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Comments
Bond couldn't function if he didn't possess both in more than the usual measures.
he succeeds but at a great personal cost.
Yep.....and besides the British are superior anyhow in class and historical terms ;)
Brilliant.
He's not former MI6. He worked for M in HK.
It is my understanding that an agent is someone recruited by MI6 (or any other service) to work on their behalf but is not a member of that Service. The name for MI6 employees engaged in undercover work abroad is 'Field Officer' while those who don't are known as 'Intelligence Officers'. Agent and Officer often get mixed up in fiction.
It's explained in part in the link to the official MI6 page here:
https://www.sis.gov.uk/intelligence-officers.html
Scroll down to 'Join Us'.
So Bond is a 'Field Officer' not an agent while Silva would indeed have been an agent.
SF is certainly a film about a proud Britain (the bulldog, flags, Tennyson, set in London). One that is not afraid of striking out on its own (demonstrated by the lonely trip to Scotland, Bond's loneliness, M's loneliness). One that's intensely patriotic, independent and deeply loyal (as evidenced by Bond's return to help MI6, and the Scooby gang's efforts to save the day). One that respects the past while looking optimistically towards the future and new beginnings (most notable at the end).
It's no surprise that it's the highest grossing non-3D film in the UK.
So yes, I think it more favours a Brexit Britain than an EU one.
Say the Scottish follow the Brexit example and vote for total independence, then James Bond is technically a foreigner too. Are they simply going to ignore the fact and keep this foreigner as the symbol of the British intelligence community? :)
I'd love to quote the Chinese:
"Protectionism is like locking yourself up in a dark room. You may keep rain and wind out, but also oxygen and light."
I would assume that Bond, since he is a London resident when not on assignment, would be a naturalized citizen of the remaining UK. So he would only be a foreigner by birth. It's not a problem really. I thought that was only written in for Connery anyway.
It wasn't written in for Connery, Fleming gave Bond Scottish ancestry as he himself had Scottish ancestry. Bond's Swiss mother is after Fleming's Swiss fiancée Monique who his mother wouldn't let him marry - threatening to disinherit him if he did.
Well I guess that most Bond films actually were patriotic by use of GB as a location, the use of British cars, a bit of British humour and the often use of the Union Jack as a symbol. However, all these elements were used with a certain kind of irony, e.g. the gadget laden cars, the funny use of the Union Jack, especially in the RM era. I personally even find that during the Brosnan and Craig era, the Bond films have even lost a bit of Britishness and feel more like international blockbusters.
Regarding M_Balje's point about a greater chance of a Bond film being made in the US: it's certainly possible, if geopolitical links between the US & UK improve. I'm not sure about the exchange rate impacting it though, because I believe the source currency for Bond films is the US $ (could be wrong though).
Are you sure? Connery has been pretty vocal and public about Scottish independence - I'm sure most of the public know he's Scottish.
Well to be fair, most Americans don't know much about the UK. When I was over there I had to explain that Scotland has had its own government since 1999.
I suspect a number of Americans would have trouble finding Scotland on a world map!
Bravo.
I find the slightly dismissive nature of the comments in this thread intriguing.
People are more than willing to read in abstract concepts of faith, love, humanity into a film - but the thought of broaching politics in a Bond film is brushed off as waste of time. Maybe it is a slight waste of time reading any profound subtext into TMWTGG or DAF - but SF feels like a different beast.
It's a film with something on its mind. That shouldn't be dismissed readily. There's a lot of interesting stuff within the film, aside from the slightly patriotic tone. It's a film about mothers, getting older, middle-age fatigue, obsolescence, etc. of course you get your action and chases on top of that as well.
To reduce it down to a "Bond film" and therefore immune to analysis, almost defies the point of this forum's existence.
I do feel it is a shame that a patriotism has become a dirty word, shots like this should be savoured:
But they have the capacity to be misinterpreted by right-wing populism movements.
Spot on with all of your observations there. The scene where M stands by the coffins is a good example. I think it's fair to assume that the dead were civil servants rather than member's of the military and, as such, their funerals would be civil and individual. But lining them up and placing Union Jacks over each coffin re-enforces the British theme. Nothing to do with the main plot at all but it was put in.
There are also more subtle references, when M's laptop is hacked, we briefly see a cartoon of M wearing a crown as if she was the Queen so mocking the monarchy can also be seen as threathening the concept of "Britishness"
I think it can be over done, my kids watched Transformers 3 last week and you could tell it was a Michael Bay film just based on the Stars and Stripes inserted at every opportunity.
Re the Scottish issue, sometimes I think there is some confusion here as we see the union jack many times within Bond movies and yet, "For England?" provides a very mixed message.
"Country ?"
And almost immediately,without pause,Bond says "England"...
And also SF : Silva : "England...the Empire",,
In TSWLM also :
"James,i need you"
"So does England".
In YOLT :
"Aaah the things I do for England."
In FYEO:
"I don't expect you to understand,you are English,but im half Greek etc etc"
I think its safe to say James Bond is English.....just like me !!