Does James Bond belong in the 20th Century? by chrisisall

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Does James Bond belong in the 20th Century?

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POSTED BY: CHRISISALL
UPDATED: Sunday, July 1, 2012 08:29
SHORT URL: http://bit.ly/OSvFR8
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Saturday, June 30, 2012 6:14 AM

Down the centuries you have slurred the meaning of the words, WE THE PEOPLE...

I was having this discussion with a co-worker: Does Bond work best in the era in which he was created? Would Sherlock Holmes or Indiana Jones work well rebooted to be contemporary characters? A new Bond novel is currently being written set in 1969 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/apr/12/william-boyd-james-bond-no
vel and I think it's a great idea to put him in that time, not TODAY. Funny thing- the first novels and the last Indy film are set around the same time...

Thoughts?

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Saturday, June 30, 2012 6:25 AM

WHOZIT

Hmmm? Can you imagine a reboot of the storys Phillip Marlowe or Sam Spade taking place in the 21st Century? Bond storys can take place anytime, there were spys in the 60's and there are spys now, it isn't a period piece.

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Saturday, June 30, 2012 6:33 AM

CHRISISALL

Down the centuries you have slurred the meaning of the words, WE THE PEOPLE...

There were a couple of Marlowe movies that were set in contemporary times & they were okay... just seemed a little 'off' because of it IMO. And- there were archaeologists in the 30's and NOW- so Indy would work today, right?

Chrisisall, wearing a frilly Mal thing on his head, and ready to shoot unarmed, full-body armoured Operatives

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Saturday, June 30, 2012 6:57 AM

SUASOR

BBC America has been showing a Sherlock Holmes series using a contemporary Sherlock (Dr Watson, for example, had served as a military doctor in Afghanistan). It's a most excellent show, even though the original Sherlock was written for a century earlier. Some things are timeless.

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Saturday, June 30, 2012 7:21 AM

WHOZIT

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall: There were a couple of Marlowe movies that were set in contemporary times & they were okay... just seemed a little 'off' because of it IMO. And- there were archaeologists in the 30's and NOW- so Indy would work today, right?

Chrisisall, wearing a frilly Mal thing on his head, and ready to shoot unarmed, full-body armoured Operatives

One of my fav detective shows is "Cannon", it's about a big fat badass P.I. who lives large and drives a big Lincoln, you could reboot that today (they're rebooting everything) but w/o William Conrad and the 70's it would suck.

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Saturday, June 30, 2012 8:40 AM

CHRISISALL

Down the centuries you have slurred the meaning of the words, WE THE PEOPLE...

Quote:
Originally posted by Suasor: Some things are timeless.

I say we make a Hercules movie, but set it in today's time.

:evil:

Chrisisall, wearing a frilly Mal thing on his head, and ready to shoot unarmed, full-body armoured Operatives

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Saturday, June 30, 2012 9:47 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Quote:
Originally posted by Suasor: Some things are timeless.
I say we make a Hercules movie, but set it in today's time.

:evil:

Chrisisall, wearing a frilly Mal thing on his head, and ready to shoot unarmed, full-body armoured Operatives

Hello,

A lot of modern cinema IS a retelling of these classic stories with the details and language updated to the time.

I LOVE the BBC Sherlock. I consider it better than the current movies.

I think Bond works very well in his own era. I like him less when he is tracking drug dealers and real-life style terrorists, though. I like to keep his threats a bit over-the-top, with vast secret organizations or villainous masterminds with weird stuff going on. The one where he fought drug dealers was well made but didn't feel bondish at all. Just like the last Die Hard movie didn't feel Die Hardlike to me.

I think that some of the classic figures partly exist to celebrate a certain degree of sexist behavior. So that's hard to translate. If you set it in its own time it's okay, but when you transport them to modern times you either need to update their behavior and lose a flavor character aspect, or retain their behavior and have them look barbaric and wrong.

--Anthony

Note to Self: Raptor - woman testifying about birth control is a slut (the term fits.) Six - Wow, isn't Niki quite the CUNT? And, yes, I spell that in all caps.... Wulf - Niki is a stupid fucking bitch who should hurry up and die. “The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.” -Thomas Szasz

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Saturday, June 30, 2012 10:47 AM

CHRISISALL

Down the centuries you have slurred the meaning of the words, WE THE PEOPLE...

Quote:
Originally posted by ANTHONYT:

I think Bond works very well in his own era. I like him less when he is tracking drug dealers and real-life style terrorists, though.

Quite, while I like Dalton as an actor, his two movies were, after all, simple 80's action flicks. The 'Bond' feel was all but lost.
Quote:
I like to keep his threats a bit over-the-top, with vast secret organizations or villainous masterminds with weird stuff going on.
Yes, if there isn't a bit of the outrageous in the film (or novel), then it might as well be a Mission Impossible or Bourne flick.
Quote:
I think that some of the classic figures partly exist to celebrate a certain degree of sexist behavior. So that's hard to translate. If you set it in its own time it's okay, but when you transport them to modern times you either need to update their behavior and lose a flavor character aspect, or retain their behavior and have them look barbaric and wrong.
Precisely. While I love the first 3 Brosnan movies (I just like Pierce so much), I'm the first to admit that his Bond is a good fellow, and Bond should be someone you wouldn't necessarily want to pal around with much. So Brosnan's movies, to me, are sort of like alternate reality Bond, where he's a flat out hero. So, your point is made there.

And Craig's movies? Well, now in hindsight, I think his Bond is pretty good (although he's a bit smallish, physically speaking). But he'd work better in the 50's or 60's IMO. Today is high tek- drones do the explosions, finance runs evil, the enemies are out in the open, and they are mostly old guys that threaten the world with resource depletion & political corruption. Setting a ruthless Bond in today's world is kind of like bringing a gun to a cyber fight.:evil:

Chrisisall, wearing a frilly Mal thing on his head, and ready to shoot unarmed, full-body armoured Operatives

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Saturday, June 30, 2012 8:56 PM

CATPIRATE

Bond, James Bond is a secret agent. He is not a detective that is what NCIS does. He gathers intelligence. Spying is not the same as an assassin. The latest flicks 007 has uncovered the Illuminati. Food for oil, cover ups, conspiracies, guns for money, political, religious, and economic terrorism is all around us in the 21st. The US alone spends 1 trillion dollars for the spy industrial complex. That is not the stealth ships, aircraft, and satellites with the military industrial complex. We need him in the 21st century.

The Blue Bird Corporation trains in Africa. They are based from Israel. The US is not the only spy in the air.

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Saturday, June 30, 2012 10:07 PM

SQUAREPEG1

James Bond is more than a secret agent. He has a license to kill. The British government says "there's a problem over here, find out who's causing it, kill them and correct the situation". If handled properly, that is a timeless scenario with great dramatic scope.

I loved the last film "Quantum of Solace". After seeing the film, I read a review in which the reviewer panned the movie because he thought the idea of the evil organization trying to control water rights was too implausible. He'd never heard of Bechtel corp. or what they were doing in Bolivia.

Megalomania has existed for as long as there have been people. And as long as there are megalomaniacs, James Bond will have targets.

***************************************************************** If History is Remarkably Clear on One Point, Its That People Don't Learn From History. *****************************************************************

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Saturday, June 30, 2012 10:28 PM

CATPIRATE

QoS is a great conspiracy flick. He has a license to kill for in the line of duty. The only time it is State sanctioned is when an agent has turned. It would be a thin line in State terrorism which we know that doesn't happen.

Unfortunately I misjudged you, you are just a stupid police man....... ...who's luck has run out. Dr No 1962

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Sunday, July 01, 2012 3:07 AM

BUP

No more running. I aim to misbehave.

James Bond is not necessarily limited to a particular period but it is easier to believe when they are set in a period more consistent with the time in which the books were written. It is a lot easier to suspend disbelief and just enjoy the story that way.

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Sunday, July 01, 2012 3:15 AM

BUP

No more running. I aim to misbehave.

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall: There were a couple of Marlowe movies that were set in contemporary times & they were okay... just seemed a little 'off' because of it IMO. And- there were archaeologists in the 30's and NOW- so Indy would work today, right?

Chrisisall, wearing a frilly Mal thing on his head, and ready to shoot unarmed, full-body armoured Operatives

Who would the big enemy be? In the 1930's it is the Nazis and after all these years we can make them as big and bad as we want them to be. Someone like Indy couldn't come and go as he pleased from his day job as easily. He would also need a LOT more money. To do an Indy character today would be a lot different. It wouldn't be Indianna Jones, just someone like him. You could have a descendent or a distant cousin doing the same work...

But Chris, Mal didn't have any frilly things for you to be wearing. You must have an Inara thing on your head...whatever it is, I hope its clean.

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Sunday, July 01, 2012 3:47 AM

THESOMNAMBULIST

Originally posted by chrisisall:

Quote:
I was having this discussion with a co-worker: Does Bond work best in the era in which he was created?

Personally for me yes. There are many factors to this but the main one is that both the books and the films celebrated the fact that Bond conducted his business all over the world and he took 'us' to these exotic locations. At the time few people would know what Jamaica or Russia or Japan were like, so it would have been an instant appeal. These days we're very familiar with these exotic locations so it no longer has quite the draw it once used to.

Quote:
Would Sherlock Holmes or Indiana Jones work well rebooted to be contemporary characters?

With clever enough writing any notion can be updated, but you need intuitive writers to realise this. Let's say it's easier to fail than to succeed.

Quote:
A new Bond novel is currently being written set in 1969

I think this would work better now, sort of 'retrospectively' because in reading it you're essentially having a lesson in history. To maybe learn a little about the era. So yeah I think this would be awesome as a Bond device.

Quote:
Thoughts?

For me Bond was never something I really connected with. I have enjoyed them on occasion sure - but when I hear friends talk about who was the best bond and get themselves worked up in all a tizzy about where the characters gone, frankly you lose me. He's a preposterous character (amusing but preposterous) , and when you start analysing it/him you destroy the mystique - just as you would with Indy or Holmes - and you realise the guy was just a sexist show-off. Most of the time I just wanted him to get a real beating! The kind that would have him whimpering for his mummy in some dark corner somewhere sobbing uncontrollably.

Beyond that I honestly think: Austin Powers rendered James Bond a comical afterthought and Jason Bourne blatantly showed us what Bond should have become had the character ever developed.

The only thing that Bond still has above his rivals are the Stunts. Bond still has the most impressive stunts and thrills.

Oh by the way. Good to see you Chris :D

°...Well here I am.°

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Sunday, July 01, 2012 8:24 AM

CHRISISALL

Down the centuries you have slurred the meaning of the words, WE THE PEOPLE...

Quote:
Originally posted by CATPIRATE: The latest flicks 007 has uncovered the Illuminati. Food for oil, cover ups, conspiracies, guns for money, political, religious, and economic terrorism is all around us in the 21st. The US alone spends 1 trillion dollars for the spy industrial complex. That is not the stealth ships, aircraft, and satellites with the military industrial complex. We need him in the 21st century.

That's a pretty compelling argument, Cat.

Chrisisall, wearing a frilly Mal thing on his head, and ready to shoot unarmed, full-body armoured Operatives

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Sunday, July 01, 2012 8:29 AM

CHRISISALL

Down the centuries you have slurred the meaning of the words, WE THE PEOPLE...

Quote:
Originally posted by THESOMNAMBULIST: He's a preposterous character (amusing but preposterous)

As I've always said, my friend!

I just watched Spy Who Loved Me for the first time in 20 years, I forgot how much fun that one is!

Chrisisall, wearing a frilly Mal thing on his head, and ready to shoot unarmed, full-body armoured Operatives

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