| Summary: | M.A. Faculty of Humanties, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011 === This dissertation will argue that two James Bond films, GoldenEye (Martin Campbell, 1995) and
Casino Royale (Martin Campbell, 2006), reflect the socio-cultural values of the decades in which
they were made.
It begins by contextualising ‘the figure of James Bond’ as a popular hero and a ‘mobile
signifier’ whose representations and connotations exist in a fluid-but-fixed relationship. This
allows Bond to be remodelled to maintain a resonance with popular ideologies or socio-cultural
values held about his associations. The subsequent research demonstrates this.
In order to do so the dissertation is divided into two sections: Part One focuses on
women and Part Two on masculinity, conflict and geopolitics. Each part investigates the
dominant socio-cultural values – or zeitgeist – of its focus topics in the 1990s and 2000s. Part
One draws on feminist history and discourse as well as articles from the legal, financial and
generally socio-corporate environments. Part Two turns to economics, politics, recent military
history, its perceptions and sociology. Each section, having determined the socio-cultural
values regarding the topic it focused on, demonstrates how these values are communicated in
popular films of the 1990s and 2000s to further substantiate its argument and findings.
With the zeitgeist determined each section conducts an in-depth analysis of the two
James Bond case studies. Both analyses demonstrate that these films clearly reflect the sociocultural
values of the decades in which they were made.
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