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Shaken and Stirred: How James Bond Influences National Security Policy

bond1501bond1501
in General Movies & TV Posts: 5
We all know that 007 shapes public taste in cars, clothes, and physical appearance (both male and female). But have you ever considered that Bond stories can also influence public perception regarding national security policies? This blog post explores the very contemporary national security themes of Skyfall and Spectre. Who knew 007 had so much power?

Shaken and Stirred: How James Bond Influences National Security Policy

Comments

  • bond1501bond1501
    Posts: 5
    I wonder what national security policies are addressed by other Bond films. Quantum of Solace's water scarcity and Tomorrow Never Dies' concern over the influence of media moguls like Rupert Murdoch come to mind. Can anyone else think of examples in other Bond films?
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Nuclear security, perhaps?
  • bond1501bond1501
    Posts: 5
    Good point, that definitely seems to be the message in GoldenEye - the risk posed by deteriorating security around Russian Weapons of Mass Destruction following the collapse of the Soviet Union. GoldenEye presents an EMP satellite as the threat, but that's probably just a metaphor for Russian nukes that might fall into the hands of non-state or terrorist groups. I think that's a strength of the Bond series - they leverage current concerns issues.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    The nuclear security concern is adressed in several films-TB, OP, TWINE.
  • GerardGerard
    Posts: 6,025
    Indeed. And the world got a wake-up call soon after the release of TB with the Palomares accident. It could well happen today. OHMSS is also a warning about bio-warfare. And Spectre arrived in theaters after the revelation of the NSA surveilance program. James Bond is not as far-fetched as we want to believe. What Feming wrote, and what the filmmakers put onscreen, has happened already, or can happen today or tomorrow.
  • bond1501bond1501
    Posts: 5
    Makes me wonder what current issues the plots of the next several Bond films will focus on...
  • BeatlesSansEarmuffsBeatlesSansEarmuffs
    edited April 2016 Posts: 3,566
    bond1501 wrote: »
    Makes me wonder what current issues the plots of the next several Bond films will focus on...

    "NO ONE EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!!!"

    Oops, sorry. That is: Terrorism, terrorism, terrorism. Also, I'm surprised that no one has yet mentioned the Security State/TechnoCorp intersection depicted in Spectre...

    PS: Oh, THERE you are @Gerard...
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Not the Peacelamic State, that is for sure.
  • bond1501bond1501
    Posts: 5
    I think that Raoul Silva from Skyfall represented modern day terrorist threats - trained, equipped, and then abandoned by the western governments that he now seeks to topple. I wonder if future films will present a more explicit view of this danger?
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