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President Donald Trump and James Bond Villainy?
Dragonpol
https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
So, some six months in, I thought it was time we analysed the presidency of Donald J. Trump, not politically, but from the perspective of Bond 25 and beyond.
The earliest response to the Trump presidency from a Bondian point of view came in January 2017 after he was inaugurated from Purvis and Wade saying how difficult it would be from a script-writing point of view to write a modern Bond villain when there was a real life one in the White House. See articles here: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-01-30/james-bond-screenwriters-say-trump-makes-it-difficult-to-continue-the-007-franchise and here: https://townhall.com/columnists/christiantoto/2017/04/12/donald-trump-is-not-a-bond-villain-n2312300
This seemed rather a cop out, considering that the Bond films traditionally ignored current affairs trends (there are some exceptions of course, like the energy crisis plot in The Man with the Golden Gun, 1974) in favour of villains like Karl Stromberg in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Hugo Drax in Moonraker (1979). In other words, they focused on megalomaniacs as villains as opposed to what the real world Soviets were up to at the time. Ian Fleming even did the same by moving away from SMERSH to SPECTRE to give the Soviets the benefit of the doubt for a while.
To my mind, President Trump most resembles the villain General Brutus Brute Clay in John Gardner's last Bond continuation novel Cold/Cold Fall (1996) as he wanted a fascist takeover of the United States by using a bombing campaign against government building to take over and use the then President Bill Clinton as their puppet to toughen up on law and order and crime etc. That is the only character I can see who resembles Trump in any real way, and yet there had been no discussion of this character or Gardner novel in the debate on Trump as a potential Bond villain. Strange, but given it's a Gardner Bond continuation novel, not altogether unexpected either. The novel is however well worth a read by the Bond fan in the current US Alt-Right political climate.
So this is the thread to discuss the potentiality of a President Trump inspired Bond villain in an upcoming Bond film, novel or comic strip. Please note that it is not a thread to attack Trump politically as such threads already exist on the community if one wants to seek them out. This is not the thread for that type of thing, but rather the place to discuss how, if at all, the Trump presidency will influence James Bond villainy in the years to come and especially how it might influence Bond 25 scheduled for release in November 2019.
So I open the floor (of the House?) to those who want to discuss this all aspects of the Trump presidency's potential influence on future Bind villainy...
This discussion has been closed.
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Comments
If anything, his influence would be a character of such idiocy, it belongs more in a Monty Python re-boot, not Bond.
There's nothing smooth, subtle, slick about this man that should influence the franchise going forth. He really has nothing, of any substance, to offer-- whether in real life, or film-life,
The character of Greg Beam and his mantra of 'Yeah we should only deal with good people' is about as close as EON have ever got to being political.
They might make a few veiled comments and the villain could be a dodgy American tycoon but that would be about all.
I suppose a plot based on a yank billionaire who precipitates some sort of disaster (a second 9/11?) so it strengthens his run for president - an American version of Orlov if you will - could work as Elliott Carver was a thinly disguised Murdoch.
They certainly won't be outright critical of Trump though.
How would we feel about a FYEO style cameo by Trump (Alec Baldwin?) at the end if Bond foils a plot to destroy America? Could give Bond a Congressional Medal of Honour to go with his Order of Lenin from AVTAK!
Could be Baine ( Obviously Batman not Bond I know )
Looking like he's in charge, when really someone else is pulling the strings
( Putin ) .. that could be Blofeld in DAF.
It's more likely to be the post-Brexit implications to Britain vis-a-vis Europe. A far more interesting premise imho with real security implications.
the magnet for emotionally charged hatred no matter he does or doesn't do.
While the true bad guys are out there doing their worst. As a possibility.
I need to escape when I watch a Bond movie, not reminded of the horrors I have to witness every single day here in the States. The less I'm reminded of Trump, the better.
You still believe that? I will give you that someone are pulling strings, though.
It was a corrupt government state, as he said they had democratic elections. Now
He's defending Putin ......... Is Thunderfinger a harbinger for the red flag ? ;-)
Syria and Russia are both more democratic than the USA. As was Libya.
Yep. Sure ting, Cap'n.
That all being said, it really is terrifying and parodic just as much Trump is an amalgam of a literary and cinematic Bond villain. It's easy enough to look at his golden plane, hobby for golf, sensitive ego and the repulsion women feel in his wake and call him Goldfinger, but there's so much more. Let's examine all the personality traits he hits that make him feel like a lost Bond villain:
*False Sense of Egotism- Perhaps the reigning trait of some of the best Bond villains is just how awesome they think they are. They can and will do anything, and nobody can stop them, except for Bond and his friends. Trump is the Auric Goldfinger who has no ability at golf and must cheat to get ahead, the Dr. No who can't handle a cleverly veiled retort and throws a fit at the dinner table, the Blofeld who thinks the world revolves around him and the Dominic Greene who can't hide his sliminess and impudence while speaking in front of a crowd.
He says he's the best ever, the "most presidential," despite failing at the vast majority of everything he does. The sad thing is that we don't have a James Bond like figure there to bust his balls every time he screws up (a full-time job), though I guess that would just be the whole of the CNN. Just as the Bond villains usually die through their hubris, I wonder if Don's own inflated opinion will be his downfall as the presidential clown incumbent.
*A Defining and Odd/Unique Feature- Dr. No had his gloved hands, Goldfinger had his golden wardrobe, Blofeld had his scar, Scaramanga had his third nipple and in the books Le Chiffre has his hairline, Drax his odd assortment of ogre like features and Wint the wart on his thumb, amongst many other examples. It was clear that Fleming and the likes of Maibaum wanted the villains of the Bond adventures to be instantly identifiable and unique, imbuing them with very distinct looks to set them apart, sometimes in cartoonish or odd ways.
If Trump was a Bond villain, surely that thing on his head, which some describe as "hair," would be it. A mass of orange, tumble-weed looking fuzz with a mind of its own as it braves heavy winds and makes more meek combs disappear than the Bermuda Triangle does aircraft. It's the butt of 80% of Trump jokes, the subject of more memes than grumpy cat, and ultimately the defining bit of oddity inherent in the man that makes him a cartoon before he even opens his mouth.
*He Surrounds Himself with Expendable Company- At this point in the Trump presidency, which is barely half a year old, it's almost easier to ask which of his staff aren't still working for him than trying to find out those that are. Like a cruise liner heading for an iceberg the Trump White House has seen legions of folks who have high-tailed it out of there lest their reputations make them commit career suicide, or Trump takes it upon himself to let them go in a fashion that blurs constitutional law and questions the limits of presidential power. Of course, is it really any surprise considering that the man who has made frequent firing a regular part of his performance as president was also the reality star who did just that to more famous and slightly more scrupulous folks on national TV for years?
Watching the upheaval of the Trump White House and how many people he throws to sacrifice and abandons reminds me of Goldfinger locking Oddjob in the vault with Bond and the bomb, wearing a look of, "Sorry, had to be done," or all the other villains that send their unwitting hench-people into certain death all in service of their own selfish goals. I guess that Kellyanne Conway is the closest Trump has to an Oddjob, Jaws or Nick Nack, which is a terrifying thought all on its own. Her ability to justify anything the man does and her drive to embarrass herself in front of the media for him is a loyalty that you rarely see outside of Pavlov's dogs or certain lobotomized patients who're well trained by their masters.
*Their Own Worst Enemy- Perhaps a sequel to the point about egotistical villains is the notion that Bond villains are often the source of their own downfall, driving home a point about hubris I made above. Grant gets lost in his own joy of torture and becomes blind to a counter-attack from Bond, Le Chiffre selfishly creates his own problems and can only beg as he tries to fix the chaos he created, and Drax is killed with the very weapon of personalized destruction he intended for London.
In much the same way that our Bond villains talk or act themselves into a trap, Trump is essentially doing his opponent's work for him. With every obnoxious and parodical midnight tweet he gives the world another reason to want him erased, not even considering his other non-presidential performance elsewhere, where no place, even an event for boy scouts, if off limits from his rants about the crooked media and his own problems with connecting to an electorate that are aborting him day by day. It is only inevitable that Trump's mouth will be the source of whatever final consequences he may face, with only time being the mysterious variable.
With all these in consideration, one wishes that Trump's character represented more of the better parts of the Bond villains, and not their downfalls and flaws to such an exclusive degree. Why can't he have the vocabulary and syntax of Lonsdale's Drax, and not one that is inferior even to those kindergarteners who are first learning to read with See Spot Run? Why can't he work with the quiet efficiency of a Donald Grant slipping from shadow to shadow, instead of loudly and obnoxiously blasting all his obvious plans online for everyone to re-tweet to their heart's content? And why, oh why can't be at least dress like he knows how to wear a suit in the style of an Emilio Largo, instead of looking like his wardrobe was ripped out of a How to Dress like a Cheap Car Salesman reference guide. For shame.
I am a very politically informed and involved individual, I come here for Bond and general entertainment banter. If I wanted to join the politically fray here I would go to that topic. I come here , and other non-political sites, to get away from it.
I have no great interest in.
I too ignore many threads I'd rather not contribute to. A word to the wise.....
A born trouble maker...... or Bond villain in
The making ! ;-)
Especially since the idea of Trump having so many Bondian characteristics from the films isn't one that is created just to say it, the data is there and it's fascinating to make connections.
If people don't like it, don't post in it. I got sick of the ignorance and whining in the production thread, so I stopped posting in it a long time ago. It's not hard to restrain oneself.
I'd suggest he's not a villain in the making...but rather, an established villain hiding out under an assumed alias! Come clean, Draggers -- who are you REALLY under all that make-up?