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Comment by Claude on January 4, 2012 at 1:54pm

For anyone interested, they have started adding info about the upcoming bond movie Skyfall.

http://www.007.com/home/

Comment by Claude on November 4, 2011 at 3:21pm

Not much activity in this group.  Im surprised since they are starting the hype for the next Bond movie.  After the Dalton and Brosnan years, its good to be looking forward to Bond movies again.

Comment by Jeff Hafner on February 21, 2011 at 11:45am

Charles, that was basically the point I was trying to get at about Fleming's racism. It may seem somewhat uncouth to us now, but was fitting for his time and station.

I was surprised as well at how closely OHMSS followed the book (too bad they had a model playing Bond instead of an actor) - haven't been able to read Casino Royale yet. And yeah, Moonraker the movie was all the worse after reading the book... it was an amazing book, why did they need to foul it up with a space laser battle? 

Comment by Seahound on October 29, 2010 at 12:17am

From Russia With Love is my favorite Bond movie.

Comment by Jeff Hafner on October 28, 2010 at 10:08pm

Well put Seahound. Though this makes me wonder how such modern "sensibilities" hold up in various cultures... but I suppose that's a discussion for a different board.

Just so I can feel more on topic here: I have long held From Russia With Love as one of the top Bond films, and after recently reading the book (which is great) I was surprised at how well the film followed the book (though obviously not to the letter).

Comment by Seahound on October 28, 2010 at 1:08am

Jeff, gotcha. Haven't made it to Goldfinger yet. This reminds me of a discussion from another group about HP Lovecraft and racism (his was very explicit). Funny how modern (commonplace) depictions of sex and violence would have shocked Fleming's readers, but his thoughts on race and homosexuality can bother us.

Comment by Jeff Hafner on October 26, 2010 at 2:06pm

Seahound, it's been a while since I read Live and Let Die (I've slowly been hopping around the series) and I'm sure I'd agree with you on Fleming's portrayal of African Americans. The most striking example of racism I recall is in Goldfinger when Bond is describing Oddjob and the other Koreans - here's some quotes from the novel: http://techland.com/2008/08/27/the_quantum_of_racist/

I suppose it could be, and has been, argued that this is targeted more at North Koreans (which doesn't justify it, but makes it more understandable in the few years after the Korean war), but I venture that it's more of a leftover of colonialism. With that being said, I still do not think Fleming was maliciously attacking a race, but more speaking (through the words of his characters, good or bad) out of ignorance. I still highly recommend reading the novels, but recognize some readers are more sensitive on this topic than others and want to warn them to try and put it in perspective.

Comment by Seahound on October 26, 2010 at 12:46pm

Jeff, I haven't seen any blatant racism so far (first 3 books). There's what I would call general ignorance about black culture in Live and Let Die, but I don't think it should qualify as racism. Solitaire uses the "n-word" at some point, but just because a character expresses a racist sentiment doesn't mean the author feels that way. Overall I thought Live and Let Die was pretty progressive for a book written in 1954. While there was some discussion of African Americans only recently making an impact in political and intellectual pursuits, I felt that Fleming ascribed this to recent advancements in civil rights and opportunities, not to inherent racial characteristics. This was not an idea shared by many in 1954.

Comment by Scott L Ferrell on June 4, 2010 at 2:01pm

I understand, look forward to it.

Comment by Jeff Hafner on June 4, 2010 at 1:59pm

Scott, you're in for a treat. The books really develop the character. Just be aware that the movies often used little more than the title and character names, so some stories are quite different (and several better, IMO). Also remember that they were written by a man in the 50s, so there's some blatant racism and sexism, though I don't remember any that's malicious.

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