Subtext and themes (Page 1 of 4)

I'm not going to be any help on this one, as I only
Found out today that Patrice's gun was built into a
Briefcase.    if I couldn't  see that, I have no chance
Of seeing any subtle subtext or themes. 

First off - excellent thread, Barbel. 

I find the subtexts and themes fascinating. One of my favourites is the theme of Betrayal which runs through Goldeneye. It's as though, in the aftermath of the Cold War, nothing is quite what it seems anymore - nothing and no-one can be trusted.

Bond is betrayed by Trevelyan, Natalya is betrayed by Boris.
Bond says to Ouromov, "What has he promised you, this Coassack? You knew, didn't you? He's a Lienz Cossack... he'll betray you. Just like everyone else".
And of course, the British Government betrayed the Lienz Cossacks in the Second World War.

Is there also a sense that Bond betrays Trevelyan? "I knew that 007's loyalty was always to the mission, never to his friends". Of course, we know better: 007 would never betray his country - but he's prepared to drop his friends. Literally, in the case of Trevelyan. 

Excellent thread Barbel, but IMO you are overinterpreting things.

There is a common example in Germany which shows, that 2 isolated observations don't necessarily have something to do with each other:

Observation nr1: The populaion of Stork birds is decreasing for years in Germany
Observation nr.2: The birth rate  in Germany drops since years

So one could say from these observations, that the falling birth rate is caused by the increasingly absence of stork birds (which are said to bring the babies).

The entire "too old" "too young" theme in FYEO IMO had a much more simple reason:
To mock on Jimmy Bond's image to lay every chick in his presence within seconds. Roger Moore once said that it's hilarious that the baddies in his movies don't know the name "James Bond" while in the real western world every kid knows that he is a british secret agent.

Rejecting Bibi may be in the same context - just smiling to the audience "you know - he'd usually join her in a second but the entire scene is so absurd in real life that we do something different".

So, yes, there are certain "age" points in FYEO, but in my opinion, they have no real connection in a larger scheme.

Last edited by Higgins (20th Aug 2014 08:27)

Thanks Higgins. Yes, I may be overinterpreting but IMHO it's worth going into just for fun.
The English equivalent to your saying would roughly be "Two swallows do not a summer make".  I'm sure there is a bit of coincidence involved (or is there...?) but much of it is surely intentional. There are other examples to cite and points to make, but I'd rather others get involved than me make lists.

Thank you, Sir Miles!

" Coincidence ! I don't believe in them !". 
I do think perhaps even subconsciously when a script is being
Worked on some themes will work their way in. In the cases
Mentioned by Barbel, there seem too many to be mere coincidence. 

I'd be happy if you were consistent in your watch choices ! 

The Cold War was a fascinating, but dangerous Period in History 

Of course 

Okay, no-one's prepared to step forward with the honourable exception of Charmed & Dangerous who put up some interesting points about GE. So, it's back to me.

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE

The film is ostensibly about the Cold War, as AlphaOmegaSin hinted above. The theme, though, is sex. (Got your attention?  )

The most obvious example here is Bond being obliged to sleep with Tania as part of a plot forced on the two of them by their respective governments (in the book, she is under the direct orders of Mother Russia- in the film, she only thinks so.) Bond is attracted by Tania- who wouldn't be?- but is reluctant to, in Fleming's choice phrase, "pimp for England". She reluctantly goes along with her orders. Once they see each other, though, the orders are stuffed (cf TLD) and they truly are drawn together. A genuine attraction keeps them together for the rest of the story, apart from one instance where Bond doubts her after the death of Kerim and viciously slaps her.

James and Tania are presented as the central, "normal" couple and are contrasted with the other main characters surrounding them. Klebb is shown as a repulsive lesbian (hard to miss that), Grant is a psychotic asexual who achieves satisfaction through killing (much more of this in the book), Kerim has irrepressible sexual appetites (exactly how many sons does he have? "Biggest family payroll in Turkey"). The gypsy girl fight is there for the audiences's voyeuristic pleasure- again, the book scores higher than the film here. Terence Young has been quoted as saying to Fleming "Exactly how do you expect me to get that past the censors?!". The confrontation between Grant and Bond is heavy with symbolism- male/male dominance/submission primarily. Tania's having to choose between shooting Klebb and Bond at the end speaks for itself.

All Bond stories, by which I mean novels and films, have sex as a strong element. I suggest that only in FRWL is it the main theme of the story, ie the story would not exist without it. DN would work without Honey, GF without Pussy, etc. IMHO the only other Bond story which compares with FRWL in the strong sexual theme, and I know I'm going to get flack for this, is TWINE- and that has its own themes/subtext to deal with (Elektra is called Elektra for a reason, you know!).

Also, there's a lot of trains sliding in and out of tunnels ! 

No, they're all diesel electric these days.