Does James Bond need 'modernising'?
When the cast and crew of Bond 25 (now confirmed as "No Time To Die") was announced a few months ago, there was specific mention of addressing the MeToo movement.
They've brought on Phoebe Waller-Bridge (from Fleabag and series 1 of Killing Eve) to help write the script, and she wants to make the female characters feel like real people. I feel she might struggle given the time constraints of a film, especially one with a male lead, but I look forward to her humour at the very least.
For me, I think the problem is very overstated. The lead character is male, and there are plenty of female lead films that struggle developing other characters. It is an action/thriller franchise which means a greater proportion of its time will be on stuff happening rather than people talking or thinking. It's also a mainstream film, so will include sex between people who haven't developed a realistic emotional bond. James Bond is a heterosexual male (nothing wrong with that) so the people he has sex with will be female. These are all aspects of the type of films James Bond are, not flaws in them.
Rather than say that James Bond should change to cover all bases (more thinly), the more logical conclusion is that there is room for a female lead to do a similarly plotted film. Things such as Alien, Underworld and Resident Evil are all series where a female lead character can repeatedly achieve success.
In fact, I think the focus on making Craig's Bond 'grittier' has lost a lot of what worked previously for Bond. Compare with the rise of The Fast and the Furious series, lots of action and ever escalating threats to individuals and ultimately the world. Hobbs and Shaw's overall plot could easily be a James Bond film, and TFAF is comparable to Bond films on revenue, often surpassing it. It's a formula that works and there's no reason to ditch it for a 'gritty' feel.
In conclusion, I don't think Bond needs modernising, they need to focus on the things that have (and still do) worked. If someone can make a plot for a female lead doing the same things, then they should give that a go too and see how it fares.
They've brought on Phoebe Waller-Bridge (from Fleabag and series 1 of Killing Eve) to help write the script, and she wants to make the female characters feel like real people. I feel she might struggle given the time constraints of a film, especially one with a male lead, but I look forward to her humour at the very least.
For me, I think the problem is very overstated. The lead character is male, and there are plenty of female lead films that struggle developing other characters. It is an action/thriller franchise which means a greater proportion of its time will be on stuff happening rather than people talking or thinking. It's also a mainstream film, so will include sex between people who haven't developed a realistic emotional bond. James Bond is a heterosexual male (nothing wrong with that) so the people he has sex with will be female. These are all aspects of the type of films James Bond are, not flaws in them.
Rather than say that James Bond should change to cover all bases (more thinly), the more logical conclusion is that there is room for a female lead to do a similarly plotted film. Things such as Alien, Underworld and Resident Evil are all series where a female lead character can repeatedly achieve success.
In fact, I think the focus on making Craig's Bond 'grittier' has lost a lot of what worked previously for Bond. Compare with the rise of The Fast and the Furious series, lots of action and ever escalating threats to individuals and ultimately the world. Hobbs and Shaw's overall plot could easily be a James Bond film, and TFAF is comparable to Bond films on revenue, often surpassing it. It's a formula that works and there's no reason to ditch it for a 'gritty' feel.
In conclusion, I don't think Bond needs modernising, they need to focus on the things that have (and still do) worked. If someone can make a plot for a female lead doing the same things, then they should give that a go too and see how it fares.
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"Modernising"?
It's misleading to call it that, because it suggests that modernity and gender issues are firmly intertwined. Just look at Japan - it isn't the case. It also implies that gender equality is a recent idea - much of pre-Christian Europe would also beg to differ.
With that out of the way, James Bond I suggest isn't salvageable, and people should move on. Trying to fix it is like trying to re-film Monty Python with real horses and special effects.
It's misleading to call it that, because it suggests that modernity and gender issues are firmly intertwined. Just look at Japan - it isn't the case. It also implies that gender equality is a recent idea - much of pre-Christian Europe would also beg to differ.
With that out of the way, James Bond I suggest isn't salvageable, and people should move on. Trying to fix it is like trying to re-film Monty Python with real horses and special effects.
(edited 4 years ago)
No.
I have a terrible feeling that James Bond is going to be ruined in a similar way to the modern versions of Charmed and Sabrina The Teenage Witch.
I have a terrible feeling that James Bond is going to be ruined in a similar way to the modern versions of Charmed and Sabrina The Teenage Witch.
It’s simply in incorrect to say that female characters have been “Bond girls”
It has been that case in the past with bond being a ****, see how he treats Pussy in Goldfinger, but I would argue that there have been plenty of females equal to bond. Such as Mayday in A View To A kill, Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies, Jinx in Die another Day. Even Electra King in TWINE, she played him and Renard.
Bond has even shown an emotional side before pre Craig, when Tracy was shot in OHMSS.
the film seires is called James Bond, of course it’s going to be focused on him
It has been that case in the past with bond being a ****, see how he treats Pussy in Goldfinger, but I would argue that there have been plenty of females equal to bond. Such as Mayday in A View To A kill, Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies, Jinx in Die another Day. Even Electra King in TWINE, she played him and Renard.
Bond has even shown an emotional side before pre Craig, when Tracy was shot in OHMSS.
the film seires is called James Bond, of course it’s going to be focused on him
Original post by Andrew97
It’s simply in incorrect to say that female characters have been “Bond girls”
It has been that case in the past with bond being a ****, see how he treats Pussy in Goldfinger, but I would argue that there have been plenty of females equal to bond. Such as Mayday in A View To A kill, Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies, Jinx in Die another Day. Even Electra King in TWINE, she played him and Renard.
Bond has even shown an emotional side before pre Craig, when Tracy was shot in OHMSS.
the film seires is called James Bond, of course it’s going to be focused on him
It has been that case in the past with bond being a ****, see how he treats Pussy in Goldfinger, but I would argue that there have been plenty of females equal to bond. Such as Mayday in A View To A kill, Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies, Jinx in Die another Day. Even Electra King in TWINE, she played him and Renard.
Bond has even shown an emotional side before pre Craig, when Tracy was shot in OHMSS.
the film seires is called James Bond, of course it’s going to be focused on him
indeed. but you missed off the best of all... Rosa Klebb
Original post by A Rolling Stone
indeed. but you missed off the best of all... Rosa Klebb
Indeed. Klebb comes across as being a menacing villain and even has the upper hand in the final fight with Bond.
She certainly feels more like the main villain than “number 1” and Kronsteen, even though it was Kronateens plan she was implementing.
Have to say the best thing about that film was the train fight between bond and Grant.
The Bond films have often treated women like vacuous sex objects which is no longer acceptable. I will only start watching Bond movies again when Idris Elba agrees to take the role and we see him walking out of the sea in nothing but a pair of tiny shorts with a conch shell stuck down them
Original post by harrysbar
The Bond films have often treated women like vacuous sex objects which is no longer acceptable. I will only start watching Bond movies again when Idris Elba agrees to take the role and we see him walking out of the sea in nothing but a pair of tiny shorts with a conch shell stuck down them
Frankly this comment is both raicst and sexist. Unless the next lead is a black albino of asian decent who has had a sex change i will raise hell.
Original post by Napp
Frankly this comment is both raicst and sexist. Unless the next lead is a black albino of asian decent who has had a sex change i will raise hell.
My bad
Original post by harrysbar
The Bond films have often treated women like vacuous sex objects which is no longer acceptable. I will only start watching Bond movies again when Idris Elba agrees to take the role and we see him walking out of the sea in nothing but a pair of tiny shorts with a conch shell stuck down them
the world is your oyster harrys
Prsom @harrysbar damn I’m on a lol thread
Original post by londonmyst
No.
I have a terrible feeling that James Bond is going to be ruined in a similar way to the modern versions of Charmed and Sabrina The Teenage Witch.
I have a terrible feeling that James Bond is going to be ruined in a similar way to the modern versions of Charmed and Sabrina The Teenage Witch.
Loved Charmed ..and used to watch Sabrina as a kid
I take it the remakes haven't lived upto the hype yet. I have still to watch them. What channel are they on? e4?
And as for James Bond, there s stuff he did in the "old" movies which would go down quite badly today. I can remember scences where he came onto a woman, she resisted and said no, James continued aggressively kissing her in the bedroom while she was resisting till eventually she stopped resisting and just went with it and had sex with him.
A "hero" can't get away with stuff like that anymore.
I haven't seen him do any of that stuff for a long time so he has already been modernised. It seems like the makers are still concerned though and want to change him more.
For me, I make a distinction between bond and star-wars, as two different types of films.
Star wars is a fixed point in time that is separate to our world, sure within its universe time progresses, but its not relative to ours, and as a result when you try and update the universe from what it was, to match our own it feels very wrong and out of place. Something which we are seeing more and more in modern starwars and the fans hate. It should really be kept roughly in line with how the universe was designed, or replaced entirely.
Bond though is different, each film moves further into the future, in our real universe.. its not an abstract universe, or a fixed period of time.. it moves as we move. Technology, politics, fashion etc. all follow our real life. As a result, for me it feels absolutely fitting for it to be constantly updated... bond should be the ideal masculine figure of every time period he is set in.. and the girls likewise.That means sure in the 60s they are going to be one thing, and today they are going to change and be something else. As long as you don't remove the core of it, then it should rightly update with the times. If you don't, you'd end up with a wierd out-of-date style man running around in modern times, and it beocmes more parody or abstract than what its meant to be.
If there is an audiance for class bond style films, make a period-bond film, set it back in the 60s-70s and then you have a great and fitting reason to keep things in line with that time.
Star wars is a fixed point in time that is separate to our world, sure within its universe time progresses, but its not relative to ours, and as a result when you try and update the universe from what it was, to match our own it feels very wrong and out of place. Something which we are seeing more and more in modern starwars and the fans hate. It should really be kept roughly in line with how the universe was designed, or replaced entirely.
Bond though is different, each film moves further into the future, in our real universe.. its not an abstract universe, or a fixed period of time.. it moves as we move. Technology, politics, fashion etc. all follow our real life. As a result, for me it feels absolutely fitting for it to be constantly updated... bond should be the ideal masculine figure of every time period he is set in.. and the girls likewise.That means sure in the 60s they are going to be one thing, and today they are going to change and be something else. As long as you don't remove the core of it, then it should rightly update with the times. If you don't, you'd end up with a wierd out-of-date style man running around in modern times, and it beocmes more parody or abstract than what its meant to be.
If there is an audiance for class bond style films, make a period-bond film, set it back in the 60s-70s and then you have a great and fitting reason to keep things in line with that time.
Original post by Le Male
Rather than a White male fighting baddies what they need to do is have a Black trans-woman hunting down alt-right supporters on the internet and reporting them to their employers.
Careful what you wish for.
Instead we see a white trans m2f specifically hunting down ethnic minority female estheticians who, when they decline to wax her **** and balls, is dragging them ( the estheticians, not the **** and balls) through the Canadian human rights tribunal.
Real life deviation from fiction.🤔
Original post by Onde
I think Mr Bond must cut down on his alcohol consumption, try to stick within the speed limit, and refrain from killing so many baddies.
Must we call them baddies, are they not ethically challenged individuals?
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