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Christian Symbolism in Skyfall
One of the most surprising aspects to the most recent James Bond film, Skyfall -- in my eyes, at any rate -- was the use of Christianity as a recurring motif. It was surprising to me because the folks at Eon Productions have been, up until now, quite determined to largely ignore the topic of religion at all in the world of James Bond. Not surprising, really -- the Bond films are shown all around the world, and even fifty year old Bond films are still being marketed globally. The chance of offending potential customers, regardless of their spiritual beliefs, is a chance that Eon’s probably not willing to take! Thus, we can see James Bond working easily alongside the Taliban against the Russians in Afghanistan, without actually considering the religious motivations behind any of the Taliban’s actions…
But in Skyfall, for the first time, a major world religion is used, symbolically, as a powerful force in moving the action of the film. Without trying to make the case for or against the spiritual validity of any religion -- I have my beliefs, you have yours, and I think we’re all adult enough to simply accept and respect each other’s right to hold those beliefs -- I’d like to examine the role that Christian symbolism plays in this exceptionally popular Bond film.
First of all, we have two full-body immersions in water for Bond in the course of the movie -- one in the PTS, and another near the end of the film. Now, one immersion can be meaningless -- but two in the course of one movie? Let us simply acknowledge that the film-makers MAY BE attempting to suggest Bond undergoing a baptism…and move on. The initial confrontation between Bond and Silva also includes one important line of dialogue we should take note of: Silva reveals his plan to Bond, something that evidently all good villains are required to do by their Villains’ Union rules. Bond’s response is something along the lines of, “Well, everybody needs a hobby,” and Silva’s rejoinder is: “What’s YOUR hobby, Mr. Bond?” Bond’s oblique reply: “Resurrection.”
Need I point out the single most famous reported resurrection in world history? I thought not.
Instead, let’s back up for a moment and consider the images shown onscreen during the Title Song and Credits. At one point, a rain of daggers is shown descending from the sky…and when they strike the ground, they become crosses in the graveyard outside the Skyfall chapel. Let’s keep that image in mind as we approach the end of the film. But first, let’s consider M’s reaction upon seeing Skyfall itself for the first time. She emerges from the car, Bond’s famous Aston Martin…looks forlornly at the aged estate he has brought her to…and states, quietly, a single word: “Christ.” Bond’s response, a wordless concurrence: “Mm-hmm.”
Fleeing the assault of Silva and his goons upon the estate house of Skyfall, M and Kincaid make use of a Priest’s Hole that takes them out onto the estate grounds…and they make their way to Skyfall’s private chapel. The film doesn’t even bother to explain what a Priest’s Hole IS, assuming more awareness of Reformation history and practice than I expect the audience truly possesses, but let’s leave that point aside for the moment. Inside the chapel, Silva has finally caught up with M, and is about to kill both her and himself with a single bullet. Instead, Bond finally arrives at the scene after having been delayed by his second watery immersion…and hurls his dagger directly into Silva’s back, killing him and delaying M’s final scene of the franchise she has served for so long. Now, let us remember the Opening Credits image of falling daggers, which magically transform into crosses in a graveyard when they hit the ground. I have heard some fans complain that the knife is a rather prosaic way for the film’s major villain to meet his end. I must disagree: symbolically, Bond has killed Silva with God’s Own Weapon.
All of which brings me to the question I’d like to pose to the members of this forum: If Christian Symbolism is so intrinsic to this film -- and I believe it is -- then why has Bond fandom at large so studiously ignored discussing it? Now granted, I am a fairly recent convert to this forum…but try as I might, I have been unable to find much more than a recent thread discussing Fleming’s views on Christianity, not one examining the rather pointed uses of Christianity in this particular film. It’s as if Bond fandom has collectively said, “Hey so what about all that Christianity in Skyfall? Hm. And oh by the way, how did you feel about the way they treated the Aston Martin…?” I have my own theories on this topic, and I’ll be happy to share them if anyone’s interested, but first I’d like to hear what my fellow agents have to say. Any takers?
But in Skyfall, for the first time, a major world religion is used, symbolically, as a powerful force in moving the action of the film. Without trying to make the case for or against the spiritual validity of any religion -- I have my beliefs, you have yours, and I think we’re all adult enough to simply accept and respect each other’s right to hold those beliefs -- I’d like to examine the role that Christian symbolism plays in this exceptionally popular Bond film.
First of all, we have two full-body immersions in water for Bond in the course of the movie -- one in the PTS, and another near the end of the film. Now, one immersion can be meaningless -- but two in the course of one movie? Let us simply acknowledge that the film-makers MAY BE attempting to suggest Bond undergoing a baptism…and move on. The initial confrontation between Bond and Silva also includes one important line of dialogue we should take note of: Silva reveals his plan to Bond, something that evidently all good villains are required to do by their Villains’ Union rules. Bond’s response is something along the lines of, “Well, everybody needs a hobby,” and Silva’s rejoinder is: “What’s YOUR hobby, Mr. Bond?” Bond’s oblique reply: “Resurrection.”
Need I point out the single most famous reported resurrection in world history? I thought not.
Instead, let’s back up for a moment and consider the images shown onscreen during the Title Song and Credits. At one point, a rain of daggers is shown descending from the sky…and when they strike the ground, they become crosses in the graveyard outside the Skyfall chapel. Let’s keep that image in mind as we approach the end of the film. But first, let’s consider M’s reaction upon seeing Skyfall itself for the first time. She emerges from the car, Bond’s famous Aston Martin…looks forlornly at the aged estate he has brought her to…and states, quietly, a single word: “Christ.” Bond’s response, a wordless concurrence: “Mm-hmm.”
Fleeing the assault of Silva and his goons upon the estate house of Skyfall, M and Kincaid make use of a Priest’s Hole that takes them out onto the estate grounds…and they make their way to Skyfall’s private chapel. The film doesn’t even bother to explain what a Priest’s Hole IS, assuming more awareness of Reformation history and practice than I expect the audience truly possesses, but let’s leave that point aside for the moment. Inside the chapel, Silva has finally caught up with M, and is about to kill both her and himself with a single bullet. Instead, Bond finally arrives at the scene after having been delayed by his second watery immersion…and hurls his dagger directly into Silva’s back, killing him and delaying M’s final scene of the franchise she has served for so long. Now, let us remember the Opening Credits image of falling daggers, which magically transform into crosses in a graveyard when they hit the ground. I have heard some fans complain that the knife is a rather prosaic way for the film’s major villain to meet his end. I must disagree: symbolically, Bond has killed Silva with God’s Own Weapon.
All of which brings me to the question I’d like to pose to the members of this forum: If Christian Symbolism is so intrinsic to this film -- and I believe it is -- then why has Bond fandom at large so studiously ignored discussing it? Now granted, I am a fairly recent convert to this forum…but try as I might, I have been unable to find much more than a recent thread discussing Fleming’s views on Christianity, not one examining the rather pointed uses of Christianity in this particular film. It’s as if Bond fandom has collectively said, “Hey so what about all that Christianity in Skyfall? Hm. And oh by the way, how did you feel about the way they treated the Aston Martin…?” I have my own theories on this topic, and I’ll be happy to share them if anyone’s interested, but first I’d like to hear what my fellow agents have to say. Any takers?
This discussion has been closed.
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Comments
1. Dench's M has repeatedly used words like 'Christ!' throughout the films, notably in CR, to quote, "Christ, I miss the cold war." For films, it's good to use words like 'Christ' and 'God' in place of cussing, keeping the censors from raising your age-group rating.
2. Mendes did use the expression 'baptism by fire' on a few occasions during interviews, etc., and I think his point was that Bond is reborn in this film, as with a baptism, but he isn't necessarily becoming a Baptist in the film. It's symbolic. It's not baptism for faith, it's baptism by fire, meaning Bond's adventure will literally wash over his life and change it.
3. The daggers-into-graveyard-crosses are meant to mirror the symbolism of a graveyard, not of God's weapon. The dagger represents Bond's 'old fashioned' way of killing Silva, which is why Kleinman used it in the title sequence. Them falling into the ground and becoming crosses, is really them falling and becoming gravestones, to mirror a graveyard.
4. I think the film is trying to contrast the old-English, and heavily Christian, past of England and it's empire to the modern age. The film focuses on Bond's struggle to adapt to the modern world, and it doesn't clearly make any major points about religion.
You may very well be correct, but I feel if they wanted it to be more than coincidence, there would be a scene with Bond having a direct moment, or some sort of connection to Christianity, which we don't really get. Though, it's not a bad plot to have a Bond film where he struggles with faith. Maybe the baddie could be a corrupt holy-man of some sort.
There is a video review floating around on You-tube from a Priest who picked up on a lot of such religious imagery as well. I'll link if I can find it. Being a priest he's tuned in to such stuff, so he's more likely to suss it out. Others will pick-up on other thematic threads that might be more apparent to them.
I think many of the Bond films work on these subtextual levels. eg I think there is a real sexual thematic undercurrent permeating FRWL.
Immersion in water for instance plays a much bigger role in Judaism than it does in Christianity, were often a baptism is done by merely sprinkling some drops of water onto the head of the baby, whereas many jews customarily immerse on a weekly basis for reasons of spiritual purity.
Dench´s M has many times used the exclamation ´Christ´, not only in SF.
Bond´s hobby rings much more in harmony with the history of the franchise than with any religion. The Bond films were many times proclaimed to be dead, yet Bond time and again successfully re-emerged on the big screen. SF is full of remarks referring to the history of the series.
The grave crosses in the title sequence look distinctly like grave crosses displayed in many other films throughout the last 100 years, thus they are immediately recognisable as such by audiences from all over the world, regardless of the religious background.
I honestly think there are much more solid allusions to Christian motives in Christopher Nolan´s Batman films.
Well, I thought that was an intelligent and well-written post. I wish we had a few more of those on this forum.
However, whilst I agree that SF does indeed have some religious metaphor, I personally think you may have read too much into it.
Certainly there are themes of resurrection and renewal but this is not a specifically Christian attribute. I would also suggest that the use of Christian imagery is more a subconscious decision on the part of the writers, the producers and the director, as they are drawing on their own country's history and their experience of religion for imagery and theme rather than overtly pushing a Christian agenda. I'd argue that the crosses and daggers are used more as a symbol of death itself then Christianity, as the title sequence also shows blood forming into skulls etc. The crosses in the titles are also foreshadowing the final confrontation at Skyfall lodge and their inclusion in the film is to highlight that Bond's parents are dead. (Interestingly, there is a deleted scene where Bond visits the chapel and I wonder if the graveyard is featured in that.) It is the gravestones that inform Silva as to the significance of the location Bond has brought him to, but I think that is as far as it goes for me.
If Christianity is one if the themes of SF, the implication is that Bond is a surrogate for Jesus. I've sometimes considered him an "agent of God" but never Jesus himself. I think Bond's actions really go against the fundamentals of Christianity. This would make Silva a kind of Devil figure, which I suppose I can buy into. Interestingly, Silva urges M to "think on her sins". This is a fairly religious turn of phrase.
However, to my mind, the overriding themes are of renewal and redemption, and relevance. Relevance is particularly focused on. Bond has to answer to whether or not he is still relevant. Is he too old, too unfit, played out? Is he (or M, or MI6) a grand old warship being ignominiously dragged away for scrap? M literally has to answer for her continued relevance, whilst MI6 is also put under the microscope. It moves locations a whopping 3 times in the film, the first two showing that the organisation is very vulnerable to attack. Even Q (already renewed) is scornful of what he considers to be old and outmoded. Bond, in his eyes, is a relic.
Renewal is evident in Bond's own resurrection, the appointment of a new M, Q, and Moneypenny (a renewed field agent), a new (old) MI6, the resurrection of the DB5 (for no other reason - certainly not a logical one), the reference to Bond's journey into manhood as he enters a priest hole for three days (hang on, three days?! That does sound pretty much like Jesus' resurrection) before he emerges as an adult. Also, Silva is resurrected. He is left for dead. He even kills himself, before emerging with a new name and new purpose.
As for redemption, M seeks it and finally gets it in the arms of Bond as she dies: "I did get one thing right." Bond gets it after he is able to overcome his handicaps and is able to defeat Silva (albeit too late to save M). Silva certainly seeks it. "Free us both" he says, although that's more salvation, I suppose - his acknowledgement that "it had to be here" in the chapel is a surprisingly Christian statement, recognising that his salvation could only come in a chapel. Mallory redeems himself, saving M, saving MI6 by becoming its new head, and keeping Bond on board at the end.
As I have written this post, I have seen more Christian elements in the film than I had first realised, but the religious allegory is still, to my mind, not as important a theme as that of relevance, renewal and redemption. But I will certainly think on this further.
And isnt it a little interesting how Satan has 5 letters and Silva does as well. Silva is a very serpentine sounding name also. Ssssilva. Could be nothing and then again could be everything. Hard to tell unless EON will sit down and be truthful.
BeatlesSansEarmuffs: Do you think Dominic Green will return in Bond 24 or Bond 25 ?
@doubleonothing, he was two days in the priest hole, not three.
I thought it was very good that the priest's hole was not explained. It didn't need to be, and it would have been silly to do so. No doubt some viewers had no idea what they are, but not knowing is no problem for understanding that it's a secret hiding place or in this case also an escape route. Too much explanation and teaching of audiences (of history or other stuff) in movies is irritating, often condescending and not helpful to the art.
As already mentioned above, Silva being a fallen angel was how Sam Mendes described him when they were creating the character. Also, Javier said Silva thought he was beautiful. And hey, "Skyfall"... :D Of course, "fallen angel" is not exclusively a Christian concept.
The dagger I thought as part of the old vs new theme, the relevance, value, usefulness of old beside all the new, and despite all the new. But also as the other part of "cloak and dagger" (to do with secrecy, intrigue, espionage, with spies and assassins). Kincade provides M with a symbolic cloak (I can't see any other reason for the shawl to be in the film), and Bond with the dagger.
The original post and comments are very interesting, I hope to see some more.
Aaah, "Villains' Union rules"... :P
What??
Second we don't have 2 full-body immersions in water for Bond, but 3 (Bond swims in the swimming pool).
I guess I'm counting the act of having FALLEN into the water (instead of merely swimming or showering) as our symbolic immersion. Nice point though, @maxcraig!
@chrisisall, an amusing one-liner, but I think the record shows that Bond died -- and rose again -- for M's sins.
@Tuulia, I take your point about the importance of keeping the craft of moviemaking uncluttered by the extraneous -- but I'm not sure that keeping the audience ignorant regarding the specifics of your protagonist's environment during a climactic battle is necessarily good craft either. Nonetheless, I wasn't meaning to suggest that the filmmakers SHOULD have told the audience what exactly a priest's hole was, as much as I was trying to be snarky about the general's public's level of knowledge, so for that misunderstanding and the attempted snark I do apologize, just in case the general public happens to be lurking anywhere about!
@M-Balje, I'm pretty sure Dominic Green won't be back anytime soon but it would be nice to see what Quantum's been up to.
@doubleoego, thinks for stating the point in just this fashion: "it's not done with deliberate intent to Christen the movie or Bond for that matter." Yes, I quite agree and would like to make clear to all who chose to involve themselves in this discussion.: I do not think any such proselytization was intended by the film-makers, nor am I suggesting that they should do such a thing.
And to @doubleonothing, in saying: "If Christianity is one if the themes of SF, the implication is that Bond is a surrogate for Jesus. I've sometimes considered him an "agent of God" but never Jesus himself. I think Bond's actions really go against the fundamentals of Christianity. This would make Silva a kind of Devil figure, which I suppose I can buy into. Interestingly, Silva urges M to "think on her sins". This is a fairly religious turn of phrase." ...I think you've hit on some very important points! I didn't mention the "Think on your sins" bit because the concept of sin is not exactly specific to Christianity...and again, I'm not urging for (nor am I even particularly comfortable with) Bond as surrogate for Jesus. Bond as an agent of God is another matter entirely, and I believe he can be the latter without needing to be the former. I also think the themes of Renewal, Redemption, and Relevance that you cite are most certainly present in the film, along with the religious symbology, and that this openness to a variety of different interpretations is part of what gives Skyfall its obvious and enormous appeal to Bond fans and non-fans alike. Finally, I'd love to see the "deleted scene where Bond visits the chapel" that you speak of -- can you provide a link?
Finally, to @timmer: yes, I'm aware of the priest on YouTube that you mention and freely admit that his review (which I saw not long after SF premiered) has informed my thinking on this topic. Again, if you could provide a link that would be most appreciated.
Thanks for participating everybody! -especially those like JWESTBROOK and @boldfinger who don't find much validity to the central theory proposed here in the first place!
That said....
Bond movies were never meant to be connected to religion in any way.
Bond exists in the netherworld between Heaven & Hell. Here. Now.
And in Heaven & Hell. Here. Now.
Yup, my bad. At least it wasn't 40 days and 40 nights.
:))
True. And I wouldn't say "connected", either, just sometimes (with SF certainly) using lots of symbolism, some of which happens to be (also) Christian.
I'd like to see/hear Robert Langdon's take on SF. :P
BTW. what movie is this clip from?
Quite right. Are you a Wordologist perchance, @doubleonothing?
I think he is actually an expert in nameology.
;)
I think you'll find the correct term is speakism.
Okay, okay -- since a quick joke (at my own expense, mind you!) hasn't been enough to forestall the rising tide of freelance English teachers, then I'll just have to resort to the "Edit" button! Is everybody happy now?
I am satisfied enough. Just called me a Contentologist.
I think it’s because we are generally uncomfortable with the very idea of spiritual faith, perhaps because we’re not really sure HOW we should respond to it. But this film requires that M -- and the audience as a whole -- “THINK ON YOUR SINS.” This time around, we are not alowed to ignore the bull in the confessional. James Bond is a sinner working on the side of the saints. Although he wears the metaphorical white hat, and thinks of himself as a knight in shining armor to any lady in distress, Bond routinely employs the tools of his enemies. He kills people as a condition of his employment; it’s in the job description…and as we all know, “Thou shalt not kill” is one of the biggies, Commandment-wise. Bond drinks, he smokes, he lies, and he has copious amounts of sex outside of the sanctity of marriage. According to conventional notions of morality, Bond would probably be judged a sinner of the first rank. I believe that this is why many of us would prefer not to even consider the strictures of most accepted spiritual beliefs in the world of Bond: he is our hero and we prefer to think of ourselves as good people. How can we make such a sinner our hero? Most of us prefer not to think about our own contradictory impulses, but for yours truly to do so is just another day at the office. So: in my opinion, one of the most interesting -- and surprising!-- subtexts of Skyfall is the treatment of the enduring power of spiritual faith, and Christianity in particular, in that movie. What say the rest of you?
IMO Bond is basically faithless. To juxtapose Christian (or other) religious values in context is fascinating IMO. That makes Bond like a sort of grim reaper.
(not like in Bill & Ted though) :))