Quiet Day, So I'm Wittering About James Bond

[poliphilo]

Bond works for the government. As an assassin. He's an establishment man- sexist, materialist, brutal.  No, I've never liked him.

I keep thinking I should maybe read one of the original books and then I think, no, I don't believe I can be bothered.

The films aren't nearly as good as we're supposed to think they are. Early Bond is to the thriller what the Carry On films are to comedy. Middle period Bond is vaudeville.  In the recent films he becomes a superhero.

I find his continued popularity faintly depressing.

Rush Limbaugh says it's inconceivable the character should be played by a black man. Oh, for fuck's sake, Bond is fiction. And he keeps being rebooted and updated. If it were incumbent on the film-makers to stay entirely true to Fleming's original conception Bond, who first appeared in 1953, would have to be played by a man in his nineties.

Besides, Idris Elba is just about the sexiest, most charismatic male actor around. He'd be perfect for the role.

If you like that kind of thing...

Comments

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I did read a lot of the original Bond books when I was in my teens. I enjoyed them at the time, but I suspect they were a product of their time. As to the film Bond, I've never like him until some of the recent incarnations. As to him being a superhero, he is up to a point, but I find him less so than the American versions such as Bourne.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I took some kids to see Moonraker once. Apart from that I don't think I've ever sat though a Bond movie from beginning to end.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

I suspect Moonraker may be among the worst, if indeed not the worst, of a less than stellar lot. I claim to enjoy some of the Bond movies, but they're spotty at best. Tried reading one of the books in my youth and couldn't. Perhaps I should try again.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I remember very little about it apart from space shuttles being involved.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Lucky man, I suspect.