From: Adam Kempenaar
To: Sam Hallgren; Eric Baker
Subject: Bond, a historical perspective
In his last post, Sam wondered: "Are their guiltless Bond gourmands out there?" In fact, there are, including my friend Chris Kaduce, who has written in with a nicely-detailed historical perspective on 'Die Another Day' and the Bond franchise. But before I get to Chris' remarks, I wanted to mention that I think Eric is really onto something when he discusses the commercialization of James Bond. It's not a startling notion really; the marketing of Bond has been in high-gear ever since Brosnan revitalized the series -- with BMW, most notably -- but 'Die Another Day' really could be seen as simply a 130-minute commercial. Eric writes: "Bond transforms from a gruff refugee to Rico Suave in a matter of minutes with the new Norelco super razor." It's funny because what struck me as odd about the scene where we see Bond shaving is that they don't show him actually shave off the the thick beard he developed in the North Korean jail; they just show him smoothing himself up afterwards with the electric razor because that is what they are selling. (I can't recall if the Bond people are in bed with Norelco, or another company, but I know I have seen the ads). Also, Eric reminded me that the Madonna cameo is, in fact, really bad -- so bad she makes Halle Berry look like...well...an Oscar winner. To Madonna's credit, however, I saw the movie Sunday and I still haven't been able to get that damn techno theme song out of my head. I'm sure Eric was up in the aisles doing the "Robot" during the credits. Now to Chris' analysis:
Critic proof? Perhaps -- like any franchise movie, you know what you're getting when you walk up to the box office window. It's hard to criticize DAD for being what it is. But part of the amazing 40-year success of the Bond franchise is that is has shifted ever so slightly through the years, while remaining true to the essence of what it means to be James Bond. Little boys dream of being Superman or Batman---once they grow up, they dream of being James Bond: a guy who knows exactly what to do and say in every situation, in control of every predicament, who lives for the moment.
In the 60's, the emphasis was on the suave and debonair aspect of the character. Bond got to do things, see places, and bed women that you would never experience. The plots were relatively small in scope (watch 1961's Dr. No now, and you'll wonder what all the fuss was about), and the series had the feel of gilded detective series. Bond was cold and almost inhuman (although not as dark as in the books), and this character was maintained throughout most of the 60's. The lone exception: the underappeciated On Her Majesty's Secret Service, which had it featured Sean Connery, would probably have gone down as the best Bond film ever.
In the 70's, Bond was forced to change, not only to reflect the movie times, but to ward off a bunch of hokey rip-off series (Man from UNCLE, Our Man Flint). The films Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, and the Man With the Golden Gun reflect the times in which they were made--the Smokey and the Bandit, gratuitous car chase, crash and shoot 'em up films most Gen X guys grew up on.
Roger Moore is credited (or denounced) as giving Bond an almost comical, campy feel throughout his 7 films. The wisecracking, push-button-to-eliminate-danger Bond lasted until Moore's last film, 1985's View To a Kill. In an effort to make the franchise edgier, Timothy Dalton was cast as Bond in 2 relatively-disappointing films (from a financial perspective). Dalton was also brought in to replace the nearly fossilized Roger Moore (although Dalton is only 3 or 4 years younger than Moore). It turns out that the producers had the right idea, but the wrong time and the wrong guy. Pierce Brosnan's more psychologically vulnerable Bond (along with copious product endorsements) has brought the franchise back to box office gold.
3 of the last 4 Bond movies have dealt with the betrayal of someone close to James. Our hero feels pain, shoots women, and visibly shows anguish and sorrow. It may not sound like much, but these characteristics were taboo for the first 16 films of the series. DAD takes the vulnerable Bond to the extreme, showing our hero looking disheveled and being tortured in a North Korean prison. Can you imagine Roger Moore in such a position? He'd be more likely to double-poke the interrogators eyes, Stooges-style.
As for DAD, my biggest complaint was the number of reused plot elements already seen in past Bond films. There's the satellite solar laser (Diamonds Are Forever), the MI6 double-agent (Goldeneye), the property-destroying sword battle (Moonraker), the laser cutting table (Goldfinger), the Hong Kong hideout (The Man With the Golden Gun), the secret, new-face-on-old body science lab (Diamonds Are Forever). There's paying homage to the past, and simply recycling old ideas. But that's about it -- well, that, and having Mr. Blonde as the American spy boss.
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