How are the main protagonists in Quantum of solace (2008) and in The Expendables 2 (2012) represented.

In this essay I will be analysing the use of representation in the two action films: Quantum of Solace (2008) and The Expendables 2 (2012). I will be looking at how both the American and British directors represent their protagonists and the differences between the two. I will do this by analyzing the Macro and Microelements to understand how the directors portrayed their protagonists. I will also compare how the protagonists in both films deal with conflict throughout the narrative. The narrative theory we can apply to Quantum of solace and The Expendables are Roland Barthes theory where there is plenty of action such as shoot-outs, chases and confrontation. The enigma code for quantum of solace is initially Bond trying to find out why the antagonist is trying to buy land in an area where there is no oil. Whereas in The Expendables 2 the key concept that makes the audience want to find out more is when Barney and his old team come back together and have to complete a simple job for a big paycheck. The audience dont really know what it is and therefore the danger and engaging element plays a role in the film. The first film I will be analysing is Quantum of Solace. Quantum of Solace is a British film produced by Eon productions and directed by Marc Forster. The film stars Daniel Craig (James Bond), Olga Kurylenko (Camille Montes), and Gemma Atterton (Agent Strawberry fields). The main themes represented by the director are Loyalty, betrayal and heavy action. The movie is a spy film and the hero generally takes high action on terrorists on a global scale. The film Quantum of Solace is a about rich man called Dominic Greene trying to take over a part of Bolivias land in order for him eliminate their most important resource; water. Everyone including the C.I.A and MI6 looked away from the situation; however agent James Bond and his accomplice, who was an old agent in the past, were the only ones to realize Greenes real intentions and therefore took the task upon themselves to stop Greene. Quantum of Solace opens with the camera slowly zooming through a lake towards agents Bonds car. There is non-diegetic score music which slowly builds up as the camera zooms in closer to Bond. The music gets more intense as the camera approaches Bonds vehicle. The camera then cuts to a low angle shot inside Bonds car whilst he is being chased. The camera being at a low angle indicates that Bond is still dominant throughout the chase even though he is being shot and chased by 3 or more vehicles, as well as this he was able to keep a straight face as If this was a normal occurrence for the Agent, immediately we sub-consciously believe that he is the main professional protagonist as the film opens with him being almost untouchable as he is escaping from the antagonists. The audience can look at Bonds costume and instinctively tell that he is an agent, this is because he is wearing an expensive tailored looking suit combined with the grey Aston Martin, which is also a British manufactured car; these costumes and props exaggerate the well-known sophistication of British produced films. As a result we can link him to being some sort of rich British agent. This is quite different compared to the protagonist in The Expendables 2, as they are presented as less materialistic and high action warriors. The director uses a range of different shots throughout the

chase, to show the intensity of the chase and to also indicate the advanced driving skills of Bond is compared to the antagonists who are chasing him though the exotic location. The editor played a huge part in making that scene come together because he showed small parts of each shots which adds pace to the chase, this is a very good trait to a film as the audience tends to enjoy the chasing aspect of an action film the most. There are many sound effects including the screeching of the car tires and loud gunshots to show the difficulty and intensity of agent Bonds task. As the chase progresses the director (Marc Forster) uses a wide shot at a high angle to show the extremely challenging path that bond has to take in order to escape the chase. This shows the immensity of the task that Bond has and how skilled of an agent he is to be able to go through the road without crashing like the antagonists trying to chase him. From the first scene we can already get ideas that bond works for the government and his role is to fight terror in other countries. We can instantly tell that this scene gives out the impression of verisimilitude, as Bond doesnt seem to be overpowered as he is simply doing things that a real hero in society would do. For instance if we compare him to heroes in other action films we will notice that they are very different and almost comical, again this links to British productions. For example batman and superman are by far the most unlikely to be a superhero in todays society compared to Bond who has no fake attributes. As a result we know that he is a high skilled and trained human being rather than Super hero. However this is not very typical for the genre of an action film due to the fact the superhero tends to be more unrealistic and have some sort of powers. The first scene of betrayal is shown when the agents are interrogating someone about the secret organization and all of a sudden one of the agents shoots another agent, betraying the MI6. The director adds a non-diegetic, fast pace score instantly as the traitor shoots one of the MI6 agents. The camera is then placed on a low angle looking at Bonds instant reaction to the situation; he acts upon the incident without hesitation. Again, the director does this to represent Bond as a highly skilled protagonist, without implying that he is some sort of superhero with unrealistic powers. As well as this the director presents all the other agents in that scene as vulnerable and shocked at the events however Bond was the only one who reacted to it instantly, which shows how much of a professional he is compared to his colleagues. Throughout the film we also understand that Bond objectifies women. He uses them when he wants to. This is evident when Bond called Agent Fields for help and ends up having sex with her even though shes supposed to be restricting him from doing anything. As well as this he shows no remorse when he is shown her dead corpse even though he knows her death was his fault. As a result we can apply the John Berger theory of Men look, women appear and Laura Mullveys theory to the both scenes. He simply used her for the sex. This can suggest that as a hero he can make mistakes. I believe the director does this to make the narrative more verisimilitude. This is also quite wrongly common in most action films; women tend to be inferior compared to the stereotypical male hero

The Expendables is an American action film directed by Simon West. The main characters in the film are Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Ying Yang (Jet Li), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews). The main character I will be analyzing throughout this film is Barney Ross who is the leader of The Expendables. I will be looking at how the director portrays this character and the other protagonists compared to James Bond. The film is basically about a protagonist called Barney who gets approached by a CIA agent who wants him and his team to go retrieve something from the former Soviet Union. The theory that can be applied to this film is Levi Strauss theory of narrative. The particular one we can apply to this film is the past v present. This is because of the Americans past combat and friction with the Russians. As a result the director portrayed them as the antagonists. The film opens in a scene where a man from Barneys team is being tortured. The director uses low-key lighting to portray the antagonists as evil and dangerous. The director then cuts this scene to where Barney and his team are coming towards the village to save their friend. The director uses high key lighting and heroic nondiegetic score as they drive through the deserts towards the village. This scene is edited so that there are lots of shots put together of the same scene to show them on their way to rescue their friend. For Instance when the protagonists are storming through the deserts towards the town, the director uses a long shot at a low angle to show the 3 tanks coming closer to the camera. This simple shot connotes danger coming towards the antagonists and connotes to the audience that the US protagonist are far more powerful and invincible compared to their enemies. As a result of this the scene is more intense and inspiring for the audience as they see the Americans saving their fellow friend in foreign land. The director also portrays Barney as hardcore and reckless in comparison to James Bond who is more calm and controlled throughout his missions; this may indicate that Bond is more professional compared to the Expendables. As well as this from Barneys use of dialogue we can tell he is more of a high action protagonist compared to Bond who likes to carry out his mission in a controlled manner. For instance Barney seems to shout at his crew a lot to indicate his dominance compared to Bond who speaks in a more calm fashioned and rarely shouts at all throughout the film. However Barney is presented as smart and wise when he is being over powered by a plane and decides to run a motorbike off a roof to blow up the plane. The differences are due to the fact that British films are more realistic and exaggerate less on the power of their characters compared to the US filmmakers who tend to exaggerate their characters power and dominance especially when its to do with fighting antagonists from other countries. The two protagonists are quite different because the British tend to want to be presented as posh and elegant even in action films whereas the US tends to portray their characters as powerful and fearless.

The expendables are also careless as to who they kill; cheering when they blow people up. This is due to the fact that they blast through the village blowing anything and everything in front of them, this sort of action also links to the fact that the US love to portray their power and their lack of fear to kill anyone who steps in their way; this is highly intense compared to James Bond, who has to be secretive and professional due to the fact that he is an agent. In another scene Barney and Lee are surrounded by their enemies and are in an extremely tough situation. As a result they put their hands up and pretend to listen to what the enemies are saying. Even though they are surrounded and have no weapons the director still puts the camera at a low angle to still show their dominance and lack of fear in their facial expressions. As the antagonists move closer to them, Barney pulls out a rifle and shoots all 6 antagonists. This shows his precision, skill and reaction time. The director also makes this scene really quick to show how Barney had no time for mistakes. His dominance is also portrayed in another scene when one of the antagonists gets on his plane. He quickly acknowledges this and takes him out with a few punches. The enemy lands on the floor and the director uses a low angle shot of Barney walking towards his enemy. This showed Barneys dominance as well as how helpless the enemy was. There is also low-key lighting to show the realism and intensity of the scene. Through analyzing both films I notice that the directors have a different approach on how the protagonists fight the antagonists and the representation of both protagonists. Firstly I realize that Quantum of Solace has a more realistic approach to stopping the antagonists compared to The Expendables, which includes very high intense action, which is unlikely in real life. This is due to the fact that British film makers take pride in sophistication and realism whereas American film makers tend to exaggerate their films and aim to create something new which always tends to top the bar such as Avatar. The audience can easily believe the events that take place in Quantum of Solace, however they may not see the realism of The expendables instead they see it as more of an entertainment and comical due to the way the director presents the protagonists. For instance the way Hale swears a lot and cheers when he kills, we can tell that he is not taken seriously in comparison to Bond, who is presented as very secretive. As well as this if we look at the fighting on the lake scene we can see that Barney and Lee show no care for the amount of people they are killing. This shows how both protagonists deal with conflict very differently. Overall this shows how both productions, American and British, present their protagonist and how they deal with conflict differently. I have also noticed that most high grossing action films tend to have heroes with exaggerated features however Eon productions have stayed away from the generic code of making a successful action film by going against making an unrealistic hero, as a result of the directors vision the film still managed to succeed money and audience wise.