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

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Bond is a career killer. It took Connery years to get out of the shadow of the role, Roger Moore never did.

[ingenious76.livejournal.com]

That's possibly because Moore is a relatively mediocre actor. But Elba would be superb.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Whatever happened to Timothy Dalton?

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

It's a difficult problem to overcome, when you're in a given role for a prolonged period - witness the difficulties several of the Doctors encountered, especially Tom Baker. Inevitably, that kind of extremely high-profile exposure leaves the role embedded in the popular consciousness.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Didn't Patrick Troughton advise one of his successors to get out after three years or pay the price>