Symbol Watcher

Daniel Craig as 007

On Saturday night, I saw the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.  As I watched Bond grapple with his grief at loosing his lover Valenka (she died in Casino Royale), I was impressed by how the movie’s creators chose landscapes that mirrored Bond’s emotional state.

As Jungian analyst Marie Louis Von-Franz states in Man and His Symbols, “Landscapes in dreams (as well as in art) frequently symbolize an inexpressible mood.”  For instance, a steamy, tropical terrain may indicate feelings of heightened sexuality and passion.  A meadow blooming with spring flowers and vernal foliage may speak of rebirth and rejuvenation.  A late November scene of falling leaves may convey a pessimistic attitude, the end of a period of growth, or feeling unable to create something new.

It seems appropriate that so much of “Quantum” takes place in the arid heat of the South American desert.  It’s the perfect symbol for the ”inexpressible mood” Bond possesses through most of the movie.  He tries to hide his pain and anger both at feeling betrayed by Valenka and at loosing her. He can’t sleep.  He keeps her photo in his pocket.  A whisper of sadness shows in his eyes whenever her name is mentioned.  But Bond’s actions confess the rage that burns inside him.  Like the desert he travels through, Bond is consumed by a dry heat that relentlessly saps life.  Bond cannot create, only destroy.  His anger causes him to act carelessly.  He kills superfluously and leads others close to him into danger and death. 

I thought it was interesting that one of the few times Bond is around a substantial amount of water is when he is talking to Camille about loosing Valenka.  In turn, Camille shares the pain she felt at watching her family’s murder and her hopes to avenge their deaths. It’s when he’s with Camille that Bond finds a river running through a cavern.  Bond’s relatedness and connection to the moist, dark feminine (Camille) is expressed in the river that flows in the background.   

When Bond finally catches the man responsible for Valenka’s death, he has moved out of the desert and into the snowy cold of Russia.  The winter scape comments on an important change in Bond’s emotional state. As Bond is leaving, he throws Valenka’s necklace into the snow, illustrating his decision to close off his feeling side.  A coldness, even a detachment, is settling in Bond’s heart. 

Many of you know that Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace are the first chapters in the Bond story and so the movie’s closing scene seems to me to foreshadow the emotionally distant, playboy Bond so characteristic in later stories.

– Writeye

Posted on November 17th, 2008 under Jungian Psychology, Movies • Tags: landscape symbolism, Quantum of Solace movie. •  Print This Post •  Email This Post • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback