Why is there the Fakery of the Occult in Live and Let Die (1973)?

Silhouette Man

To be specific here I am referring to what one might call the fakery of the occult present at times in Live and Let Die (1973). By this I mean those scenes in the film where instead of the occult being used naturally as if it exists for real (e.g. Solitaire using ESP and reading the tarot cards and telling of Bond's arrival etc., Baron Samedi's return from the dead at the end) there is the use of fakery of the occult.

For example, the scarecrows with built-in surveillance cameras and guns (one of which is used to kill Rosie Carver) and most especially the robotic version of Baron Samedi that rises out of the ground (rather like the Devil) only for Bond to fire his revolver at it and blow its head off. We see that instead of Baron Samedi rising from the ground in an occult manner he is actually on a lift that brings him to the surface from Dr Kananga's underground base. It's always struck me as a very weird and unexplained moment from the film.

What I'm left wondering is was the writer/director trying to suggest that the occult is real or the occult is fake and used to keep the superstitious and devout Voodoo natives of the islands of San Monique in check through "the voodoo threat of Baron Samedi" as in the original Bond novel with Mr Big as the villain? Was this a White Man casting doubt on the real power of Voodoo as a religion and practice or that Kananga added to the natural power of Voodoo with a little occult fakery of his own just for good measure?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one, as always! -{

Thunderpussy

Only my assumption but, I always though ( as in the Book) it was used
To terrify and control the community. The fake Baron Samedi, I guess
could be used when he was away from the island, or appear to be on
different parts of the island at the same time, adding to his mystery,
Occult status. In many was, Mr Big was using technology to enhance
the voodoo magic.

002

I concur entirely. In the (frankly, superb and superior) book version, voodoo is never pretended to be anything real but it is a superstition that Mr Big uses to great effect when instilling fear, respect and utmost loyalty/obedience in the Harlem community.

The fakery used in the film echoes that nicely.

Manxman

The concept of voodoo being used to control the population was, I assume, a reference to the Haitian dictators "Papa Doc" and "Baby Doc" Duvalier, who used exactly the same tactic.

Brosnan_fan

Simple - it's there to scare people away from the poppy fields; it wouldn't sit well with Kananga if people were to stumble across his drug farm.

hehadlotsofguts

Brosnan_fan wrote:

Simple - it's there to scare people away from the poppy fields; it wouldn't sit well with Kananga if people were to stumble across his drug farm.

Great common sense answer! I like how the filmakers used the "villains exploiting peoples superstitions to keep them away from thier lair/criminal doings." A plot device used in Dr No, with the "Dragon".

AlphaOmegaSin

Like what's already been said, Kananga and Co were using Voodoo as a way of scaring off any curious Locals of the Island. Similar to how in the Novel, Mr Big was using his Image of Baron Semedi to scare his Men into following his Orders.

superado

Silhouette Man's questions about the implied "real" occult elements hasn't been answered. Solitaire's Tarot Card readings in the begining were either incredible coincidences or real; the same can be said about Solitaire's "failure" after losing her virginity to Bond. Likewise, Baron Samedi's appearance at the end is either due to him surviving the venomous snake bites, a projection of the unseen cinematic "narrator's" imagination, or it was a "real" occult event. The most plausible explanation is that the suggestions of the "real" occult elements is a wink from the storyteller, just like the breaking of the 4th wall.

Barbel

So, is LALD the only film in the series where 007 encounters supernatural forces?
As superado suggests, it would be odd if Solitaire's accurate predictions (up till Bond, ah, relieves her of her powers) were merely coincidence, or that Baron Samedi is somehow immune to snake bites.

superado

Barbel wrote:

So, is LALD the only film in the series where 007 encounters supernatural forces?
As superado suggests, it would be odd if Solitaire's accurate predictions (up till Bond, ah, relieves her of her powers) were merely coincidence, or that Baron Samedi is somehow immune to snake bites.

After thinking this over more (that's dangerous, my dad always used to say ) ), it seems that a pragmatic and practical James Bond foiled Mr. Big's conjured-up Voodoo trickery and even outsmarted Solitaire's clairvoyance with a stacked deck to prove that even Solitaire's initial Tarot reading was fake, or at least inferior...and he's rewarded with victory over the supernatural bunk. But just as audiences begin breathing sighs of relief in this, we get a playful poke with final 4th wall otherworldly "wink" at the end to disturb our own assumptions about the material world! Perhaps that's all that it's about? It's similar to the ambiguous ending of Inception. However, it couldn't be clearer had they added the ultimate closing scene of Bond's eyes popping open after waking up next to Solitare, except they didn't do that!

perdogg

Silhouette Man wrote:

To be specific here I am referring to what one might call the fakery of the occult present at times in Live and Let Die (1973). By this I mean those scenes in the film where instead of the occult being used naturally as if it exists for real (e.g. Solitaire using ESP and reading the tarot cards and telling of Bond's arrival etc., Baron Samedi's return from the dead at the end) there is the use of fakery of the occult.

For example, the scarecrows with built-in surveillance cameras and guns (one of which is used to kill Rosie Carver) and most especially the robotic version of Baron Samedi that rises out of the ground (rather like the Devil) only for Bond to fire his revolver at it and blow its head off. We see that instead of Baron Samedi rising from the ground in an occult manner he is actually on a lift that brings him to the surface from Dr Kananga's underground base. It's always struck me as a very weird and unexplained moment from the film.

What I'm left wondering is was the writer/director trying to suggest that the occult is real or the occult is fake and used to keep the superstitious and devout Voodoo natives of the islands of San Monique in check through "the voodoo threat of Baron Samedi" as in the original Bond novel with Mr Big as the villain? Was this a White Man casting doubt on the real power of Voodoo as a religion and practice or that Kananga added to the natural power of Voodoo with a little occult fakery of his own just for good measure?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one, as always! -{

I thought the direction of the movie was to assuage the perception that the novel was racist. I thought the movie should have left the viewers pondering whether voodoo was real or fake, but the movie turned into faux blacksploitation film with black racism against whites.