The single Die Another Day by Madonna is the theme to the James Bond film, Die Another Day. The single which was released in late 2002, immediately shot to the chats in the United States and also the United Kingdom, selling over 167,863 copies. This made it the most successful Bond theme since Duran Duran’s – A View to Kill. Whilst Die Another Day, the single marked Madonna’s 20th career anniversary, the film marked the 40th anniversary of the James Bond franchise. Techno techniques and the fusion of dance have allowed this song to be more typical of a James Bond subgenre, as it has an aggressive beat which the clips have been cut to.
The music video was filmed form August 22nd – August 27th 2002, directed by a Swedish directing team named Traktor. It was filmed at Hollywood Center Studios in California. This was produced by Jim Bouvet and edited by Rick Russell. Overall the total sum of the production costs for the video was over a staggering $6,000,000, which makes this the second most expensive music video ever made after the hit music video Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson – Scream.
Throughout this video, it has references to several of the classic Bond films, including Dr No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, The Man With The Golden Gun, and Moonraker. This even contains a striking reference to the light saber battle between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker from one of the Star Wars sequels The Empire Strikes Back.
The main narrative of this music video is based upon Madonna being captured, interrogated, with intent to kill her before she manages to escape. The video is divided into two main parts; one with Madonna in real life being interrogated, the other is her dream which is representing her fighting her inner demons, as one is dressed all in black and the other all in white, both of which are her, the editing has allowed her to play the roles of both fencers. These symbolise the fight between bad and good in her mind. It dives straight into the action from the beginning of the video. The two characters are fencing and getting increasingly more violent, as they inflict more pain upon each other the real damage appears to materialize mentally and physically upon Madonna in real life. She is forcefully restrained and suffers, in a vicious struggle. In the video Madonna adopts the role of spy, almost a ‘female James Bond’ and is being interrogated by hostile forces. The villains are violent to Madonna unattractive, and are all Oriental or Asian males. Representing the film where in ‘Die another day’ the ethnic origins of the opposition is Oriental or Asian.
This music video goes against the usual forms and conventions of the Bond films in the way that the presentation of Madonna’s character is unglamorous, as she is covered in blood, bruises and is continually fighting. The perception of Madonna in this video is the complete opposite of a Bond girls’ usual appearance and mannerisms, rather than signifying her character as a ‘Bond Girl’, she has been represented as a female James Bond.
Madonna is her own institution and very much in control of her own image, with this being so, the violence and fighting within the scenes of this music video are stylised, as Madonna’s own quality has been added to the picture.
A common feature within music videos is that the song is regularly a straightforward story made complex by the narrative of the video. This is what has happened here, so in a way it is following the forms and conventions of a video with that narrative. This attracts a much larger audience of both James Bond and Madonna fans. However, the audience may be challenged with this video as it has been criticised as having an unconventional presentation since it may provoke disagreement because it features her progressing an interest in religious practices of Kabbalah which is a form of Jewish mysticism. This is the scene when Madonna is wrapping a leather band around her arm, which could possibly be suggesting self harm, drug abuse, or just the effects of what has happened to her whilst being interrogated. When Madonna is in the cells, she is addressing the audience by miming toward the cameras, which can convey to the typical style of a music video.
Contrasting the looks between the two main scenes, one being when she is interrogated in the dark, damp and dingy cells, showing her to be all bloody, dirty and sweaty where many close up shots were used to show the sentiment within her face and the damage to her body. In comparison, the black and white fencers fighting, is all very brightly lit, no blood is ever shown in this scene even when they have been injured, it always appears on Madonna in her external struggle, not the internal fight. Continually throughout this video it is dark versus light, which represents good versus bad.
As the fighting gets more forceful in her dream, especially when they are in the venation glass museum, all the smashing and breaking of the glasses symbolises the violence reaching a more severe point in Madonna’s reality. A mirror is broken, which can suggest seven years bad luck and this can faintly propose that she has a fractured personality. Extremely quick flashing clips have been used and many different close ups of Madonna.
Madonna is breaking the mould, as she is suggested to be a females Bond within this music video, making this not follow the Bond tradition. Toward the end of the video it has caused some debate as to how Madonna escapes from the electric chair, which is possibly something to do with the mystic Jewish practice she performed. The Hebrew expression לאו which means ‘great escape’ or ‘freedom’ was tattooed on her shoulder and also left marking the chair she had escaped from. The video ends with her running away from the chair which then turns into the classic gun barrel sequence with her silhouette in the middle.
This video could be seen as controversial and inappropriate in some particular clips, as it is based very much on the James Bond films, which can be brutal at times. When she is being victimized and smashing things, I can imagine this not being suitable for a younger audience, as parents may believe it can influence them.
The unusual perception of glamour and sex has challenged those of the forms and conventions of any other Madonna videos. However as the purpose of this music video is to advertise and sell the song and movie. I think it has done a good job of catching the audience’s eye, which it has done so by the woman taking over the male for the character of Bond, standing up to the opposition, and escaping, making it a large success and insight a popular music video.
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