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Comments
The word inevitable suggests a resignation to the fact that it may happen. Very sad it should even be debated in this good vs bad scenario.
I love the character and the franchise more than anything believe me, but let's not create a preferred option on race...you might as well become Hugo drax or Stromberg. No one should be lesser and if it's cultural heritage that sways opinion I say again, this is fiction. It's a pity this should be an issue, even today. Very sad.
This has nothing to do with my view being progressive, how about realist. Start respecting a bit more and accepting that a character can be inhabited by any actor.
Ben Kingsley - Ghandi!! Let's not suck the integrity of this great forum and website into a provocative minefield.
However, I have made no accusation of out an out racism against any person/s on this thread. the title itself regards race, so forgive me for taking this tangent.
I have purely highlighted the, or at least my, sadness in the fact that such a matter (for whatever reasons) should be the cause of discord with our beloved franchise. I purposefully did not directly quote comments because it was not an intention to make it personal. We challenge each other in lots of other threads so why shouldn't a concern be voiced in this.
As I say, I apologise for causing upset and if i have missed the boat in terms if context also. This is an emotive subject from all sorts of angles, may be I was just being a little too passionate.
Best and without predjudice,
Monsieur Aubergine
1. Queen/King and Country.
2. Gambling, women and dining.
3. wit and ruthlessness.
4. Ability to fight and drive.
those are what I look for in James Bond...not the colour of his hair, eyes or other body parts.
are there other ethic goups fighting for the crown than just the one? yes many...
so if the white actors all fail you wouldnt want an actor that could do the job?
what of those of mixed heritage? surely even bond is of mixed heritage....
dont forget there was a time when there was no white and all of europe was broken up into seperate races...
It might happen, but that doesn't make it inevitable, does it?
One thing that puzzled me was people saying that if Bond were to be black (or any other colour) he should still be played by a Brit and talk wth a British accent - if you're going to completely mess with a literary and filmic icon by changing his colour, what difference does his voice make, you might as well have him working for the CIA (as in the original tv Casino Royale) as well.
I also remember some of that video being made at FanFest last year (I think I also linked to it on the old MI6 site), quite interesting that all of the interviewees are not on the video.
No, Bond is not a real person, but just as you would not cast a black actor to play a white historical figure in a film, you wouldn't cast a black actor as James Bond. It no longer makes sense to do so.
My argument is that Bond has existed long enough to almost become real to many people. Racism has nothing to do with it. It's just a common sense casting decision at this point.
It would anger fans and confuse everyone else to do otherwise.
Bond doesn't need to be black and what he does have going for him is, that his race is an iconic attribute that easily makes him recognisable instantly, moreso than other fictional characters. You can have a black guy play hamlet and it's not even a real concern and that's because it just doesn't matter but with Bond it's more different. For a black actor to play a 00, he/she doesn't need to be in a shaft movie or be a member of the CIA as mark_hazard so "intelligently" pointed out. They can play 00 agents, just not Bond imo. However, as I've stated in earlier posts, a black Bond is by no means inevitable but there could be a possibility of it happening at some point but personally, I'd rather they stick to the character of Bond as conceptually intended.
As I said in a previous post, Bond's defining characteristic is that he's British. That's why he's described as "British secret agent James Bond" and not "white secret agent James Bond". It's like how Shaft is always described as the "black private dick", not the "American private dick".
A friend of mine is both black and British. He's very good-looking, very smooth and charming, in great shape, a great dresser, and women love him. Sort of like a black Brosnan in many ways and some of our co-workers (both men and women) joke about how "Bond" he is. In fact, one woman was saying how he is more of a "classic Bond" like figure than Craig is!
He was joking about how a lot of people equate British with "white". A great story is the black female stand up comedian who was touring the U.S. She was driving her BMV when she was pulled over for no reason by a police officer. When she started speaking to him in her educated British accent his face filled with confusion and he didn't know what to say. He told her that he didn't need to see her registration and that she could go. As she pulled away she thought "From the look on his face I was expecting him to say, oh, I'm sorry - I thought you were black". :-)
If they were to make a period piece Bond film or one where his Scots/French Swiss background was important to the story then I would say yes, the actor must be white. But for a modern Bond film set in the present day featuring the "movie Bond" I have no problem with a black actor. Roger Moore had light brown hair and his hairsprayed back style precluded the "black comma of hair" hanging down over his eyebrow but I don't think that makes him less of a Bond, in the same way that Craig having blond hair and being one inch shorter than the Bond of the books makes him unqualified for the part.
Maybe having a 'black' 007 would be a bit from the norm but so what if he was, Leiter was colored in the last movie and no-one made anything of that
they already changed it with Craig by having a blond bond so maybe one day in the not too distant future a colored bond may very much be a flesh and blood reality
I don't think you are paying much attention to what others are saying though.
Fact is Bond also has a defining ethnicity as does Shaft. Check the Fleming books if you don't believe me.
btw, we all know black persons can be British, but thanks anyway for the anecdotes.
Bond is a white Brit. End of story.
=====Film Bond or even book Bond could be black, hispanic, Asian or green Martian in the distant future, if there was a buck to be made, but that would be a different character with its own unique ethnic or alien heritage.*-:)
And I said in a previous post that Fleming wrote Bond (in the 1950s) as a white character but I don't see how the modern "movie Bond" *needs* to be white. There will be aspects of the actor playing Bond that will be the same as Fleming's character and aspects that are different.