News on NO TIME TO DIE (no spoilers)

A black guy couldn’t do that? Or a woman? Probably not a gay dude, but the films would likely change in that case.

“Don’t flatter yourself, what I did, I did for queen and country!”

OHMSS, CR and Spectre would be unusable without changes in that context, I suppose, but I think how often they’ve shown Bond to use sex as an espionage tactic, probably keeps most narratives intact.

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Fair enough, lol.

I’m not proud of it, but a laughed my arse off at Bond’s ‘winkie’ :grimacing:

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…only slightly judging you…

Worrying about something that is not planned to happen and nobody in charge has ever said that they even contemplate it… what do you call this again?

Oh, right. The Internet.

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“But Mike from accounting said, that Gina from HR told him…”

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They must be running out of female innuendo names now - time to get to the innuendo laden named men! Easter Johnson - he definitely doesn’t come once a year, Vietnamese informant Phuc Kieu, the handsome CIA agent Dick Champion…

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In fairness, that aspect been dead since before I, and looking at your name, you were born.

Glad to see you’re Onatopp of this :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

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The sexism, misogyny, homophobia and xenophobia? He’s not very nice. It’s how Fleming wrote him and apparently that’s sacrosanct.

If anyone wants to claim those “qualities” as being only capable of depiction by a white male then it’s a curious argument.

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I know, and, having read your articles love you for, are being sardonic, but, as he braces himself for rebuttal, havn’t the films long eschewed those aspects that the rich, middle aged, white man held (and indeed his ilk still hold) for a more self knowledgable view of the lead characters detriments?

That was weirdly more confrontational than I intended…this was in nodding agreement.

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Yes, the films have smoothed those away. I do worry about all the claims about “going back to Fleming” the producers sometimes make - fortunately, these rarely pay off. Good.

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The “back to Fleming” aspects I wouldn’t mind seeing a bit more of are the “gentleman spy” characteristics: the tough man with the smooth exterior who has some coolness and sophistication, is a disciplined Puritan in some ways but indulges himself on the job. Someone who, when he moves into a new flat, would hang pictures and lay in some rugs. I like many, many things about Craig’s Bond, but the image of someone who lives only for his job and who still has his tie and shoulder holster on at 9 in the evening doesn’t appeal to me that much.

I think there are aspects of Bond luxuriating in Craig’s performance - they just are relatively rare and far apart and Craig hardly gets to enjoy them: the train voyage to Montenegro and the meal after the poker duel as well as the journey to Venice; changing hotels in QUANTUM OF SOLACE, the meeting with Moneypenny at some resort in SKYFALL and the train journey in SPECTRE.

Granted, Craig doesn’t seem to have a life outside his assignments - where Connery, Moore, Dalton and Brosnan clearly had their hobbies. But there’s a decent chance NO TIME TO DIE may provide an altered image of Craig’s Bond…

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Of course, there was the scorpion scene at the bar in Skyfall.

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Ah yes, never forget the good times…

I’ve read Ant Middleton’s books, and he explains it well. Highly trained operators need elements of danger/excitement to keep things interesting. They need projects to fight boredom, otherwise their lives can spiral out of control and become destructive for themselves and others. Craig’s Bond lives an existential life with alcohol and women, but when on a mission, that mission gives him meaning and purpose. When he’s on his own without a mission, or a meaningful long term partner, the purpose is greatly reduced. And that’s when the alcohol and such could really become a problem.

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No, I don’t think they have eschewed them, but they have examined them. In order to examine them in such intimate detail the lead character needs to pocess them - those detrimental qualities. Craig possesses many and the strength of his tenure has been the willingness to wear them on his sleeve in order to examine them.

Who wants a 2D hero who ticks all the ‘right on’ boxes and says all the correct things? Fleming was a fan of Chandler and Bond is as humanely corrupted as Marlowe is cynically wise cracking.

Whatever gender or colour that uncomfortable cog within the establishment; that autocratic, self determining, initiative taking double-0 may someday assume, becoming PC will be a prelude his/her/its own extinction.

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i mean what does PC mean in this context? I can’t think of anything about Bond that isn’t PC at this point - he’s hardly running around sticking it to “SJWs” or being insulting or disrespectful to minorities - We’re certainly past alcoholism being some source of massive world ending controversy, the people accused of being PC are much more sexually liberal (assuming its consensual) than the side of politics that seeks to regulate women’s bodies and discriminate against loving relationships because they don’t fit with their worldview - so unless you’re in deep deep deep religious territory… Bond is very much PC in the modern context - a flawed human being is not un-PC

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