Common misconceptions about Bond
Ornithologist
BerlinPosts: 583MI6 Agent
I thought it would be fun to have a topic dedicated to common misconceptions about James Bond. I have noticed quite a few circulating among the despicable group known as the general public, but I am sure there are more and it probably varies among regions and age groups?
So, I'll start and look forward to what you can come up with.
1. Bond is English
Well, literary Bond was most likely originally intended as an Englishmen, but according to the "official" biography he was the son of a Scot and a Swiss woman, and born in Wattenscheid, Germany (of all places). Fleming allegedly added the Scottish heritage later when he changed his originally unfavorable opinion of Sean Connery.
2. He must therefore always be played by English actors
Very commonly uttered in discussions about the next Bond, this is plainly wrong.
Bond actors have included a Scotsman (Connery), Australian (Lazenby), Welshman (Dalton), and Irishman (Brosnan).
3. Bond is a sexist, misogynist dinosaur
I have always disagreed with this one, as much as I like the dialogue between Dench and Brosnan in that scene. To be fair I have not yet read all of the novels (shame, I know), and there may be some evidence to it there.
But movie-wise, I think although we see Connery-Bond smacking bottoms, choking women with their bikinis and excluding them from "man talk", and Craig-Bond calling Vesper a "bloody idiot" and "bitch", I think Bond has nothing whatsoever against women. The sexism of the 1960s was probably not limited to James Bond movies, and considering how many men he has killed over the years, some of them in cold blood, Bond should, by that flawed logic, be called a misandrist if anything.
Speaking of killing
4. Bond is an assassin
This claim actually has some merit, but is at least debatable. More on that here: http://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/46885/is-james-bond-an-assassin/
5. The movies feed on out-dated clichés, because the villains are always "the Russians"
I don't know about you, but I hear this a lot here in Germany, possibly stemming from the fact that people think they remember Russian villains from Goldeneye, which came out after the fall of the Soviet Union. People who actually watch the movies however know that while a lot of them are indirectly linked to the Cold War, most feature "rogue" or lone operator villains, which was sometimes (as in FRWL) changed deliberately to avoid real-life political tensions.
6. Bond always drinks Martini
Vodka Martini. Small but important difference (and don't get me started about the confusion caused by Baccardi branding their Vermouth as "Martini"...)
7. Bond thinks of women as disposable pleasures, rather than meaningful pursuits
Can you blame a guy when in the two cases where he fell in love and was ready to commit and leave his job for them (or, indeed, married already) had the girl either murdered or her commiting suicide?
8. Maybe James Bond is just a code-name
No. It is not.
9.....
to be continued
So, I'll start and look forward to what you can come up with.
1. Bond is English
Well, literary Bond was most likely originally intended as an Englishmen, but according to the "official" biography he was the son of a Scot and a Swiss woman, and born in Wattenscheid, Germany (of all places). Fleming allegedly added the Scottish heritage later when he changed his originally unfavorable opinion of Sean Connery.
2. He must therefore always be played by English actors
Very commonly uttered in discussions about the next Bond, this is plainly wrong.
Bond actors have included a Scotsman (Connery), Australian (Lazenby), Welshman (Dalton), and Irishman (Brosnan).
3. Bond is a sexist, misogynist dinosaur
I have always disagreed with this one, as much as I like the dialogue between Dench and Brosnan in that scene. To be fair I have not yet read all of the novels (shame, I know), and there may be some evidence to it there.
But movie-wise, I think although we see Connery-Bond smacking bottoms, choking women with their bikinis and excluding them from "man talk", and Craig-Bond calling Vesper a "bloody idiot" and "bitch", I think Bond has nothing whatsoever against women. The sexism of the 1960s was probably not limited to James Bond movies, and considering how many men he has killed over the years, some of them in cold blood, Bond should, by that flawed logic, be called a misandrist if anything.
Speaking of killing
4. Bond is an assassin
This claim actually has some merit, but is at least debatable. More on that here: http://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/46885/is-james-bond-an-assassin/
5. The movies feed on out-dated clichés, because the villains are always "the Russians"
I don't know about you, but I hear this a lot here in Germany, possibly stemming from the fact that people think they remember Russian villains from Goldeneye, which came out after the fall of the Soviet Union. People who actually watch the movies however know that while a lot of them are indirectly linked to the Cold War, most feature "rogue" or lone operator villains, which was sometimes (as in FRWL) changed deliberately to avoid real-life political tensions.
6. Bond always drinks Martini
Vodka Martini. Small but important difference (and don't get me started about the confusion caused by Baccardi branding their Vermouth as "Martini"...)
7. Bond thinks of women as disposable pleasures, rather than meaningful pursuits
Can you blame a guy when in the two cases where he fell in love and was ready to commit and leave his job for them (or, indeed, married already) had the girl either murdered or her commiting suicide?
8. Maybe James Bond is just a code-name
No. It is not.
9.....
to be continued
"I'm afraid I'm a complicated woman. "
"- That is something to be afraid of."
"- That is something to be afraid of."
Comments
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wish-i-was-at-disneyland/id1202780413?mt=2
Actually, a misogynist is someone who has a problem with women. It is defined as a "hatred or dislike of, or prejudice against women." I never saw Bond as a misogynist, he just has some outdated attitudes towards women that have slowly gone away. But Craig sees Bond as a misogynist.
Thank you.
The movie Bond’s attitude toward women is a direct adaptation of the book Bond and we know though not 100%, Bond inherited much of his worldview from his creator. From Page 161 of “Ian Fleming” by Andrew Lycett:
[After Ian Fleming enlisted his friend, Alan Schneider to help him get rid of a drunk, female US Army captain and avoided talking about it ever again...] “Schneider attributed this eccentric behavior to Ian’s ruthlessness towards women. Whether they were well-born Englishwomen or US Army officers, “he treated them all the same way. He got bored with them fast and could be brutal about it. He had absolutely no jealousy. He explained to me that women were not worth that much emotion. But with it all, he had an abiding and continual interest in sex with out any sense of shame or guilt.” Ian told Schneider crudely that “women were like pets, like dogs, men were the only real human beings, the only ones he could be friends with”.”
Of course, Fleming knew better than to be this blatant when writing for the world and he portrayed Bond to be caring toward women through his thoughts and attitudes. But action speaks a lot louder than words, even in narrative. IMO, this attitude even made its way to the movies when Bond seemed nearly unaffected by the deaths of Tania Mallet in GF or Aki in YOLT.
1. Bond is a lady-killer. If you read the books and watch the earliest films, Bond gets involved primarily with social climbers and "damaged" women. It's not so much that Bond is attractive to all women as he is to certain ones, and usually those who are trying to use him for something. Even in the Moore years, which arguably are the worst at presenting Bond's prowess, he still tends to get involved with only certain types of women.
2.) Connery's Bond was indestructible. Actually, Connery's Bond takes a beating in quite a few of the films. And Connery's Bond looks beaten, worried, angry, frightened, and so forth. What the filmmakers did was work to make his efforts to conceal it obvious but under the outward appearance of humor and stoicism, which increased over the course of the films, but Connery still shows Bond to be affected by his travails.
3.) Bond is a misogynist. Misogyny involves the hatred of women. Bond did not hate women. One could argue that he is sexist, but then one could argue all men are by definition sexist in a patriarchal society. Bond clearly did not like certain kinds of women -- generally the ones trying to kill him -- and he clearly read types of women well -- the ones who wanted him sexually but played hard to get. These are concepts lost in the modern thinking about sexism, where the definitions are far less nuanced. Thus, a viewer in 1964 would be unlikely to see the Goldfinger barn seen as rape, but a viewer in 2016 would be very likely to see it as so, regardless of the intent of the filmmakers. If we are to assume Bond is misogynist because of how he treats some women, we must assume he is racist because of how he treats some members of races.
4.) Bond is consumed by his childhood depression. In the books, Bond goes through myriad emotions, and he does in the earlier films as well. He is not defined by a single moment of his life any more than the rest of us typically are. The later films treat him as a Bruce Wayne-like psychological mess, but while Bond has his bouts of depression, he is by an large more than just a functioning basket-case.
5.) Bond must always rebel. In many of the films, Bond is seen as being petulant and occasionally disobeying orders. This has essentially become part of the formula by now, but the reality is that Bond follows procedure the vast majority of time. If nothing else, he relies on them to get him through. What Bond does often do is exercise the critical thinking an agent in the field must have to operate when out of contact with his or her home base.
6.) Bond is a free-thinking progressive. Movie heroes often are presented as rather liberal in their ideology, but Bond really is quite conservative, defending the realm against attack. While he has a strong moral streak, he seems far more likely to keep things as they are than to move them forward.
7.) Bond always thinks he's right. Movie Bond, especially early on, takes time to figure out the mystery, and he more than once makes a bad decision. He recovers but sometimes at great expense. While Bond in the later films seems much more confident and accurate, he can make mistakes.
Bond is a know- it all
This happened a lot during the Roger Moore era. Bond would recall a villain's dossier from memory at the drop of a hat, but he would have a vague idea about certain other subjects. An example would be in Dr No where he gives M a definition of what toppling is, but the tone of his voice indicates he's unsure.
" I don't listen to hip hop!"
Fair enough. I guess I should have said then that he's a sexist in his own way, but maybe not a misogynist.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wish-i-was-at-disneyland/id1202780413?mt=2
Bond "thinks of women as disposable pleasures, rather than meaningful pursuits". Isn't Bond's womanising a product of losing Vesper to his dangerous world?
Bond is British, not English. A distinction that is likely to become more defined in the next few years. Many international audiences may not be fully aware of or care about the distinction and Bond is often synonymous with Englishness. For me it's important and contributes to Bond's 'outsider status'. He works for the establishment, but doesn't quite fit within it.
And thank you, too.
My point exactly...
And how would Vesper know that about Bond having just me him, let alone have the audacity to pull him up on it. Fleming would have hated what they did to his book.
Generally though and pointing no fingers at any film or actor ( I love them all) I think any characterisation of Bond should hold Fleming's original key character aspects dear, I'm not sure why certain aspects of the novels are dropeed in the films, I love the beginning of CR and thought it could look wonderfully on film.
That's why I sincerely hope we'll get a new actor who is behind that. Like Dalton who is said to have read all the books and referenced them even while shooting the films.
"- That is something to be afraid of."