Are you a Londoner? Property prices are a sore point for many.
Someone on a decent salary could fork out for a bit of clothing and sort of live the dream, so that wouldn't alienate. A nice show-off pad, I mean the size of LALD (though that got scaled down a bit from what Harry S wanted) might grate as it would basically mean Bond is a millionaire. The Aston and Lotus, they're company cars, it's just not the same. However, if it were sort of implied that the pad was govt sponsored, then that would be different.
It's funny how some stuff can alienate and other stuff not. If we really knew Bond's star sign, for instance, for those who believe in all that stuff, it might alienate.
Now when I watch Disney's Peter Pan, I think, ugh, the Darling family. Four storey house in Belgravia, snotty brats, plus parents doing a Kate and Gerry McCann, leaving them alone while they go out to the theatre.... Makes me quite sympathise with Captain Hook.
The lifestyles of people portrayed in movies and on TV bear no resemblance to reality. You'll have a cop married to a school teacher and they live in a million dollar house. My favorite was "Frasier" where a psychiatrist (average income about $160,000 a year) lived in a multi-million dollar penthouse apartment. Of course his retired cop father lived with him. Maybe he chipped in to help on the mortgage.
Of course, Friends was set in a loft conversion or something, when they're not loaded, and one of the actors, Joey, is out of work a lot. Of course we buy into it cos we want to watch a show set in a nice location, easy on the eye, plus give the actors a chance to move around a bit.
On top of which, sitcoms like that are more self-effacing, dealing with pratfalls. We don't generally want to be Joey, Chandler, Rachel, Phoebs etc, though we may want their network of friends and rapport. With Bond, we are looking at empathising a bit more, though it's arguable to what extent, and I'd suggest that the boost in pr over his clothes, watches, etc is largely because neither Brosnan or Craig had too much personality in terms of jokes to relate too instead.
Yes, Bond won his Aston - so we might relate to it more, as it doesn't reflect his salary. His previous cars were on the house, so to speak.
Personally, I think it would be hard for audiences to accept scenes of Craig in a low rent flat. Granted, suits and wrist watches and his cars are in part or on the whole subsidized (due to wear and tear in the line of duty), but viewers are used to seeing him in these high end luxury items and would probably find it less credible if his flat wasn't in a place like Chelsea. It doesn't mean they need to dress it up with chandeliers or have it in a location with a penthouse view of the Thames. As long as it's spartanly decorated and only shown for a minute, I don't think an international audience is going to knudge their chairmate and whisper "there's no way he could afford that!".
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The lifestyles of people portrayed in movies and on TV bear no resemblance to reality. You'll have a cop married to a school teacher and they live in a million dollar house. My favorite was "Frasier" where a psychiatrist (average income about $160,000 a year) lived in a multi-million dollar penthouse apartment. Of course his retired cop father lived with him. Maybe he chipped in to help on the mortgage.
I hate it when the movies lie to us.
Of course, Friends was set in a loft conversion or something, when they're not loaded, and one of the actors, Joey, is out of work a lot. Of course we buy into it cos we want to watch a show set in a nice location, easy on the eye, plus give the actors a chance to move around a bit.
On top of which, sitcoms like that are more self-effacing, dealing with pratfalls. We don't generally want to be Joey, Chandler, Rachel, Phoebs etc, though we may want their network of friends and rapport. With Bond, we are looking at empathising a bit more, though it's arguable to what extent, and I'd suggest that the boost in pr over his clothes, watches, etc is largely because neither Brosnan or Craig had too much personality in terms of jokes to relate too instead.
Yes, Bond won his Aston - so we might relate to it more, as it doesn't reflect his salary. His previous cars were on the house, so to speak.
Roger Moore 1927-2017