Does Bond appeal to our darker side?

chrisisall · March 2014

Does our fascination with Bond appeal to the dark, disconnected side of ourselves that flings off the idea of a loving God, spirituality in general, and the good in humanity for a world of greys and indeterminate causes for conflict & human suffering? Do we enjoy Bond's sometimes easy-to-comprehend exploits as a catharsis for the more complex and troublesome world in which we live? Is Bond himself a symbol of Nietzscheian philosophy? An existentialist, postmodernist and post-structuralist construct of modern day man?
I see the character of Bond being somewhat in tune with Heraclitus in that ever present change occurs, yet a persistent measurable homoeostasis is observable.
But like Arthur Pendragon, Bond would slay foes of his SPECTRE, yet never keep in his arms the love of his life...he found it and it was taken away, like Hera took it from Hercules. Much wrath ensued.
I like the juxtaposition of the dark icy assassin and the man with a moral compass. In this seeming dichotomy we have the tensions in flux that bring Bond's character to life in an interesting way.

Am I over-thinking Bond?

AlphaOmegaSin · March 2014

You may be just a Tad

Barbel · March 2014

Maybe you should read "The Devil With James Bond", by Ann S. Boyd (I believe it's available online). It may be of interest in this line of thought.

Higgins · March 2014

chrisisall wrote:

Does our fascination with Bond appeal to the dark, disconnected side of ourselves that flings off the idea of a loving God, spirituality in general, and the good in humanity for a world of greys and indeterminate causes for conflict & human suffering? Do we enjoy Bond's sometimes easy-to-comprehend exploits as a catharsis for the more complex and troublesome world in which we live? Is Bond himself a symbol of Nietzscheian philosophy? An existentialist, postmodernist and post-structuralist construct of modern day man?
I see the character of Bond being somewhat in tune with Heraclitus in that ever present change occurs, yet a persistent measurable homoeostasis is observable.
But like Arthur Pendragon, Bond would slay foes of his SPECTRE, yet never keep in his arms the love of his life...he found it and it was taken away, like Hera took it from Hercules. Much wrath ensued.
I like the juxtaposition of the dark icy assassin and the man with a moral compass. In this seeming dichotomy we have the tensions in flux that bring Bond's character to life in an interesting way.

Am I over-thinking Bond?

have you been drinking?

thesecretagent · March 2014

Yes. You really are overthinking Bond. That said, we all have at some point.

I for one would love to do a tenth of what Bond does and get away with it. I'd love to beat the s**t out of someone who crossed me and not get charged with assault. I'd love to jump in someone else's car and race at 150mph through traffic, smashing cars out the way, J-turn through junctions - but it's hard to justify such behaviour because I'm ten minutes late on the school run... And I'd love to drink six vespers and not dance on a chair with my pants on my head... And yes, before I was married I'd have loved to have had continuous casual sex with beautiful women every night... Actually, I'd still like that last one... :v

Thunderpussy · March 2014

For me Bond is almost a modern Fairytale, Bond as a knight fighting a dragon ( the villain )
Saving a maiden, etc.

) To appeal to my dark side I watch the "Saw " films ( I love Horror )

)

AlphaOmegaSin · March 2014

I too, would love to get Revenge on the Bastard who killed my Wife

Blackleiter · March 2014

chrisisall wrote:

Does our fascination with Bond appeal to the dark, disconnected side of ourselves that flings off the idea of a loving God, spirituality in general, and the good in humanity for a world of greys and indeterminate causes for conflict & human suffering? Do we enjoy Bond's sometimes easy-to-comprehend exploits as a catharsis for the more complex and troublesome world in which we live? Is Bond himself a symbol of Nietzscheian philosophy? An existentialist, postmodernist and post-structuralist construct of modern day man?
I see the character of Bond being somewhat in tune with Heraclitus in that ever present change occurs, yet a persistent measurable homoeostasis is observable.
But like Arthur Pendragon, Bond would slay foes of his SPECTRE, yet never keep in his arms the love of his life...he found it and it was taken away, like Hera took it from Hercules. Much wrath ensued.
I like the juxtaposition of the dark icy assassin and the man with a moral compass. In this seeming dichotomy we have the tensions in flux that bring Bond's character to life in an interesting way.

Am I over-thinking Bond?

Put those books away! You're giving me a headache!

)

chrisisall · March 2014

Blackleiter wrote:

Put those books away! You're giving me a headache! )

I was attempting to sound scholarly. ;%

Number24 · March 2014

It was about time someone other than Roger Moore raised a brow that high around here B-)

Bond has a duality to him: part of the appeal is the dark side - the fast cars, fast women the licence to kill. At the same time he works for the establishment, restores order and protects the weak. I think both sides of Bond appeals to me.

I know I like(d) to drive as fast as I dared along the local roads, something I could because I live in a thinly populated region with a much thinner poulation of police. Part of what I liked about military service was how the rules were turned upside-down. A fireman came and tought us how to make molotov coctails. Standing in line at the local grocery store with an assault rifle slung over my shoulder felt natural pretty fast. And who wouldn't like to behave like Bond when we see a beautiful woman? These things appeal to us, and Bond let us dream of doing them without remorse.

Gassy Man · March 2014

chrisisall wrote:

Does our fascination with Bond appeal to the dark, disconnected side of ourselves that flings off the idea of a loving God, spirituality in general, and the good in humanity for a world of greys and indeterminate causes for conflict & human suffering? Do we enjoy Bond's sometimes easy-to-comprehend exploits as a catharsis for the more complex and troublesome world in which we live? Is Bond himself a symbol of Nietzscheian philosophy? An existentialist, postmodernist and post-structuralist construct of modern day man?
I see the character of Bond being somewhat in tune with Heraclitus in that ever present change occurs, yet a persistent measurable homoeostasis is observable.
But like Arthur Pendragon, Bond would slay foes of his SPECTRE, yet never keep in his arms the love of his life...he found it and it was taken away, like Hera took it from Hercules. Much wrath ensued.
I like the juxtaposition of the dark icy assassin and the man with a moral compass. In this seeming dichotomy we have the tensions in flux that bring Bond's character to life in an interesting way.

Am I over-thinking Bond?

Yes, you're overthinking Bond. He was a fun character in the Connery days, not a brooding one. In the books, he goes through his dark periods, but he is still the classic knight errant.

chrisisall · March 2014

Gassy Man wrote:

he is still the classic knight errant.

-{

superado · March 2014

chrisisall wrote:

Does our fascination with Bond appeal to the dark, disconnected side of ourselves that flings off the idea of a loving God, spirituality in general, and the good in humanity for a world of greys and indeterminate causes for conflict & human suffering? Do we enjoy Bond's sometimes easy-to-comprehend exploits as a catharsis for the more complex and troublesome world in which we live? Is Bond himself a symbol of Nietzscheian philosophy? An existentialist, postmodernist and post-structuralist construct of modern day man?
I see the character of Bond being somewhat in tune with Heraclitus in that ever present change occurs, yet a persistent measurable homoeostasis is observable.
But like Arthur Pendragon, Bond would slay foes of his SPECTRE, yet never keep in his arms the love of his life...he found it and it was taken away, like Hera took it from Hercules. Much wrath ensued.
I like the juxtaposition of the dark icy assassin and the man with a moral compass. In this seeming dichotomy we have the tensions in flux that bring Bond's character to life in an interesting way.

Am I over-thinking Bond?

I should show this post to my son, who's currently enjoying a survey of philosophy as part of his political science requirements. I myself have a few scholarly books on Bond (JB and Philosophy, Politics of JB, Revisioning 007, etc.) that I've barely cracked open, but the contributors really went egghead on Bond and actually talked about this stuff at length...so there may be something there. I was just reading this post on either CBN or MI6 about a letter Fleming wrote to CBS, stating how despite the "A" class he envisioned for as his books audience, he was surprised to discover that the "B" and "C" classes also enjoyed it (the article implied though it may have been a slight to CBS to subtly mention their competition, ABC).

My take on this? Well, for every cultural icon, it's interesting to scratch a bit deeper into the surface to see exactly what about these characters, trends of fads that people find appealing. Anyway, as far as appeal, I think it's interesting to see exactly what about Bond appealed to different people through the decades. I think beginning with the 60's, the Bond series provided a pedigreed polish to what was previously considered as crude, e.g., sex and excessive violence. From an American perspective, add to that how Bond was British, which just made his exploits all the more cooler with the stamp from the establishment. But since then, what has appealed to people? I'm sure part of it is Bond's fantasy element, in that his world is as fantastic as it could get in short of having supernatural elements. Then, there's the appeal to the individualistic spirit (and growing sense of self-entitlement?) that I think virtually a chunk of contemporary media heroes have tapped into (e.g., any movie staring Sly, Arnold, Bruce Willis and even more current guys like Stratham and Dwayne Johnson). Like I said, egghead stuff yes, but looking a bit deeper will give some clues of what our world looks like at any given time and what one sees can be good or bad.

chrisisall · March 2014

superado wrote:

I should show this post to my son, who's currently enjoying a survey of philosophy as part of his political science requirements.

I think he'd say, "I dunno Pop, this guy sounds like he barely knows what he's actually talkin' about."

)

Thunderpussy · March 2014

You're going to have to narrow that statement down a bit, There are so
Many of us on AJB who don't know what we're talking about.

)

chrisisall · March 2014

I don't know what you're talking about.

Does Bond appeal to our darker side?

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