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Now you know how we feel to the American actor playing Jimmy Bond in 1954, my friend! ;)
;)
But it doesn't make sense when you look at the box office takings compared to the population per head. In terms of SF, Bond proved far more popular and successful in the UK than the US, so why should the script have to be tailored towards the American audience?
Not that it's supposed to come off as xenophobia. I would feel the same way if I watched "Captain America" and the script was filled with British references and dialogue.
Well I grew up with Monty Python, so I wouldn't even notice anything strange there...
I understand your points, I just think it's a somewhat skewed way of looking at it and perhaps a bit of a knee-jerk reaction. Remember that between the 50th anniversary, the strong sense of national pride engendered by the Olympics and the skit with Craig and the Queen, and the film largely being shot there and advertised like mad, SF was a very high profile feature film that obviously cashed in on all of it. It should have done particularly well over there compared to the standard release. There are many more people, many more local markets here in America, so many things to do, and so many choices with 24 screen theaters and a different film on each, that if several films one wants to see are released at the same time you might not catch them all in the theater.
Bottom line for me, if this becomes a trend then I think EON might lean towards more scripts with British euphemisms, but most years a Bond film does better at the U.S box office. Or at least that's what my impression is.
If looking at it purely in terms of money taken at the box office, then yes SF made more in the US than in any other territory. But it's not a straightforward as that. Given that the population of the US is almost five times that of the UK, it stands to reason that SF should have taken five times the box office.
Take the US figures out of the equation and SF made over $800mil worldwide. That alone would be good enough for #39 on the all time grossing films. Not too shabby that.
Here here :-)
What did you expect, that they cast a Kryptonian?;-) as long as Captain America is played by an American I'm happy.
Perhaps not your intent, but you do realize how conceited and incoherent your answer is? In the first place, you are asserting that long attention spans and sophistication--presumably shorthand for intelligence--were higher in Europe(?) than in America, when the evidence indicates that when you control for demographic factors, there is no significant difference between the IQ of Americans and Europeans.
Second, you state that the threat of terrorism has shortened attention spans in Europe(?) but not America. It's hard to see how terrorism could shorten attention spans and even harder to determine how such a phenomenon would affect Europeans(?) but not Americans when the US, unlike most European(?) countries, actually experienced a monstrous terrorist attack(9/11).
And third, you claim the Internet has shortened attention spans. That may be, but America also has Internet service. This being the case, why hasn't it reduced American attention spans to keep them well below European standards?
Actually, during Bondmania in the mid-sixties, the US was experiencing a love affair with all things British (see the British invasion in pop music for example). That has waned, obviously, but I certainly don't sense that it has been replaced by any sort of antipathy toward the UK.
SF was in many respects the most overtly British Bond film in ages. It was stridently patriotic, by God, and that certainly upset many people, chief among them certain Brits, I suspect.
Skating on thin ice, perhaps?
;)
Heck, I don't mind him using the word Yank; I'm partial to the word Limey, and I'm sure he wouldn't object. But it's this nonsense about the supposed intellectual inferiority of us Yanks will get my Irish up every time.
I'm a Yank--if you hadn't already guessed--but I hope that Bond remains as British as spotted dick and lamprey pie. It is one of the things that makes Bond distinctive, and plus, it is faithful to Fleming. And personally, I hadn't noticed the Bond films being Americanized. They still seem pretty British to me.
It's the little things that you notice more as a Brit. Odd lines of dialogue etc. the singer/group who does the title song must be known in America. It's things like that, which bug me.
How is the script tailored to American audiences? But at any rate, even though Bond is more popular in the UK than the US, the vastness of the American market more than makes up for that fact. Monetarily, it only makes sense to try to appeal to Yanks. Having said that, I think it would be a pity for Eon to de-Anglicize Bond to further tap into the American market. What's more, it is unnecessary. There is just no proof that Americans reject the more British Bond films.
Touché.
When Bond refers to his 'cell phone' instead of his 'mobile phone' then it's a script being tailored for the American market
You may be onto something there, @WillyGalore. Interesting thread idea here. Well done.
I don't know whether it's biased or not but it's something that's bugged me for quite some time and I wanted to gauge others' opinions on the subject.
Understandably, you probably wouldn't notice half as much if you're An American.
Or perhaps I'm wrong there too. Any American members here who are aware of any sort of bias?
I'm from the UK myself. 'Sir Havelock' in FYEO was obviously an American writing a Bond film, though. 'Sir Timothy', yes.
Yes, it's 'Lord Havelock' only if he is a member of the House of Lords. They don't seem to know these basic things as Americans or else they aren't aware of them. It's of course a very small thing, but it does rather rankle with a British audience, I'd imagine.
@dragonpol
What do you make of my other points, especially concerning who gets to sing the theme tune?
I think this perception only exists with the Brits, if we're going to be truthful. I truly don't think American Bondaholics give a rat's ass about any of it to the point that it seriously bugs us, I surely don't. You have to remember that Barb, despite coming from an Italian-American family, has spent a good deal of her life on both continents. She is likely very keenly aware of these perceptions when reviewing and giving script input.
Keep in mind that these "Americanisms" are hard to trace as far as who is responsible for them. There has been both American and British screenwriters involved with these scripts. This may sound a bit homophobic on the surface, because I personally loathe prejudice and have gay friends besides, but I'm a bit more concerned that Logan will inject more of what we saw with Silva's mind games in Skyfall into future installments and future characters.
Theme songs? Again, as long as they pick the right song and artist, I could care less if they are popular or not. My kids are bigger fans of Adele than I am, but that doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the theme song.
Basically, I agree with SirHenry that we Yanks don't really care one way or the other.
Do you mean the more psychological aspects of that scene or the blatant homoerotic tension?
I'm assuming that was the point though to make Silva's sexuality deliberately ambiguous and designed to make Bond feel uncomfortable.