...How Representation of James Bond characters has changed since October 5th 1962 ‘007 licenced to kill, HM Secret Service agent’ ‘The description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way.’ (Wikipedia descriptions) The above description defines the word ‘representation’ in a way in which can be understood by anyone. The term has a whole new level of meanings that would take more than twelve words to describe and that which I plan to go into in-depth detail about. This case study will map out why the term ‘representation’ is so prominent in the ongoing fifty-year old thriller sequel, James Bond, how influential it can be on a persons opinion, and the way in which it shapes a whole film. Representation may or may not have shaped not only the way we see the characters but the way in which we look at features after the film has been made, for example, do we view stockbrokers on Wall Street the same now as we did before the Oscar winning film ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ was produced? Or do we assume that every secret agent is just like James Bond? Michael Wilson, producer of Skyfall and screenwriter of many of the 007 films, says: ‘the film character of James Bond is always dependent on the actor who plays him and the time at which the film is made because Bond always lives in the contemporary time the films are made.’ The representation of characters in films is vital to how we view a film and whether we take an instant like or dislike to the character....
Words: 1561 - Pages: 7
...Star ... JetStar Bond ... James Bond. Anything sounds cool when you say it like Sean Connery. Right? For example, say this out loud in a semi-Scottish accent, "Cards ... Playing Cards." It's even cooler when you see James Bond actually playing with cards. It's as if Bond confirms something we all know. Pasteboards are hip and in style. And while Q hasn't invented anything subversive with fifty-two pieces of paper and two jokers, we can only continue to hope. For now though, let's just relish in the fact that James Bond has featured several different types of cards throughout the illustrious franchise. The aim of this piece isn't to catalog every deck the MI6 agent has ever played with. While that would make for a wonderful article, I'd like to discuss one deck in particular that was supposedly seen in the 1964 box-office smash hit GOLDFINGER. Before your read any further though, close your eyes and think of all the types of decks used in the academy award winning Bond flick. For those of you who immediately conjure up the thought of a cheating Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) and his unaware opponent playing a game of Gin using a red deck of Aristocrat 727 Banknote playing cards poolside in Miami at the Fontainebleau Hotel, then you have a great memory! However, the cards in question are not the famous High Finished Aristocrats. What? There's another deck in this movie? Apparently. A deck of cards is supposedly shown in a scene on a Lockheed JetStar airplane that's piloted...
Words: 729 - Pages: 3
...Estera Domian Professor Marranca Final Paper August 10, 2011 What really is epiphany? How does one notice it when someone experiences it? At first glance, one might assume that “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver portrays the revival of an isolated, heartless, and insensitive husband to the “blind” world. He does not open his eyes literally, but mentally, also to the religious world. There have been many indicators in the story which lead the husband to have an epiphany. The first hint of religious epiphany can be seen in the title and the structure of the story. Also, the dialogue and the actions of the character reveal the lack of religious belief. Although the narrator had the ability to see all along, he never realized the world that could be in the eyes of a blind man resulting in deeper connection to the “blind” world as well as to the eyes of God. The first, overall indicators pointing towards religious epiphany are found in the structure and the title of the story. The eventual subject of the story is as well as its title refer towards divinity. Only by reading the title, one can already imagine the religious image. Another interesting fact is the about one third of the entire story is focused on cathedrals. This being the base of the story gives a reader the first hints of the epiphany that the narrator will experience. Reading on, the dialogue and the actions of the narrator lead to epiphany as well. Besides the obvious indicators of religious epiphany...
Words: 751 - Pages: 4
...The Plot and Theme in Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” Raymond Carver states that by the mid-1960s he was tired of reading and writing “long narrative fiction” (“On Writing” 46). Shorter fiction, he found, was more immediate. This mode of thought may help us to understand why Carver turned to compose shorter works of fiction like “Cathedral,” a work that acts as a brief glance into how one man’s physical blindness helps another man begin to overcome his own spiritual blindness. Carver’s thematic plots could convey alternate meaning—both directly and indirectly. “Cathedral” introduces the theme of blindness, shown by “this blind man” (Carver 709), but concludes by addressing the deeper theme of internal or spiritual blindness by the host. Therefore, the plot and theme of “Cathedral” relay simultaneous levels of meaning to the reader. “Cathedral” tells a story of an irreligious man, who learns a spiritual lesson from a blind man: “But I had my eyes closed. I thought I’d keep them that way for a little longer. I thought it was something I ought to do” (Carver 718). That’s why at the end of the story he does not open his eyes for he wants to “keep them that way for a little longer” so that he can see clearly in his mind. There are two types of blindness, but when we talk about blindness, we usually think of the blindness on our physical body rather than the blindness in our mind. In “Cathedral” both Robert and the host are blind: one is blind in external sight, and the other one is...
Words: 1140 - Pages: 5
...They’re Not Your Husband The short story ”They’re Not Your Husband” is written by Raymond Carver who is known for his minimalistic writing style also referred to as “dirty realism” which centres on the themes, as the American middle-class life marked by marital problems, alcoholism, unemployment and existential uncertainty , which is certainly also the case with “They’re Not Your Husband”. The setting of the story resembles very much an American suburb in the 1960’s to 70’s in middle to lower-class environment. This setting serves Raymond Carvers writing style – dirty realism well. In the story he comments on society and its flaws where one of the very prominent one is on the beauty ideal set by society and also the treatment of women in that time. Earl does not seem to acknowledge his wife Doreen as a person but see her more as an object - a prize to boost his ego. An episode in the story that really emphasis this is the scene in the coffee shop where Earl overhears the 2 men talking about Doreens’ bottom and instead of defending her he just got and left. He later on tell Doreen – and I quote “I think you could stand to lose a few pounds” which is in a relationship the equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot but instead she listens to him – maybe a little to much since she later on developed an eating disorder. Which just goes to show that she is the one doing all the work. Further more you could say that the coffee shop symbolizes their relationship. She...
Words: 495 - Pages: 2
...is going to be visiting. She knew this blind man because she had worked for him “one summer in Seattle ten years ago” (Carver 299). As readers, we get the impression, that the husband feels superior to the blind man because he is able to see, because he continues to say this visit “was not something he looked forward to” (Carver 229). After, the wife stopped working for the blind man she kept in touch with him through audiotape. One day, the narrator’s wife let her husband listen to one tape, but when he heard his own name on the...
Words: 2099 - Pages: 9
...In the story “Cathedral” there are two characters that readers can compare and contrast from the beginning to the end. The first character is the narrator and also the woman’s husband. The second character is an old friend of the woman’s and is also blind. This man has just lost his wife so he came to visit. The woman had taken care of the blind man when she was younger. Throughout the story, the two characters can be compared and contrasted by the affection they give, the way people view them, and their views. The two characters both compare with the affection they both have for the woman in the story. In the beginning of the story, the wife talks about the poem she wrote when she took care of the blind man. The blind man had asked if he...
Words: 499 - Pages: 2
...simple experiments suggest that what we see is more, or less, than meets the eye. Interpretation of visual stimuli happens automatically for most. Just point your eyes in the direction of what you want to see and the image instantaneously appears. The inner, invisible, intangible characteristics require more than receptors and neurons to visualize. Thought and personal investment are required in the visualization of the intangible. In “Cathedral”, Raymond Carver suggests blindness is often an affliction of the heart and soul and not the eyes. Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” is a short story about a husband’s journey to enlightenment. A longtime friend of the wife comes to visit after the death of his wife. The wife meets the blind man, Robert, ten years prior while looking for a summer job. She becomes his assistant. The wife reads briefs, reports, and helps organize the blind man’s office. Over the years the wife and blind man keep in touch; corresponding by sending audio tapes through the mail (Carver). The visit from the blind man is not something the husband is excited about. He remains disconnected from the conversation most of the evening. When the wife falls to sleep, the husband is forced to engage with the blind man. With the persistence of the blind man, the husband engages in a conversation about cathedrals. It is through the process of describing the cathedrals to the blind man that the life of the...
Words: 1285 - Pages: 6
...Inside The Cathedral In the short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, Carver touches on a personal experience. Carver and his wife were going to have a house guest, a man that his wife had worked with ten years ago over the summer in Seattle. Carver’s wife had stayed in touch with this man, Robert, over the years. The visit was bittersweet, though Robert was going to be reunited with a long-time friend; it was under the conditions that his wife had passed way. He’d come to Connecticut to visit his late-wife’s family and stay with the Carvers. There was one catch, however. Robert was completely blind and this made Raymond carver extremely uneasy, saying that “a wink and a nod are the same to a blind man.” Raymond’s taking on the situation; catering to a blind man; was very socially ignorant. Admittedly so, he said “My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by seeing-eye dogs. A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to.” (Carver, lines :_). Raymond also offered to take the “blind man” bowling, which is truly a sad, if not just cynical image to bear. Raymond’s wife was extremely nervous to be accommodating to the Robert as well, but it was an excitable nervousness. She longed to be reunited with him, to share stories and catch up, but this was also a man her husband had never met; she could sense the tinge of jealousy and irritation in the air around her husband. She was...
Words: 617 - Pages: 3
...Ashley Duffel Ms. Keitel English 112 2 April. 2015 Cathedral Short Story Analysis Raymond Carver based Cathedral in the era where the color television has just replaced the basic black and white television. The narrator is the husband, whose name is unknown. The story takes place in the home of the narrator and his wife. Because of this, I believe it is safe to assume the husband was chosen by Carver to be the narrator so we can see how this character changes throughout the story that is influenced in a more intimate setting. In Cathedral, the narrator has restricted awareness of the blind and has developed poor relationship skills. However when the story progresses, the narrator is able to overcome his limited way of thinking, prejudices, and social awkardness by interacting with the blind man. Robert, the antagonist, is a blind man that defies the husband’s stereotypes by being open and perceptive, and quick witted. Robert is a dear friend of the husband’s wife, which the husband is not too terribly happy about. The husband is not able to understand how his wife could possibly have anything in common with a blind person, let alone a blind man. The husband has never encountered a visibly impaired person, so his assumptions of how they should act and look are based on television shows. He assumes that this blind man will move slow and not laugh (Carver, 34). Along with his prejudices, the husband appears to have a poor relationship with his wife, as well as others. It...
Words: 990 - Pages: 4
...RAYMOND CARVER CATHEDRAL Student’s name Institution Summary Raymond Carver gives a story of a blind man who his wife met during her singlehood but during their relationship. His name was Robert. Robert who was going to pay a visit to their home courtesy of his wife. Robert is a blind man from Seattle who Raymond’s wife had been working for ten years ago. Raymond’s wife had seen an advertisement on a newspaper of a blind man who needed to assisted in his office in reading of documents such as reports and studies and since she had no job and was in need of money she contacted the man and was immediately taken for the job. During this period Raymond was in a relationship with his girlfriend who they had been friends from their childhood days. Raymond was in a military training therefore he had no money hence this gave the girlfriend a reason to look for a job. After summer period ended Raymond’s girlfriend was back and then they married. She did part with her employer who then married Beulah. Robert had lost his wife who they had lived inseparably for eight years. This time he had paid a visit to his wife’s relatives and then decided to visit his old friend who had once worked in his office as a secretary. Her work was organizing the office and reading the documents to the man. They communicated through tapes which they mailed to each other. Raymond was not passionate about blind people since he had not interacted with them. He says...
Words: 861 - Pages: 4
...Raymond Carver's short story, "Cathedral" is narrated by a man who is somewhat apprehensive about a visit from his wife's blind friend, Robert. It is told in the first person which helps set his prejudice and plain ignorant point of view towards Robert's disability. The protagonist is a flawed man, but certainly reliable in his storytelling because the reader experiences his unfiltered thoughts and see where his bias stems from in addition to watching how they influence his actions. As a result, his point of view highlights his positive spiritual metamorphosis over the evening spent with Robert. One would consider the narrator being blind in his own way. At the start, he is portrayed as a man who lacks a sense of empathy towards people. He...
Words: 529 - Pages: 3
...Portrait of Raymond Carver Mathias & Jonathan Raymond Carver was an american writer and was born in 1938 in Clatskanie, Oregon wherein he loved to fish in the rivers. The landscape portrayed in the video seems very old and depressing (old houses, rusty old cars etc.). His father was an alcoholic which was, unfortunately, eventually passed down to his son, Raymond. His father used to buy him books, when he was a child, which was a reason to him becoming a writer. His first stories were often centered around hard working people, who could barely make it, money-wise. In 1957 Carver married a woman named Maryann Burk, with whom he had two children. They themselves had a lot of monetary issues and could barely make a living, but Carver still wanted to write. They worked hard and his wife worked at several different places e.g. cafés. His stubbornness finally paid off and he got a scholarship for Stanford University. After that he started teaching, and that was the beginning of his alcoholism. Their life got more and more hectic from here on. Carver was even hospitalized for alcoholism four times. It was during the first hospitalization that Carver’s first collection of short stories: “Will You Please Be Quiet, Please”. Eventually Carver and Burk were divorced in 1982, which lead to Carver’s second marriage with poet Tess Gallagher, even though that had been living together for a long time before the divorce. He married Gallagher in 1988 just two weeks before his death. After...
Words: 445 - Pages: 2
...The short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver describes an encounter between the narrator of the story and a blind man named Robert. Robert is visiting because he is friends with the narrator’s wife. At first, the narrator has many ignorant expectations of Robert, but later learns that Robert is nothing as he had expected; the narrator is ignorantly antipathic towards Robert yet is oblivious to his own constraints of sight. In this story about communication and understanding between people, Raymond Carver suggests that seeing beyond the surface involves more than simply looking, and that communicating and looking inward can provide knowledge and a superior understanding of oneself. Throughout the beginning of this story, the narrator believes that the ability of sight is everything. He is uncomfortable with a blind man staying at his house describing it as “not something I looked forward to” (Carver 240). When the wife mentions that Robert’s deceased wife was named Beulah, the narrator asks if she was a negro; this offends the wife so she asks “are you crazy? Have you just flipped or something?” (242). The colour of Beulah’s skin...
Words: 1230 - Pages: 5
...The narrator in the story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver is a stubborn man. The narrator constantly takes shots at Robert’s blindness while he has his own issues seeing. The narrator is not necessarily blind but does not see the limits he has put on himself. The narrator does not have the sight in the wonder of things, potential, and humanity in general. The narrator is a mean yet glib individual that has a sense of dark humor to him. He is really talkative though and clever. The glibness disappears at the conclusion of the story though when he is able to recognize how he has been. He is also detached from himself and feels as if he is in control. Constant drug use and alcohol is an easy way to understand this. Also throughout the story he does not ever mention jealousy he has of Robert and the former relationship that he had with his wife. “I heard my own name in the mouth of this Stanger,...
Words: 903 - Pages: 4
