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I mean look at No Time to Die, if anything they've upped the violence. With Nomi and Paloma both carrying guns in their posters, as well as Primo and Bond himself, whereas the Skyfall posters were quite tame if I remember rightly. So you'd expect that to be vice versa considering the way the world and the internet has changed since.
I think there are more important changes in media that need to be made than guns.
And Casino Royale also had posters without guns. Again, I just think given the political climate you'd think things would be even the slightest bit different already, in the context of violence in media, so seeing as they haven't, I can't see anything changing for a long time.
There's the white montage one:
And it's not about violence, so it's not really a case of trying to catch me out. I'm just specifically talking about making guns look cool (e.g the Spectre poster) because that's what we're talking about.
I'm not even saying it's something they're doing, just something which may happen in future and demonstrating how it wouldn't really change much.
eg:
He looks cool there, no? He's not in a dangerous situation, he's just doing a cool pose with a gun looking suave.
And I'm saying it's something which might happen in future if it's felt that that sort thing makes gun ownership look cool, and I could understand it if it is.
current attitude to so many things, and people's need to be " Outraged"
or "Offended" mixed with " Cancel Culture ". I can see Not just Bond but
many franchises disappearing over time. I really hope it doesn't happen,
but it could.
People who are apoplectically offended because other people find their actions/statements offensive.
Here in the States, the biggest practitioners of "Cancel Culture" are the ones complaining the loudest about it.
In the modern (Internet) age, Cancel Culture began with what was done to the country music group The Dixie Chicks in 2003... Another more recent example is NFL player Colin Kaepernick.
But in the past, American "Cancel Culture" has tried to eliminate:
Jazz
Rock 'n' Roll
Comic books
Horror films
Gay characters in films/TV shows/commercials
The Teletubbies
The list is endless and it's been going on here for longer than I've been alive, and I'm almost 60.
You raise several interesting ideas. About smoking, though I don't smoke, I wouldn't mind if Bond does. There are so many film noir movies where the characters smoke, but they never made me want to. A lot of people still smoke cigarettes. The CDC says in 2018, 25% of people in West Virginia were smokers; Kentucky and Arkansas 23%. In 2014, almost 20% of the world's population smoked cigarettes, and the U.S. is way down the list on that. The French have an image of being big smokers, but many countries are ahead of France on cigarette consumption per person. Luxembourg, Belarus, Belgium are near the top. And the last time I remember a character smoking in a Bond film was Felix Leiter in QoS, a cigar.
Severine smokes.
Twitter and other social media is not reflective of the wider population and many people tend to take these platforms as gospel for everything. Just echo chambers. Re-enforces your view either way.
Ultimately, if people dont like it, they can always choose not to watch it. Choice is a great thing, aint it.
It really is, but not everyone agrees.
Well, I for one would mind if he smokes. The thing is--and I suspect this is the chief reason Bond hasn't smoked since 1989--smoking just doesn't look cool anymore. It's generally only seen now to indicate villainy or creepiness, or to remind the audience that the film takes place in a different era.
The point about the continued popularity of smoking in loser regions of the US like Kentucky really makes the point. In most of America (a key market, to put it mildly), smoking conveys about the same level of sophistication as does a MAGA hat, another Kentucky staple I wouldn't wish to see near James Bond.
The thing is Bond has smoked in the films since Licence to Kill in 1989. The Brosnan Bond smokes a cigar in Die Another Day in 2002. Now I know cigars aren't the same thing as cigarettes but it is still smoking and it is still a tobacco product. In fact, one large cigar like the one Brosnan smokes in the film contains about as much nicotine as a twenty pack of cigarettes does. So the old saying about cigars being safer than cigarettes really doesn't wash. 🚬
Yeah, I'm not talking about health concerns.
But indeed, cigars are not the same thing as cigarettes. Cigars don't look like a cheap, seedy addiction.
Yes, granted, cigars do look more sophisticated but as I said above surely smoking is smoking whether it's by means of a cigarette, cigar or pipe. It all boils down to much the same thing I feel.
Well the sophistication is the point, as I've tried to make clear. Smoking is not smoking just as drinking is not drinking. Bond will always drink, but you'll never see him drink a two-liter bottle of Diamond White Cider. Nor will you see him smoke a cigarette again. Maybe M with a pipe or Bond or Felix with a cigar, but cigs will be left for your Xenias and Severinnes.
No way.
As far as sophistication goes....
Smoking certainly was sophisticated once - a sign of status depending on what you smoked. But nobody gets their cigarettes hand rolled and tailored to their tastes from tobacco shops anymore. Plenty of people still use cigarette cases (I used to, five years off them now), which is an illusion of grandeur, as you're still putting pretty low-grade products into them these days.
Don't be so dismissive! Why, I can picture the scene now:
Bond is outside in MI6's designated smoking area, rocking a safari suit and flirting with a rotund woman in heavy makeup who works in the canteen. When he sees Tanner coming over, he dismisses her with a wink and a slap on the arse, and the two friends puff away on their fags, talking about how terrible the Beatles are.
The purists in the audience will love it!