Are the Movies Racist?
Colonel Shatner
Chavtastic Bristol, BritainPosts: 574MI6 Agent
While it is certain that Ian Fleming was a snobbish racist and it seems to be reflected in his books (which were much more garish and morbid than the campy movies).
Yet I personally do not think the movies are particularily racist, but they are deservedly reknowned for cultural and national stereotyping (but it is more in the vein of Disney Land's "It's a Small World Afterall"). Live and Let Die could be seen as being a little close to the knuckle, but the white hick cops were given a more unendearing depiction.
In You Only Live Twice, Connery being made to look more Asian came across as silly and unconvincing, rather than obnoxious and very mocking like Mickey Rooney's depiction of a Japanese man in Breakfast at Tiffany's.
And most of the villains and henchmen are predominantly white Europeans or North Americans, with some essentially being British (like Elliot Carver or, at a stretch, most incarnations of Ernst Stavro Blofeld).
James Bond movies being sexist on the other hand... :v
Yet I personally do not think the movies are particularily racist, but they are deservedly reknowned for cultural and national stereotyping (but it is more in the vein of Disney Land's "It's a Small World Afterall"). Live and Let Die could be seen as being a little close to the knuckle, but the white hick cops were given a more unendearing depiction.
In You Only Live Twice, Connery being made to look more Asian came across as silly and unconvincing, rather than obnoxious and very mocking like Mickey Rooney's depiction of a Japanese man in Breakfast at Tiffany's.
And most of the villains and henchmen are predominantly white Europeans or North Americans, with some essentially being British (like Elliot Carver or, at a stretch, most incarnations of Ernst Stavro Blofeld).
James Bond movies being sexist on the other hand... :v
'Alright guard, begin the unnecessarily slow moving dipping mechanism...'
Comments
I think the rest of the remarks made by Bond in his films, were just an elaboration of the sarcastic nature of the character. And probably an easy way for the scriptwriter to fill the voids in between chases and bedhopping.
It's not just confined to the southern US. Attitudes and mannerisms such as those can be found throughout the United States.
There really are 'Hillbilly Rednecks' here.
I could have done without the whole character, myself. A cliche better left in Smokey and the Bandit movies.
White people can't have close friends who are black? What poppycock.
I think it's the idea that nearly every black person in the movie, with the exception of Strutter and Quarrel Jr., was a villain. The entire community seems to conspire against Bond...with even his waiters aiding in his capture. It might be perceived to suggest a villainy in even ordinary citizens of cities like New Orleans and Harlem.
At least Bond doesn't tell anyone to fetch his shoes in LALD.
I don't know if the tapdancing example was the best one, but Rat Pack Confidential the book explains how there was a certain give with one hand, take with the other approach to the Rat Pack. Yes they included Sammy, who did have to put up with some dodgy jokes, though Frank was also prepared to give him the break others wouldn't. Racism was rife then of course, a black man wouldn't even be allowed in the Vegas casinos, hence poor Sammy played a garbage man in Ocean's 11.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
To claim he was an "Uncle Tom" is beyond absurd and reaches a level of unfounded nastiness that hits the outer stratosphere.
People always single out DN, but the way I see it, Quarrel was in a subordinate position to Bond. Not because he was black, but because Bond was an M16 agent and so had more authority than Quarrel. Yes, it could be perceived as a white man telling a black man what to do, but the film was set in Jamaica, so it was realistic that a boatman (is that a word?) Bond would enlist would be black. Additionally, I think that it was clear that they liked each other.
I don't think that DN was racist, or at least any more so considering the time in which it was made, and as for other Bond films, well, if I thought that the Bond films were racist, I probably wouldn't watch them.
However they are not racist in choosing their clients, as they were happy to help out a black African dictator. {:)
That part where Bond blows him up with the air pellet is perhaps the most ridiculous scene in the history of Bond.
then the quip–"He always did have an inflated opinion of himself."
So bad yet so good.
At the end, when he reveals his plans, there's a lisp or two if you listen close. He was kind of sassy though,no??hehe
I am mostly joking
I am not joking when I say that was a bad movie. egads!
Then again, I'm of the opinion that about over half the Bond flicks are mediocre to awful. But maybe that's part of their charm, y'know, sucking.
http://apbateman.com
All he asked for him to do was to fetch him his shoes 8-)
It's the servant style conotations that sit awkward with me. Paired with Quarrel's servitude demeanour throughout the film. This was the very beggining of the 60's, a time when whites and blacks still had a very clear lines of segregation in place. The Carribean and in particular southern states remained like this for almost another decade. You can bet "Fetch my shoes" without a please or thankyou asserted Bond's dominance by the fact that he was not only in charge, but from another social standing altogether.
http://apbateman.com
It isn't overtly racist, but remember this is a blak man in the early sixties. It's the conotations. Bond isn't ordering the man to check chamber or kit as any good officer does in laying up periods. He isn't ordering him to do anything crucial towards the operation - he snaps for him to fetch his shoes as a master would a valet. It is a master and servant moment.
Snapping at one of Dr. No's men to remove his handcuffs is merely asserting dominance in a resentful way, albeit to speed up his own decontamination.
Racism is merely sensitivity and understanding. The less sensitive you are to it, or at least try to understand, the more you lean towards it. We all set our own standards. I see the comment as cringible. You may not.
http://apbateman.com
Valentin says, "You can't trust him, he's a Cossack..." then after the tragic WW2 tale (of course, how come Janus isn't a lot older if he was a kid in the war?) says, "Still, they deserved it. A cruel people." Like, oh, that's okay then. What if he said, "Jews, they can't be trusted"? And no demurral from Bond either.
Roger Moore 1927-2017