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Shocking! In Defence Of Jaws/Dolly In Moonraker
I know what you are thinking. How is it possible to defend what is universally considered one of the low points in the history of the Bond series?
Before you lock me up in the asylum full of Napoleons, give me a chance.
Cubby issued a mandate in 1978 that, following the success of Star Wars, Bond would go into space in the upcoming MR.
Quibble all you want about the logic of that thinking (and I for one would argue that Bond should never have left earth) but the result of that mandate is a spectacular, over the top and at times, crazy piece of popcorn entertainment that is both wondrous and subversive.
Subversive, you ask? Yes and I will tell you why soon.
If Bond HAS to go into space, then Christopher Wood came up with an absolutely cracker-jack good solution.
Consider Drax's plan: wiping out humanity in order to create a master race of beautiful people.
Bonkers? You bet.
Over the top? Correct.
Same old dream of world domination? Guilty as charged.
Insane? Not so fast. Drax and his plan are not so far fetched when you consider Nazis and their theory of eugenics. And it did not stop with Hitler. Do some research and discover that selective genetic engineering is not as crazy as it seems to certain people in 2014.
Which brings us to Jaws/Dolly.
Lets clear something up quickly. The initial meeting of Jaws and Dolly with music swirling up is absolutely cringe-worthy. Completely indefensible. But then something strange and unexpected happens at the space station.
One of the greatest and most underrated scenes in the series is the moment Bond turns Jaws against Drax and it is here the film becomes both greater and subvervise at the same time.
Check out that closeup of Jaws looking at Dolly as he realizes that they will have no place in Drax's new world. I would argue that not only is that one of the most touching moments in the entire series but, in the larger context, one of the most revealing in the Bond universe.
For you see, Bond and Holly Goodhead would be accepted with open arms in a world where beauty is the standard. But Jaws would not be and it is his realization of this fact which elevates him and the film.
By Drax's standards, 99.9% of us sitting in the audience with all our imperfections would not make the cut. How ironic and subversive is it that, for a second, Jaws, and not Bond, represents humanity and we see ourselves reflected back to us.
MR dares to show us the that there is tenderness beneath the monster's mask and forces us, for a moment, to empathize not with our beloved 007 but with a killer.
Kudos to Richard Kiel for a glorious bit of acting that is, the more I think about it, a defining moment, both emotionally and thematically, for the film and the series.
I prefer my henchmen in the order of Red Grant and Oddjob: ruthless, mean, without a shred of human decency. The way it should be in the Bond universe. Jaws and Renard in TWINE are perhaps the only Bond bad guys given the capacity to feel, and that is rare in the annals of Bond villiany.
Bond is who we want to be.
Jaws, at the moment when he looks sadly at Dolly, is who we are.
As far as I'm concerned, Jaws/Dolly enriches MR and deepens its meaning. The film is not the same without them.
You can now lock me up in the asylum of Napoleons.
"Jaws! You obey ME!!!"
Before you lock me up in the asylum full of Napoleons, give me a chance.
Cubby issued a mandate in 1978 that, following the success of Star Wars, Bond would go into space in the upcoming MR.
Quibble all you want about the logic of that thinking (and I for one would argue that Bond should never have left earth) but the result of that mandate is a spectacular, over the top and at times, crazy piece of popcorn entertainment that is both wondrous and subversive.
Subversive, you ask? Yes and I will tell you why soon.
If Bond HAS to go into space, then Christopher Wood came up with an absolutely cracker-jack good solution.
Consider Drax's plan: wiping out humanity in order to create a master race of beautiful people.
Bonkers? You bet.
Over the top? Correct.
Same old dream of world domination? Guilty as charged.
Insane? Not so fast. Drax and his plan are not so far fetched when you consider Nazis and their theory of eugenics. And it did not stop with Hitler. Do some research and discover that selective genetic engineering is not as crazy as it seems to certain people in 2014.
Which brings us to Jaws/Dolly.
Lets clear something up quickly. The initial meeting of Jaws and Dolly with music swirling up is absolutely cringe-worthy. Completely indefensible. But then something strange and unexpected happens at the space station.
One of the greatest and most underrated scenes in the series is the moment Bond turns Jaws against Drax and it is here the film becomes both greater and subvervise at the same time.
Check out that closeup of Jaws looking at Dolly as he realizes that they will have no place in Drax's new world. I would argue that not only is that one of the most touching moments in the entire series but, in the larger context, one of the most revealing in the Bond universe.
For you see, Bond and Holly Goodhead would be accepted with open arms in a world where beauty is the standard. But Jaws would not be and it is his realization of this fact which elevates him and the film.
By Drax's standards, 99.9% of us sitting in the audience with all our imperfections would not make the cut. How ironic and subversive is it that, for a second, Jaws, and not Bond, represents humanity and we see ourselves reflected back to us.
MR dares to show us the that there is tenderness beneath the monster's mask and forces us, for a moment, to empathize not with our beloved 007 but with a killer.
Kudos to Richard Kiel for a glorious bit of acting that is, the more I think about it, a defining moment, both emotionally and thematically, for the film and the series.
I prefer my henchmen in the order of Red Grant and Oddjob: ruthless, mean, without a shred of human decency. The way it should be in the Bond universe. Jaws and Renard in TWINE are perhaps the only Bond bad guys given the capacity to feel, and that is rare in the annals of Bond villiany.
Bond is who we want to be.
Jaws, at the moment when he looks sadly at Dolly, is who we are.
As far as I'm concerned, Jaws/Dolly enriches MR and deepens its meaning. The film is not the same without them.
You can now lock me up in the asylum of Napoleons.
"Jaws! You obey ME!!!"
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Comments
As soon as the music starts and he picks her up twirling her around as she kicks her legs just makes me hate them from that moment on,and no 'briefly sensitive' moment later can reverse that.
Plus the fact that the ONLY reason Jaws turns good was because 'kiddies' wrote in and wanted Jaws to be a goodie - please *rolls eyes*.
No,its a nice little moment but by then its all too late.
Is that actually true? If so yuck!! Sounds like the writers did a "George Lucas" there. That's the one thing that annoys me about MR, it may have great cinematography and music but its aimed primarily at schoolboys. I realise MR was fine for the time but Bond is for "warm-blooded, heterosexual adults". Spy may have been silly on occasions but that at least felt more like a...ahem...spy thriller.