Do We Bond Fans Celebrate Gratutious Violence?

chrisisall

As a Bond fan from age 11, I've always really dug when Bond dispatches some evil POS. But in real life, even though I'm a martial artist, I'm quite the peacenik. I hate police brutality, am for tougher gun laws, and I've never actually used my Samurai sword on anything besides hedges.

In real life violence is not fun. It hurts, it can lead to permanent damage & death... so why is it 'fun' to see Bond toss a dude off the deep end?

Are we all just arrested adolescents transfixed by a power fascination?
Or is it simply an adult fantasy & catharsis?

In a utopian & peaceful world, would Bond fight boredom? ?:)

Lexi

I think Bond represents good vs evil, and for me, that means having to kill someone.

Our British culture (where arms are not a right of passage) the license to kill was something very different (when the Bond franchise began) and somewhat 'hero like' - unfortuneatly, these days it doesn't really have the kudos it once had.

I abhor violence (for violence sake) but it doesn't stop me watching violent movies... although it's not my genre of choice... and I really dislike horror - I just can't be dealing with the graphic shock. I think I managed up to saw 3... before I stopped.

Bond, to me, represents the type of violence needed to keep my country safe and I wouldn't describe it as violence, more a sense of purpose and 'good' - some might call it double standards... as it's still killing, but as I'm from a military background I would be very hypocritical if I didn't stand for protection against 'evil' in whatever forms that takes.

Higgins

Lexi wrote:

I abhor violence (for violence sake) but it doesn't stop me watching violent movies... although it's not my genre of choice...

…and we all appreciate your financial contributions (ticket purchases) for "romantic comedies".
Hey - someone has to keep the genre alive ) ) )

Lexi

Higgins wrote:

Lexi wrote:

I abhor violence (for violence sake) but it doesn't stop me watching violent movies... although it's not my genre of choice...

…and we all appreciate your financial contributions (ticket purchases) for "romantic comedies".
Hey - someone has to keep the genre alive ) ) )

Well, I can't argue that I haven't seen the odd romantic comedy... however I prefer psychological thrillers, sci-fi and crime.

Higgins

well, doesn't "romantic comedy" not also include all those attributes - for one price :v

Lexi

Higgins wrote:

well, doesn't "romantic comedy" not also include all those attributes - for one price :v

depends on the movie I guess.... but then you could say that Bond includes some romantic comedy aspects too... no?

....although I can't see any romantic comedy aspects in Captian Phillips, Tinker Tailor soldier spy, or Argo... (a few of the movies I've seen recently)

Thunderpussy

I don't even think of the Bond films as violent !
I love graphic horror ( I have all the saw movies ) )
Although I myself am a big Pussy Cat. )
Hate guns; I dislike hunting etc. So I don't think
watching Bond has harmed me. ...... Well not too
much. )

chrisisall

Thunderpussy wrote:

I don't even think of the Bond films as violent !

Tell that to Krest.

Thunderpussy

Strictly business, nothing personal. )

chrisisall

)

Thunderpussy

" Under pressure he couldn't keep his head !"

Infact I regard Bond to be like Indy or Batman
action adventure, none of them overly violent.

AlphaOmegaSin

Like Indy, Bond is a Fictional Character who operates in the 'Film World' (If that makes any Sense)

Thunderpussy

Nicely put, a well thought out argument -{
I wouldn't have expected that ! )

chrisisall

Thunderpussy wrote:

I regard Bond to be like Indy or Batman
action adventure, none of them overly violent.

But, isn't that worse than overly violent? I mean, making violence into adventure... something it really isn't?
How many kids in the 40's & 50's lost sight in an eye because The Three Stooges made violence into comedy? ?:)

Thunderpussy

You've gone TOO far sir, You can slag off
AOS all you want But Nobody can " diss" the
three stooges ! What you call violence, I call
physical Comedy {[] ) I turn my back on you sir !
If people are stupid enough to copy mivie stunts, all
well and good. It takes stupid people out of the
gene pool. So helping the human race. -{

AlphaOmegaSin

The Feelings mutual TP )

Thunderpussy

I thought I'd drag you into the argument as well
collateral damage )
for physical comedy it would be worth losing an eye.

AlphaOmegaSin

Rather an Eye then something else )

Thunderpussy

I'd block any finger with my phone, use it as
an i-patch. )

AlphaOmegaSin

Largo?

Thunderpussy

Yes Largo was a big three stooges fan hence the lost eye.
The only "safe " violence that annoyed me was the never
ending car crashes in The A Team, were people would simply
walk away from every crash !
At least in Bond if you are a henchman who parks on the edge
of a cliff and Bond kicks it over. You end up dead.

Peppermill

I like watching James Bond kick someones butt because I don't want/have to.

Thunderpussy

Kick & lick, always getting those mixed up ! )

Gassy Man

Until recently, Bond violence is just fantasy violence. In RL, I'm middle of the road politically, not violent at all, and not what I would consider a sexist. But I can watch a conservative assassin with predilections toward sexism just fine if he is contained in a fantasy world, or at least one that recognizes his limit.

Thunderpussy

Bond is not all bad, he even lefy Greene a drink !

chrisisall

Gassy Man wrote:

I can watch a conservative assassin with predilections toward sexism just fine if he is contained in a fantasy world

What I like about Bond (and Indy, Batman & Malcolm Reynolds, for that matter) is the mash up of Conservative & Liberal values employed (sometimes simultaneously ).

It's just curious to me, as a basic pacifist, how I can enjoy seeing Bond 'giving the public what it wants' without reservation. Even the knife kill in QOS was not wholly inappropriate IMO.
Must be my enemy within...

Thunderbird 2

Ginger Raspberry please landlord!

Bond is as fictional as Star Trek and Thunderbirds. His get out if jail card is his license to kill. He is a spy - no aspect of what he does is ethical except the end reasoning. He does it to ensure the bad guys don't make a lot of people suffer, or die.
Its the simplicity of good versus evil.
I have to admit, Mr Craig's Bond is not a "clean" killer. Slates death in QoS is horrifically brutal. It mirrors the stairwell murder in CR-06. But, its still fiction. Just as Sir Sean's Bond frying Odd Job, Sir Roger's shooting Stromberg, and Mr Daltons crushing Whiticar. Its comic book or whodunit violence. The scale of Bond and the (usually) lack of gore makes it work.
Krest and Slates deaths break that rule, they are quite horrible and do make you stop and think about the violence involved. It takes you out if the Bond format. It brings that association to the surrounding violence. However, that does not mean you like violence or enjoy it, in fact the reverse is true.

chrisisall

Thunderbird 2 wrote:

Krest and Slates deaths break that rule, they are quite horrible and do make you stop and think about the violence involved. It takes you out if the Bond format. It brings that association to the surrounding violence. However, that does not mean you like violence or enjoy it, in fact the reverse is true.

Violence can and does serve drama. But something a friend once told me always rings true: if the violence makes you smile, it's not violence but a cartoon version of it.
When Bond blows up Sanchez or kills Slate, I do not smile.

Thunderpussy

Gratuitous : without reason.

I think In Both those deaths, There was a very good reason.

AlphaOmegaSin

1 + -{

Blackleiter

chrisisall wrote:

Thunderpussy wrote:

I don't even think of the Bond films as violent !

Tell that to Krest.

Or Dario! Or the guy in OHMSS who "had a lot of guts"! )