New James Bond film to be released next week

VIEW 1:

Marketing dictates the Bond identity

If reports emerging from early shows of ‘Quantum of Solace’, the new James Bond film, are to be believed, purists will have a lot to be angry about when they see the film. According to most accounts, Bond will be different. The martinis could be either shaken or stirred — Bond doesn’t care — and Daniel Craig will not say the words, “The name is Bond. James Bond.” Nor will the iconic Bond tune play until the very end. Instead, audiences will get a Bond who is hurting over the murder and betrayal of his true love, Vesper, from the last film ‘Casino Royale’. So much so he’s even actively avoiding romantic entanglements. A section of the Bond faithful suspect marketing mavens may be behind these changes to the Bond ethos, and they’re up in arms about it. But isn’t it time that Bond changed?

When Ian Fleming first wrote his novels in the fifties, the world was a different place. The Cold War was on, the Soviet Union still existed and the world was healing from the Second World War. The attitudes of people across the world were different. Bond, like much else, was a product of his times. The kind of spy he was and the enemies he faced bore a direct correlation to the political situation at that time. But now, when the Cold War is history, Bond has to change to keep the audience’s attention or he will be an anachronism.

That had already happened before the much-needed reset that the franchise got with ‘Casino Royale’. The last of the Pierce Brosnan films were campy and Bond was in danger of becoming a caricature of himself. Audiences were ready for a new kind of spy — grittier, more realistic — as the success of the Bourne movies demonstrated. And ‘Casino Royale’ did well with critics as well as at the box office. ‘Quantum of Solace’ will continue in that vein. Disgruntled fans would do well to remember that all franchises have to evolve to keep relevant — the Batman series of films, for instance, was reset with ‘Batman Begins’ a few years ago. This year’s ‘The Dark Knight’ has taken that superhero to a whole new level. Bond, a superhero without a cape, deserves the same treatment.

VIEW 2:

We don’t have the licence to kill Bond

“Ithink you’re a sexist, misogynist dinosaur”, M — the female version — told Pierce Brosnan in 1995’s ‘Goldeneye’. Possibly. But James Bond is more than that. He is a dinosaur who has been an icon for three generations, a cult figure loved despite his faults as a slice of the times that created him. It is something the franchise’s marketing gurus don’t seem to understand. In their attempt to sync the character with what the youth demographic supposedly wants, they are altering it beyond recognition.

Pierce Brosnan’s Bond movies had their faults but they struck some balance between updating the context of the character and retaining his core. With Daniel Craig’s debut in ‘Casino Royale’, the ultimate rot has set in. It started with teary eyes at his girlfriend du jour’s death and seems set to accelerate with ‘Quantum of Solace’. Gone are the trademark lines, leaving behind only an attenuated new age-ish spy. The latest Bonds bear little resemblance to Ian Fleming’s vision.
The producers who think that shoehorning the character into the mould of a Bourne is necessary to achieve box office success are mistaken. George Lucas tried it with his ‘Star Wars’ prequel trilogy, to dismal effect. Fans resented the wholesale alterations to the artistic and cinematic vision of the original trilogy. Art — and the Bond movies are art, if only of the kitsch variety — should not be altered in a way that changes its essence. Elvis Presley’s music remains hugely popular despite the simple chords. Metal, grunge, goth and a dozen other music movements later, the Beatles continue to reign supreme at the summit of pop music four decades after they disbanded.

Update the movies, by all means. There are enemies enough today to faze even the unflappable Bond and they are far more frightening than those diabolical Cold War communists. Neither should sexism run rampant in the franchise as it did in earlier films. But don’t change the character irrevocably based on market statistics. It would be a pity if Bond went the way of the dinosaurs.