Constructing the ‘other’: construction of Russian identity in the discourse of James Bond films

Abstract

The present article examines the representation of Russian culture in a corpus of James Bond films spanning 1962–2012. Through the discussion of the importance of film and language in modern culture the article tests the idea that ideology is promulgated via language in film and addresses the interactions between language, control, ideology, power, representation and stereotyping. Drawing on a diversity of interrelated discourse and cultural approaches, the article provides evidence that through linguicist discourse Bond films perpetuate both linguistic and cultural hegemony over the Soviet Union and Russia. The findings suggest that the prevailing ideological message of the Bond movies about Russians and their culture is predominantly negative. Bond discourse evokes already existing stereotypes of Russia and frames Russians as ‘others’ by subjecting them to negative labelling and generalisations. The representation of Russians featured in later films has hardly changed and seems to be firmly constrained in the stereotypical frame of the ‘classic’ movies. Through the analysis of the linguistic representation of Russia in the discourse of Bond films the study not only adds to the growing work on cinematic discourse, but also contributes to the studies of James Bond phenomenon while enriching the studies of the representation of Russians in Western cinema.