The Development of Bond's Character

Soundofthesinners

Since the inception of the series in 1962, the character of James Bond has grown progressively more complex, with several signpost movies indicating a major leap forward in the character's depth. As far as I can tell, the character was at its simplest in the first few Connery movies when the character was nothing more than a consummately suave, physical, sexual agent. This time, perhaps coincidentally, was also when the series was at its most popular.

The first major development came in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, when Bond fell in love and revealed that he could, in fact, be deeply hurt. Previous girls' deaths had troubled him, but the death of his new wife devastated him (unfortunately, Diamonds are Forever didn't allow this theme to continue). The next came in The Spy Who Loved Me, when Bond explains his philosophy on killing (it's not pleasant, but it's something he must do as part of his job. Some minor development occurred in For Your Eyes Only, as Tracy reappeared (or her grave did) and we saw Bond's awareness of his age and the dangers of revenge.

The Timothy Dalton era resulted in the largest step forward to that point, as Bond was clearly a jaded, burnt-out, fundamentally miserable agent who killed with disturbing regularity. So severe was this jump that audiences may have had trouble adjusting to this darker take after years of Moore's (relatively) lighthearted playboy. GoldenEye shows Bond struggling with the changing world in light of the Cold War's end and technological and social advancement in the world. Finally, the Daniel Craig era shows Bond affected by events in between movies! An actual character arc in Bond

My questions for you all are as follows: First of all, are there any movies I forgot, or any ones whose role in Bond's development I've understated or overstated? Second, are the movies where Bond's character develops generally superior in quality? Is there any connection between the popularity of Bond in the sixties and his relative shallowness? Is it contradictory that Connery plays the simplest character, yet is the most fondly remembered? Is it even fair to say that Connery plays the simplest character? Finally, how does the deepening character coexist with the different takes on Bond, both lighter and darker?

00Beast

In discussing the unpleasant aspect of killing as a part of Bond's job, I thought of his remark to Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun- he says, "When I kill, it's on specific orders from my government, and those I kill are themselves killers." I see this statement as something of a key marker in Bond's development, not necessarily because he had never pondered that thought, but because Scaramanga's careless disregard for human life made him realize that there is a difference between his duty and Scaramanga's "hobby".

Thunderfinger

Do not forget the embracement of political correctness that came into the series with the Dalton films, and was broadened further with the Brosnan fims.

Soundofthesinners

Birdleson wrote:

Thunderfinger wrote:

Do not forget the embracement of political correctness that came into the series with the Dalton films, and was broadened further with the Brosnan fims.

Yes, very depressing. The lingering effect in the Daniel Craig era is the lack of Bond smoking.

Bond briefly smoked in Die Another Day, of all things. It's not a terrible loss that he doesn't smoke, but it hardly makes sense that he can't smoke but can do all of the other horribly immoral things required by his job.

Dragonpol

Soundofthesinners wrote:

Birdleson wrote:

Thunderfinger wrote:

Do not forget the embracement of political correctness that came into the series with the Dalton films, and was broadened further with the Brosnan fims.

Yes, very depressing. The lingering effect in the Daniel Craig era is the lack of Bond smoking.

Bond briefly smoked in Die Another Day, of all things. It's not a terrible loss that he doesn't smoke, but it hardly makes sense that he can't smoke but can do all of the other horribly immoral things required by his job.

Well that's a point certainly.