For my chronologies piece I chose to create a butterfly. Within my essay for seminar I discussed my discovery of family, life, and art. All of that would never have happened if it had not been for my aunt. In the essay, I state how she is everything to me and more, and that I am forever grateful for her existence.

Steps:

1. I mapped out all of the possible ways I could create a butterfly
2. I picked my idea
3. i went to Mood Fabric Store
4. Went through 8 different swatches ignorer to find the perfect color
5. I finally went with the color code: black silk textured, cotton lilac, and sequenced sparkly black and silver lace, and black metal
6. Each color had a significance behind it
   1. Black textured silk: for the hard color black that my aunt and i both wear daily, as well as a personality resemblance
   2. Cotton Lilac:
7. I went back to my dorm and went back to my previous butterfly sketches
8. Chose a different butterfly in the end
9. I think that the shape that i finalized was more distinct, and resembled my aunt

                                                                            1. Ian Flemming:

1. On August 12th 1964, the British author and journalist Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, the world’s most famous fictional spy, died of a heart attack at age 56 in Kent, England. Fleming’s series of novels about the dashing Agent 007, was based partially on the sauve author’s real-life experiences, spawned from one of the most lucrative film franchises in history. From Flemmings idealization of the board aristocracy of which he was peripherally connected, and of his fascination with war and political intrigue which perhaps had its roots in his own life and over his father’s life in World War I and his in World War II. Fleming grew up in London, England, and was a one of four sons, and was brought up in a moderately wealthy home. Flemmings father, Valentine, served in Parliament before fighting in World War I. Due to my interest in psychology, I saw Flemming’s earlier life at home as a huge influence upon the creation of the spy 007. Which is what the family would have liked had mimicked with its excess leisure time, its sophisticated lifestyle and its opulent material life which included well tailored clothing, and magnificent vehicles. During the time of World War II he worked as an assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence in the Admiralty in London, privy to many secrets. It was his experience in this job that provided many of the characters and incidents that he was to write about later in the Bond books. His first novel and film that was released was Casino Royale. The novel was published in 1953, and the film was released in 1967 portrayed by David Niven, and remade in 2006 and Daniel Craig as James Bond. After the films and books were released, everyone wanted to know who the man behind the gun and martinis was. Who did Ian Flemming based his character James Bond agent 007 off of?

                                                                                    2. Sir William Stephenson: Intrepid 

2. During Flemmings time as an assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence in the Admiralty during World War II, he came across a man by the name of Sir William Stephenson, otherwise known as Intrepid.“Without doubt, Fleming’s idea of James Bond is based on Sir William,”  says Cord Hart, a former CIA operative and U.S. Sir William Stephenson was born in Canada in the year of 1897 and died 1989 in Bermuda. Stephenson was a Canadian soldier, airman, businessman, inventor, spymaster, and the senior representative of the British intelligence for the entire western hemisphere during World War II. Stephenson, originally known as William Samuel Clouston Stanger was raised at first by his mother whom was from Iceland, and his father which was from the Orkney Islands. Later on he was then adopted by an Icelandic family after his parents could no longer care for him. He was then given his foster parents’ name, Stephenson. This parallel which Stephenson comes from a broken family home is similar to James Bond’s background story which we were revealed to in the film Skyfall 2014. In the novels, James Bond is the son of a Scottish father, Andrew Bond of Glencoe, and a Swiss mother, Monique Delacroix, from the Canton de Vaud. After much time passes and it is now following the beginning of World War II,(and over the objections of Sir Stewart Menzies, wartime head of British intelligence) the Prime Minister at the time, Winston Churchill sent Stephenson to the United States in 1940, to covertly establish and run British Security Coordination (BSC) in New York City, over a year before U.S. had entry into the war. Stephenson’s initial directives for BSC were to: investigate enemy activities; institute security measures against sabotage to British property; and organize American public opinion in favour of aid to Britain. Later this was expanded to include “the assurance of American participation in secret activities throughout the world in the closest possible collaboration with the British”. Stephenson’s official title was British Passport Control Officer. His unofficial mission was to create a secret British intelligence network throughout the western hemisphere, and to operate covertly and broadly on behalf of the British government and the Allies in aid of winning the war. All quite similar to the aspect of the character James Bond. Although this was only the begining of how the story of James Bond was formed.

                                                                          3.James Bond: Original Logo

3. Ian Flemming created the character James Bond in 1953 originally as a novel which then was made into a film. James Bond agent 007, is a fictional British Secret Service who had it all. The wealth, the girl, the car and everything else you could possibly imagine, which all came to him naturally. Bond is the idea of the “whole man” that every man and boy wanted to be. James was both the version of a man Flemming wanted to be plus the aspects of violence and politics that he was inspired by as a boy and by Sir William Stephenson experiences. Each film we learn more and more about the James Bond through his actors. The hidden secrets about his past, and why he is so standoff ish. Flemmings James Bond film series, exposes us to the different aspect which agent 007 was interpreted by multiple actors, in each cinema we are shown a new version of James Bond with similar aspects although new faces and different characteristics.

                                                                                   4. James Bond: Goldfinger (1964)

Although Sean Connery was not the first Bond actor, he was definitely known as the first most iconic James Bond, agent 007. Connery was featured in a few of Ian Flemmings films which included, James Bond: Dr. No (1962), James Bond: From Russia With Love (1963), (one my favorites) James Bond: Goldfinger (1964), James Bond: Thunderball (1965), James Bond: You Only Live Twice (1967), (another of my favorites) James Bond: Diamonds Are Forever (1971), and lastly James Bond: Never Say Never Again (1983). Being born in Fountainbridge, Scotland, we are definitely able to analyze Sean Connery’s man labor aspect in the 1960-80s Bond films. He created the idea that James Bond gave us the perception that he had gone through a hard work to get where he was, although with a higher standard. The violence that Connery experienced as he portrayed Bond looked natural to the actor. I believe Bond’s character of “natural violence” that Connery portrayed was due to his heritage and how the actor was brought up. Due to the fact Connery wasn’t quite English, he brought to a more colonial rough edginess and versatility look to the screens. According to many Bond lovers, along with my father, Sean Connery was the best James Bond. I see similar traits to Connery and Stephenson, rather than Flemmings the actual characteristic traits that he created for James Bond. Although, he is seen as a more rustic edgy man, we definitely are exposed to the high status and sexist persona that Ian Flemming originally created.

                                                                               5. James Bond: Live and Let Die Cover

                                                   Vijay: “I hear the Island is exclusively for women, no men allowed.”
Bond: “Sexual discrimination, I will definitely have to pay it a visit.” 

4. Roger Moore, known as Ian Flemmings fith James Bond. Born in Stockwell, UK, as a new version of the James Bond films, we are definitely exposed to Moore’s more Englishmen and flashy traits that flemming created in his original novels of Bond. Moore was the new leaf of Bond actors which dropped the androgynous period feel to the James Bond character. According to my father he was one of his least liked Bond actors. I believe that was due to his overly flashy look, and aristocratic feel. During the time Roger Moore was James Bond, he brought a campy comical sense to the films. Along with an imported david bowie glam rock look to it. Similar to Connery, Moore continued to have this sexist view in his films, although females definitely did portrey more of a dominant role, although this time with more sex appeal. As seen “Octopussy”, which definitely shows it’s discrimination, and sexism towards women, and how they are ‘seen’ as just a sex symbol. A few of Flemmings other films that Roger Moore was seen in were James Bond: Live and Let Die (1973), James Bond: The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), James Bond: The Spy who Loved Me (1977), James Bond: Moonraker (1979), James Bond: For Your Eyes Only (1981), and lastly James Bond: A View to a Kill (1985).

                                                                            6. James Bond: Die Another Day (2002)

                                              Miranda Frost:I know all about you–sex for dinner, death for breakfast.

5. The seventh Bond, my all time favorite Bond, Pierce Brosnan. To some words up, he was the best, well at least in my opinion. According to my father, the most critical James Bond fan, Pierce Brosnan was an alright Bond. He said, “I think he lacks backbone and austerity”. Originally from Dublin, Ireland, the actor would occasionally bring out his irish accent as a trademark for his films. Although most people saw him as too much of an individual and stepping away from the tradition James Bond characteristic traits, and into his own. He was featured in James Bond: Goldeneye (1995), James Bond: Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), James Bond: The World Is Not Enough (1999), and one of my all time favorites James Bond: Die Another Day (2002). In the James Bond: The World Is Not Enough (1999) film, we see a major correlation to Ian Flemmings actual life. I believe the explosion of “Valentin’s” factory, had some symbolic meaning behind his relationship with his father Valentine Flemming.

                                                                                   7.     James Bond Skyfall (2012)

                                              Bond: “Some men are coming to kill us. We’re going to kill them first.”

6. The eighth James Bond actor played by Daniel Craig. Who is also the most recent James Bond actor, as well as the Bond whom society most identify’s themselves with today. Although sadly it was released the other day that Mr. Craig will no longer be portraying the role of agent 007. In the article when asked who will the next Bond be he replied: “Look, I don’t give a f***. Good luck to them.”- from The Sun website. Truthfully I believe that Daniel Craig is a perfect representation of how film is seen today when recreating characters from previous years. Acting in the 1950-80s, were a vision of more combat fighting, figure idealization and rebellion. Although now it is viewed as a more realistic perspective where actors must physically and emotionally place themselves in the shoes of the character who they are reenacting. After dissecting each of the James Bond film series, I saw a parallel between actors Sean Connery and Daniel Craigs version of James Bond. As the first and most iconic james bond, Sean Connery did not have that much of a direction aside from what Flemming directed. It was up to the actor, to display his rustic and hard labor looks. Although Craig is not from Ireland, he too displayed characteristic traits similar to Connery in the aspect of loss, struggle, and in depth hysterical emotional issues as the character James Bond. I believe the two actors showed the most resemblance to the authority figure James Bond was based off of, Sir William Stephenson. Craig was seen acting in James Bond: Casino Royale (2006), James Bond: Quantum of Solace (2008), James Bond Skyfall (2012) which reveals the parallelism between james bond and his father as well as Ian Flemming and Sir William Stephenson, and lastly James Bond: Spectre (2015). In relevance to the time period, and how it became a huge deal that each Bond film would have a large musical impact on the film, when the film Skyfall was released in 2012, so did the song Skyfall sung by Adele which made it to the top 10 songs of 2016 and won multiple awards. Majority of the 007 cinematic songs were sung by dominant female voices who had an impact of the music industry of the time. It is also noted that as time went on the idea of the “sex bomb icon” did continue in each of the James Bond films. Although once the issues were addressed that the Bond Women were being seen as just an object, and not a persona, the directors took that into consideration and began altering the female role. Which we see slightly in Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond films, and more in Daniel Craigs.

7. Bond Girls: LEFT: Ursula Andress from the James Bond: Dr. No (1963)

RIGHT: Halle Berry from James Bond: Die Another Day (2002)

7. The Bond Girls. One of the most iconic female roles in cinematography history. As a child I used to strive to be a Bond Girl although as I got older, my dream began to diminish. The Bond Girls are a character (or the actress portraying a character) who are the love interest and/or female sidekick of James Bond. Bond girls occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as Pussy Galore (which was named after ian flemmings pet octopus), Plenty O’Toole, Xenia Onatopp, or Holly Goodhead, and are considered “ubiquitous symbols of glamour and sophistication. Scenes such as the iconic opener of Goldmember which is a visual image of one of the Bond Girls painted in gold from head to toe which has images projected onto it of scene from the movie, with the background music of the traditional soul hearted female voice singing. Although I would love to see this opener as an artistic statement, I know that is not the truth. The female body is a symbol, as a sexual love and beauty statement for a man to enjoy, in particularly James Bond. Some women would agree with the idea that it is nice to see a man appreciating another woman, although that is not how I see it. How I perceived this message was offensive and sexist. A woman is not placed in front of the screen for the sole pleasure of a man, it’s is the art behind her history and life as well as who she is as an individual. I respect Ian Flemmings personal opinion, and choice to have women seen as a “thing”, but I will stand by my opinion that I find the situation completely sexist. In the image I chose I Ursula Andress from the James Bond: Dr. No (1963), and Halle Berry from James Bond: Die Another Day (2002). Both of these female body structures were casted as the ideal figure from that time, as well as the identification of lust and beauty, although there are a few differences. For starters the obvious difference is there skin tone. Being that the one on the left with Ursula Andress is an image of a “white women”, and the image on the right is of Halle Berry who is a “black women”. Both women are equally as beautiful, although due to the time period that the movies were filmed in, it became more socially acceptable by society’s perspective in 2002 to have a bond girl casted as an african american women. Aside from their skin tone, their hair styles as well played a huge role in the casting of James Bond’s Bond girl. The earlier bond girl Ursula Andress has her hair styled long, blonde and down, which is considered to be identified as feminine and beautiful of that time period by society’s opinion. In major contrast to that hairstyle, Halle Berry is featured in the bond movies with her hair either slick back or messy, short and dark. Miss. Berry’s hairstyle is perceived as more of a dominant, and masculine style by the viewers perspective. Which is why i believe they casted each of these females as the leading female roles. Due to their acceptance and relevance towards what society approved of during that given time period as well as their desires.         

8. Austin Powers Goldmember Cover

8. Austin Powers, played by actor Mike Meyers, is a man like james bond who was born in London, England, and is an international spy who spends majority of his time sleeping with women, defeating villains and above all just living an idealized lifestyle. Although the films do poke fun at the outrageous plots, rampant sexual innuendo, and one-dimensional stock characters characteristically associated with all 1960s spy films, as well as the cliché of the ultra-suave male super spy. Contrary to the handsome, super-smooth leading men of the James Bond series, Austin Powers is not conventionally attractive (he is especially known for his bad teeth), although female characters in the films seem to find him irresistible. We are also given the parallel between Ian Flemmings James Bond titles and Director Jay Roach’s Austin Power’s. As seen in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999 vs. James Bond: The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), and Austin Powers in Goldmember(2002) vs. James Bond: Goldfinger(1964). Another similar trait to Flemming’s earlier films, Mr. Powers is known for his female leading ladies, and their catchy songs that follow. But the biggest plot twist of all, was how similar Austin Powers last film Goldmember, was to James Bond: Goldfinger and Skyfall. Just as Flemming revealed in Skyfall the father issues Bond had, Director Jay Roach did as well for character Austin Powers although in a comical sense this time. Roach also mimicked Flemmings protagonist Goldfinger, but in this case more as a perverted figure, which would appeal more to Roach’s audience. Personally I loved the Austin Powers films. Once the late 1990s began, more perverted and inappropriate scenarios were allowed to be presented on film, which Austin Powers did. The directors and producers gave James Bond fans the ability to see their idealized figure in the comical light, and poke fun at all of the cliches that were made in all of Flemmings film’s. But if it wasn’t for Ian Flemming, this idea of the “cliche” spy would have never existed.

9. While doing our project for studio we were given the assignment of creating a ten piece image of what we believe is a representation of batman. During the process that I created this piece, and did research on the marvelous batman, I discovered the similarities there are between the almighty bat, and agent 007. Both characters struggle with family issues, although are blessed with a luxurious life of comfort. Although each have everything they could possibly want when it comes to lavish items, and such, they both battled through their own problems which they battled with in.  The year was 1938, and everyone was raging over the new superhero, Superman. Kane and Finger loved the idea of how this superhero was one with the people yet had another side to him that would save the day and still be undiscovered by who his true identity was. It was later that year that Bill would phone Bob telling him about the idea of the magnificent Batman.For my representation of batman compared to James Bond, I chose to collaborate 17 images of batman’s most iconic logos from over the years, and have them displayed in the figure of my favorite Batman logo. The batman symbol is located in the center of a the eye, to express how batman would look into the sky and see the bat signal as a sign that there is trouble lurking the city of Gotham. I designed the eye to be the figure of Bruce Wayne, otherwise known as Batman, with his iconic the batman mask on. Hence the Blackness located around the eye. Batman and James Bond shared the same idea of fighting crime which I believe I best represented in this image.

10. Larry- my dad

As a child I would always accompany my father to watching his favorite televised shows and movies- James Bond, Agent 007. In the image feature above, I created a photograph which originates from a cropped image of my fathers face, which i than placed in the orientation where Pierce Brosnan’s face used to be. Pierce Brosnan was the 7th James Bond actor, and is also known as my favorite Agent 007 and my fathers least. I created and chose this as my last image discussion, because my entire obsession for James Bond is based on the relationship I have with my father. I idealize this man as a heroic figure, and with my fathers force of watching each of the James Bond films from Ian Flemmings series, just as he did as a child. To me my father is my James Bond, and I will always see him as the character James Bond with the accept ion that he has his own personal traits.