Why is there the Fakery of the Occult in Live and Let Die (1973)?
Silhouette Man
The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,672MI6 Agent
To be specific here I am referring to what one might call the fakery of the occult present at times in Live and Let Die (1973). By this I mean those scenes in the film where instead of the occult being used naturally as if it exists for real (e.g. Solitaire using ESP and reading the tarot cards and telling of Bond's arrival etc., Baron Samedi's return from the dead at the end) there is the use of fakery of the occult.
For example, the scarecrows with built-in surveillance cameras and guns (one of which is used to kill Rosie Carver) and most especially the robotic version of Baron Samedi that rises out of the ground (rather like the Devil) only for Bond to fire his revolver at it and blow its head off. We see that instead of Baron Samedi rising from the ground in an occult manner he is actually on a lift that brings him to the surface from Dr Kananga's underground base. It's always struck me as a very weird and unexplained moment from the film.
What I'm left wondering is was the writer/director trying to suggest that the occult is real or the occult is fake and used to keep the superstitious and devout Voodoo natives of the islands of San Monique in check through "the voodoo threat of Baron Samedi" as in the original Bond novel with Mr Big as the villain? Was this a White Man casting doubt on the real power of Voodoo as a religion and practice or that Kananga added to the natural power of Voodoo with a little occult fakery of his own just for good measure?
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one, as always!
-{
For example, the scarecrows with built-in surveillance cameras and guns (one of which is used to kill Rosie Carver) and most especially the robotic version of Baron Samedi that rises out of the ground (rather like the Devil) only for Bond to fire his revolver at it and blow its head off. We see that instead of Baron Samedi rising from the ground in an occult manner he is actually on a lift that brings him to the surface from Dr Kananga's underground base. It's always struck me as a very weird and unexplained moment from the film.
What I'm left wondering is was the writer/director trying to suggest that the occult is real or the occult is fake and used to keep the superstitious and devout Voodoo natives of the islands of San Monique in check through "the voodoo threat of Baron Samedi" as in the original Bond novel with Mr Big as the villain? Was this a White Man casting doubt on the real power of Voodoo as a religion and practice or that Kananga added to the natural power of Voodoo with a little occult fakery of his own just for good measure?
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one, as always!
-{ "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
Comments
To terrify and control the community. The fake Baron Samedi, I guess
could be used when he was away from the island, or appear to be on
different parts of the island at the same time, adding to his mystery,
Occult status. In many was, Mr Big was using technology to enhance
the voodoo magic.
The fakery used in the film echoes that nicely.
Great common sense answer! I like how the filmakers used the "villains exploiting peoples superstitions to keep them away from thier lair/criminal doings." A plot device used in Dr No, with the "Dragon".
" I don't listen to hip hop!"
As superado suggests, it would be odd if Solitaire's accurate predictions (up till Bond, ah, relieves her of her powers) were merely coincidence, or that Baron Samedi is somehow immune to snake bites.
After thinking this over more (that's dangerous, my dad always used to say
I thought the direction of the movie was to assuage the perception that the novel was racist. I thought the movie should have left the viewers pondering whether voodoo was real or fake, but the movie turned into faux blacksploitation film with black racism against whites.