James Bond Will Return: Orientalism Continues

The 007 film is legendary in the film history in that it lives long and it always has the ability to regenerate itself. For long, it has been categorized in the "adventure -detective" genre. The audience consume it habitually and enjoy the "simple" pleasure from it. Yet the development of the cultural studies in recent years makes more and more scholars aware that we should not take this kind of pop culture too for granted and consume it uncritically. The popularity of the film ensures its mass base. And the idol effect of the "semi-independence" James Bond could not be ignored. These are of crucial importance because of their convenience in constructing knowledge. What is disseminated from the film is worth studying.Armed with the tools of Orientalism, the author sets out to investigate the "east- west" relationship in the 007 film. Orientalism is a style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between the "the Orient" and "the Occident". The James Bond film is made based on this kind of preoccupation. The west emphasizes its positional superiority with the east as a sort of surrogate and underground self. The author sets out from the two poles of "self- other" (west- east) and finds out that Orientalism is at work in the film. And the brilliant details of Orientalism are dug out, that is, the representations of the self and the other. Bond's body, representing the self, is created from fragments to give a perfect image of the west. On the other hand, the tropes of animalization and infantialization are applied on the Oriental figures (the Other). They are marked by the "lack", as contrasted from the west. The Oriental landscape is romanticized and put under the poetic process, to stimulate the appetite of the west. The Oriental nations are created as a chaotic nation, justifying the intervention of the west. In the neo-colonial era, cultural hegemony has been foregrounded. The unparalleled feeling of importance and the superior stance enjoyed by the west facilitate its activity in the former colonies. On the other hand, the image of the east, depicted as the other, has been spread and deep rooted. The biased representation of the Orient in the film joins prejudicial social policy and actual violence against these disempowered people. And the power configuration will not change as long as the power of creating those images and enforcing those images remain in the hand of the west. What is suggested in the thesis is only "parts of that fabric at certain moments, and merely to suggest the existence of a larger whole, detailed, interesting, dotted with fascinating figures, texts, and events"...