Mise-en-scene - Props

Skyfall (2012)

Detail how props are used to create meaning and understanding in a film.

The most noticeable theme in Skyfall is about the constant change and battle of analog verses digital, new verses old and particularly how the notorious James Bond was becoming exceedingly dated. Although a obvious prop in the James Bond series is usual the gun, I think that in Skyfall there's a far more important prop... The Aston Martin DB5.


Throughout the entire film, James Bond is constantly ridiculed for his out-dated methods and his reluctance to give in to the digital ear. This is apparent because of his binary opposition, Silva, is a man of technology and when give the repeated options to learn Silva's knowledge in cyber-terrorism, Bond refuses every time. After a crucial scene where Silva's laptop starts to be decrypted but the laptop then floods the MI6's database with viruses, Bond is forced to take control and do things his way, the old-fashioned way. Thus the relevance of the DB5 occurs, it represents the past, and how the analog way can sometimes be the best option. It shows James Bond's reluctance to conform and become high-tech because class and tradition will always be important to him; and this belief is one of the only things that separates him from Silva. The Aston Martin DB5 represents the old him, and also his return - the second the viewer saw the car in the film, you knew... Bond was back.