BLM and Bond
Shady Tree
London, UKPosts: 2,998MI6 Agent
The Black Lives Matter movement is currently arriving at an important moment which hopefully will bring changes for the better.
Part of the conversation atm is in the area of 'culture wars', though arguably television-friendly coverage of flashpoints around statues risks taking away some of the focus from racist policing and the specific political action and reform necessary to address socio-economic disadvantage, health inequalities and the ways in which BAME people are disproportionately affected by Covid-19. That said, iconography and representation in public places and in the media are key issues too, affecting how people are asked to see themselves and each other.
There's a lot of coverage atm about how streaming channels are removing vintage films and TV series from their packages in cases where shows include racial stereotyping and blackface. One has to wonder how Bond may be affected by these developments; specifically, Bond until the mid 70s (perhaps even till the mid 80s). There's been a lot of past discussion in Bond forums about, for example, Bond ordering Quarrel to fetch his shoes in DN, Bond's yellowface in YOLT, stereotypical tropes in LALD and JW Pepper's bigotry in TMWTGG. I'm not suggesting that familiar arguments need to be rehearsed all over again. We know these include discussions about evaluating the movies in the context of the film culture in which they were made; how the Bond movies in question might be considered less offensive than some other contemporary fare; how the films sometimes counterbalanced negative stereotypes with more positive images of characters from around the world, etc. Points have been made, disagreed with and debated.
My interest here is in what might happen next. On TV, broadcasts of earlier Bond films have long since been relegated from main channels (and Bank Holiday billing) to less prominent schedules. I wonder whether some of the films might now be quietly retired from TV altogether. As for home media, we may end up with a re-branding of earlier Bond films to a certain point, putting increased emphasis on their 'classic' or 'vintage' status, presenting them more like museum pieces or curiosities than as currently relevant entertainment. I'm sure there will be some kind of review by the owners of the Bond franchise as to what they should and can do now - or not do - with some of their titles/property.
Part of the conversation atm is in the area of 'culture wars', though arguably television-friendly coverage of flashpoints around statues risks taking away some of the focus from racist policing and the specific political action and reform necessary to address socio-economic disadvantage, health inequalities and the ways in which BAME people are disproportionately affected by Covid-19. That said, iconography and representation in public places and in the media are key issues too, affecting how people are asked to see themselves and each other.
There's a lot of coverage atm about how streaming channels are removing vintage films and TV series from their packages in cases where shows include racial stereotyping and blackface. One has to wonder how Bond may be affected by these developments; specifically, Bond until the mid 70s (perhaps even till the mid 80s). There's been a lot of past discussion in Bond forums about, for example, Bond ordering Quarrel to fetch his shoes in DN, Bond's yellowface in YOLT, stereotypical tropes in LALD and JW Pepper's bigotry in TMWTGG. I'm not suggesting that familiar arguments need to be rehearsed all over again. We know these include discussions about evaluating the movies in the context of the film culture in which they were made; how the Bond movies in question might be considered less offensive than some other contemporary fare; how the films sometimes counterbalanced negative stereotypes with more positive images of characters from around the world, etc. Points have been made, disagreed with and debated.
My interest here is in what might happen next. On TV, broadcasts of earlier Bond films have long since been relegated from main channels (and Bank Holiday billing) to less prominent schedules. I wonder whether some of the films might now be quietly retired from TV altogether. As for home media, we may end up with a re-branding of earlier Bond films to a certain point, putting increased emphasis on their 'classic' or 'vintage' status, presenting them more like museum pieces or curiosities than as currently relevant entertainment. I'm sure there will be some kind of review by the owners of the Bond franchise as to what they should and can do now - or not do - with some of their titles/property.
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
Comments
The most I can see happening is Strutter's 'spades' line being chopped, but Bond films get edited for TV all the time. The only thing people should be getting hot under the collar is how black people are treated today.
Don't forget that homosexuals can't whistle!
I don't think that the novels are in any danger though, I don't see literacy being seen that way.
I did watch LALD this week after a long gap since the last watch, and I used to think it's not too racist as the villains just sort of happen to be black rather than depicting all black people as bad and it doesn't really stereotype them, plus you have sympathetic portrayals such as Quarrel Jr, Strutter and even Rosie has a bit of nuance. But, I think it definitely leaves a flavour of black culture as being untrustworthy: all of their cab drivers are in it together against you; you can't go to their bars and clubs because they'll kill you there; you can't even trust their funeral processions. There's an 'us and them' situation conjured through this- even black CIA agents somehow know voodoo warnings when they see them.
I don't think it was intentional, and I do think the filmmakers had good intentions (the aforementioned positive characters, Sheriff JW being a figure of fun etc.) and they don't go in for stereotypes, but there's a flavour inadvertently created. For example I think the funeral procession is such a great irresistible image that they had to use because it's pure cinema, but the impression it leaves you with is that all of these people, from their children to their old grandparents, are all in it together against 'us'.
You know literacy is a prerequisite for and not a synonym of literature, right?
Other than that you make some good points.
But it's very clear that considering all the locations Bond's visited and the use and respect he's shown for other cultures, especially at the time it was produced that these are actually not in danger at all to be called racist. Bond's proud to be British and maybe sticks out because of that but it's never shown as a contrast between the civilised west and an "us vs them" type of thing.
It's part of Bond's international appeal imo.
It seems that Quarrel is forgotten but he was in the very first movie and Bond was quite amicable towards him, even going as far to actually be sort of disturbed by the sight of his death.
May Day? Another good example of Bond simply get along with someone.
The overarching message in Bond movies to me always has been that it doesn't matter what race someone is but how they are as a person. Wai Lin? Bond loving Japan...maybe for sexist reasons but regardless?
Hell.
Felix Leiter is an African American and it's the best interpretation yet.
Diversity is the fibre of movie Bond's fabric. Bond might be rapey and sexist at times but he wasn't ever a racist.
Agree with you both.
Well, at least Wai could poke fun at the fact that she doesn't have a little red book.
This "Fetch my shoes" -moment is something that IMHO has been blown out of proportion. I have been around enough military men of higher rank (as well as seasoned noncoms) retired and serving, who when pressed for time will revert to giving orders to everybody, even on casual situations. This is something my wife keeps taking offense for, especially from my father. And it feels like screaming into wind, when I try to tell her that he doesn't mean anything by it, it's just that "old dogs and all that..."
Just because it was Quarrell and shoes, it's been made a terrific hooplaa about it, but Bond is just as curt and impolite with his orders when he tells Leiter to "Set it down, now" -in TB. I'm sure that If I were to watch all the movies looking for instances, I would find plenty of times when Bond orders people around.
-Mr Arlington Beech
I agree with you 100% 0073. I have always felt the same way when watching Dr No, that Bond could have said that to any colleague or assistant. It felt like something quite natural to me in the circumstances.
I think I do tend to feel the influence of the novels to some extent when watching Dr No, perhaps assuming Bond has a greater affection for Quarrel due to having read the more fleshed out relationship between the two in LALD and DN by Fleming, rather than strictly due to what is presented on screen by the filmmakers.
Nah it's pretty uncomfortable stuff: 'fetch' is a very particular kind of word. And you can't really excuse him as being military, because he's not a real military man and I doubt they were writing it that carefully. It's an attitude of the time so I don't blame them necessarily, but it's perhaps the most dated moment in the entire series.
Yeah I tend to agree: they don't share much screentime really, and Bond barely blinks when Quarrel is killed (perhaps because it's his fault!
Well here we do agree to a tee, the first time I saw DrNo, having been introduced to Bond with more suave Moore, it felt strange to see him try to cut in line for a taxi.
-Mr Arlington Beech
The eavesdropping assistant in Dr No?
The entire barn sequence in Goldfinger?
That's sorta....weirdly...part of the appeal though. Which is not meant to be taken the wrong way but the closer you get to Fleming's Bond the more of an asshole you have to make him.
Fetch does sound like he's ordering around a dog but everything sounds crappy in writing. It's the same as comedy routines imo
Presumably part of the reason why they drifted away from Fleming, yeah.
And in execution though!
Yes, agreed there! It's quite a strange scene.
Are we 100% sure that's water?
Good point!
It's right to make the distinction. My point in #20 is that the movie itself gets round to making fun of Quarrel.
If so, the filmmakers' conception of Quarrel's character might have evolved as they were filming, but because of the order of the scenes we see it backwards.
Fleming himself was hanging round for a lot of the Jamaican filming, I wonder if he had any input as to how Quarrel was being presented? The character would have been based on real people he knew. He probably didn't like seeing a character he had created reduced to such a stereotype.
The eyepopping superstitious negro is an oldschool stereotype we should hope modern filmmakers would leave behind.
But, in fairness:
1. Honey believed in dragons too
2. Quarrel had just been shot at by machine guns
What is strange is not that Quarrel was scared after the machine gun attack, but that Honey wasn't.
Yes, in the wake of the machine gun attack Honey and Quarrel find common ground in sharing a superstitious belief in the dragon, aligned with Honey's observations about wonders in the natural world. By contrast Bond is a metropolitan cynic and, in dialogue with Honey and Quarrel on the beach, Connery performs for the first time the subtly incredulous sort of eye-rolling which in later films (like DAF) he drew on far more.
But Quarrel is certainly stereotyped at this point in the movie, with clear and unfortunate racial overtones. The comic moment I'd mentioned with the rum (?) swigging (which comes before the machine gun attack), when Monty Norman sends him up, is followed by another comic moment when, taking cover, Quarrel looks bug-eyed at the crab passing in front of him in the sand: the crab symbolises his fear, a fear contrasted with Bond's professional pragmatism.
By the way, as Bond gets ultra bossy on the beach, ordering around both Quarrel and Honey, I love Honey's (Nikki van der Zyl's) delivery of "All right! All right!" - for which I read a hint of: "WTF, for God's sake give us a break, will ya?"
I do know Fleming walked onto the scene unannounced with his Jamaica buddies (Noel Coward et al?) while they were filming the big bikini scene. I also know he was disappointed with some of the changes from his novel, though that was mostly to do with the migrating land crabs and the giant squid.
hey the Barbel pager works pretty good!
Is that right? That would seem believable it was earlier in the shoot because to me somehow those 'island' scenes do seem a bit, well, worse than the bit of the film leading up to them to me. As mentioned, Quarrel is suddenly a stepandfetchit character, but also there's slightly clumsy stuff like Bond's unnecessary killing of the guard in the water and the slightly nonsensical attempt to ambush the dragon.
Dr No isn't really one of my favourites. I get that we wouldn't have the other films without it, but I just prefer those. I don't think they really got Bond himself right until the next one.