Representation

Initial answer:
1) List the different people/groups represented in the trailer (men/women/Americans etc.)

In this clip we see a large variety of people and groups represented in this trailer. To list them, we can see British protagonists, powerful male protagonists, women and foreign antagonists.

2) For each group, decide whether the representation is a dominant or alternative portrayal

Bond films are notorious for their traditional, stereotypical roles. Therefore, they tend not to  subvert from the general conventions. However, we can argue that not all the women in this film are presented as weak. We can see some instances of them being portrayed as powerful.

3) What stereotypes can you identify in the trailer?

Most prevalent to me was the foreign antagonists. They are depicted as being harmful and are associated with guns, violence and muscle cars.  Moreover, it is evident that women are presented as quite brittle and vulnerable.  

Extended answer:

To begin, in this trailer the most prominent examples of representation was the binary opposite antagonists and protagonists. The antagonists are a European, foreign terrorist organisation whereas the protagonists tend to predominantly be the British characters, such as James Bond. Instantly, this alludes to Medhurst's theory. He stated that stereotyping is a form of communicating vast amounts of information about  a character in a short space of time. Almost like a shorthand for identification. This is prevalent in this trailer as this representation being common over the medium , makes the audience instantly assume that all foreign, europeans tend to follow this stereotype which subsequently creates an overall negative representation of all Eastern Europeans. 

To elaborate on this idea, Dyer's theory can also be applied he. He simply stated that a complex, board group can be reduced to a few key characteristics. His entire theory was primarily based off power. He believed that those with more power stereotype those with less power. This specific trailer demonstrates his idea perfectly as it relegates the diverse group of foreign people to negative value judgement. This is because they are seen as unlawful yet British people are shown as protagonists, saving the day and resorting equilibrium.  The idea of power is prominent here as typically British people are considered as being more prestigious compared to Eastern Europeans.

In terms of the representation of genders in this film, we can see two very different, distinct representations of each gender. Males are presented as powerful, courageous and ruthless. This representation is dominant as it is the generic perception of men over many forms of social media. In vast contrast, we can these that in this same tailer, females are represented as vulnerable to attack and subsequently in need of protection from men. This is shown through the blonde woman who appears unstable and relies heavily on Bond for safety. Moreover, they are often considered quite attractive and are portrayed as being very sexual. This is most apparent through the use of costume and make up. This links to Mulvey's theory. She conjured the idea of 'the male gaze.' Her theory stated that the dominant view in the media is masculine and benefits men. This is because women are present within the media entirely for the pleasure of men to look at, hence 'the male gaze.' This further links to the idea of women being objectified and presented as sex objects. However, occasionally we are presented with manipulative women. This could be a way of subverting from typical gender roles. This has been shown before in Bond films. For instance, the iconic scene where the new Bond is introduced by emerging out of the water, almost as if parallel to a scene where a woman is introduced the same way. This alludes to the more recent theory of 'the female gaze.' This theory consists of a similar idea to Mulvey's but women are objectifying men. It was proposed by theorist Rosalind Gill and is an example of post feminist media culture in modern day.