Saturday 20 October 2012

The Survival of James Bond


With the release of the newest Bond film, Skyfall, I thought it would be appropriate to do a Bond-related post. My family have the box-set of Bond films and I’m ashamed to say we’ve made our way through all of them... The first of which, Dr. No, was released in 1962. The films have stood the test of time - despite every one of them pretty much following the same formula. The films are also rather sexiest. In every film, all the female characters fall in love in Bond and seem incredibly unable to defend themselves.

I think what still attracts viewers to James Bond after all these years is how England is presented. The secret services are shown as slick, glamorous and unstoppable. Bond is an idealised version of the sophisticated English gentleman. Everyone likes to pretend that this is what English is like, rather than the reality of fish and chip takeaways and council estates…  I think that with the exception of Americans (who probably do believe that this version of England is accurate) viewers enjoy watching a film where this idea of England is a reality.  

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