Response Paper: Popular Culture as seen through James Bond

Gunfights, gadgets, cars, women, danger, suspense, world danger, badass. All of these could be summed up rather quickly with just a few words: “Bond…James Bond”.
In 1962, Dr. No premiered, and our entire culture has been shaped by it since. James Bond has become an entire genre of its own, and yet it is more than a film, it is a way of life. Our life to be exact. James Bond was perhaps and still is one of the most honest expressions of popular culture in today’s time.
For example, lets start with the man himself. James Bond, a man above men. Every man would tell you that they would love to be Bond. Why? Perhaps because of the revolutionary stuntwork always known to be in a film. Perhaps for the top of the line gadgets created. Perhaps for the souped up Bond cars. Perhaps to triumph over evil. Or perhaps it’s the Bond girls that surround him. Bond has become an icon and an ideal of what a man should be. Today we are influenced by Bond more that we realize. In fact, it wouldn’t be to stretched to play with the idea of Bond being a sort of Midas, everything he touches turns to gold. The jet ski was actually first invented for a bond film. Many cars have been promoted and bought because of a bond film. Certain dress and attire is hot because of a bond film. Even Bond’s swagger and drink have become mainstream ideas of what is suave. But above all, James Bond is a player. He is always pursuing women, hence the sex icon surrounding him. Yet the thing that allows James to get away with this behavior that was pushing the envelope of film etiquette, is that he learns from these women, and he cares for these women.
This took Kinsey’s 50% percentage and threw it out the window. Bond was actually considered very racy for its time, mainly because of the sex. Almost every Bond Girl in the films sleep with Bond and if not usually share some sort of sexual tension. The movie is juxtaposed by sexual tension. it’s a good reflection on the world that Kinsey revealed, the stereotypes of Men sleeping before marriage and women not simply were absurd. While many romantic comedies and sex comedies dealt with the issues of sex by eventually having the couple get married, Bonds never did. This is one of the reason Bond films may have escaped this RomCom fate, they don’t emphasize the idea of this flawed couple coming together despite differences and finding true love. Bond shows how the world really reacts. People connect to other people through these sexual Bonds. If I could give a character tag for James Bond, I would simply use his last name. Bond is looking for someone to bond with. The thing about these bonds are that there is no promise to keep them. Its bonding for the sake of bonding, not bonding to become one. Thus the difference in marital sex and any other type of sex for that matter. Yet while this explores the underlying theme of Bond, it does not decipher his character.
Bond in a way, is very much a Holly character. Independent despite relationships, sexual, witty. But most especially in the way Holly refers to herself and Cat, they, like James, don’t belong. James Bond can try as he might to fit in, belong, even having relationships like Holly, but he still does not belong. Holly in the movie stays mainly because the production company wanted a happy ending. Bond in the same light always ends up with the girl, and yet by the next movie that’s all gone. I want to emphasize the fact that this points out that Bond isn’t getting the happy ending, the audience is. Bond will still need to leave and return back to work from the dream world because in the end, Bond will never belong so long as he is a part of MI6.
MI6- Bonds cage. Cat on a hot tin roof could also be correlated because Bond, like Brick, is stubborn and tends to drink (although not alcoholism as seen in Brick). But like Brick, Bond is trapped. Bonds cast is his duty to his country, and this will always deter him. Margaret would be any Bond girl in the film. Yet while they seduce Bond, is Bond truly happy? Does he stay? No. Bonds biggest cage is that he cares about his allys: the girls. This is his weakness emphasized in every film. Here is were Bond is like Margaret. He is alone, fighting to save a world he has no one to share it with. So, like Maggie, he is willing to go to extreme means to try and achieve his goal, no matter how delusional and temporary it may be.
However, while James Bond may be the protagonist and unifying theme throughout the genre, there are equally important
James Bond Films can be put in a similar category to RomComs and Sex comedies because much of the ideologies are the same. The movie is one big masquerade where Bond may pretend not to be an agent, a Bond girl may pretend to be on his side, both pretend to be doing something they’re not. Many times girls may start of hating Bond yet fall for him in the end. The movie is action based but the subplot is the romance. Bond relationships are described by the sexual tension and game of cat and mouse played by Bond and the Girls. No movie relationship in any of the films is truly the same, although they are based upon RomCom ideals. The main thing about Sex Comedies not described is that to have a good game of cat and mouse, both the man and woman need to be strong independent characters. If the woman was the passive, stereotypical role, there wouldn’t be a tug of war, the game would have already been won. In the same fashion, Bond girls are independent and powerful. They give a new look at the woman ideal. These women have saved Bond a number of times in his journeys and are key components to his success. Bond may work well alone, but his weakness is also his biggest strength, these women.
In all, James Bond is a revolutionary genre that has always sought to broaden the cage that binds our society. The power of the genre lies in its successful subplot of the sex comedy, disguised in an action film, utilizing characters that both uphold yet break stereotypes created by society. James Bond influences our culture in many ways, but its most effective is perhaps the “bond” it creates between men and women through the shared enjoyment and empowerment of the Bond films.