Austin Powers
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Austin Powers is a series of American spy action comedy films: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002). The films were produced and written by Mike Myers, who also starred as the title character and Dr. Evil. They were directed by Jay Roach and distributed by New Line Cinema.
The franchise parodies numerous films and characters, including the James Bond series and Jason King, and incorporates myriad other elements of popular culture as it follows a British spy's quest to bring his nemesis down. The character of Powers represents an archetype of 1960s Swinging London, with his advocacy of free love, his use of obscure impressions and his clothing style.
The films poke fun at the outrageous plots, rampant sexual innuendo, and one-dimensional stock characters associated with 1960s spy films.
The general theme of the films is that the arch villain Dr. Evil plots to extort large sums of money from governments or international bodies but is constantly thwarted by Powers, and (to a degree) his own inexperience with life and culture in the 1990s.
In Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Austin and Dr. Evil are awakened after being placed in cryonic suspension for thirty years. Continuing to incorporate cultural elements of the 1960s and 1970s, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Austin Powers in Goldmember feature time travel as a plot device and deliberately overlook inconsistencies. A proposed fourth film, Austin Powers 4, has reportedly been in development since 2005, but has since been stalled.
