences in the international reception of Bond and the franchise's relationship with an ever evolving cultural context.

- Why do different countries receive different cuts of these films e.g. China received a different cut of Skyfall
- Why did US and UK audiences respond differently to Spectre?
- Why is Bond still so popular when we have moved away from misogyny?

I was very honoured to find out that my presentation had been nominated for a Ralph Donald Award and I hope to hear the outcome of this soon.

As always I very much enjoyed watching presentations from fellow scholars, particularly those on Downton Abbey and Harry Potter, as I found them to be relevant to my research and indicative of a general interest in representations of British culture in popular entertainment texts.

I also attended a conference on Photography and Britishness, held at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, CT. It was particularly interesting to see representations of British culture in another medium and the differences in these images depending on the producer. Bristol based photographer Martin Parr gave a keynote on his career 'capturing' Britain and the following Q&A highlighted an association with tradition as the audience drew on his images of events of the British Establishment that haven't changed for hundreds of years (the odd ceremonies at Oxford University, the Epson Derby, the uniforms at Christ's Hospital School). This association was particularly interesting to me as I considered its application to the representations of British culture in some hugely successful film and television texts of recent years (Downton Abbey, The Queen, The King's Speech etc.). I found myself thinking of Riz Ahemd's quote again: 'The reality of Britain is vibrant multiculturalism, but the myth we export is an all-white world of lords and ladies.' (from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/15/riz-ahmed-typecast-as-a-terrorist)

Keep Calm and Carry On... Travelling!

I haven’t posted in a while as I have been busy travelling across the USA on a trip that is serving multiple purposes: 1) visiting potential PhD programs, 2) attending two conferences, 3) satisfying my general curiosity (and hopefully PhD research topic) regarding representations of British culture abroad, 4) holiday!

My travels began on the West Coast giving me time to explore Los Angeles and California before I moved onto Texas and up through the mid-west to the East Coast for the final leg of the trip. It has been particularly interesting to see elements of British influence and presence and to try to understand what ideas this might be conveying about ‘Britishness‘ today.

The title of this post is appropriate because the Keep Calm and Carry On motto has made it across the Atlantic and adorns many notepads and pencil cases in the stationary stores I have visited in the States. As a phrase originating from World War II this can be considered a more old fashioned representation of Britishness: the idea of maintaining a stiff upper lip in the face of wartime adversity (insert picture of Winston Churchill here!). This association of Britishness with a sort of old fashioned chic was repeated to me when visiting the highly regarded British works of art and literature at the Huntington Library and Art Collections in San Marino, CA. In the early 1900s, American railway pioneer Henry E. Huntington sought older pieces from Britain to display in his Californian ranch and with Gainsborough’s Blue Boy (ca. 1770) being considered one of the most highly prized items in the collection I felt that Britain was again being associated with an enduring past. Moving onto Texas a conversation with a local revealed that he very much associated Britishness with the television show Downtown Abbey (a drama depicting British aristocrats in the early 1900s) and the idea of old-fashioned sophistication. I felt this theme prevail again in Michigan when, upon revealing my nationality, I was asked on more than one occasion what I thought of various members of the Royal family. Of course this is in no way a reliable picture of the influence and presence of Britishness in the USA today but from the snapshots I experienced I could feel a sense of admiration for Britain’s long history, the traditions that have come with that long history and remain today, and the sense of sophistication that seems to be associated with these traditions. The stiff upper lip motto Keep Calm and Carry On could be seen as encompassing aspects of both tradition and sophistication with the phrase’s connotations of robustness and quiet pride.

My experience in the USA has reminded me of a piece by Riz Ahmed, which was published in the Guardian in September 2016: Typecast as a Terrorist. In discussing his experiences as a British Muslim actor working in the USA, Ahmed writes, ‘The reality of Britain is vibrant multiculturalism, but the myth we export is an all-white world of lords and ladies.’ I had certainly felt this in my travel observations and now the big question is why is this myth exported? Why does British culture manifest abroad in ways such as the ones I experienced on my travels? What are the implications for this?

The Other Art Fair, Bristol 2016

Straying slightly from my research focus, I wanted to write about my recent experience attending The Other Art Fair at Bristol's Arnolfini. Part of the fair included performances by BitterSuite's Debussy String Quartet: a fully sensory concert in which the audience members are blindfolded, given tastes and scents, and are physically moved by the performers in ways that enhance the experience of listening to the music. It was an enriching experience as I imagined colourful scenes, even jumped a little at times and felt liberated moving with the music in a physical manner. BitterSuite are performing at Wilderness Festival this weekend and are looking to set up more concerts in the long term: http://www.bittersuite.org.uk

The Other Art Fair also included The Art of Dining: a pop-up restaurant scene celebrating quintessentially British food and drink (think fish and chips, bread and butter, lots of tea, and crockery adorned with members of the Royal Family). This immersive experience is created by Ellen Parr and Alice Hodge and includes the work of photographer Martin Parr, whom I have recently become more interested in due to his documentation of British life through photographs. Parr is interested in the difference between the mythology of the place and the reality of it and I feel that this in some ways intersects with my interests in representations of Britishness in popular culture. I hope to attend Parr's keynote address at a conference on Photography and Britishness, which is being held at the Yale Center for British Art this November.
http://www.martinparr.com/2013/pop-up-magic/

Mark Kermode Live in 3D at the BFI

I recently attended one of Mark Kermode's monthly appearances at the BFI in London. The movie critic's regular slot on the Southbank sees him answering questions from the audience, commenting on the latest movie news, discussing guilty pleasures with a special guest and screening clips from lesser known filmic gems. In summary it's 90s minutes of film geek paradise. During the evening some particularly interesting questions were raised:

Are critics out of touch with audiences? This was in response to Batman V Superman's success at the Box Office in it's opening weekend despite the bad reviews it received. Kermode pointed out that after the opening weekend, ticket sales for the film dropped dramatically, which indicated that movie-goers, like the critics, had not been fond of the film. In light of this, another question on this topic could be: given that so many people went to see Batman V Superman anyway, despite the poor reviews, what is the role of a movie critic? I enjoy reading reviews and have written some myself so I would argue that the thumbs up from a critic is particularly key for the success of lesser known films that do not generate anticipatory followings. However, for films such as Batman V Superman, which already have an established fan-base, the contribution of the film critic could be considered as slightly different. In my case, as a comic book movie fan, I wanted to see if Zack Snyder's superhero adaptation had got it as wrong as the critics had suggested. This movie-going experience ended up becoming something quite different: it was actually quite fun spotting the problems that I had read about in the reviews.

Why have movie running times increased? Does this allow for more artistic freedom or has it started a trend for films to be longer than they need to be? Kermode's answer to this was yes and yes. He stated that he had initially campaigned for longer running times so that filmmakers would have more artistic freedom but instantly regretted this as he felt that it was often used as a way for filmmakers to justify their importance without considering whether the story really needed the extra running time. He referred to Quentin Tarantino as a culprit for unnecessarily long running times. The question now is whether running times will continue to increase?

MediAsia 2015 Offical Conference Proceedings

The official conference proceedings for the MediAsia 2015 conference I attended in Japan in November have been published. This includes my presentation on 'Socio-political influence on the ideologies of Daniel Craig's Bond films: The power that lies within.'

The official conference proceedings can be found here. Please note that the presentation was delivered at the time of Spectre's imminent release in several countries (in November) and is phrased accordingly.

Please find the abstract below:

Socio-political influence on the ideologies of Daniel Craig's Bond films: The power that lies within.

James Bond is arguably one of the widest-reaching, longest-standing and most

influential film franchises of our time. In this sense it can also be seen as a source of

great power, a medium by which certain ideologies can be conveyed to many people.

When it comes to deciphering these ideologies and their origins, much as been written

about the influence of the Cold War on the ideas and themes contained within the

earlier Bond films. However, the socio-political backdrop for the Daniel Craig era

has been rather different so how might this have effected its ideologies? Craig’s films

are interesting to look at in this regard as they have been particularly sensitive to

socio-political shifts even within the actor’s tenure. It can be argued that contextual

factors such as the Anglo-American War on Terror and the London 2012 Olympics

have contributed to a shift in the representation of Bond’s national identity between

Casino Royale and Skyfall and, most recently, Spectre represents another set of values

and ideas that can be linked with the relinquished interest in Britain post-Olympics,

and growing fears surrounding ISIS and public surveillance. This paper attempts to

map some of the ideas and themes conveyed in Craig’s Bond films to possible

influences from their socio-political contexts, with a particular concentration on

Skyfall and Spectre. 

MediAsia 2015 Conference

I recently returned from the MediAsia 2015 Conference, which took place in Kobe, Japan, and was run by the International Academic Forum (IAFOR). The theme of the conference was power and I presented a paper entitled 'Socio-political influence on the ideologies of Daniel Craig's Bond films: The power that lies within.' The paper discussed some of the potential influences on the themes and ideas in Craig's Bond films with a particular focus on Skyfall and Spectre. It was a wonderful experience to share my research interests and to learn about the work of others who had travelled from many different places including Palestine, Kuwait, USA, Philippines, Thailand, Australia, France, Turkey and India. The conference location also gave me an opportunity to see a part of the world I had never visited before and indulge in some Japanese culture.

In the discussion following my presentation some interesting questions and points were raised:

How much influence does the director (Sam Mendes) have on the ideas and themes in the film? This reminded me of a comment made at another conference, in which it was suggested that the influence was perhaps not as much as you'd think since the Bond films employ unit directors for their multiple action sequences and the films are all overseen by the key influence of the producers Broccoli and Wilson and the overall Bond brand. In this sense, the involvement of Sam Mendes was seen as having a promotional function as well: a well-known name attached to the franchise when it needed a boost following the luke-warm reception of Quantum of Solace.

Do you think that the casting of young actors in the staple character roles, Q and Miss Moneypenny, is setting up the franchise for another 20 year run? It will certainly be interesting to see if Ben Whishaw and Naomie Harris remain in their roles in the way Desmond Llewelyn and Lois Maxwell did or if they will be re-cast on a similar frequency to Bond.

The publicity photos for each of Daniel Craig's Bond films show an interesting evolution in his character: from the untied bow tie and open jacket in Casino Royale, representing his inexperience, fallibility and vulnerability in that film, to the white dinner jacket and red carnation of Spectre, completing the iconic Bond look made famous by Sean Connery in Goldfinger.

Kinkaku-ji - The Golden Pavilion Temple in Kyoto

MediAsia 2015 Conference Photograph

Straying into Sci-Fi... Lecture at Clifton College

I recently had the pleasure of visiting the beautiful grounds of Clifton College to join their film society for a screening of Blade Runner and to subsequently give a lecture on the film and its horrific elements. This was part of the film society's season on science fiction and I am very grateful to the students and staff who welcomed me and gave me this opportunity to temporarily depart from Bond and explore this fascinating film. I really enjoyed discussing with the students some of the aesthetic, narrative and thematic elements of Blade Runner and linking these to the horror genre so that larger questions about the function of genre could be raised. The students brought lots of insightful comments to the discussion and I hope they found analysing Blade Runner as intriguing as I did.

Now it's time to get stuck into Bond again as I prepare for my conference presentation in November...