Kingsman and Skyfall Comparison

Kingsman: The Secret Service is a 2014 action comedy directed by Matthew Vaughn and written by Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn and Skyfall is a 2012 action thriller film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Neal Purvis, it is the 23^rd instalment of the Bond series. These films have many similar and different themes and conventions throughout but both come under the same sub-genre of spy movie but are portrayed quite differently. Kingsman is about a spy organisation that recruits an unrefined street kid into the agency’s training program, Skyfall on the other hand follows the narrative of most James Bond films; Bond must track down and destroy the threat after M’s past comes back to haunt her.

The most noticeable difference is the way the spy’s are portrayed in these films. In Skyfall the film has a very serious tone following the typical conventions of a classic spy film whereas Kingsman has a tone that it a lot more relaxed with conventions of comedy featured, however Kingsman may also be seen more as a spoof of spy movies as a lot of the typical features e.g. a mastermind villain is made fun of and shown as a joke. Also a feature of mise-en-scene used similarly in both is costume. The agents in both films are shown to wear suits, which is shown to be a feature of superiority. This links into the theme of masculinity as only the men in the films are shown to wear suits. Masculinity is a strong theme in both films.

Masculinity is a strong theme because both of the protagonists are males and the villains both of which are trying to save or change the world. Masculinity is more so shown throughout Skyfall rather than Kingsman which does show masculinity but the males are far from being the only ones able to fight and defend themselves. In Kingsman some stereotypical traits of masculinity are put into the female characters as well as the males. Both Bond (Daniel Craig) and Harry Hart (Colin Firth) are shown to represent the dominant ideology, white, middle class, middle aged, straight males.

Valentine played by Samuel L Jackson (the evil genius) has an assistant Gazelle (Sofia Boutella) who is not only female but is also disabled with blades for legs which is incredibly useful when trying to take over the world. Gazelle features in the only big fight scene between two people, she faces the protagonist Eggsy (Taron Egerton). She is shown to be incredibly strong and difficult to beat with her unbelievable skills in martial arts, and although defeated she fights very well in order to protect Valentine, this is certainly unusual for an action film; the female protects the male so here Vaughn has played on gender stereotypes and decides to make the female the protector. The representation of Gazelle also shows disability in a positive light implying the can do things just as well as someone with no disabilities. Also during the Kingsman training Eggsy meets fellow trainee Roxy (Sophie Cookson) who although against all males but one comes out on top and is chosen to be the new Lancelot. In Skyfall the one woman who was out on the field Eve (Naomie Harris) makes a fatal mistake presumably killing 007 in the beginning, by the end of the film she has given up on wanting to be on the field and instead stays in the office to work by line said by Bond “If it helps, I feel a lot safer” this shows how females are seen as incapable and in this particular film a danger in this line of work.

However the theme of masculinity in women is also contradicted in some cases as in both films particularly Skyfall the women are sexualised. Bond is shown in a few scene to be having sexual relations with different women. The first woman he left as soon as he heard MI6 were in danger and quickly moved on to a new woman as soon as he was put onto a new mission all while still flirting with Eve. The film never shows you what happen to these women except Eve which shows how women are sexual objects to the men for when they want to be entertained. The one scene in Kingsman is the end scene when Eggsy approaches a kidnapped princess to have anal sex after she says “If you save the world, we can do it in the asshole”, the end shot of the film is a shot of the Princess’s arse which was surprising and inappropriate since throughout the film all the females are shown in a positive light so it was quite disappointing to see them change the tone so quickly.