Why do so many intelligent people like James Bond?

[crabby_lioness]

I grew up watching Bond movies with my Dad.  I've seen all the Connery movies, the Moore movies, and the Lazenby movie; and I find Bond repellent.  He's got a catchy theme song and cool toys; but he's a terrible excuse for a human being, and I say that as someone who likes many dark characters.  Yet many otherwise sensible people like him.  I don't get it.

Watching him as a child, I figured out early on that Bond is a thug in a Saville Row suit that the government lets off the leash of civilization to protect us from other thugs in Saville Row suits.  But he's still a thug who doesn't care who dies in the process.  He'd have sex with a girl, and if someone attacked him in the process, she would end up with the knife in her back.  Oh the story would tell you she was a "bad" girl who deserved it, but I had no doubt the same thing would happen to an "innocent" girl.  The only reason anyone came out alive from the vicinity of Bond was because he didn't happen to need them as a human shield at the precise moment they were within arm's length.

Yes, I know Kerr Avon would do the same thing, but Avon wouldn't let someone get emotionally close to him for that very reason.  That's why I like Avon and can't stand Bond.

This brutality might be justified if Bond were "the only one who could save us", but that's not the case.  The stories also make it clear there's a literal army of other people working with him.   Don't tell me someone there couldn't do a better job or find a better way.

And all the damage this does to his psyche is never addressed.  I have PTSD, I know about being one of the walking wounded.  I realized after Lazenby that any credible portrayal of Bond's psychological damage, even to the miniscule extent that they are addressed in Fleming's books, would meet with howls of outrage from the fanboys and so would never be seen.

And then there's the hilarious joke that when Fleming actually served as the British Intelligence liason to the American Intelligence forces, he condemned the very sort of behavior Bond exhibits as not being proper, effective, or British.

Or the other joke that Allen Dulles (CIA chief, 1953 - 1961) read them as escapist comedy.

So I get the catchy music, the sexy women he breezes through like toilet paper, the exotic locations, and the cool toys.  I get the darkness.  I get the fantasy about a civilized man being given a license to act out civilization's worst fantasies about barbarian behavior (as opposed to the way actual "barbarians" act) in modern settings with the latest high-tech gadgets.

I  even get that it's the Road movies with action scenes instead of musical numbers, and let's see how many people get that reference.

But once I've broken it down and put it all back together, I still end up with "Ewww."

Only now the girls are big enough (13 and 11) to run across Bond references in books and movies and ask me about them.  We've talked about it and watched the BBC "Bond car" special on youtube (That was so they could get the jokes in Cars 2.  Bond's car is so much cooler than Bond himself.)  Someday I'm going to have to sit down and watch a Bond movie with them.  IDK how I feel about that.

Comments

[swordznsorcery.livejournal.com]

Which Bond movies have you seen? I ask because, having realised some time back that I no longer wish to watch the Connery or Moore Bonds, I still enjoy Dalton and Brosnan. In Brosnan's first film, "GoldenEye", he's called out on some of this stuff. Judi Dench's M gives a hard time about his sexism, and his inability to adjust to the modern world. His enemy in that film is his old best friend, a man just like him, who happens to have gone over to the other side. Their blatant similarities are addressed, as is Bond's ruthlessness. In his third film, "The World Is Not Enough", he cold-bloodedly kills a woman, and you see that through M's eyes. It's quite clear that Bond is no hero. That's the mistake of the earlier films. We were supposed to want to be like him in the old days. Nowadays, I don't think we are.

My favourite Bond film is Brosnan's second one, "Tomorrow Never Dies". In that one he has an awesome sidekick played by Michelle Yeoh. Perhaps a good one for you to try with your daughters? There's a smart Moneypenny in the Brosnan movies as well, who stands up to Bond nicely.

I may not be the best person to answer your questions, as I mostly like the movies for the action scenes and the fun; plus, in the case of the Brosnan years, it was good to see him in the role he'd always wanted. I like the OTT bad guys he went up against, and the fun stunts. I guess I don't think about it as much as you do!

They do address some of the damage it does to him - if briefly and in passing, so as not to get in the way of the action. "GoldenEye" shakes him up a lot. A former lover is murdered in "Tomorrow Never Dies", and he goes off the rails and loses all caution and common sense as a result. The whole case in "The World Is Not Enough" is him shook up and suffering. The lack of a constant narrative from movie to movie is an effective reset button though of course. That does rather prevent any proper addressing of the pscyhological issue.

Short version! Give Brosnan a go if you haven't. Just not his last one. Please!