Reporting For Duty
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Categories
Bond films and child viewers
DarthDimi
Behind you!Moderator
In this thread I would like to discuss two things:
- Are Bond films appropriate for all ages?
- How did you experience the Bonds as a child and were you ever offended / shocked by them?
My first Bond experience was DN and quickly thereafter TB when I was 6 or 7. Offended? Shocked? Never. Not once. Instead, I was a fan right from the start. The fact that Bond smoked and killed people was never a big deal either. I knew that Bond operated in a different and essentially fictional universe. There were aspects of Bond I wanted to copy and equally there were aspects I realised I could never and should never want to copy.
The only difference between now and then, for me, is my overall evaluation of the films. At age 10, I though FYEO was so-and-so but AVTAK I thought was magnificent. Nowadays, it's the other way around. ;-)
I personally think that the Bonds are overall pretty innocent and harmless films. If we abolish Bond films for our youngest, what's left for them to see? Bad habits can be picked up everywhere. I know of ignorant parents who deny their pre-teen kids the pleasure of a Bond film but let them watch South Park because "why not, it's a cartoon so it's kids' stuff, right?". Aggravating. Furthermore, I think that most kids deserve a little credit. I ploughed through tons of officially inappropriate content when I was still a minor, yet I turned out okay I guess. The Terminator and Highlander both produced violent and sexual material, yet I watched them both at the age of 10, sometimes even in the company of my parents. I saw Alien and Aliens a few years after that, watched A Nightmare On Elm Street at the age of 14 - and loving every bit of it. And the Bonds? I had seen all the pre-GE Bonds in the double digits before turning 13 in 1995. Maybe that's just me of course. Maybe I'm not very impressionable or sensitive to this kind of exposure. But from my own experiences I tend to induce that Bond films are perfectly suitable for all ages.
What do you think?
- Are Bond films appropriate for all ages?
- How did you experience the Bonds as a child and were you ever offended / shocked by them?
My first Bond experience was DN and quickly thereafter TB when I was 6 or 7. Offended? Shocked? Never. Not once. Instead, I was a fan right from the start. The fact that Bond smoked and killed people was never a big deal either. I knew that Bond operated in a different and essentially fictional universe. There were aspects of Bond I wanted to copy and equally there were aspects I realised I could never and should never want to copy.
The only difference between now and then, for me, is my overall evaluation of the films. At age 10, I though FYEO was so-and-so but AVTAK I thought was magnificent. Nowadays, it's the other way around. ;-)
I personally think that the Bonds are overall pretty innocent and harmless films. If we abolish Bond films for our youngest, what's left for them to see? Bad habits can be picked up everywhere. I know of ignorant parents who deny their pre-teen kids the pleasure of a Bond film but let them watch South Park because "why not, it's a cartoon so it's kids' stuff, right?". Aggravating. Furthermore, I think that most kids deserve a little credit. I ploughed through tons of officially inappropriate content when I was still a minor, yet I turned out okay I guess. The Terminator and Highlander both produced violent and sexual material, yet I watched them both at the age of 10, sometimes even in the company of my parents. I saw Alien and Aliens a few years after that, watched A Nightmare On Elm Street at the age of 14 - and loving every bit of it. And the Bonds? I had seen all the pre-GE Bonds in the double digits before turning 13 in 1995. Maybe that's just me of course. Maybe I'm not very impressionable or sensitive to this kind of exposure. But from my own experiences I tend to induce that Bond films are perfectly suitable for all ages.
What do you think?
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
One of my earliest vivid memories is AVTAK, which was a treat for having done well at school. I was allowed to stay up until the unheard of hour of 8pm - I have since deduced it was the UK TV premiere in January 1990, when I was six. A glorious evening in the world of a six year old.
First Cinema Bond was GE for which I was almost denied entry as an 11 year old, thankfully my Grandad was on hand to clarify how life would not be worth living, were I not to see the movie.
Throughout those years I spent my time in total awe of what was on screen. It was the sheer scope and beauty of the pictures, I'm not even sure if much of the plot registered. It was Bond, the fantasy character I yearned to be when I grew up, the loner who was actually the most bad ass man alive. The women, the wheels, the music, the locations and most importantly the villains - I yearned for villains, the more bizarre and otherworldly the better and Bond delivered that in spades.
The innuendos - most of that was lost until I matured, but as with the greatest creations, if you can appeal to children and adults alike you've absolutely nailed it IMO. One thing's for sure, whether three or thirty, I have forever been dazzled by the sheer nonchalant brilliance with which Roger Moore could deliver a line.
The thing I love most about the movies, having experienced them from child to adult is in essence a paradoxical one. They can simultaneously provide a time-specific worldview yet remain thematically and artistically timeless.
I have in recent years grown tired of the ill-conceived and unfounded far-left rhetoric surrounding the films, particular those earlier in the canon. Now, to clarify, I would probably situate myself somewhere just left of centre, drifting right, so I am by no means an equally ill-informed far-right nut, but I cannot stand the nonsensical ramblings of those who choose to bemoan and criticise what, as a child, I thought of as the be all and end all - because if you're a relatively well educated adult you know that a Bond film will never, ever, blinker your view of the world, but expand it.
I've seen a presentation, no less, suggesting that the canon of villains in the franchise stigmatise those with physical disorders. Quite frankly, that's utter BS and if I were to come across anyone agreeing with such a viewpoint I'd actively disown them. Anyone with basic intelligence will understand why this is reactionary nonsense, pure and simple.
Then there's the age-old 'portrayal of women' argument. I still meet people who despise the early films based on such factors, unable to remove the stick from their arse and accept them for what they are, a product of their time and completely harmless. Has it ever clouded my view of women? No. Can I separate fantasy from reality? Yes. Has it progressed since then? Yes. I don't get it.
When I look back, I learnt a lot from Bond, more than I would have done without it. Snippets of dialogue that at first seemed inconsequential were on further inspection factual nuggets, and I lapped it up. The detail, as with Fleming, was accurate and rich and I completely consumed it as a kid.
Everything, but Chuck Lee's bloody pronunciation of Laboratory as 'Labratory' - this haunted me for years in English class, so thanks for that, Bond.
In hindsight, if the misspelling of a word is the ultimate low-point of my Bondian childhood, I say 'Vive la Bond' and may many more kids enjoy the movies the way I did.
I think most Bonds are suitable for all but the MOST sensitive of children except LTK & Craig's Bonds. Krest, Vesper, Slate, Severine...some fodder for nightmares, certainly.
That being said, when I did get around to watching them all, I don't think kids would have any problems with them; the violence was nothing terrible- though admittedly one issue could simply be not knowing what was going on, plotwise. I had to watch TLD, FRWL and FYEO a couple times just to get a grasp on them, lol
Jaws could be a frightening experience for some kids,especially when he is dressed up and walking down the alley in MR or killing Fekkesh in TSWLM.
You've described perfectly my first experiences of Bond. TSWLM and MR I saw on video at age 6 before my dad took me to see OP at the cinema in 83. Those two scenes with Jaws gave me nightmares for ages. X_X
Did they show the Peter Franks fight ? I ask this because for many many years that was cut from the film when shown on TV.
;)
Only once I can recall that my friend's father demanded TLD back, when he thought it was too mature for me, and I had seen it plenty of times before that. Just didnt own a copy myself. Watching Bond movies at a fairly young age didn't have me or my parents conserned. It was the other parents that might have though movies like TLD or LTK were not suitable for person of my age.
I have a very vague memory of watching the train fight in FRWL on TV aswell.
At the age of 11, I can imagine the final moments of Escape From The Planet Of The Apes being fairly shocking, @chrisisall!
I think it's cool that you liked DAF. :P
To be honest, I love TND and TWINE both equally. If I really had to rank the Brosnan films, it would go like this.
1. GoldenEye
2. Tomorrow Never Dies and The World is not Enough
3. Die Another Day.
The early films came during the end of Ian Fleming's life - a man who was known for his somewhat aggressive sexual appetite - so it's hardly a surprise they were full on.
"My mouth it too big."
"Not for me, it isn't."
Hell even I blush when I watch that scene.
(Bond looks at Kissy in her bikini bottoms)
"stop looking at my black cat"
"Why is it called that?"
"Guess...!!"
Urgh. Dirty old bastard.